Great posts as usual from Sam, Ramy, Steve and the Cow!

This team absolutely confounds me. That 0-7 start was really worse than it appeared. Miami and Ohio should have produced three wins instead of losses and in those two close defeats to NIU and BGSU truly were not as even as the score indicated, we never had a semblance of control in either game. Then in the last six games we have played as well as any team in the conference, the Akron loss was simply a miracle finish for the Ohioans.

Toure, as Luckey has alluded to is the most athletic center in the conference. I postulated that having him on the court was a prerequisite for this team's success. In fact he drew his fourth foul last night and I remarked to my buddies to mark the score at that time as I was sure we were headed for disaster. That score 39-36, however, was the closest that Kent got to us after Boubocar went to the bench. Groce just became a "glass cleaner", the defense was in their face and Kent collapsed, the score thereafter was 31-13, EMU. Jerry's theory regarding Toure thus was exposed as garbage.

This team is a good group of young men, when Ballard hit that late three last night, the bench absolutely erupted as they obviously care about each other. There is no Big Three of Jackson, Minnie and Thompson this year, perhaps the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts for this team.

Two things are for sure. First we have a bench, Morgan, James and for that matter Dillard easily surpass what we had last year. Secondly, nobody in the conference is looking to have EMU in its MAC conference bracket. Murph, I don't know what happened but PLEASE keep it going.

For the first half anyway we play a 3 man weave which brings their defense out from under the basket opening it up for a one on one rebound advantage. Then in the second we go into a man to man semi motion offense. On defense we play a straight 1 3 1 because of our quickness .

Is that why they do the 3 man weave? I thought they were just killing clock because they did not have consistent offensive threat. But your explanation makes so much more sense. Thanks, Super!

They have us as a 7 point underdog to Ball St.

(02-16-2020 08:38 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Tough stretch. I’ll be happy with a 1-1 week. I hope we rebound from the blowout Ball State gave us the same way we did with Akron (hopefully with better free throw shooting). We are a different team than the one that played the Cardinals last month.

We match up pretty well with Kent, who turn it over a ton and aren’t the best from outside. They have a solid inside presence with Whittington and Pippen, so hopefully Toure can stay on the floor. They’re still a good team that can score in droves, but I like our chances more than I would have a few weeks ago.

Sam I still have zero clue about this team. Obviously it was the worst in the MAC prior to February, it achieved an 0-7 record with an extremely cushy conference schedule. In February, however, it looks like the best team in the league, a dichotomy that defies explanation. We have clearly been the team in control of the last six games and sans Toledo(?) and WMU, all of those opponents are in the top half of the conference. Toure goes to the bench vs, Kent State? At the time I stated that we were done and yet we just take off like a rocket. Shaking my head, big time, but loving it.

(02-21-2020 08:33 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  

(02-16-2020 08:38 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Tough stretch. I’ll be happy with a 1-1 week. I hope we rebound from the blowout Ball State gave us the same way we did with Akron (hopefully with better free throw shooting). We are a different team than the one that played the Cardinals last month.

We match up pretty well with Kent, who turn it over a ton and aren’t the best from outside. They have a solid inside presence with Whittington and Pippen, so hopefully Toure can stay on the floor. They’re still a good team that can score in droves, but I like our chances more than I would have a few weeks ago.

Sam I still have zero clue about this team. Obviously it was the worst in the MAC prior to February, it achieved an 0-7 record with an extremely cushy conference schedule. In February, however, it looks like the best team in the league, a dichotomy that defies explanation. We have clearly been the team in control of the last six games and sans Toledo(?) and WMU, all of those opponents are in the top half of the conference. Toure goes to the bench vs, Kent State? At the time I stated that we were done and yet we just take off like a rocket. Shaking my head, big time, but loving it.

Well said Jerry, this team has something that it didn't have in February, Confidence! If we beat Ball St on the road, I can see us winning our last 4 games as well! Toure, Groce, and James are the key........Morgan, Montero, and Binelli just have to do there roles.......FT as well! Hopefully, tomorrow we don't lay an egg........I think Murphy wins 20 games unfortunately as well! I'm not sure what I think about that unfortunately!

Has a team ever lost 7 games in a row and won 20 total games in a season?

(02-21-2020 05:54 PM)emussuperfan Wrote:  They have us as a 7 point underdog to Ball St.

Game Day. It is now down to 6.

Line: BALL -6.0
O/U: 121.5

Today is the big one. If we win, I firmly believe in our chances of winning out because of the favorable schedule that follows. But this is a team that demolished us earlier, and James Whitford is a noted “zone killer”. He always seems to have a great gameplan, and I’m pretty sure he’s the only MAC West coach that Murphy has a losing record against (maybe Kowalczyk, but we’ve done well against Toledo in recent years).

This is the biggest game of the season. Is this run for real, or not?

(02-22-2020 07:29 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Today is the big one. If we win, I firmly believe in our chances of winning out because of the favorable schedule that follows. But this is a team that demolished us earlier, and James Whitford is a noted “zone killer”. He always seems to have a great gameplan, and I’m pretty sure he’s the only MAC West coach that Murphy has a losing record against (maybe Kowalczyk, but we’ve done well against Toledo in recent years).

This is the biggest game of the season. Is this run for real, or not?

Win today and we take aim at CMU and Kent. We could move up to say #6. There seems to be the top 4 and then the rest.

Yep. A win today, and our remaining road games are teams we’ve beat already (Toledo, WMU) and home dates against NIU and CMU. All very winnable.

(02-22-2020 07:29 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Today is the big one. If we win, I firmly believe in our chances of winning out because of the favorable schedule that follows. But this is a team that demolished us earlier, and James Whitford is a noted “zone killer”. He always seems to have a great gameplan, and I’m pretty sure he’s the only MAC West coach that Murphy has a losing record against (maybe Kowalczyk, but we’ve done well against Toledo in recent years).

This is the biggest game of the season. Is this run for real, or not?

Well said, as usual. BIG game.

Go Eagles!

I am loving it! There seems to be a consensus feel that if EMU wins today against Ball St, they can run the table and finish 10-8 in the MAC after starting out 0-7. As prepostourous as that sounds, I agree that it may be realistic.

I actually want EMU to lose one of these remaining 5 just as a humbler before the tournament. Don’t want them to get cocky and then slump when it really counts. So win or lose today, I am still ok. But excited to watch! Go EMU!!!

This is NOT a Binelli game. They will pick apart that corner 3 since he’s too slow to recover. Get Morgan in ASAP.

Also, a good aggressive start for Groce. Mallers can’t stay in front of him.

I like these TV announcers. They're very good with the analysis.

I'm liking this game. Early on it was text book how to play the zone and how to play offense against it.

King is 'padding' his stats.

Wow, +11 at the half.

This is for BobW: #ExtendMurphy

F*ck yeah!

Great defensive half. Need another one.