Reposting from another thread, what I think EMU basketball needs to pick up in the off-season.
PG 6-2 Noah / 6-3 Luka
SG NEEDED / 6-4 Rice
SF NEEDED / NEEDED
PF 6-6 Golson / NEEDED
C 6-8 Jihad / 6-10 Randle / 6-8 Ballard

Curious of others thoughts. And love the success Monty and Spottesville are getting playing pro that Miggy shared (may want to repost or post update here).

Basically, we are going to see a new team again. This is a norm we better get used to with the portal. How Heath utilizes said portal will go a long way in determining the success of the program.

An offseason of development, coupled with familiarity, will do wonders for our returning players. I believe Noah can take the next step and become one of the best guards in the conference, and the game will slow down a bit for Golson. Rice and Luka are intriguing. Neither got consistent minutes, but both showed flashes of being guys that I want in my rotation. Rice especially. We need shooting and scoring in the worst way, and he wasn’t afraid to do either at the end of the season.

Should be a busy offseason. I look forward to seeing what Heath does to fill the roster.

(04-19-2022 08:34 AM)RamyEMU Wrote:  Reposting from another thread, what I think EMU basketball needs to pick up in the off-season.
PG 6-2 Noah / 6-3 Luka
SG NEEDED / 6-4 Rice
SF NEEDED / NEEDED
PF 6-6 Golson / NEEDED
C 6-8 Jihad / 6-10 Randle / 6-8 Ballard

Curious of others thoughts. And love the success Monty and Spottesville are getting playing pro that Miggy shared (may want to repost or post update here).

Your projected EMU player position needs are quite accurate. Noah is the only returning player who is a lock to start.

Monty has played in two professional games in Puerto Rico. He played 27 minutes in his first outing and took but four shots. In his second game, Playing 18 minutes, he scored 12-points, abmnd shot 87.5 percent (6-7) on two’s .

He out-shot his teammates Jordan Crawford and Tremont Waters, both previous NBA first-round draft picks. He’s playing with intensity and his HC is encouraging him to shoot more going forward.

Spottsville has played in three games and has averaged 7 mpg. He has not as yet to shoot a fga, but is 1-3 at the foul-line.

They will-face off tonight. Will keep you posted.

(04-19-2022 08:51 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Basically, we are going to see a new team again. This is a norm we better get used to with the portal. How Heath utilizes said portal will go a long way in determining the success of the program.

An offseason of development, coupled with familiarity, will do wonders for our returning players. I believe Noah can take the next step and become one of the best guards in the conference, and the game will slow down a bit for Golson. Rice and Luka are intriguing. Neither got consistent minutes, but both showed flashes of being guys that I want in my rotation. Rice especially. We need shooting and scoring in the worst way, and he wasn’t afraid to do either at the end of the season.

Should be a busy offseason. I look forward to seeing what Heath does to fill the roster.

Great post! Unfortunately, this might be our only hope given no commits thus far. But I agree this could indeed be very beneficial- especially for Luka and Rice but also Golson and Jihad.

(I think Noah is already one of the best guards in conference given some of the MAC’s departures. Remaining are WMU’s Norman, KSU’s Carrey, NIU’s Williams, CMU’s Miller. Who else is there? But yes, can probably still improve on turnovers I suppose)

Monty Scott played well tonight scoring 8-points in 13 minutes, on 2-4 shooting, including making his only three-ball. Shot 75 percent at the foul-line (3–4). Played well down the stretch and his team won 91-85. He committed no turnovers.

Thru three games, Scott is averaging 19.7 mpg, 7-points ppg, and he’s the team’s fourth highest scorer. Scott is shooting 50 percent (9-18) on field goals attempts, the second best on the team.

Spottsville played 3-minutes and didn’t shoot the ball.

(04-19-2022 08:51 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Basically, we are going to see a new team again. This is a norm we better get used to with the portal. How Heath utilizes said portal will go a long way in determining the success of the program.

An offseason of development, coupled with familiarity, will do wonders for our returning players. I believe Noah can take the next step and become one of the best guards in the conference, and the game will slow down a bit for Golson. Rice and Luka are intriguing. Neither got consistent minutes, but both showed flashes of being guys that I want in my rotation. Rice especially. We need shooting and scoring in the worst way, and he wasn’t afraid to do either at the end of the season.

Should be a busy offseason. I look forward to seeing what Heath does to fill the roster.

I loved Rice’s juco film, and his play this year did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm.

And at the end of the day it will be the new additions that will determine whether we move up in the MAC. Ditto for the rest of the MAC teams.

The knock on Rice was the game was too fast for him, and that he has a slow delivery on his three-point shot. Some observers said he shot well at the end of the season only because opponents ignored him. I don’t buy any of the above.

I always thought that since he averaged 24 ppg playing at a JUCO, he’d be the “X” factor this past last season. I even texted that on this site.

In retrospect, I now wonder if McBride and Spottsville as veteran Co-Captains were unfairly favored over Rice. EMU could have surely used Rice’s scoring as McBride shot three’s poorly, and Spottsville hardly shot the ball playing on average 28.7 mpg.

Hopefully, Rice will be given the opportunity to show his worth this up-coming season, and if so, maybe we’ll gain insight as to whether he should have been played far more than he did this past season.

(04-21-2022 10:22 AM)Miggy Wrote:  Noah Farrakhan shot 40.8 percent on three’s (42-103) last season.

I don’t know what the minimum number of three’s are necessary to be ranked among the nation’s top 50 in the nation on three-point shooting, but if he qualified, a 40.8 percentage on three’s would have ranked him no.27 best 3-point shooter among NCAA 3-point leaders in the nation.

Noah vastly improved from the season before at East Carolina when playing 121 minutes, he shot 33.3 percent on three’s for the season, and only 16.7 percent on three’s in conference play.

Do think we can tweak and improve his shooting form this summer. Also look for him next season to take more trips to the foul-line, and commit fewer turnovers. His assists will also rise if he has players to pass to who can shoot at a good clip.

Bottom line: He has a lot of upside.

More experience and better players around him should cause him to improve further.

(04-21-2022 10:43 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(04-21-2022 10:22 AM)Miggy Wrote:  Noah Farrakhan shot 40.8 percent on three’s (42-103) last season.

I don’t know what the minimum number of three’s are necessary to be ranked among the nation’s top 50 in the nation on three-point shooting, but if he qualified, his 40.8 percentage on three’s would have ranked him no.27 among the best NCAA 3-point leaders in the nation.

Noah vastly improved from his playing at East Carolina when playing limited minutes he shot 33.3 percent on three’s for the season, and only 16.7 percent on three’s in conference play.

He still has room this summer to improve his shooting form. Look for him next season to also take more trips to the foul-line, and commit fewer turnovers. If he has players to pass to who can shoot his assists will rise as well.

Bottom line: He has a lot of upside.

More experience and better players around him should cause him to improve further.

Too early to make assumption about EMU signing better players.

(04-21-2022 05:01 AM)emu79 Wrote:  And at the end of the day it will be the new additions that will determine whether we move up in the MAC. Ditto for the rest of the MAC teams.

I feel like you are writing off next season before it even starts!!

Playing for the Gigantes de Carolina bb team in Puerto Rico, Monty Scott in 24-minutes scored 9-points, had 5 rebounds (including 4- OR’s), 4-assists, and 2-steals. He’s fully healthy, playing with intensity, and is adjusting to the pro game.

His team is 1-3, having lost it’s first two games in overtime, and last night’s game by 19-points as it’s starting Center was out.

Scott has come off the bench in all four games, and has had a positive box score in each game.

His next game is Saturday night at home at 8 pm EST. All games are four 10-minute quarters and can be viewed on You-Tube.

Why is this thread filed with posts of players who are no longer here? Maybe we can a separate thread called Puerto Rico League News?

(04-22-2022 07:24 AM)emu79 Wrote:  Why is this thread filed with posts of players who are no longer here? Maybe we can a separate thread called Puerto Rico League News?

These posts are exclusively on players who were on last season’s team. Seems fitting for a “Season Review” thread.

I understood your argument that me and Miggy shouldn’t post about last years team in the “Verbal Commits” thread. I agreed with you and created this thread. Now you are still complaining?

Not sure how much merit this has (if any), but may be an interesting situation to keep an eye on...we shall see I suppose:

https://twitter.com/happypistonfan/statu...7461236745

(04-22-2022 09:36 AM)EMU78 Wrote:  Not sure how much merit this has (if any), but may be an interesting situation to keep an eye on...we shall see I suppose:

https://twitter.com/happypistonfan/statu...7461236745

Regardless of eligibility issues, Noah’s future career is enhanced by staying put as EMU plays a pro-style offense. Elite college bb programs do not. Just hoping Heath is able to surround Noah with good players.

I believe that EMU basketball recruiting strategy is to delay signing players early in an attempt to grab the 3-4 star players that may be overlooked or left in the transfer portal or highly touted high school players unsigned due to the transfer portal. Unless you get a commitment from a stand out player/s, I see no reason to sign players early. Those who are patient, may sign a few diamonds. We may not have our full basketball class until August 1.

https://mobile.twitter.com/slam_hs/statu...4575649793

(04-22-2022 03:02 PM)Luckeyone Wrote:  I believe that EMU basketball recruiting strategy is to delay signing players early in an attempt to grab the 3-4 star players that may be overlooked or left in the transfer portal or highly touted high school players unsigned due to the transfer portal. Unless you get a commitment from a stand out player/s, I see no reason to sign players early. Those who are patient, may sign a few diamonds. We may not have our full basketball class until August 1.

https://mobile.twitter.com/slam_hs/statu...4575649793

I agree!! Have discussed the game of musical chairs and many will still be looking for seats when the music stops,,

(04-22-2022 03:15 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(04-22-2022 03:02 PM)Luckeyone Wrote:  I believe that EMU basketball recruiting strategy is to delay signing players early in an attempt to grab the 3-4 star players that may be overlooked or left in the transfer portal or highly touted high school players unsigned due to the transfer portal. Unless you get a commitment from a stand out player/s, I see no reason to sign players early. Those who are patient, may sign a few diamonds. We may not have our full basketball class until August 1.

https://mobile.twitter.com/slam_hs/statu...4575649793

I agree!! Have discussed the game of musical chairs and many will still be looking for seats when the music stops,,

I hope so as this strategy worked wonders for Murphy- and it would explain why we haven’t got anyone yet. But it is contradicted by the signing of a mostly unknown recruit in Zaher. Perhaps it is a mix bag strategy.