Great comeback! Maybe we return to Cleveland this year. This team has grit.

(01-06-2024 03:42 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  OK, Connor Serven. Didn’t know you could jump like that.

I've been Serven's biggest critic. He showed today that he is our most athletic big, at least in terms of hops.

This is a fun team to watch.

(01-06-2024 06:33 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  

(01-06-2024 03:42 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  OK, Connor Serven. Didn’t know you could jump like that.

I've been Serven's biggest critic. He showed today that he is our most athletic big, at least in terms of hops.

This is a fun team to watch.

He was impressive. Taking advantage of the double teams on Tycuff.

(01-06-2024 06:33 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  

(01-06-2024 03:42 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  OK, Connor Serven. Didn’t know you could jump like that.

I've been Serven's biggest critic. He showed today that he is our most athletic big, at least in terms of hops.

This is a fun team to watch.

I was impressed by how he moved without the ball. He had some nifty back door cuts that Geeter found him on.

I think Stan might have found something with the Lovejoy-Acuff-Osojnik-Serven-Geeter lineup that closed the game and OT. They played really well together.

(01-06-2024 06:47 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  

(01-06-2024 06:33 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  

(01-06-2024 03:42 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  OK, Connor Serven. Didn’t know you could jump like that.

I've been Serven's biggest critic. He showed today that he is our most athletic big, at least in terms of hops.

This is a fun team to watch.

I was impressed by how he moved without the ball. He had some nifty back door cuts that Geeter found him on.

I think Stan might have found something with the Lovejoy-Acuff-Osojnik-Serven-Geeter lineup that closed the game and OT. They played really well together.

Agree. Billingsley, Jihad, Ellerbe and McGriff bring skills off the bench as well. The jury is still out on Martynov, but the rest of this team needs to keep their warmups on. Stan knows what he has now.

I've been a season ticket holder for the past ten years or so. The 2016-17, 2018-19 and 2022-23 teams were man-for man far more talented than this one. I don't recall, however, seeing so much joy from the entire team when a teammate makes a great play from those ball clubs. This team is such a breath of fresh air.

Nothing to add on top of all the comments here. But how FUN was it to grab a thrilling OT MAC win over a great team at home?

An EMU basketball game hasn't brought me that much joy in a long time.

(01-06-2024 07:31 PM)FrankAnderson Wrote:  Nothing to add on top of all the comments here. But how FUN was it to grab a thrilling OT MAC win over a great team at home?

An EMU basketball game hasn't brought me that much joy in a long time.

AGREE! Kent St might be weaker than in recent years, but that is akin to saying that Alabama football was weaker this season as well. Kent has "owned" the MAC recently, they clearly are a very talented BB team with a great coach.

I looked at the scoreboard mid-way through the first half and remarked to my buddy, "they can't keep shooting 40% from three". As usual, I was wrong, their long-ball shooting percentage went north to 56% in total for the first twenty minutes. Ugh.

Kent did not give away this game with turnovers, poor rebounding or lousy free throw shooting. Their guards truly locked Acuff defensively as well. EMU won this game with perspiration.

(01-06-2024 07:31 PM)FrankAnderson Wrote:  Nothing to add on top of all the comments here. But how FUN was it to grab a thrilling OT MAC win over a great team at home?

An EMU basketball game hasn't brought me that much joy in a long time.

Ryan was out of his mind excited on ESPN+

(01-06-2024 03:43 PM)RamyEMU Wrote:  I have said it before, Legend Geeter is a very skilled passer for a big man. A couple nice passes leading to scores and EMU now leads it 8-6 at the first media timeout

Eastern would trail the whole game after this until Osojnik tied it at the end of the game at 66 at the end of regulation. They were down by as many as 17 at the 13 minute mark of the second half. What an exciting comeback.

Further, when I made this post, I had no idea what kind of insane passing Geeter would put out in the second half. Ended up with 6 assists in for the game. This is not including these two passes which did not configure/ register as assists. As well, another perfect feed to Serven in the second that lead to a shooting foul. Incredible how impressively he administered the offense in this game. Great court vision and touch on the passes.

Eastern’s frontcourt “committee” was solid today going 11/21 for 30 points (of 71) and 18 rebounds (of 29) and 8 assists. I am usually very hard on this group (even though I try not to be critical of players), but they really impressed me today. We talked about Geeter’s passing and Serven’s breakout game with 15 points 8 rebounds and some exciting dunks. But Billingsley had a great all around game today with 6 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. Jihad was limited to only 8 minutes despite playing well because of how much contributions Eastern was getting from others in this group.

That said, while Martynov was quiet today, I certainly would not write him off. This group is going to go through some more ebb and flow cycles, and he will have his day on top again. Regardless, I would prefer to see him starting each of the games and overtimes even if he is pulled quickly as he seems to be the most effective at winning the tips as far as I have observed/remember.

While Lovejoy was 1/4 in the first half, he was 7/7 in the second half and overtime.

While TyCuff had a rough game today, he still finished with 11 points and 7 assists. That is a very impressive “bad game”.

(01-06-2024 05:52 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  Stan Heath drew that up, for Lovejoy to get into the lane while everyone was watching Acuff. Some smart coaching right there.

It felt to me Osojnik’s triple at the end of regulation was a designed play as well- don’t know, did not hear it on anywhere. If si as well, then Coach Heath drew up a 2 nice plays to win the ball Gabe. Switching to some 3/4 court press in the second half was yet another “smart coaching”

Great win against Kent State even though their starting center is hurt they have a lot of talent.

I’ve been critical of Stan’s coaching so I will off some praise too as some of you noted. Our 3/4 court zone trap slowed their offense plus the couple of last second shots were well designed too - nice job Coach Heath!


Teams are going to double Acuff so we’re going to need osojnik and jihad to make them pay by being aggressive on offense. I was disappointed in the first 10 minutes by our excessive turn overs - the team has got to be ready to play. I honestly can’t remember the last time we beat Kent State so I’m very happy with the team’s effort and coaching today. Hopefully we can build on this win????

Woah, Luckey. I did not realize Kent St’s starting center was out. That definitely deflates this win and the impressive performance from our frontcourt a bit. But still a great win nonetheless.

I was taking a look at the schedule, and apparently EMU only plays Kent St once this year. So we don’t get to see how we perform against their center. The good news is that EMU has the tie breaker over them if things come down to it… I know, way too early to talk about such things.

I also noticed, we only play Toledo once as well, and that also is a home game. Somewhat of a favorable MAC schedule given those are 2 of the top 3 teams.

(01-08-2024 07:09 PM)RamyEMU Wrote:  Woah, Luckey. I did not realize Kent St’s starting center was out. That definitely deflates this win and the impressive performance from our frontcourt a bit. But still a great win nonetheless.

I was taking a look at the schedule, and apparently EMU only plays Kent St once this year. So we don’t get to see how we perform against their center. The good news is that EMU has the tie breaker over them if things come down to it… I know, way too early to talk about such things.

I also noticed, we only play Toledo once as well, and that also is a home game. Somewhat of a favorable MAC schedule given those are 2 of the top 3 teams.

Maybe we should do a full conference schedule and eliminate Lake Superior and Northwood.