ESPN has us a 6 point underdog.

This is an ESPN3 game so it will be streamed HD, which is awesome. CMU and a few other MAC schools already stream HD. (Big, big difference between HD and the streaming from say EMU. It might be the difference between say 1080 vs 480, which might be standard definition. EMU will need to upgrade their video equipment as part of the agreement with ESPN to get games suitable for ESPN3. More money for Heather to spend. Read that it is required as part of the ESPN contract. High definition cameras, production equipment, etc. aren't cheap).

It is all part of having a D-I program: HD video, beautiful scoreboard in the Convo, new lighting for Rynearson, new Rynearson scoreboard (and now the stipend for the athletes). Lot of bucks flowing into and out of the Convo athletic offices. :)

Another tangent of sorts: I found my DVR copy of the NIU/EMU MAC tourney game from CLE last March. GB III saved our hide when we trailed by double digits.

Maybe we miss those big GB III games more than we remember?

BTW, here are today's Sagarins:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab/sag...onference/

The one 'stat' which I find most interesting is how SOFT, morbidly soft, the CMU schedule has been. (ranked #340 in D-I).

Maybe CMU has been feasting on a lot of cupcakes...

(01-24-2015 05:30 AM)emu steve Wrote:  ESPN has us a 6 point underdog.

This is an ESPN3 game so it will be streamed HD, which is awesome. CMU and a few other MAC schools already stream HD. (Big, big difference between HD and the streaming from say EMU. It might be the difference between say 1080 vs 480, which might be standard definition. EMU will need to upgrade their video equipment as part of the agreement with ESPN to get games suitable for ESPN3. More money for Heather to spend. Read that it is required as part of the ESPN contract. High definition cameras, production equipment, etc. aren't cheap).

It is all part of having a D-I program: HD video, beautiful scoreboard in the Convo, new lighting for Rynearson, new Rynearson scoreboard (and now the stipend for the athletes). Lot of bucks flowing into and out of the Convo athletic offices. :)

Another tangent of sorts: I found my DVR copy of the NIU/EMU MAC tourney game from CLE last March. GB III saved our hide when we trailed by double digits.

Maybe we miss those big GB III games more than we remember?

Truthfully, I have been talking about GB III all year, even during the off-season. He was at least as big a loss as Riley. Good post strength, athleticism, another shot blocker- very talented. Definitely during the MAC tournament run he was a monster.

BTW, if anyone follows Timmy Bonds Twitter. This guy is a great emissary for the basketball team.

He comes across as a class president type person. Very mature. He invited his followers, many, to watch today's game on ESPN3.

He is the type of player who would 'recruit' other prospects to come play on his team...

BTW, EA is also an excellent emissary for the basketball team.

Murphy recruited some good players and good people.

(01-24-2015 07:51 AM)rayEMU Wrote:  

(01-24-2015 05:30 AM)emu steve Wrote:  ESPN has us a 6 point underdog.

This is an ESPN3 game so it will be streamed HD, which is awesome. CMU and a few other MAC schools already stream HD. (Big, big difference between HD and the streaming from say EMU. It might be the difference between say 1080 vs 480, which might be standard definition. EMU will need to upgrade their video equipment as part of the agreement with ESPN to get games suitable for ESPN3. More money for Heather to spend. Read that it is required as part of the ESPN contract. High definition cameras, production equipment, etc. aren't cheap).

It is all part of having a D-I program: HD video, beautiful scoreboard in the Convo, new lighting for Rynearson, new Rynearson scoreboard (and now the stipend for the athletes). Lot of bucks flowing into and out of the Convo athletic offices. :)

Another tangent of sorts: I found my DVR copy of the NIU/EMU MAC tourney game from CLE last March. GB III saved our hide when we trailed by double digits.

Maybe we miss those big GB III games more than we remember?

Truthfully, I have been talking about GB III all year, even during the off-season. He was at least as big a loss as Riley. Good post strength, athleticism, another shot blocker- very talented. Definitely during the MAC tournament run he was a monster.

I loved him. He was probably my favorite player on the team. That energy and intensity was what I loved most...besides the thunderous dunks of course.

But he was quite a defensive liability. Murphy would sit him for long stretches because he'd fall for every pump fake and let his man go right by him. I remember wishing I could fuse him and Daylen (who was an outstanding defender/rebounder) together. We would have had one hell of a power forward.

Okoloji and Nazione have both been an improvement over Bryant on that end. Not necessarily the blocks, but in terms of disciplined on ball defense. Especially Nazione. We've gotten away with him playing center multiple times because he uses his hands and body well. Very good at denying entry passes. Offensively, Bryant was maybe a little bit better than both, but he took a lot of jumpers which I didn't like. The put-back slams were awesome though. It definitely sparked us.

I still think Riley was a much bigger loss, but I miss Glenn, and I think our team misses him as well.

(01-24-2015 08:28 AM)emu steve Wrote:  BTW, if anyone follows Timmy Bonds Twitter. This guy is a great emissary for the basketball team.

He comes across as a class president type person. Very mature. He invited his followers, many, to watch today's game on ESPN3.

He is the type of player who would 'recruit' other prospects to come play on his team...

BTW, EA is also an excellent emissary for the basketball team.

Murphy recruited some good players and good people.

Agree, these 2 recruits are top notch- TOP NOTCH! I am referring to basketball quality, because I am not really in the know on other things.

But Murphy does seem to bring in high character kids. ie, Daylen Harrison was a Chemistry major!?!? I love seeing that stuff.

I don't doubt that Bond and Alvano similarly are good kids... as well as being good basketball recruits.

Gee, and remember the poster who was trying to run Riley out of town two years ago.

(01-24-2015 08:59 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Gee, and remember the poster who was trying to run Riley out of town two years ago.

??

Dear Friends,
I think Eastern takes this game. I'm still not convinced that Central has the staying power to keep shooting threes between 40-50 percent. Eastern wins 65-52.

(01-24-2015 09:03 AM)rayEMU Wrote:  

(01-24-2015 08:59 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Gee, and remember the poster who was trying to run Riley out of town two years ago.

??

It was BobW. He and I tangled a lot.

Before I became president of the Bond fan club I was president of the Riley fan club.

I'm excited about this game. I am a fan of Keno Davis and his offensive system, so this is a win-win for me.

Dear Bob,
This is off topic a bit, but I just wanted to know what you think of the mess that occurred when he was at Providence. I don't know how much he was responsible for, but it was so bad that some of his players, including Mr. Still, were going to jail. He may have redeemed himself at Central, but we will have to see.

(01-24-2015 09:49 AM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear Bob,
This is off topic a bit, but I just wanted to know what you think of the mess that occurred when he was at Providence. I don't know how much he was responsible for, but it was so bad that some of his players, including Mr. Still, were going to jail. He may have redeemed himself at Central, but we will have to see.

Ken, I thought that situation at Providence was very surprising to me because the Drake team he had, had some of the best and brightest student/athletes I'd ever seen. Guys like Adam Emmenecker who was a 4.0 student and also the MO Valley player of the year, Klayton Korver-Kyle's brother, Josh Young, Bucky Cox, Leonard Houston...these are all great kids who were really classy, outstanding students and active in the community. I think Keno was out of his element at Providence and got tricked into recruiting some questionable characters to compete with the other cheaters in the Big East. I am glad to see that he got another chance and I am sure he is making a difference in the Mount Pleasant community! This is a story of redemption! I hope Ron English gets another chance too. I think Ron would be perfect at CMU.

All of the Drake players you list were his dad's recruits. Hilarious how you leave details out. He replaced his father for one year, won a national coach of the year and then bolted to Providence. He failed in his time there, quite miserably. He got tricked into recruiting some questionable characters? So you're saying he's dumb then, which I call total BS on. He knew what he was doing, and it backfired immensely.

Good for him that he's made the most out of his second chance at CMU, especially after two dreadful years where his program was a laughingstock, but you sugar coating his time at providence, and acting like HE built that Drake team, is a joke. Just stop.

(01-24-2015 10:09 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  All of the Drake players you list were his dad's recruits. Hilarious how you leave details out. He replaced his father for one year, won a national coach of the year and then bolted to Providence. He failed in his time there, quite miserably. He got tricked into recruiting some questionable characters? So you're saying he's dumb then, which I call total BS on. He knew what he was doing, and it backfired immensely.

Good for him that he's made the most out of his second chance at CMU, especially after two dreadful years where his program was a laughingstock, but you sugar coating his time at providence, and acting like HE built that Drake team, is a joke. Just stop.

Dr. Tom was coach in name only. Keno did all the recruiting and quite a bit of the coaching at that time. Drake was Keno's team much like Florida State was Jimbo Fisher's team and not Bobby Bowden's team. Tom Davis spent more time on the golf course than he did recruiting players--he was old!

And Murphy was Boeheim's chief recruiter, so I'm sure you'd give him credit for Syracuse's success while he was there too right?

Come on.

I know nothing of drake/Davis, but I can see what Bob is saying. Assistants routinely lead the recruiting legwork wise. That is how Murphy got so many transfers the moment he was named emu coach- he was the one with relationships with these guys. The head coach probably provides direction and final say. So I can see what Sam is saying that maybe the integrity could have been Old Tom's direction... Or not... Or some blend of the two.

All I can say is that Keno is doing a great job for CMU- which is good for the MAC. It got them one more big ten win. The downside, is that EMU has to play them on the road today. But I think they will pull this out. CMU is going to have their head in the clouds after the buffalo win.

Go EMU!!!

(01-24-2015 10:30 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  And Murphy was Boeheim's chief recruiter, so I'm sure you'd give him credit for Syracuse's success while he was there too right?

Come on.

He was a solid contributor, sure. I give Murphy tons of credit at the 'Cuse.

(01-24-2015 10:56 AM)rayEMU Wrote:  I know nothing of drake/Davis, but I can see what Bob is saying. Assistants routinely lead the recruiting legwork wise. That is how Murphy got so many transfers the moment he was named emu coach- he was the one with relationships with these guys. The head coach probably provides direction and final say. So I can see what Sam is saying that maybe the integrity could have been Old Tom's direction... Or not... Or some blend of the two.

All I can say is that Keno is doing a great job for CMU- which is good for the MAC. It got them one more big ten win. The downside, is that EMU has to play them on the road today. But I think they will pull this out. CMU is going to have their head in the clouds after the buffalo win.

Go EMU!!!

All great points Ray. I too root for ALL MAC team's success whether it is Ohio or Akron or CMU or WMU or Northern Illinois in football, I am a MAC guy all the way.

With regards to Keno at Drake, another analogy might be Brian Dutcher at Michigan and now San Diego State with Steve Fisher. Great assistants and recruiting wizzes are really, really important.

I see this game going two ways.

1. Blow out by CMU
2. Close win by EMU

Let's hope for option #2