(04-02-2023 02:12 PM)Luckeyone Wrote:  I’m not sure if you’ve noticed during the final 4, but the strength of all of the players at all positions. The Florida Atlantic and SDSU guards were pretty thick. I don’t want to be negative about our guards but I’ll just add do we have an off season weight training program for EMU basketball? Or do we just run the weight training video in September going thru the motions lifting a few weights and then posting it online? Culture is incredibly important when building a successful team, business etc and I didn’t see any physical growth from the returning players. Certainly our backcourt has professional potential but which league they play could be determined by their physical attributes.

What I see is just a plain lack of effort, athleticism and aggression from the entire EMU roster, sans Lovejoy.

When a shot is missed, I see other NCAA teams crash the boards, tip the ball and scurry for any possession, we do not with the exception of the last two minutes of the CMU and UDM games. 50/50 balls on deflections and such are 85/15 in favor of our opponents. I question why. Are we just lead footed and unathletic or do we just plain lack hustle? We have a rock-solid lock on being the absolute worst defensive and rebounding team in the MAC. Both require athleticism but more importantly, perspiration. I know Coach Miggs might disagree with this, but I would welcome more personal fouls committed from aggressive play than we do now. None of our Bigs play a ton of minutes, I would not mind seeing one of them in foul trouble, if they were actually contesting rebounds. Just my opinion.

Twitter is having fun this a.m.
https://twitter.com/SSN_EMU/status/16428...53920?s=20

Some think I have a vivid imagination, but I can't top this one...

Fred Hoiberg would be high on my list to hire when he’s canned at Nebraska

https://news.google.com/articles/CBMinwF...id=US%3Aen

(04-03-2023 07:21 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Twitter is having fun this a.m.
https://twitter.com/SSN_EMU/status/16428...53920?s=20

Some think I have a vivid imagination, but I can't top this one...

I would suddenly become a Hunter Dickinson fan--which I never thought could be possible.

Dear Bob,
Well you do not have to worry about that any more. I would have been with you on that. HA-HA.

I am not sure the program is moving forward.

(05-05-2023 09:32 AM)emu79 Wrote:  I am not sure the program is moving forward.

Can't answer the question until we see the 2023/24 roster.

This isn't the 90s where by mid-April all the ducks were in a row and we pretty much knew what to expect.

Now mid-April: IDK.

(05-05-2023 09:49 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(05-05-2023 09:32 AM)emu79 Wrote:  I am not sure the program is moving forward.

Can't answer the question until we see the 2023/24 roster.

This isn't the 90s where by mid-April all the ducks were in a row and we pretty much knew what to expect.

Now mid-April: IDK.

The first two years has not been encouraging

Interesting that Ali Ali transferred from Akron to Butler last season and is now transferring back to Akron for this season .

(05-06-2023 09:42 AM)Luckeyone Wrote:  Interesting that Ali Ali transferred from Akron to Butler last season and is now transferring back to Akron for this season .

Wow! Ali is a great player. Butler was not good for Ty Groce either.

(05-06-2023 06:44 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  

(05-06-2023 09:42 AM)Luckeyone Wrote:  Interesting that Ali Ali transferred from Akron to Butler last season and is now transferring back to Akron for this season .

Wow! Ali is a great player. Butler was not good for Ty Groce either.

Maybe the grass wasn't greener after all.

(04-02-2023 06:48 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  

(04-02-2023 02:12 PM)Luckeyone Wrote:  I’m not sure if you’ve noticed during the final 4, but the strength of all of the players at all positions. The Florida Atlantic and SDSU guards were pretty thick. I don’t want to be negative about our guards but I’ll just add do we have an off season weight training program for EMU basketball? Or do we just run the weight training video in September going thru the motions lifting a few weights and then posting it online? Culture is incredibly important when building a successful team, business etc and I didn’t see any physical growth from the returning players. Certainly our backcourt has professional potential but which league they play could be determined by their physical attributes.

What I see is just a plain lack of effort, athleticism and aggression from the entire EMU roster, sans Lovejoy.

When a shot is missed, I see other NCAA teams crash the boards, tip the ball and scurry for any possession, we do not with the exception of the last two minutes of the CMU and UDM games. 50/50 balls on deflections and such are 85/15 in favor of our opponents. I question why. Are we just lead footed and unathletic or do we just plain lack hustle? We have a rock-solid lock on being the absolute worst defensive and rebounding team in the MAC. Both require athleticism but more importantly, perspiration. I know Coach Miggs might disagree with this, but I would welcome more personal fouls committed from aggressive play than we do now. None of our Bigs play a ton of minutes, I would not mind seeing one of them in foul trouble, if they were actually contesting rebounds. Just my opinion.

I like aggressiveness on defense as much as anyone. Would love to see EMU players deny good shooters the ball or at least get in their grill. They don't do either. Instead they do ineffective close-outs in which the shooter has a clear view of the hoop. If they think more they could foul less by following the defensive rule of making opponents take a bad shot. But they don't seem to be thinking of that when they stupidly foul a shooter thanking a low-percentage shot.

I also didn't like watching Lovejoy repeatedly commit ticky-tac touch fouls when his opponent was dribbling across the court. He needs to keep his hands off the guy he's guarding when they're dribbling. That set-up opponents for going to the foul-line to shoot one and one's. It's far better allowing a player to take a jump shot that he'll usually convert at 50 percent or less, than to send the shooter to the foul-line where the likelihood is that he'll shoot 70-percent plus.

EMU has a lot of statistical hurdles to overcome. As EMU trailed it's opponents in every statistical category this past season.

(07-06-2023 04:03 PM)Miggy Wrote:  EMU has a lot of statistical hurdles to overcome. As EMU trailed it's opponents in every statistical category this past season.

The loss of scorers who departed is scary.

(07-06-2023 04:10 PM)emu79 Wrote:  

(07-06-2023 04:03 PM)Miggy Wrote:  EMU has a lot of statistical hurdles to overcome. As EMU trailed it's opponents in every statistical category this past season.

The loss of scorers who departed is scary.

No loss on the defense though.

(07-06-2023 05:06 PM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(07-06-2023 04:10 PM)emu79 Wrote:  

(07-06-2023 04:03 PM)Miggy Wrote:  EMU has a lot of statistical hurdles to overcome. As EMU trailed it's opponents in every statistical category this past season.

The loss of scorers who departed is scary.

No loss on the defense though.

Good points.

EMU needs to improve both it's offense and defense. May be difficult doing given there so many new and inexperienced players, and Noah, Golson, and Bates having all departed. Bates dominating the ball will
not be missed, but it remains to be see if the team meshes as a team.

The offense still has Acuff and Lovejoy returning who are both good players. Lovejoy will take some of Noah's minutes. Acuff should be taking some of Bates shots and that's a good thing. With Acuff, Rice, Pranger, and Osojnik all being able to shoot well on two's and three's that bodes well if the team meshes.

EMU had one of the worse defenses in Div I last season. Heath has got to commit to having his players stopthe three-ball and defending the rim. Want to see perimeter defenders get into the grill of opponents and not engage in close-outs. Dislike seeing EMU's guards trying to help-out inside when they rarely do.

Want to see EMU bigs guarding the rim rather than straying to the foul-line to guard opponents, and thus leave the rim unguarded.

Rice should be taking some of Noah's minutes and should jump from averaging 15 mpg to close to 25-30 mpg.

Rice is another player who should have taken a lot of Bates shots as he shot 56 percent on two's and 35 percent on three's in MAC play compared to Bates shooting 44 percent on 2's and 28 percent on three's. Can't have him disappearing in games as he did last season. Bates being gone will allow him to shoot more.

Osojnik should be a positive force and he needs to be able to take some of Noah's minutes. He averaged just 9-ppg last season, but shot well when he did shoot.

Pranger should be taking some of Bates and Golson minutes. He needs to match Golson's shooting percentages of 47 percent on two's and 33 percent on three's in conference play. He can shoot the three-ball and drive to the hoop. He also appears to have a high bb IQ.

In the few minutes Pranger played last season, by far he had EMU's best defensive stats. Hope that bodes well for this season. Being 6'9," he should be a far better defender than either Golson or Bates playing both inside and on the perimeter. He also showed some ability to garner steals.

If EMU is to be competitive- Billingsley, Randle, and Geeter will all have to step-up their games this up-coming season. Billingsley shot particularly well on 2n!s and 3's last season. Hope he sans some of Bates minutes.all three were terrible on defense last season, but that may be more of a reflection of Heath's poor defensive schemes.

It shouldn't take us long to access the team's potential and the sill-sets of the new players.

Awesome analysis Miggy but I see the current roster winning 5-10 games next season.

(07-06-2023 08:56 PM)Miggy Wrote:  

(07-06-2023 05:06 PM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(07-06-2023 04:10 PM)emu79 Wrote:  

(07-06-2023 04:03 PM)Miggy Wrote:  EMU has a lot of statistical hurdles to overcome. As EMU trailed it's opponents in every statistical category this past season.

The loss of scorers who departed is scary.

No loss on the defense though.

Good points.

EMU needs to improve both it's offense and defense. May be difficult doing given there so many new and inexperienced players, and Noah, Golson, and Bates having all departed. Bates dominating the ball will
not be missed, but it remains to be see if the team meshes as a team.

The offense still has Acuff and Lovejoy returning who are both good players. Lovejoy will take some of Noah's minutes. Acuff should be taking some of Bates shots and that's a good thing. With Acuff, Rice, Pranger, and Osojnik all being able to shoot well on two's and three's that bodes well if the team meshes.

EMU had one of the worse defenses in Div I last season. Heath has got to commit to having his players stopthe three-ball and defending the rim. Want to see perimeter defenders get into the grill of opponents and not engage in close-outs. Dislike seeing EMU's guards trying to help-out inside when they rarely do.

Want to see EMU bigs guarding the rim rather than straying to the foul-line to guard opponents, and thus leave the rim unguarded.

Rice should be taking some of Noah's minutes and should jump from averaging 15 mpg to close to 25-30 mpg.

Rice is another player who should have taken a lot of Bates shots as he shot 56 percent on two's and 35 percent on three's in MAC play compared to Bates shooting 44 percent on 2's and 28 percent on three's. Can't have him disappearing in games as he did last season. Bates being gone will allow him to shoot more.

Osojnik should be a positive force and he needs to be able to take some of Noah's minutes. He averaged just 9-ppg last season, but shot well when he did shoot.

Pranger should be taking some of Bates and Golson minutes. He needs to match Golson's shooting percentages of 47 percent on two's and 33 percent on three's in conference play. He can shoot the three-ball and drive to the hoop. He also appears to have a high bb IQ.

In the few minutes Pranger played last season, by far he had EMU's best defensive stats. Hope that bodes well for this season. Being 6'9," he should be a far better defender than either Golson or Bates playing both inside and on the perimeter. He also showed some ability to garner steals.

If EMU is to be competitive- Billingsley, Randle, and Geeter will all have to step-up their games this up-coming season. Billingsley shot particularly well on 2n!s and 3's last season. Hope he sans some of Bates minutes.all three were terrible on defense last season, but that may be more of a reflection of Heath's poor defensive schemes.

It shouldn't take us long to access the team's potential and the sill-sets of the new players.

Miggs, I love you man.

That being said, I watch the games and Pranger played just one last year, the exhibition versus Wayne St. He looked incredibly lost, his stat steals were collections of deflected passes from others, and he appeared to be out of place even against a glorified HS team.

Heath might be able to improve him, but that kid just looked pitiful.

(07-07-2023 06:08 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  

(07-06-2023 08:56 PM)Miggy Wrote:  

(07-06-2023 05:06 PM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(07-06-2023 04:10 PM)emu79 Wrote:  

(07-06-2023 04:03 PM)Miggy Wrote:  EMU has a lot of statistical hurdles to overcome. As EMU trailed it's opponents in every statistical category this past season.

The loss of scorers who departed is scary.

No loss on the defense though.

Good points.

EMU needs to improve both it's offense and defense. May be difficult doing given there so many new and inexperienced players, and Noah, Golson, and Bates having all departed. Bates dominating the ball will
not be missed, but it remains to be see if the team meshes as a team.

The offense still has Acuff and Lovejoy returning who are both good players. Lovejoy will take some of Noah's minutes. Acuff should be taking some of Bates shots and that's a good thing. With Acuff, Rice, Pranger, and Osojnik all being able to shoot well on two's and three's that bodes well if the team meshes.

EMU had one of the worse defenses in Div I last season. Heath has got to commit to having his players stop the three-ball and defending the rim. Want to see perimeter defenders get into the grill of opponents and not engage in close-outs. Dislike seeing EMU's guards trying to help-out inside when they rarely do.

Want to see EMU bigs guarding the rim rather than straying to the foul-line to guard opponents, and thus leave the rim unguarded.

Rice should be taking some of Noah's minutes and should jump from averaging 15 mpg to close to 25-30 mpg.

Rice is another player who should have taken a lot of Bates shots as he shot 56 percent on two's and 35 percent on three's in MAC play compared to Bates shooting 44 percent on 2's and 28 percent on three's. Can't have him disappearing in games as he did last season. Bates being gone will allow him to shoot more.

Osojnik should be a positive force and he needs to be able to take some of Noah's minutes. He averaged just 9-ppg last season, but shot well when he did shoot.

Pranger should be taking some of Bates and Golson minutes. He needs to match Golson's shooting percentages of 47 percent on two's and 33 percent on three's in conference play. He can shoot the three-ball and drive to the hoop. He also appears to have a high bb IQ.

In the few minutes Pranger played last season, by far he had EMU's best defensive stats. Hope that bodes well for this season. Being 6'9," he should be a far better defender than either Golson or Bates playing both inside and on the perimeter. He also showed some ability to garner steals.

If EMU is to be competitive- Billingsley, Randle, and Geeter will all have to step-up their games this up-coming season. Billingsley shot particularly well on 2n!s and 3's last season. Hope he sans some of Bates minutes.all three were terrible on defense last season, but that may be more of a reflection of Heath's poor defensive schemes.

It shouldn't take us long to access the team's potential and the sill-sets of the new players.

Miggs, I love you man.

That being said, I watch the games and Pranger played just one last year, the exhibition versus Wayne St. He looked incredibly lost, his stat steals were collections of deflected passes from others, and he appeared to be out of place even against a glorified HS team.

Heath might be able to improve him, but that kid just looked pitiful.

Thanks. I enjoy reading your observations and posts as well.

Pranger did play but 15-minutes last season. He may have looked lost on the court but at least he only had one turnover in 15-minutes which is far better than some of EMU's other players.

I' m relying on my watching his HS highlights videos in which he looked decent, but by definition a highlight tape doesn't reveal many warts in his game.

Heath had some reservation for when Pranger returned from his injury, he was treated as a red-shirt freshmen and didn't play again. This up-coming season he's again listed as a freshmen. We need to see whether he's upped his game.

I'm optimistic almost every pre-season and hopeful that Pranger plays well
as EMU desperately needs someone with his height who can play effectively.

Dear Friends,
I know little of college basketball, but as Coach Heath goes into his third year, he needs to have a winning record. It can just be 16-15. I don't know how many games are played, so that is a hypothetical, but it has to be winning. He has had three years to recruit a team, coach a team, and lead a team.
Compare him to Coach Creighton. In three years he produced a winning record. It wasn't fantastic, but he won one more game then he lost. That's all I expect from Coach Heath.