Wish EMU players would set picks on Emoni's defender as that would allow him to shoot three's from closer to the three-point line. Also, EMU should have had him set picks so he could get the pass back from
player he set the pick for.

An open question is whether any team can win with Emoni given he dominates the ball and commits excessive
turnovers at times. He sure needs to alter his game. As Ramy accurately pointed -out, Emoni shouldn't be taking the most fga's when he's shooting at a low-shooting percentage.

He can't keep launching contested three's from way out. Yesterday, a new element entered as most of his three-balls went left on the hoop.

Also, his driving and charging into defenders is an indication he just decides to go and doesn't look to see what awaits him.

Good posts from Luckey, Splaining, Steve, and Miggy above. My thoughts on the double teams are that the basketball court is very small. A player can help on Emoni or TyCuff or whoever, and recover back on their primary when the ball is passed out. It is usually only a momentary disruption. But I think part of what Luckey is saying is: if the player gets double teamed, then passes out (minor disruption to the defense), and then cuts or moves around (another minor disruption to the defense). So now the defense is dealing with two minor disruptions they need to recover from and there is a compounded effect. Dare I say if a third offensive player cuts or gets the ball rotated to them, now we are talking a third minor disruption and defensive chaos starts brewing and players get easy shots. That is how I understand what Luckey is saying- perhaps I am misunderstanding.

This Pro style offense is way too stationary and is best suited to the pros in which every player at every position is fully developed and at an elite skill set. That is not the case in college in general, and definitely not this EMU team. That is my opinion now, not necessarily Luckey’s. I think Coach Heath is a good coach, just needs to revisit his current approach for next year if we get all this college level talent back, and some minor developments in our frontcourt players.

(02-15-2023 09:53 AM)Miggy Wrote:  An open question is whether any team can win with Emoni given he dominates the ball and commits excessive
turnovers at times. He sure needs to alter his game. As Ramy accurately pointed -out, Emoni shouldn't be taking the most fga's when he's shooting at a low-shooting percentage.

He can't keep launching contested three's from way out. Yesterday, a new element entered as most of his three-balls went left on the hoop.

Also, his driving and charging into defenders is an indication he just decides to go and doesn't look to see what awaits him.

To be clear, I don’t think Emoni dominates the ball. I do think the shots should be closer to evenly distributed at about 25% for each of our big 3. And 25% for the rest of the team. I think TyCuff should shoot a little more then his 22%, and Emoni a little less then his 31%. But some of that was because TyCuff had a slow start shooting this year, and Noah was kind of up and down this year. So Emoni ended up taking more shots.

But if I ruled the world, I would like to see Noah taking only only 20% of the shots (instead of his current 25%) and acting more like a traditional primary PG. And Emoni and TyCuff and Other are primary scoring options for him to distribute to. Just my thoughts on the matter, I really don’t know the best approach. But when people say we need a true point guard, I think we might already have one.

(02-15-2023 09:41 AM)Miggy Wrote:  

(02-15-2023 08:26 AM)emu steve Wrote:  And if Emoni leaves, Acuff's PPG goes down, not up, next year.

Even if Emoni leaves and EMU's opponents concentrate on Acuff more, such will not likely effect Acuff!s point production as he'll be taking some of Emoni's fga's. Moreover, Acuff can score from anywhere on the court and will likely still be able to create space to find his shot.

Frankly if Acuff and Noah return we have enough firepower. No we don't have a true point guard and leader on this team. A point guard who can break down the defense and play defense on the outside and a big who can defend the rim and rebound would improve the team. We could go with a three guard offense. Scoring at the forward spot might need to be improved.

(02-15-2023 10:15 AM)RamyEMU Wrote:  

(02-15-2023 09:53 AM)Miggy Wrote:  An open question is whether any team can win with Emoni given he dominates the ball and commits excessive
turnovers at times. He sure needs to alter his game. As Ramy accurately pointed -out, Emoni shouldn't be taking the most fga's when he's shooting at a low-shooting percentage.

He can't keep launching contested three's from way out. Yesterday, a new element entered as most of his three-balls went left on the hoop.

Also, his driving and charging into defenders is an indication he just decides to go and doesn't look to see what awaits him.

To be clear, I don’t think Emoni dominates the ball. I do think the shots should be closer to evenly distributed at about 25% for each of our big 3. And 25% for the rest of the team. I think TyCuff should shoot a little more then his 22%, and Emoni a little less then his 31%. But some of that was because TyCuff had a slow start shooting this year, and Noah was kind of up and down this year. So Emoni ended up taking more shots.

But if I ruled the world, I would like to see Noah taking only only 20% of the shots (instead of his current 25%) and acting more like a traditional primary PG. And Emoni and TyCuff and Other are primary scoring options for him to distribute to. Just my thoughts on the matter, I really don’t know the best approach. But when people say we need a true point guard, I think we might already have one.

Have always believed that player who's shooting well should shoot more.

Last night, many good EMU passes were being made to players who didn't finish. See that often.

(02-15-2023 04:10 AM)emu79 Wrote:  

(02-14-2023 11:24 PM)RamyEMU Wrote:  Reposting this here, since a more fitting thread then the game week…

Following up a 2-17 shooting performance with a marginally better 3-13 performance just nosedived Emoni’s draft stock. We might get a do over year with him. Which I would be ecstatic with if it happens.

Adding…

Emoni has developed his defense tremendously over the course of the season. I know most don’t recognize it. But he keeps his man in front of him better then anyone on else on the team (I know, not saying much). To a much, much lesser extent, he has been improving anticipating his opponents moves in defending the post (was non-existent for him at the beginning of the season). Couple the defensive improvement with expanding his repertoire of scoring options to include nice drives, and he was heading for late first round as many analysts started predicting. Which would have been the smart move for him to take.

But these last two games were clearly his worst stretch offensively all season. 5-30 shooting with 9 turnovers over the two games. This will definitely hurt his stock. If he slips to projected second rounder (or worse), then it makes sense for him to come back for another year to try and get back to the first round. I am bummed for Emoni Bates, but excstatic fof EMU basketball if this happens.

6-20. Hope he goes pro. Time to shuffle the deck.

I think leaving would be best for him as well.

He is a freaking tremendous shooter when open. Lucky makes a great point, Stan has done little to exploit this except give him an unlimited green light to launch threes. No off-ball screens and little movement like Lucky elucidated.

He definitely needs to bulk up, but he still has the same thin body he played at Memphis with. Is another year at EMU suddenly going to get him into the weight room? Not likely, based on history.

His ball handling skills clearly are wanting, and he struggles to create space to launch his long ball game. I've seen no improvement on either this season.

At the end of the day, the Emoni who electrified us vs. U-M has not elevated his game one scintilla while at EMU. The blame for such might rest with Coach Heath, Bates' receptiveness to coaching or a combination of both. Nevertheless, having him back for another year under Stan and hoping for a different result would be specious at best.

We so wanted Emoni to be the next Kevin Durant or Magic Johnson and he clearly is not. Lottery pick? That is laughable. He did, however, dramatically increase interest in our Basketball program, and deserves our thanks for that. I just don't see any advantage for him to stay at EMU for another year, he will most likely be the same player just one year older.

Jerry, this is by no means a Wrath of Fanboy response ( ), but a genuine rebuttal or differing perspective.

Not sure Emoni Bates offense has improved over the course of the year- seems like there was always an ebb and flow but overall high. However, his overall game has certainly improved over the course of the season. Honestly I think he has become the best defender on the team (I agree 79, not saying much. Deck chair on the titanic and all). If you overlook the occasional missed run out on an open three point shooter (a problem which every player on this team has, except maybe Noah), he always keeps his man in front of him (only player on the team I can say that for). I don’t think he was like that at the beginning of the season. This is mostly an eye ball assessment, as some of you like to say. But have some stats below to verify.

Non-Conference to Conference
0.3 to 0.6 bpg
0 .5 to 1 spg
1.2 to 2 apg

From a value to Emoni Bates standpoint, I think staying one more year and continuing to improve his overall game as well as his offensive consistency almost certainly won’t make him a lottery pick still but might put him back in the first round. Or it won’t. But the late season drop off he had these last two games, is likely to really hurt his current standing with regard to the draft. So now worth it for him to stay from a risk/reward standpoint.

From a value to EMU basketball standpoint, there has always been a big schism on this board with regards to Emoni Bates. Some think it is an incredible value others an incredible distraction. Don’t think I am going to get you to see what I see and vice versa. But I do see the value of ALL these guys coming back next year now that they have had a season to both develop and gel. A big part of that is I can’t imagine anyone of value wanting to come to this program after a season like this… reshuffling the deck now might just be change for the sake of change, imho. But I understand your sentiment.