Scouting
the Eastern Michigan University Eagles:
Location:
Ypsilanti, MI
Head Coach:
Charles E. Ramsey, 2nd year head coach, record at EMU: 8-23
Conference:
Mid-American Conference
2005-2006
Record: 7-21
2006-2007
Record: 1-2
Interesting
Notes: EMU is home to former Marquette player James Matthews who is sitting
out the first semester this year due to academic issues.
Pre-game Quotes
Head Coach Tom Crean:
On Eastern Michigan as a
“trap game”:
“It’s very important that we come out tomorrow totally focused on Eastern
Michigan, totally focused on playing better in the afternoon, totally focused on
what we have to do to win and be successful. And then take off and leave for
Kansas City and
deal with that when we get there, and hopefully we’ll do that, it’s a sign of
maturity versus immaturity.”
On Eastern Michigan:
“EMU is a formidable foe, they’re good, they have excellent guards, I
mean quick athletic, they’re forcing 23 turnovers a game, their big players are
solid around the basket and very good shooting the ball on the outside, it’s a
big game”
“Outside of a win, we’re looking for better execution, a continued
mindset of rebounding the ball, good pressure defense, I think really low
turnovers, and we have to understand that we can’t win without a high amount of
turnovers, and we’re playing against a team that forces quite a few turnovers, I
think to keep our running game going , and really just come in and have a lift
from the bench every time, we want to have energy givers when they come in the
game, not energy takers, there’s a big difference. To me, I thought we got better at that
the past week. We haven’t added
many things, we’re just trying to refine what we’re doing and go from
there.”
Jerel McNeal:
On Eastern Michigan:
“We just got done watching a little bit of film on them, they’re a real
quick and athletic team with some good big guys that can shoot the ball well, so
we’re just going to be looking for a lot of pick and pops from these guys and
they’re a pretty athletic team, defensively they force a lot of turnovers, if
we’re smart and take care of the ball and we build on our defense, then we’ll be
fine.”
On Eastern Michigan as a trap game:
“This is the time right now before going into KC, that we really need to
build our maturity, we can’t overlook any team. We don’t want to slip up going into the
situation we’re going into here.”
Dominic James:
On Eastern Michigan:
“Eastern Michigan is a very active team,
they’re very athletic, they like to get up and down the court, so we just have
to come in prepared with the same mindset that we’ve had in previous games, so
we definitely have to be ready for a dog fight because we need to try to get a
win.”
Eastern Michigan Probable Starting
Line-up:
Guard: #3, Carlos Medlock: 6’0” junior from Detroit, MI, named MAC Western Division Player of
the Week for the first week of the season, averaging 14.7 ppg, 4.6 spg, and 4.0
apg in the ’06-’07 season, is probably the best player on EMU and will be
counted on to do the bulk of their scoring, expect to see McNeal or James
matched up against him.
Guard: #23, Jesse
Bunkley: 6’5” junior from Detroit, MI, averaging 10.0 ppg, and 2.6 apg in
the ’06-’07 season, is the 3-point shooting specialist for the Eagles having
started the season 9 for 21 from beyond the arc for a 3-point field goal
percentage of 42%, will be counted on heavily to make 3’s off of pick and
pops
Forward: #33,
Brandon Bowdry: 6’6” freshman from Taylor, MI,
averaging 3.7 ppg and 3.7 rpg on 31.2% shooting, will most likely be matched up
with Matthews
Forward: #0,
Nenad Banjanin: 6’7” junior from Belgrade, Serbia, averaging 5.0 ppg and 5.3
rpg, has an astounding 13 turnovers in 3 games, will most likely be matched up
with Lott
Center: #34, Kyle Dodd: 6’11” freshman from Rockwood, Ontario, averaging 5.3 ppg and 3.0 ppg, will
most likely be matched up with Barro.
**Andrew Phillips is a senior majoring in Political Science and is also a member of the Marquette Band!