Michigan vs EMU Snowflakes Thread
November 11th, 2022 at 11:42 PM ^
Turns out Emoni Bates doesn't suck
November 12th, 2022 at 2:05 AM ^
Honestly wouldn't have minded seeing him on the other team tonight...
November 12th, 2022 at 7:19 AM ^
Maybe I'm the outlier, Emoni Bates is good, and has a ton of potential, but what he does, and the shots he takes are not sustainable. He took a ton of questionable shots, that happened to go in. He reminds me of Johnny Juzang. That kid had an unbelievable tournament and couldn't follow that up the next season. I mean just because those shots went in, doesn't necessarily mean they were good shots. Let's see if he can stack games before we start slotting him in the next lottery. He wasn't a coaches decision DNP the previous game for no reason.
November 12th, 2022 at 7:28 AM ^
THIS. I could see him causing the team to implode. He had a great game and seemed to do better with the team concept. That said, anyone can hide their true self for about three months. I wouldn’t be surprised to see ballhog Emoni show back up in Jan-feb. I like the choices Juwan made.
November 12th, 2022 at 7:44 AM ^
I’m no Emoni Bates apologist, but I saw him chasing down loose balls, putting back teammates’ misses, passing off too-contested shots, helping Llewellyn off the floor and playing decent defense, in addition to being a scoring alpha (with Farrakhan as a talented #2). Definitely a possession finisher, but that performance did not scream “ball hog” to me. It did say “EMU looks likes a tournament team with a hometown star.”
November 12th, 2022 at 7:58 AM ^
For now
November 12th, 2022 at 8:52 AM ^
But can he do that over the season before he burns out?
November 12th, 2022 at 9:20 AM ^
Bates played fantastic last night. He also made a lot of shots that I don't think he's going to continue to make at a 70% clip. I saw him passing off the ball to open guys also. The question that remains to be seen is whether he is actually that good, or if he went off because he was playing against Michigan after likely being told "no thanks" in the off-season. Either way he was a really fun player to watch last night if not for the fact that his success was coming against Michigan.
November 12th, 2022 at 11:20 AM ^
I'm with you Joby. I think a lot of these comments are just sour grapes. Kid is 18 years old and it sounds like his home life has been a bit tumoltuous. I'm happy we won and I'm happy he balled out. I hope he helps them win the MAC and ends up having a good life. No reason to bury a kid b/c of family drama.
November 12th, 2022 at 11:24 AM ^
scoring alpha? You're ridiculous. One big hometown game against a ranked opponent (who BTW, only made 62% of their FTs), and now EMU is a tournament team? LMAO
November 12th, 2022 at 12:55 PM ^
EMUB will make the tournament with room to spare.
November 12th, 2022 at 8:57 AM ^
He belongs right where he is: a Hail Mary on a bad team. Put that game on a good college team and it’s more a disruption than an asset. Will probably be just fine in the Association.
November 12th, 2022 at 9:43 AM ^
You actually know nothing about BASKETBALL!!!
November 12th, 2022 at 12:42 PM ^
He reminds me of Ja Morant. High volume guy, nice athleticism. Not a fan of the constant trash talking. Deserved a technical on that yesterday. But overall good player. Eastern could be a sneaky good team. They gave us a battle.
November 12th, 2022 at 7:49 AM ^
Brings huge energy and lifts his team up. Impressive.
November 12th, 2022 at 11:20 AM ^
I agree, he certainly does not suck. For me, the jury is still out on him. Last night was the 1st time I've really seen him play. He looked good. Good energy. He did seem like at least a reasonable team player last night. I also agree with others that several of the shots he made last night will likely not be consistent makes going forward. Obviously it was a big game for him given his background. It will be interesting to see how the season goes for him. Not hating.
November 11th, 2022 at 11:42 PM ^
Emoni Bates is good at basketball. Thank god we won.
November 12th, 2022 at 9:44 AM ^
This. And oh yeah he just became draft eligible in a sport other than baseball, hockey, and pickleball.
November 12th, 2022 at 11:29 AM ^
Yes. You can really tell a lot about people by how they react when the evidence in front of them contradicts their prejudices. Are they capable of acknowledging it? Guy had a pleasant demeanor, played within himself and the team concept, and showed he's really, really talented. People saying, "Yeah, but can he do it again?". . . kinda missing the fact that he's been hitting shots forever; he showed the other necessary traits last night.
Jealousy, prejudice, whatever. . . when people just emanate hostility over a kid. . . messy. Doesn't matter, though. He's going to get his chance to play in the NBA, starting next year.
November 12th, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
I thought the kid played great and EMU should make some noise in the MAC as well as make the tourney. I watched this same EMU team play WMU here in Kalamazoo last year and I can tell you this is a much different EMU team.
Regarding Emoni, I'm not sure I would go as far as saying "Pleasant Demeanor" however. I saw immaturity and an inability to express himself in a "Pleasant" manner. You saw his in your face yelling and little dance moves. He appeared to be giving Jett two thumbs up after a big dunk, really wanting to express himself but I thought it was just dumb. I can see why some may not be fully on the Emoni Bates wagon at this point.
I really like Emoni as a player and I want to see him succeed but he has some growing up to do. Then again, I will admit that I am Get Off My Lawn Guy when it comes to celebrations/trash talk. I much prefer celebrating with your teammates vs. getting in the competition's face. Michigan was clearly motivating Emoni, he wanted to show Juwan and the rest of UM that he is a player. Can he do this night after night in the MAC? I can absolutely see how someone may ask that question.
November 12th, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^
Nah it’s not get off my lawn stuff, because I’m the same way. The celebrations and trash talking dance shit, is just piss poor sportsmanship. I can never celebrate that look at me garbage. If that means I’m an old get off my lawn type, then so be it, but that garbage is just low class.
November 13th, 2022 at 7:19 AM ^
It's not 'get off my lawn' if you approve; got it! :) Don't, I repeat don't, watch kids play sports, my friend. Because if you think that Emoni's celebrations were "trash talking dance shit" then you won't be happy doing so.
November 11th, 2022 at 11:42 PM ^
I was wondering where this thread was, and was just about to post it.
All Hail Dickinson.
November 11th, 2022 at 11:43 PM ^
I really hope they improve quickly or my decision to go to the game in London is going to look foolhardy.
November 11th, 2022 at 11:53 PM ^
Exactly. Am rethinking whether to go see these guys play UNC next month. Lots of work to do.
Guard play and defense left a lot to be desired tonight. Dug McDaniel played out of control through much of the game. Llewelyn gave some stability late as the man who needs to have the ball down the stretch to score or feed others. Jett Howard was largely a no-show on both ends of the floor.
Hunter was dynamic with a strong second half. But I still think he relies too much on soft serve layups when going stronger would make him more efficient.
Eastern Michigan had an outstanding shooting night and Bates and Farakhan proved a dynamic duo until they ran out of gas late.
November 12th, 2022 at 6:36 AM ^
McDaniel looks like Frankie Collins 2.0. He's going to need a few months to adjust to the college game, but even then he's probably going to be solely a distributor. He needs a ton of work on his finishing - out of control and doesn't know how to use his body.
November 12th, 2022 at 8:23 AM ^
Watching these guys play defense reminded me of my high school coach yelling Move your damn feet!!!!
Go Blue!!!!
November 12th, 2022 at 8:59 AM ^
Oh we got trouble, right here in Motor City. With a capital T and that rhymes with D and that stands for defense - or lack there of.
I get these were two very good guards, but other teams have good guards that can get to the rim as well. The guard defense has to get better if this team is going to be a factor in the Big Ten.
An off night shooting is not that big a deal, bad defense is a real concern.
November 12th, 2022 at 9:45 AM ^
Ever heard of youth and cohesion? Some of these kids were in high school a few months ago!
November 12th, 2022 at 6:50 AM ^
I will be over there for work and will be going! Should be a great game. I don’t see Kentucky containing Hunter.
November 12th, 2022 at 7:50 AM ^
They're "saving things" for MSU.
November 11th, 2022 at 11:47 PM ^
Perfect game to have this early. Tough game, had to come back, not at home, fight through adversity, rely on your point guard to hit some free throws to seal it, made a ton of mistakes but still won.
Would much rather learn from a win than a loss.
And Eastern is going to beat the hell out of some people this year.
November 11th, 2022 at 11:56 PM ^
Maybe. But we like to say this about every team that plays us well. We said the same thing about Bowling Green and they finished 13-18 last year
November 12th, 2022 at 12:01 AM ^
True, but BG didn’t have a player like Bates. I doubt he plays that well every game, but it’s hard to defend step back 3s and long 2s. He made some super tough shots.
November 12th, 2022 at 12:16 AM ^
We didn’t play Bowling Green last year. Do you mean Buffalo?
November 12th, 2022 at 12:22 AM ^
We beat Bates wearing green. That was the dream a few years ago when he was committed elsewhere. While it may not be the same, I celebrated that way anyway :)
November 12th, 2022 at 7:46 AM ^
That version of EMU from last night would upset a lot of good teams. I don't know how often Bates can play like that, but he Farrakhan (sp?) were outstanding. During the game I was thinking they had a couple guys who could probably start for us.
November 12th, 2022 at 11:28 AM ^
So EMU can force teams to go 25-40 from the stripe? EMU is not going to upset any good teams.
November 12th, 2022 at 9:49 AM ^
Great assessment. Some people must have missed that game. Also that was a well coached team. Oh well I've seen and read it all in here when speaking about our team. We were coached well last night also. Adversity is good, especially early on in the season. Lastly, if we make our free-throws it's not even close.
November 11th, 2022 at 11:49 PM ^
This win will help us cause that EMU team is good
November 12th, 2022 at 12:01 AM ^
EMU's next three are @Bradley, @Oakland, and a neutral against the Fort Wayne team Michigan just played. Eastern is a kenpom underdog in all three with 28% as their highest win probability. All three are in the next 10 days. If EMU is actually good, they should be able to win those games. I hope they are, but let's give it a few days to see.
November 12th, 2022 at 12:38 AM ^
What a minute ... are you suggesting taking a reasonable, wait and see approach before making a definitive declaration? I mean, sure, I don't think it's been tried, but why not?
November 12th, 2022 at 1:08 AM ^
At this point, Kenpom probabilities don't mean a whole lot. I'd be pretty surprised if they didn't beat Fort Wayne at the least.
November 12th, 2022 at 9:42 AM ^
Agreed. I think it's tempting to conclude that, even though we struggled, we're just as good as we thought we were but the other team just happened to be better than we thought.
My hunch is that EMU probably isn't that good but we'll see. Our basic strategy on offense seems misguided. Way too much perimeter action. Against a team like EMU, Hunter is our advantage. The ball has to go through Hunter much more. I know he had more shots than anyone else but it should have been even more Hunter-centric. EMU had no answer for Hunter.
Also, our guard defensive play was lacking. We made Farrakhan look like a lottery pick.
November 12th, 2022 at 10:23 AM ^
If they are Vegas underdogs as well I may be placing a few bets.
November 11th, 2022 at 11:50 PM ^
Initial thoughts after watching the first couple games:
1. Freshman are going to do freshman things, it is what it is. Dug and Jett are going to have real highs and real lows.
2. defensive communication seems to be very poor right now, and with michigans lack of ability to stay in front of the ball right now, that is concerning, hope it improves.
3. I like the control Jaelin shows with the basketball in his hands, made some obvious mistakes tonight, but once he adjusts to a new team and role, I think he’ll ultimately be the best of the 3 transfers.
4. Baker had a bad game but has a great stroke, will likely come up with some big shots at some point this year.
5. EMU has a legit nba talent and another all mac player on their team. Not going to be a world beater, but basketball is not football, you can’t just impose your will on a lesser opponent.
6. looking in the game threads, we have some fans that I don’t think ever played the game or really understand it all that much.
November 11th, 2022 at 11:52 PM ^
Dickinson was money in the 2nd Half, but most impressed w T-Will who kept us in the game when EMU was sticking it to us.
Good grind it out win. Go Blue!!!
November 11th, 2022 at 11:53 PM ^
Dickinson is who we thought he was: a dude.
Bufkin seems like a solid support piece, but won't take over offensively as some of us may have expected or hoped. Seems to lack the quickness to beat his man off the dribble so far.
I think Jett will be option #2 most nights. He seems the most well rounded offensively after Dickinson
Great game from TWill.
Defense was really really bad with a lot of communication issues. Eastern did hit some crazy shots, but usually sliced and diced their way to the rim.
Young team with a lot of room for improvement. Great to see the vets step up today when the young bloods were making some mistakes. Go blue!
November 11th, 2022 at 11:54 PM ^
This team is Hunter Dickinson hitting shots down low, then hoping the rest of the players scrape enough points to win the game….this is Big Dicks team, and everyone else is along for the ride.
November 11th, 2022 at 11:54 PM ^
Won the game AND scored 88 points…while missing 16 3-pointers and 15 FTs. That’s pretty insane. The team will improve. Plus, I loved Beilein too…he WAS amazing, but he’s gone. Remember 2014-15 (wasn’t a COVID year). Lost to NJIT!!!
It’s basketball, not football. Win, and get better/chemistry. We faced a team with great individual efforts and won. we’ll improve. Enjoy the process. Michigan is the consistent B1G performer in the tournament and that’s not changing soon!