Eyes of the Enemy: Eastern Michigan Q&A With Hustle Belt
A big thanks to Alexander Alvarado the Eastern Michigan correspondent for Hustle Belt, for answering our questions about today’s match up with the Eagles. Be sure to check out the awesome MAC coverage at Hustle Belt.
EMU was a tournament team a year ago, what is the same and what is different about this year’s edition of the Eagles?
The defensive mindset of this team is still the same as it’s ever been. It looks different without MAC defensive player of the year Da’Shonte Riley and Glenn Bryant, but that doesn’t make scoring on its 2–3 zone any easier. Some of the players like Anali Okoloji (say that ten times fast) and Jodan Price. We’ve also got our top three returning scorers from last season in Karrington Ward, Raven Lee and Mike Talley all back on the team. We’re already confident enough in our defense, but we need to put points on the board, and we ought to be more threatening on that end of the floor than last season.
I’ll be really happy when this tournament is over so I don’t have to type “Ypsilanti” anymore. Tell us a little bit about the town and the basketball community. Really it just sounds cold…
You hear bad stuff about Ypsi a lot. Gun shots, crime, assault, just lots of bad negativity. I absolutely love Ypsi. Fun bars, very diverse group of people in terms of race, class, religion, political views, and just a ton of variety in the smaller community. If you’re going to Ypsi for one day and you need to eat or want to get a drink, go to Sidetrack. Doesn’t matter what time or for how long, just go there.
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Basketball, it’s tough. Tough because it should be a huge deal. Basketball fans are everywhere, but everybody’s butts are at home and not in the seats of The Convo. We hosted a first-round postseason tourney game last year and less than 400 people showed up (http://www.hustlebelt.com/2014/3/18/5524450/emu-students-should-stop-being-so-damn-lame). Do people care? Yes. Just attendance is an issue, but I’m going to be an optimist with the way Rob Murphy bringing this program back to life.
I saw a video of the EMU football team really struggling to take down some concrete bricks with a sledgehammer for an entrance to a game. Does the basketball team also do construction and/or demolition before their games?
Hell no. Rob Murphy’s a rapper. The only demos these guys are doing is recording their freestyles. (homage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQyvHRIC3e0)
EMU comes into this tournament 2–0 with wins over Oakland and a non-Division I opponent. Both games were 12 points wins, what are your key takeaways from those two contests?
(Well, I’ll answer for 3–0 for timeliness)
Honestly, these are expected. I see the games have been closer, which is scary, but the true exposure games will come next month when we have to go to Dayton. Right now, this group has to really build chemistry in the games. That’ll be most important to improve on throughout the season.
What are your predictions and expectations for EMU in this tournament? What’s your prediction for Sunday afternoon?
EMU ought to finish this thing without a loss. As long as Karrington Ward never gets injured, I’m more than confident in Murphy’s team to not spoil the EMU Showcase. Let’s say 74–62 over the Lancers.
