EASTERN MICHIGAN - 2015-16 Blue Ribbon's Preview

BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS
BACKCOURT     B- 
FRONTCOURT   C 
BENCH/DEPTH C 
INTANGIBLES   B-


LOCATION  Ypsilanti, MI
CONFERENCE   Mid-American (West)
LAST SEASON   21-14 (.600)
CONFERENCE RECORD   8-10 (t-4th)
STARTERS RETURNING/LOST   1/4
NICKNAME   Eagles
COLORS   Dark Green & White
HOMECOURT   Convocation Center (8,824)
COACH   Rob Murphy (Central State [OH] ’96) - since 2011-12
RECORD AT SCHOOL 73-65 (4 years)
CAREER RECORD 73-65 (4 years)
ASSISTANTS
Mike Brown (Wayne State ’02) Kevin Mondro (Detroit ’97) Benny White (Michigan State ’77)
WINS (LAST 5 YRS.)   9-14-16-22-21
RPI (LAST 5 YRS.)   325-244-236-87-148
2014-15 FINISH   Lost in CBI  first round.

When coach Rob Murphy took over Eastern Michigan before the 2011-12 season, he inherited a program that had finished over .500 just once in the previous 11 years.

Murphy has used every recruiting avenue possible to guide EMU to its first consecutive winning seasons — and first back-to-back 20-win seasons — since the late 1990s. His first two years, Murphy grabbed a fistful of high-major transfers who wanted to get back to their Detroit-area roots. Last year, he picked up 3 graduate transfers to shore up his frontcourt. All along, he sprinkled in a few freshmen and junior college transfers as needed.

This time around, though, Murphy intends to play the long game. The roster that you see in 2015-16 could look almost identical to the roster you see in 2016-17, because 6-8 power forward Brandon Nazione (3.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg) is the only senior on scholarship. This plan of attack is deliberate.

Not that Murphy didn’t appreciate what his 3 graduate transfers provided last season, but it’s harder to build something that way.

“I’ve learned that graduate transfers can help you, but maybe not two or three at a time," he said.

With 6 scholarships available for this year’s team, Murphy reached out in every direction except to graduate transfers. He attracted a pair of junior college guards who will play right away in 6-1 junior Willie Mangum and 6-2, 225-pound junior Ty Toney. He recruited 6-9, 235-pound junior college center Lamar Wofford-Humphrey, who will arrive on campus at the semester break and then use his redshirt to preserve two years of eligibility.

He added Binghamton transfer Nick Madray (7.8 ppg), a 6-9, 225-pound stretch forward who shot 36 percent on 3-pointers in two seasons in the America East. He’ll also redshirt and retain two years of eligibility.

Then there are 2 freshmen signees — 6-10 center James Thompson IV and 5-9 point guard LaMonta Stone II (21 ppg, 6 apg, 4 spg) from River Rouge (Mich.) High. They join 6-9 redshirt freshman forward Jordan Nobles in the rookie class.

“This year, I don’t know how good we’ll be,” Murphy said. “After this year, we’ll take off and go where we need to be.”

Murphy might be underselling this season’s team, which is spearheaded by the MAC’s top returning scorer, 6-3 redshirt junior guard Raven Lee (16.7 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.4 spg), who made 70 3-pointers last season. Lee shot 44.3% overall, 36.1% on 3-pointers, 79.5% at the line and ranked second on the team with 50 steals. He enjoyed some ridiculous nights — drilling Ohio for 33 points and Akron for 34 on back-to-back Saturdays in February, but other times his stroke wasn’t there. In EMU’s final five games, he shot just 8 of 35 (.229) from 3-point range. Considering he posted 54 assists against 101 turnovers last season, Lee needs to score big most nights to be of big value.

“If he can stay consistent, he should be the best guard in our conference,” Murphy said. “It’s really hard to stop him. He can score any way imaginable. The only obstacle for Ray Lee is Ray Lee, but he had a really solid summer. He’s continuing to lift and get stronger to deal with the pounding.”

When Raven Lee needs a break — or when coach Rob Murphy wants to have maximum firepower at both wings — Mangum will join the fray. He averaged 20.6 points per game and drilled 100 3-pointers at San Jacinto College last year, which ranked among the top 25 nationally in both categories, but Magnum (3.6 rpg, 3.7 apg) also averaged 18.3 shots per game in order to do it.

“He was a volume scorer at San Jac, so we’ve talked with him about ‘How do you become more e cient,’” Murphy said. “He’s working on that, but he’s a bull. He’s tough. He’s physical. He’ll push Ray to the limit. He’ll be the reason Ray becomes the best guard in the conference.”

Ethan Alvano (3.4 ppg, 1.8 apg), a 6-1 sophomore, will get  rst call at point guard, with Toney backing him up. Alvano started the  rst 17 games last season before hitting the wall and becoming a lightly-used backup in MAC play. He didn’t shoot the ball as hoped (.235 FG, .195 3PT), but Murphy envisions improvement that will align with his other traits.

“He outworked everybody last summer to earn the job,” Murphy said. “He has great ability to be a  oor leader, but can also hit shots. He has a high skill level and a high basketball IQ. He has a bright future.”

Toney (17.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.4 apg) guided Georgia Highlands College to the NJCAA Division I national semifinals — and he put up those numbers while coming off the bench.

“That impressed us,” Murphy said. “He’s not hung up on starting. He’s about doing what he needs to do for the team to win. If he plays to his potential, he’ll make an immediate impact. He’s just a playmaker.”

Tim Bond (6.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.2 apg), a 6-7 sophomore, and 6-8 redshirt junior Jodan Price (4.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 37 of 135 3PT) will compete to replace the graduated Karrington Ward (12.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.3 bpg) at small forward, although Bond has the edge due to his superior versatility. He missed the first 13 games last season with a broken finger on his shooting hand, but Bond rallied to become the team’s fourth-leading scorer.

Price took 135 of his 181 shots from beyond the arc and converted just 27.4 percent, which didn’t re ect his resumé coming out of Detroit Country Day High School that initially earned a scholarship from DePaul.

“Tim [Bond] can do a little bit of everything,” Murphy said. “He makes plays off the bounce. He’s more like a Scottie Pippen-type, a power forward. Jodan is a shooter with a lot of length.”

Nazione gets first call at power forward after starting 10 MAC games there last season. It’s his job to provide the unsung things, though he had a strong summer that could signal an improvement coming on o ense after shooting .396 from the field last season.

“He’s athletic and a dirty-work type,” Murphy said. “He has gotten better offensively, but we really need a rebounder and defender there.”

Murphy expected Thompson, the rookie, to battle Wofford-Humphrey for the starting center job, but Wofford-Humphrey came up one class short academically and needs to earn that credit before joining EMU at the semester break. That leaves Thompson (24 ppg, 15 rpg, 3 bpg in 2013-14), a three-time all-state selection at Parkview Baptist in Baton Rouge, La., as the man in the middle. Thompson spent last year at Reno International School. If he can live up to his billing coming out of high school, the Eagles really landed something.

“He signed with South Carolina out of high school and he was recruited by LSU, Memphis and others,” Murphy said. “He can defend, rebound and  finish.”

Nobles should be the top backup to Nazione and Thompson. He redshirted last season and added nearly 15 pounds of muscle to boost his 6-9 frame to 210 pounds.

“He’s a versatile, skilled and athletic big,” Murphy said. “He has a bright future. That redshirt year will wind up helping him immensely.”

Trent Perry (2.4 ppg), a 6-4 redshirt sophomore, has a shot to earn time at either wing spot. He showed the ability to hit 3-pointers in limited time last season, shooting a team-high 37.1 percent (13 of 35).

“He made a huge improvement in his game,” Murphy said. “He’s just being consistent with his jump shot and his pull-up. Now when he’s open, it goes in.”

Stone’s father, LaMonta, served as an EMU assistant from 2000-02 before moving on to Bowling Green, Ky., then going to River Rouge (Mich.) High School, which is where the younger Stone earned first-team all-state honors from the Detroit News after posting 21 points, 6 assists and 4 steals per game. As the youngest and the smallest of EMU’s point guards, he might have to wait his turn to earn significant minutes.

Eastern Michigan has just 6 eligible scholarship players with Division I experience, so there are going to some hard-knock nights while the Eagles weld the veterans with the hungry junior-college and freshman arrivals. The biggest issues might happen on the defensive end, where EMU has become accustomed to ranking among the national leaders in field-goal defense. Last season was a down year — and the Eagles still shared 10th nationally at 38.6%.

If Eastern Michigan can approach that number, Murphy officially will have undersold his squad.

Lindsey Willhite

EASTERN MICHIGAN EAGLES
STARTERS
0 Raven Lee ** G R-Jr. 6-3 175 Detroit, Mich. / Romulus 
1 Tim Bond * G So. 6-7 160 Baltimore, Md. / City College High School
4 Brandon Nazione * F Sr. 6-8 225 Howell, Mich. / Howell Des Moines Area CC
5 Jodan Price * G/F R-Jr. 6-8 185 Indianapolis, Ind./Detroit Country Day DePaul
2 James Thompson IV C Fr. 6-10 220 Baton Rouge, La./ Parkview Baptist

BENCH/STARTERS
0    Raven Lee **        G    R-Jr.     6-3    175    Detroit, Mich. /   Romulus     - sosp fino 1/12
10  Willie Mangum IV      G    Jr.     6-1    180    Richmond, Va. / Marshall    San Jacinto College

32 Ty Toney G Jr. 6-2 225 Alpharetta, Ga./Alpharetta Georgia Highlands College
5 Jodan Price * G/F R-Jr. 6-8 185 Indianapolis, Ind. / Detroit Country Day DePaul

BENCH
25 Ethan Alvano * G So. 6-1 165 Corona, Calif. / Corona
13 Trent Perry * G R-So. 6-4 190 Franklin, Tenn. / Independence
20 Blake Brown F R-Fr. 6-7 173 Novi, Mich. / Novi UNLV
15 Jordan Nobles F R-Fr. 6-9 195 Canton, Mich. / Canton
22 Jordan Martin * G R-Sr. 6-3 195 Detroit, Mich. / Chandler Park Academy Oakland CC
3 LaMonta Stone II G Fr. 5-9 160 Detroit, Mich. / River Rouge

OTHERS

12 Daryl Kirkland G Fr. 6-2 170 Grand Rapids, Mich./ Muskegon
21 Quaran Jones F Jr. 6-7 225 Dearborn Heights, Mich./Ecorse Findlay
35 Nick Madray F Jr. 6-9 245 Mississauga, Ontario / Stephen Lewis Binghamton

* denotes letterman


Coaching Staff
Rob Murphy
Head Men's Basketball Coach

Mike Brown
Associate Head Men's Basketball Coach

Kevin Mondro
Asst. Men's Basketball Coach

Benny White
Asst. Men's Basketball Coach

Matt Cline
Director of Men's Basketball Operations

Kyle Lefler
Graduate Operations Manager

Ebony Heckstall
Graduate Assistant