Why stop there? John Beilein and Emoni Bates to Eastern, package deal. You’re looking at a possible national title by Emoni’s junior year. I’m hearing he might jump to the NBA afterward, but he also really wants to finish up his degree and defend that title. Tough choices for the young man.
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Emoni’s local. Locals stay away from Eastern. Even my chemical-fueled dreams can’t penetrate that reality.
Yes, Ty Groce is an exception but it took exceptional circumstances for him to come back home to ball. Then again, there is a connection between Bates and Groce, having trained together when Groce was trying to get back to playing ball.
Battling depression, Ypsilanti Lincoln’s Ty Groce ready to get back to basketball - mlive.com
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You may well be right. You may also be imposing what would be your view of the challenge you would want if you were he onto the challenge he wants, especially in light of family considerations. He may wind up not coaching at all. We’ll see.
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That’s fair, its impossible to know what he’s thinking. But based on the interviews he’s given since his firing, and pretty much every career move he’s made to this point, I am positive he wants to coach and I personally can’t see him going somewhere he doesn’t perceive as a place he can win a national title.
But yes we shall see.
The problem with Eastern (from a sports standpoint) is that it’s too close to Ann Arbor to have its own identity/fanbase. If EMU were in, say, Monroe or Port Huron it would have more fans, I think. If you’re a college sports fan in Ypsi, you can just watch U-M.
Locals don’t go to Eastern, at least w/o transferring from out of state first. I combed through the 20-21 EMU roster to track where players are from and how they got to Ypsilanti. Check out all the redshirt seniors! This is after 10 years of Rob Murphy on the job.
Y.Montero (R-Sr): Dominican Republic - JUCO Transfer
T.Groce (R-Sr): Ypsi - Transfer from Northeastern
M.Gibson (R-Sr): Virginia - JUCO
D.Lowder (Jr): Jackson/A2 - Transfer from Holy Cross
N.Morgan (R-Sr): NY - JUCO
D.Spottsville (R-Sr): Phoenix - JUCO
A. Wells (So): E.Lansing - walk on
A.Okongo (R-Sr): France - JUCO (orig. w/Mizzou)
J.Love (R-Sr): Florida - Transfer from K-State
T.Binelli (R-Sr): Italy - JUCO
D.Ballard (R-Sr): Southfield - Signed w/EMU out of high school
It’s in a unique spot where it’s in the shadow of a massive world brand in a media black hole. There is no Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti daily print or TV media. Even on radio, they get the occasional (read: seasonal) segment on WTKA. The school is a commuter school where the teams can’t even count on a captive student audience to attend games. Even students living in the dorms would rather get in their cars and drive home to Warren than walk over to the off campus sports facilities for a free game.
At least basketball doesn’t face the same heat as football did a few years ago, where there was a movement among the campus community to have them dump the program or reclass to D1-AA or D2. Chris Creighton deserves all the credit for weathering that storm.
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The other consideration, of course, is his family. I could see Beilein taking a job that he would pass on to Patrick, even if it were a step down. The parallel would be Dick Bennett, who parlayed a Final Four appearance at Wisconsin into… the worst job in the Power 6: Washington State. But it was a job that he could pass on to Tony, whose coaching career has turned out fairly well.
Of course there are plenty of other inherited jobs that didn’t turn out so well - Pat Knight and Sean Sutton, for example.
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A for the idea and for the execution. Well done.
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Found this article from what is apparently the combination of the 3 biggest Marquette blogs to make the case for Wojo’s firing:
Feels obvious to me. Pretty clear he isn’t building anything there and you’re missing the tournament more than not.
As a former resident of the thumb having a four year school in Port Huron would have been pretty cool. SC4 has some nice programs and collaborations at least.
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Bah god that’s Beilein’s music!
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now there’s a fit. Jesuit school, back in the Big East, close to Ann Arbor, good spot to restart Patrick’s career.
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Am I crazy for thinking this is a perfect Beilein job? He could even get a chance to coach Jamal Cain!!!
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And DJ Carton… and no you aren’t crazy.
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marquette spends A TON on basketball too, no resource is spared
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Like, like, like
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