The Coaching Career of Jon McGurk(CH2K7-360)

[Coach_McGurk]

11/10 vs. University of Louisiana-Monroe W 62-53
11/11 vs. UC Riverside                   W102-75
11/12 @   Iowa St.                       W 92-81
11/17 @   Depaul                         W 83-74
11/21 vs. UW-Green Bay                   W 93-67
11/25 @   Murray St.                     W 49-47
12/2  vs. Arkansas St.                   W100-91
12/7  @   Tennessee Tech                 W 82-81
12/9  @   Tennessee St.                  L105-78
12/18 vs. E. Kentucky                    W 85-66
12/20 vs. Morehead St.                   L 87-95
12/22 vs. W. Illinois                    W104-88
12/28 @   E. Michigan                    W 92-77
1/2   vs. Murray St.                     W 91-76
1/4   @   SE Missouri                    W102-92
1/6   vs. Austin Peay                    W 70-59
1/11  @   Tennessee-Martin               W 75-63
11/13 @   E. Kentucky                    L 68-85
11/18 vs. Tennessee Tech                 W108-78
11/20 vs. Tennessee St.                  L 77-85
11/27 @   Morehead St.                   L 74-85
2/1   vs. Jacksonville St.               W 93-84
2/3   vs. Samford                        W 89-67
2/8   @   Austin Peay                    W 95-88
2/10  vs. Tennessee-Martin               W 95-78
2/14  vs. SE Missouri                    L 86-91
2/22  @   Jacksonville St.               L 98-99
2/24  @   Samford                        W 75-53
2/27  vs. Tennessee Tech                 L 62-71
3/15  @   Hawaii                         L 88-91

06-07 Record: 20-10

                  PPG   RPG  APG  SPG  BPG  TPG   FG%   3P%   FT%  MPG   GP    GS
SG R. Martin      19.21 1.5  1.6  2.13 0.0  1.0  .425  .349  .9252 25.2  30    13
SG J. Anthony     16.32 2.1  3.4  2.05 0.0  1.6  .433  .389  .9831 27.6  30    27
PG M. Robinson    10.7  0.8  4.68 2.51 0.0  2.0  .6021 .5965 .9263 29.5  30    30
SG B. Catchings    8.5  2.2  2.0  1.3  0.2  1.4  .396  .284  .627  17.4  30    17
C  O. Cisse        8.0  9.41 1.0  0.7  0.3  0.4  .5356 .000  .695  24.2  25    21 
PF J. Brock        6.4  6.0  1.1  1.3  0.1  0.6  .5832 .333  .772  19.9  30    12  
C  J. Byrne        6.1  4.7  0.9  0.5  0.1  0.3  .5404 .000  .878  10.9  30     9
C  B. Jolliff      5.2  4.5  1.7  1.2  0.3  0.7  .5543 .000  .916  19.6  29    18
PG J. Willhite     3.2  0.4  1.9  0.8  0.0  1.2  .800  .788  .500  10.2  30     0
SF B. Parrish      2.7  1.4  2.0  1.0  0.0  1.3  .460  .173  .571  11.5  30     3

                  PTS   RBS  AST  STL  BLK  TO   FGM   FGA   3PM   3PA   FTM   FTA
SG R. Martin      5761   45   47  624  2    30   2111  4961  793   2261  756   8110
SG J. Anthony     4883   63  101  615  1    55   1734  3994  822   2222  60    61
PG M. Robinson    320    24  1387 751  0    61   117   196   23     53   63    68
SG B. Catchings   254    85   60  39   5    42    98   247   31    109   27    43
C  O. Cisse       200   2353  26  17   8    11    84   157    0      1   32    46
C  J. Brock       193   179   33  40   3    19    77   132    5     15   34    44
PF J. Byrne       182   140   27  16   3     8    73   135    0      2   36    41
PG J. Willhite     97    12   57  25   0    37    41    52    3      6   12    14
SF B. Parrish      82    43   30  30   1    39    35    76    4     23    8    14

Numbers in blue are conference rank. Julio Anthony had the highest FT% in the nation.

Team Stats

PPG: 84.8(1) [+6.1]        
RPG: 31.2(3) [-3.5]  
APG: 19.9(1) [+1.5]       
SPG: 13.3(1) [+4.4]       
BPG:  1.3    [+0.3]  
TPG: 10.5    [-4.3]   
FPG: 11.4(1) [-0.6]
FGM: 970(1)  [+69]
FGA: 2000(1)  [+101]
FG%: .485(1) [+.011]
3PM: 228(1)   [+43]
3PA: 663     [+89]
3P%: .343(4) [+.019]
FTM: 376(3)  [+2]
FTA: 450(4)  [+31]
FT%: .835(1) [+.058]

End Year Awards
NCAA Champs: North Carolina
NABC Player of the Year: Glen Davis, PF, LSU
2K Sports Mid-Major Player of the Year: Nick Fazekas, PF, Nevada
NABC Coach of the Year: Roy Williams, UNC
NABC Defensive Player of the Year: PF #42, UNC Greensboro
Pete Newell Big Man of the Year: Glen Davis, PF, LSU

Conference Awards
Conference Champions: Tennessee St.
Coach of the Year: Billy Kennedy, Murray St.
Player of the Year: FR Romain Martin, SG, EIU
Freshman of the Year: Romain Martin, SG, EIU

First Team All-Conference
PG Mike Robinson, EIU
SG Romain Martin, EIU
SF Shawan Witherspoon, Murray St.
PF Clarence Matthews, Tennessee St.
C Ousmane Cisse, EIU

Second Team All Conference
PG Anthony Fisher, Tennessee St.
SG Julio Anthony, EIU
SF Jerrell Houston, Tennessee St.
PF Shawn Williams, Morehead St.
C Cleve Woodfork, Tennessee-Martin

All Conference Freshman
PG Adam Leonard, Eastern Kentucky
SG Romain Martin, EIU
SF Daron Hood, Tennessee Martin
PF Herbert Terry, SE Missouri St.
C Ousmane Cisse, EIU

Recruits

***
SF Jerold Harmon, Cameroon
6'5" 194 lbs.
Rebounding: A-

***
SF Adrian Lhota, Lithuania
6'6" 210lbs.
Rebounding: A-

***
PF Cartier Murphy, Ivory Coast
6'7" 216lbs.
Rebounding: A-

[Coach_McGurk]

Quote: Originally Posted by BubbleFour

Do you follow the bracketology panels? They show up in the last couple of weeks in the bottom of the stats section, I believe. You can watch your projected NCAA seeding change as the season progresses. It seemed to change after every day for TSU in my legacy. Given that EIU was an #11 seed, I'll bet EIU showed up in bracketology throughout.

Yeah I checked them basically after every simmed day since Bracketology was available. The first time I checked them I was predicted to go as a #10 seed against College of Charleston, but I lost my next game and didn't appear on either Projected Brackets or Bubble Teams the rest of the time. The weird thing is during the selection show Eastern Illinois was at the top of the Bubble Team list.

[doncoryell]

Coach McGurk, you and your boys did a great job this season in getting to the NCAA tournament and almost upsetting the Hawaii Warriors.

Your 3-star recruits are coming in with great rebounding skills, how are the rest of their skills?

[Coach_McGurk]

Quote: Originally Posted by doncoryell

Coach McGurk, you and your boys did a great job this season in getting to the NCAA tournament and almost upsetting the Hawaii Warriors. Your 3-star recruits are coming in with great rebounding skills, how are the rest of their skills?

Harmon's strengths are defense, stealing(tied with Robinson for best rating on team) and rebounding. Lhota has nice speed(2nd best on the team), defense, and has pretty good potential (B-). Cartier Murphy's defensive awareness is tied with Harmon's as best amongst Forwards. He has the second best offensive and defensive rebound rating, behind Cisse, and his potential is also a B-.

Lhota and Murphy are probably going to be red-shirted.

[Coach_McGurk]

Ohio Valley Conference Pre-Season Breakdown

There was stiff competition last year in the OVC, and this year is no difference. In this special editon Charleston Herald we will break down all the teams for you and predict who finishes where.

1. Tennessee St.

Returning to the team this year is SG Bruce Price, arguably the best player in the conference. He will be anchoring a starting five in which four of the five players are returning from last year. The other player, Daon Bain, out of Owensborough, Kentucky was the conference's most highly reguarded point guard recruit(3*, 76th best at position). He replaces returning senior Reiley Ervin.

Predicted Conference Record: 16-4

2. SE Missouri St.

While the Redhawks didn't accomplish much in the way of recruiting, it doesn't seem to matter all that much. Sophomore shooting guard Jonny Hill replaces graduated Senior Terrick Willoughby in the starting five. Brandon Faust and Herbert Terry, the conferences best starting forwards duo, are the glue that holds the team together, and they are backed up by the deepest bench in the conference.

Predicted Conference Record: 16-4

3. Tennessee Tech

Returning to the Golden Eagles is the most talented Point Guard in the conference, Anthony Fisher (12.1 ppg, 4.1 apg). Tennessee Tech needed a good off-season to fill the holes left by SG Belton Rivers and SF Antjuan Koger, and they did an adequate job of it. SG Abrahaim Dawn out of Indanapolis (3*, 86th best at position) and SG Mani Carson out of Charleston, SC(3*, 94th best at position) take over the spots abandoned by the two graduated seniors. Mani Carson was South Carolina's Mr. Basketball, but many schools passed on him due to his low potential and inability to get it done in crunch time.

Predicted Conference Record: 15-5

4. Austin Peay

Probably the most improved team on paper this year is Austin Peay. They return all five starters and with three Seniors and two Juniors, are a veteran group. The game experience of PG Derek Wright should help them through a lot of close games. Also returning is high-scoring SG Todd Babington, a very high percentage three point shooter (41.8%), who has been known to rip the hart out of a lot of teams hoping for a comeback.

Predicted Conference Record: 14-6


5. Eastern Illinois

New hire Jon McGurk took the Panthers to places they'd never thought they'd be last season and will be looking to do more of the same this season. Coach McGurk will be looking to avoid a sophomore slump, but that may prove to be harder than it looks. The Panthers added defense and rebounding in the off-season, something they sorely needed, and to do that McGurk looked overseas. Jerrold Harmon, a small forward out of Cameroon, is already considered the best player on the team and will be looking to provide a much needed defensive edge. Also added to the starting line up this year is Freshman PF Cartier Murphy out of the Ivory Coast. He adds rebounding and a sorely lacking adequate inside presence. Scouts also say he has decent upside and may grow into a very good, capable big man.

Predicted Conference Record: 14-6

6. Jacksonville St.
Jacksonville is probably the team most hurt by the off-season. With Courtney Bradley, their best player last season, now graduated, James Valein, a two star recruit out of Montgomery, Alabama was picked to fill the hole. Perhaps the biggest difference from last year is Jacksonville State's bench, which is young, inexperienced, and quite frankly not all that great.

Predicted Conference Record: 11-9

7. Morehead St.

SR PG Brandon Callahan will have to carry almost all of the load this season for the Eagles, who look to be mired in conference mediocrity again. Newly recruited SG Dominique Sargent (2*, 113 best at position) out of Cincinnati, Ohio will look to carry some of that load offensively, but for how long after this season is anyone's guess. The departure of Shaun Williams leaves a glaring hole at power forward.

Predicted Conference Record: 8-12

8. Murray St.

Murray St. is another team cursed with a young, below average bench and an aging starting five. Senior SG Bruce Carter is the saving grace of the team, but he just doesn't have much to work with. Look for them to get even worse next season.

Predicted Conference Record: 7-13

9. Samford

The loss of SG Randal Gulina and PG Jerry Smith really hurt this team. SR C Travis Peterson is left in the starting five with four other team members with minimal to no starting experience. The good thing about this team is that in three years it might be a contender again, but this season might be trying times.

Predicted Conference Record: 6-13

10. Eastern Kentucky

Recently things haven't been going well for Eastern Kentucky, but on a team full of freshman and sophomores that is to be expected. Jamaal Douglas returns as a senior to hold down the fort in the post, and joining him will be SO Israil Hoffman, a capable center. EKU is still on a high after upsetting Eastern Illinois last year, but the hangover will hit quickly once the season starts and they find out that a lot of teams have gotten much better.

Predicted Conference Record: 2-18

11. Tennessee-Martin

As usual on small conference teams, when the seniors go, so does the success of your team. Though they had a surprisingly successful year last year, it doesn't look so good for them this season. SR SG George Pruitt will be left to fend for himself as he tries to get it together with a bunch of bench warmers and virtual walk ons.

Predicted Conference Record: 1-19

[Coach_McGurk]

Season Schedule

11/19 vs. Campbell
11/23  @  Purdue
12/1   @  Charl. Southern
12/4   @  William & Mary
12/8   @  Middle Tennessee
12/13 vs. Tennessee Tech
12/15 vs. Tennessee State
12/24  @  Jacksonville St.
12/26  @  Austin Peay
1/4    @  Kentucky
1/8   vs. Murray St.
1/10   @  Eastern Kentucky
1/17  vs. Samford
1/19  vs. Jacksonville St.
1/24   @  Tennessee-Martin
1/26   @  Morehead St.
1/31  vs. SE Missouri St.
2/4   vs. Austin Peay
2/7    @  Samford
2/9   vs. Eastern Ketucky
2/14   @  Tennessee Tech
2/16   @  Murray St.
2/19  vs. Morehead St.
2/21  vs. Tennessee-Martin
2/28   @  Tennessee St.
3/1    @  SE Missouri St.

07-08 Roster

PG Mike Robinson, JR(70)
SG Julio Anthony, SR(68)
SF Jerrold Harmon, FR(70)
PF Cartier Murphy, FR(64)
 C Ousmane Cisse, SO(65)
-------------------------
SG Bobby Catchings, SR(67)
SG Romain Martin, SO(64)
PG Jonitee Willhite, SR(63)
SF Billy Parrish, JR(61)
PF Bobby Jolliff, SO(57)
PF Justin Brock, SO(57)
 C Jake Byrne, SR(56)
SF Adrian Lhota, FR-RS(66)

[Coach_McGurk]

November 19, 2007

Campbell Fighting Camels (0-0) vs. Eastern Illinois Panthers(0-0)

Headline
Sign Of Things To Come?

        1st    2nd    OT   Final
CAM     28     24     -     52
EIU     55     54     -    109

CAM                          EIU
SG #4, SR(66)                PG Mike Robinson, SO(68)
SG #5, SR(68)                SG Julio Anthony, JR(67)
SF #3, SO(67)                SF Jerrold Harmon, FR(70)
PF Errick Stepp, FR(58)      PF Cartier Murphy, FR(64)
 C #30, JR(61)                C Ousmane Cisse, SO(65)
Notable Reserves             Notable Reserves
SG #2, SR(63)                SG Romain Martin, SO(64)

Game Leaders

         CAM                 EIU
POINTS   SG#4         14     J. Anthony   24
REB      S. Willie     8     O. Cisse     14
AST      SG#4          4     M. Robinson   9

Team Stats

     EIU         CAM            
FGM   43    |     21   
FGA   92    |     75
FG% .467    |   .280
3PM   11    |      2
3PA   35    |     25
3P% .314    |   .080
FTM   12    |      8
FTA   15    |     10
FT% .800    |   .800
REB   55    |     46
AST   28    |      8

Coach's Notes

• I hope this puts a scare into the OVC. I told the team that I am done with good half/bad half games and they respond in the best way ever.

• Five players in double figures. Julio Anthony, Ousmane Cisse(16 pts, 14 rbs), Catchings(13), Romain Martin(15), and Jake Byrne had a good game in clean-up time scoring 13 points in 13 minutes. Anthony was on fire from beyond the arc, going 6-12.

• Freshman Cartier Murphy performed exactly like I want him to perform. Though his offensive touches were limited, he grabbed 11 rebounds and worked really, really hard on the defensive end. Jerrold Harmon was a Nervous Nellie out there, shooting the ball every time he touched it in the first half. 2-12 threes, 3-15 overall. He setttled way down in the second half though, after convincing him to quit shooting it (aka benching him for an extended period).

• I'm not sure how many more games we'll have like this, but I'll take it.

[Coach_McGurk]

November 23, 2007

Eastern Illinois Panthers(1-0) vs Purdue Boilermakers(2-1)

Headline
Martin, Harmon Late Game Heroics Lift Panthers

        1st    2nd    OT   Final
PUR     32     38     -     70
EIU     23     54     -     77

Starting Line-ups

PUR                          EIU
PG Terrance Crump, SR(76)    PG Mike Robinson, SO(70)
SG Marcus Green, JR(71)      SG Julio Anthony, JR(68)
SF Gordon Watt, JR(69)       SF Jerrold Harmon, FR(70)
PF Dana Norman, FR(68)       PF Cartier Murphy, FR(64)
 C Jonathen Uchendu, SO(69)   C Ousmane Cisse, SO(65)
Notable Reserves             Notable Reserves
PF Collins Hacker, FR(68)    SG Romain Martin, SO(64)

Game Leaders

         PUR                 EIU
POINTS   D. Norman    16     J. Anthony   17
REB      J. Uchendu   11     C. Murphy    15
AST      D. Norman     5     J. Willhite   3

Team Stats

     EIU         PUR            
FGM   26    |     29   
FGA   67    |     62
FG% .388    |   .280
3PM    9    |      2
3PA   24    |     16
3P% .375    |   .125
FTM   16    |     10
FTA   19    |     12
FT% .842    |   .833
REB   33    |     36
AST   16    |     16

Coach's Notes

• Harmon and Martin are the heroes today. Martin, despite a poor shooting night(4-14), hit a closely guarded clutch three with 1:00 to go in the game to go up 73-70. They missed a 3, Harmon got the rebound, Cisse missed a short jumper, and Harmon FLEW in to get the o-rebound and the put back to go up 75-70 with :26 to go and sealed the game.

• Signing Dana Norman was a steal for Purdue. He is a 7'0" that can take over games against smaller opponents. Had he not gotten into foul trouble this would have been a completely different game. Many times during the game we were struggling, down by 9. It wasn't until he was forced to sit on the bench did we come back to win the game. Otherwise, he completely disrupted our man offense.

• Finding a new rotation is taking some getting used to. Harmon and Murphy are too good not to play, which results in serious decreases in play time for Parrish and Jolliff. I guess it comes with the job.

• Purdue was taller and faster, but my guys had less quit.