West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[boatcapt]

Here's my theory.


This year:

Le Moyne - Usually very tough

Bowie - Usually very tough

Virginia State - Typically a regional power

Concord - Decent team ... .500 type

WVW - Need at least one meatball.

Salem - Didn't happen but they are looking decent and are 5-2

Here's the thing. The PSAC is massive. And, we are stuck with (5) crossovers.

So, this year, aside from the West, IUP got paired up with West Chester, Ship, Kutz and Millersville. Not to mention a solid Shepherd and a currently undefeated Lock Haven.

Add to it Mercyhurst, UPJ, Cal and Gannon twice each.

Joe's SOS will be outstanding come Selection Sunday.

They already played a 4-year series with Fairmont. IUP and WL can't agree on anything.. Who else, elite, is left to play?

I used to make the same argument about the tough schedule WLU played within the MEC...I was told that the toughness of the in-conference sched didn't matter. ONLY OOC toughness counted. Don't know were the PSAC love for Concord comes from (Cal posters labeled them as a "top tier MEC team") but except for an odd year, they have been middle of the MEC pack at best. Same with Bowie...The hype far outpaces the season to season results which is 500 give or take. Salem is actually 4-3 but I wouldn't get too juiced about them being a non-tomato can...the four opponents they have beaten have a combined four wins. LeMoyne and Va State are typically pretty good.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Joe used to schedule hard. Now...not so much. For years all we heard from the IUP faithful was how Joe always scheduled the toughest OOC slate if not in the country, at least in the Atlantic. But over the last several years, IUP's OOC schedule has been much softer.

Here's my theory.


This year:

Le Moyne - Usually very tough

Bowie - Usually very tough

Virginia State - Typically a regional power

Concord - Decent team ... .500 type

WVW - Need at least one meatball.

Salem - Didn't happen but they are looking decent and are 5-2

Here's the thing. The PSAC is massive. And, we are stuck with (5) crossovers.

So, this year, aside from the West, IUP got paired up with West Chester, Ship, Kutz and Millersville. Not to mention a solid Shepherd and a currently undefeated Lock Haven.

Add to it Mercyhurst, UPJ, Cal and Gannon twice each.

Joe's SOS will be outstanding come Selection Sunday.

They already played a 4-year series with Fairmont. IUP and WL can't agree on anything.. Who else, elite, is left to play?

[boatcapt]

I don't get the argument. Joe plays as tough as non-conf as anybody year after year -- and, he's paid the price some years. Crutch was the sissy with that stuff. Ben is stepping up.

Joe used to schedule hard. Now...not so much. For years all we heard from the IUP faithful was how Joe always scheduled the toughest OOC slate if not in the country, at least in the Atlantic. But over the last several years, IUP's OOC schedule has been much softer.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That's the most fun part.

[Chuck Norris]

They are. They are the definition of "Tomato Can." We have to play them because they are a conference school but any quality non-MEC school that schedules them has to be questioned for their commitment to playing a tough schedule.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The last two games were at opposite ends of the spectrum.
WLU won against Elite 8 Daemen (with everyone back and healthy unlike their Mercyhurst game) in an ugly offensive game due to shutdown defense, especially in the last 5 minutes, where they totally disrupted them. Probably fatigue was a factor. They won despite a points per possession of 0.88! The 20+ turnovers offset their offensive woes.

At WV Wesleyan, WLU was playing at a high level offensively and defensively.
Points per possession of 1.56, which is among the highest ever recorded.
Forced 20+ turnovers
90+ % from FT line.
Hit 19 three at over 45%
10 guys scored 8 points or more and everyone played at least 13 minutes.

Whoever can figure out a way to narrow the variation in shooting percentage across games is going to make a lot of $. LOL

Research has shown that one factor that affects 3 point shooting is the distance of the opponent from the shooter - if opponent over 6 ft away, the percentage is significantly better.
Corner 3 pt shot is not an easier shot - it is because the opponent is often further away from the corner shooter.
Also explains why making the extra pass to give up a good shot for a great shot is often sucessful.

Daemen is a good team and has four losses already (3-4). That's what can happen when you go crazy scheduling paired with injuries.

I suspect they go on a run but they can't lose too many more.

[Scrub]

The last two games were at opposite ends of the spectrum.
WLU won against Elite 8 Daemen (with everyone back and healthy unlike their Mercyhurst game) in an ugly offensive game due to shutdown defense, especially in the last 5 minutes, where they totally disrupted them. Probably fatigue was a factor. They won despite a points per possession of 0.88! The 20+ turnovers offset their offensive woes.

I don't love the shooting woes we saw at Daemen, but I do really like the commitment to sit down on D and shut down an opponent. We saw that against Daemen & UPJ (specifically in the second halves of both game). Both of those games felt a bit like how the games feel in March. Your normal stuff may not be clicking and the opponents are better than WVWC, but you gotta find a way. I'm encouraged by the defensive mindset we saw in both of those games.

And, heck, the points per possession stat would have been even higher against WVWC if it weren't for about 10 silly turnovers once they got comfortable (read: sloppy) late in the second half.

[Columbuseer]

The last two games were at opposite ends of the spectrum.
WLU won against Elite 8 Daemen (with everyone back and healthy unlike their Mercyhurst game) in an ugly offensive game due to shutdown defense, especially in the last 5 minutes, where they totally disrupted them. Probably fatigue was a factor. They won despite a points per possession of 0.88! The 20+ turnovers offset their offensive woes.

At WV Wesleyan, WLU was playing at a high level offensively and defensively.
Points per possession of 1.56, which is among the highest ever recorded.
Forced 20+ turnovers
90+ % from FT line.
Hit 19 three at over 45%
10 guys scored 8 points or more and everyone played at least 13 minutes.

Whoever can figure out a way to narrow the variation in shooting percentage across games is going to make a lot of $. LOL

Research has shown that one factor that affects 3 point shooting is the distance of the opponent from the shooter - if opponent over 6 ft away, the percentage is significantly better.
Corner 3 pt shot is not an easier shot - it is because the opponent is often further away from the corner shooter.
Also explains why making the extra pass to give up a good shot for a great shot is often sucessful.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Hummmm...They had a second tomato can on their schedule in the form of Salem but Salem backed out. IUP is also no stranger to scheduling D3's as tomato can games. Last D3 IUP victim was Bethany which they beat by 61 points!

I don't get the argument. Joe plays as tough as non-conf as anybody year after year -- and, he's paid the price some years. Crutch was the sissy with that stuff. Ben is stepping up.

[boatcapt]

And, half the teams are playing D3s.

Joe's played 5 games .... 1 tomato can.

Hummmm...They had a second tomato can on their schedule in the form of Salem but Salem backed out. IUP is also no stranger to scheduling D3's as tomato can games. Last D3 IUP victim was Bethany which they beat by 61 points!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

IUP schedules teams for it's tourney to fill certain roles. The role of WVW and Concord is not to win or even give IUP a tough game. Their purpose is to give IUP someone to practice against at game speed and under game circumstances and give the team a 2-0 start.

And, half the teams are playing D3s.

Joe's played 5 games .... 1 tomato can.

[Scrub]

IUP schedules teams for it's tourney to fill certain roles. The role of WVW and Concord is not to win or even give IUP a tough game. Their purpose is to give IUP someone to practice against at game speed and under game circumstances and give the team a 2-0 start.

Even if that's true, Boat, isn't that the side of the schedule debate you inhabited for many years? You always argued that it was better for WLU to start out 2-0 against Clarion & Mansfield than to invite Kutztown, ESU, or the like down here to play. So even if Joe is scheduling IUP with an eye toward hosting the Regional, how is that different from the argument you and I (and others) had for years about Crutch's scheduling? You were always in favor of an easy non-con to rack up wins and try to host. Has your position changed?

[boatcapt]

In fairness, WVW was signed in to this deal a couple years ago when they weren't a total basement dweller. They did win at West Liberty in 2019.

Joe's kickoff tournament isn't overly attractive. You get IUP one night and UPJ the next. Good odds most teams are leaving Indiana 0-2.

IUP schedules teams for it's tourney to fill certain roles. The role of WVW and Concord is not to win or even give IUP a tough game. Their purpose is to give IUP someone to practice against at game speed and under game circumstances and give the team a 2-0 start.

[boatcapt]

You never know. Look at Bowie State this year (0-6 so far) ... always a solid non-conference game. Virginia State is also a perennial power and they've now lost 4 in a row.

Good teams do have outlier bad seasons, but that ain't WVW.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Yes...WLU has scheduled similar teams and they have been criticized for doing so. Other programs schedule equivalents of Clarion and Mansfield yet get praised for how tough they schedule.

You never know. Look at Bowie State this year (0-6 so far) ... always a solid non-conference game. Virginia State is also a perennial power and they've now lost 4 in a row.