Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

There's an interesting dynamic tomorrow night (in the odd Friday night league game).

Clarion hasn't played since Feb. 19. The Golden Eagles are in the midst of a four-game skid, too. On top of it, they have been eliminated from the conference tournament race.

It will be interesting to see how engaged they are come tip-off.

I'd assume Joe isn't practicing today ... probably just a walk-thru. Hell, Joe's team may not be that interested, either.

Playing tomorrow should help them come Monday night. Extra day of rest.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Interesting game. I thought IUP just seemed a little faster for most of the game and at times, Cal looked disinterested. Credit to IUP for taking advantage of it and finding the punch they’ve been lacking. Merraro is an impressive talent. Get him a good forward to work with and he’ll be even better. Herring was also very good and made baskets at key times. Put 15 lbs. on him and he’ll also be a great weapon. Take away the Clarion game earlier in the year when IUP shot out of their minds and I’d say this was their best game this season.

Worth noting. I heard Joe’s pre-game and he mentioned the team’s GPA is a combined 3.2. That’s a win worth mentioning in a year when there hasn’t been a lot to cheer about.

I don't think Cal was expecting IUP to show up with that intensity last night. It caught them off guard.

Of the teams alive in the West, IUP matches up well with the Vulcans. Neither team has much size but IUP probably has more. What's killed IUP this year has been when they go up against a top-level post player(s). Damir gets in foul trouble (quickly) and then all heck breaks loose.

Joe should have been playing Callum MacNamara all year. He's raw, but he's a big, physical player. He can certainly eat up some minutes and be productive on both ends.

Merraro was sick as a dog last night and still went bonkers. He's not going to be fun to play against for 3 more years. All three freshmen played well last night. Grove's confidence is slowly coming back. He hit some big shots. Herring just creates chaos.

We don't talk about Christian Moore as much as we should be he's having a really solid year. I can't wait to see Moore and Merraro when they have Dallis at the other guard spot. IUP's offense this year 'is' Moore and Merraro. Every team knows it. For them to be as productive as they are when every team game-plans around them is quite impressive.


On the right night, IUP could be a tough out next week.

[EyeoftheHawk]

The Aussie is 1-0 as a starter.

Great to see these young kids win a game like that against a red hot team.

Joe may have just cost Danny an at large bid.

Merraro was amazing.

Interesting game. I thought IUP just seemed a little faster for most of the game and at times, Cal looked disinterested. Credit to IUP for taking advantage of it and finding the punch they’ve been lacking. Merraro is an impressive talent. Get him a good forward to work with and he’ll be even better. Herring was also very good and made baskets at key times. Put 15 lbs. on him and he’ll also be a great weapon. Take away the Clarion game earlier in the year when IUP shot out of their minds and I’d say this was their best game this season.

Worth noting. I heard Joe’s pre-game and he mentioned the team’s GPA is a combined 3.2. That’s a win worth mentioning in a year when there hasn’t been a lot to cheer about.

[tonyc]

Wednesday's IUP-Cal game story: https://open.substack.com/pub/tonyco...meOnShare=true

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The Aussie is 1-0 as a starter.

Great to see these young kids win a game like that against a red hot team.

Joe may have just cost Danny an at large bid.

Merraro was amazing.

[IUPalum]

deletei

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Confused why Sarp plays so much. Most of the time he’s like a fish out of water.

Merraro was very good but he didn’t get a ton of help.
Grove was really good on offense, got abused on defense. I agree, I’m not sure why Triggs didn’t play more. He was giving them an offensive punch.

The halftime video was a nice touch.

Slippery Rock played great. Credit to them.

It's unfathomable Sarp starts over Herring.

Herring should play 30+ mpg. He has some freshman flaws, but he brings so, so much more to the floor - on both ends.

This is the second year in a row a quality player isn't starting. KJ somehow started a full season over Damir. Figure that out.

I don't think this team is even being put in position to win games. If you want to win, the best players play. It's not rocket science. Look at the Clarion box score. Look closely. It will tell you all you need to know. Far and away, by the way, IUP's best performance of the season.

[IUPalum]

Confused why Sarp plays so much. Most of the time he’s like a fish out of water.

Merraro was very good but he didn’t get a ton of help.
Grove was really good on offense, got abused on defense. I agree, I’m not sure why Triggs didn’t play more. He was giving them an offensive punch.

The halftime video was a nice touch.

Slippery Rock played great. Credit to them.

Merraro and Grove will be good D2 players. Merraro is undersized so he'll always be a liability on D but his speed makes up for a lot of his size short comings. Grove just needs to get stronger and keep learning.

The Sarp situation is similar to the KJ situation last year. WHY do they see the minutes that they do??? We'll never know that answer other than our hunches. Neither is/was a good D2 player.

[IUPHawks24]

Sarp 23 worthless minutes

Grove and Triggs start to get hot and Joe pulls them right away.

That's all that needs said.

Confused why Sarp plays so much. Most of the time he’s like a fish out of water.

Merraro was very good but he didn’t get a ton of help.
Grove was really good on offense, got abused on defense. I agree, I’m not sure why Triggs didn’t play more. He was giving them an offensive punch.

The halftime video was a nice touch.

Slippery Rock played great. Credit to them.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Sarp 23 worthless minutes

Grove and Triggs start to get hot and Joe pulls them right away.

That's all that needs said.

They lost that game before it tipped off.

This team needs to bring a little juice. It isn't good enough to just show up.

I hope to see a little more fire and excitement Wednesday night.

[TopperNation]

I also want to share this, in case anyone didn't know: https://tonycoccagna.substack.com/p/...eeman?r=411ko9

Thanks for posting this. D Free is from my H.S. and is a hometown legend, as he would come back and workout against my H.S. team from time to time. He was a great ball player and an even better human being.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Personnel decisions aside, they just don’t have any punch. They’re too young at key positions and they don’t have a true “go to” guy in big spots. I found myself thinking there’s some talent on the team and probably enough pieces to build around, but as currently constructed it’s easily the weakest roster in recent memory. That has nothing to do with the heart and hustle they show, or how hard they’re working (per Joe’s post-game interview). I believe all that to be true.

The other problem is young teams typically don’t defend well and that has been a challenge for this team all year. When they get down 8-10, they can’t get stops when they need them and even when they do they lack the offensive punch to cut into leads. I think we all know when they get down by double digits it’s over. All that’s left for this season is either just miss the PSAC tournament or get knocked out in the first round. I wonder what the alumni players that were there yesterday were thinking.

[IUPalum]

Sarp 23 worthless minutes

Grove and Triggs start to get hot and Joe pulls them right away.

That's all that needs said.

[tonyc]

Saturday's IUP-Rock game story: https://open.substack.com/pub/tonyco...meOnShare=true

[IUPbigINDIANS]

UPJ and Seton Hill both also lost.

IUP needs one this week if it wants to keep playing.

Today isn't worth talking about.