Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Most probably go over for the experience and to give themselves another year or two playing the game. It's nice that these players can have that opportunity.

It seems our top post players have had much more success overseas -- especially at getting to the higher levels.

Cobo and Sleva could have easily played in D1 their final two collegiate seasons. I'd guess they are both doing pretty well financially.

Former IUP post player Willem Brandwijk is also having a lot of success. IUP could have got so much more out of him.

[Ship69]

I don't think many play very long. Seems most stay over there a year or two.

Jacobo Diaz and Dustin Sleva are both in more exclusive leagues (i.e. making much more money).

Most probably go over for the experience and to give themselves another year or two playing the game. It's nice that these players can have that opportunity.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It's a lot, but there are also dozens of leagues.

I don't think many play very long. Seems most stay over there a year or two.

Jacobo Diaz and Dustin Sleva are both in more exclusive leagues (i.e. making much more money).

[Fightingscot82]

It would be interesting to know how many PSAC guys are playing ball in Europe now.

It's a lot, but there are also dozens of leagues.

[hawks16]

Lexi Griggs is the new director of basketball operations for the North Carolina A&T women's team.

[Ship69]

Morris inks professional basketball contract in Ireland - Indiana University of Pennsylvania Athletics (iupathletics.com)

It would be interesting to know how many PSAC guys are playing ball in Europe now.

[IUPalum]

Morris inks professional basketball contract in Ireland - Indiana University of Pennsylvania Athletics (iupathletics.com)

[IUPalum]

Not surprising, but Kyle Polce has signed with Ron Fudala.

Diop next?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Not surprising, but Kyle Polce has signed with Ron Fudala.

[hawks16]

It's neat to think back to those years.

I remember in the Final Four game against Tarleton State in 14-15 ... that was the most athletic team I've ever seen in D2. I still don't know how IUP beat them playing 7 guys.

I know how. The Tarleton cheerleaders pregame were waving flags that spelled out T-E-X-N-A-S instead of Texans. Kiss of death every time. (I miss those days solely for the inbound alley-oop plays to Tevin Hanner that somehow was telegraphed but no one could ever stop.)

https://twitter.com/PresDriscoll/sta...549276672?s=20

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The story in ‘19-20 probably would have been that Northwest Missouri State existed, lol. But yeah, it’s hard to win that last game. IUP had the most talented team in the country in ‘09-10, I have no problem saying that. The one flaw was, wait for it, 3 point shooting. Julian Sanders was the 6th man on that team and he literally made about half the 3s the team made all season. But it never hurt them because they had Daryl Webb and Akida McClain inside and Thomas Young who was an absolute bull of a guard who could overpower just about anyone. In the National semis they actually shot really well from 3 to hold off St Cloud State, but they used up all their good shooting. Cal Poly Pomona sagged on the bigs and dared IUP to shoot the 3 and nothing would fall. CPP had also lost the previous year’s NC game on a 3 at the buzzer and was going to be really hard to deny on that day.

It's neat to think back to those years.

I remember in the Final Four game against Tarleton State in 14-15 ... that was the most athletic team I've ever seen in D2. I still don't know how IUP beat them playing 7 guys. Unfortunately I think that game wore them out and they were pretty sluggish in the Florida Southern loss two days later. And, of course, the quasi-8th man being so far in Joe's doghouse he didn't even play in those games sure didn't help matters.

[Chuck Norris]

I honestly believe that the 19-20 team was the best IUP team that I can say that I watched. You had Chuckie and Malik Miller, plus all of the same guys you had over the last two years on that team. That team was dominant. They won multiple ways.

That is the "what if" team for me in thinking of IUP basketball. I can't recall how West Liberty looked that year going into the tournament, but IUP was far and away the class of the region, and there was no question that they would be hosting (as they did earn hosting rights). They also were gelling and playing their best basketball at the right time of year too. I honestly think that team could have won the national championship.

But... The cynic in me also recognizes that they would have either:
1. Run into some 7 footer who could not be stopped along the way
2. Played against an elite guard who spent the night before in the hospital before going on to drop 30+
3. Been a casualty to a team shooting nearly 60% from the floor

Do I have that right? Seems like they always run into the "story" when they make a run, or have a team that appears capable of doing so.

The story in ‘19-20 probably would have been that Northwest Missouri State existed, lol. But yeah, it’s hard to win that last game. IUP had the most talented team in the country in ‘09-10, I have no problem saying that. The one flaw was, wait for it, 3 point shooting. Julian Sanders was the 6th man on that team and he literally made about half the 3s the team made all season. But it never hurt them because they had Daryl Webb and Akida McClain inside and Thomas Young who was an absolute bull of a guard who could overpower just about anyone. In the National semis they actually shot really well from 3 to hold off St Cloud State, but they used up all their good shooting. Cal Poly Pomona sagged on the bigs and dared IUP to shoot the 3 and nothing would fall. CPP had also lost the previous year’s NC game on a 3 at the buzzer and was going to be really hard to deny on that day.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I like Joe a lot. I think he's a great coach, but I'm very curious to see how this plays out next season for him. I'm not entirely sure he's wired to re-recruit his entire roster every year. I'm also not sure he's wired to have guys use him, and what he's built into an elite program, with first-class facilities, and a devoted fanbase, into something that they use as a springboard to a higher level, but (in many cases) a lesser program (relatively speaking). He said all the right things when Armoni left. I'm also pretty sure he thought that was an isolated event. As I said repeatedly last year, that was simply the first one, and the door was now opened. 6-7 guys left this year via the portal. I get some were asked to leave, and that some were down the liners.

Still... That's significant turnover to a program and culture like his.

He simply has to play his entire roster next year (if those guys are capable of being on the floor). There's no debate. There's no saving guys. There's no setting up your roster for the next year, or the one after that. It's one year with a group, and you might have 8 new ones the next year. Guys will leave because they redshirted. Guys will leave because they didn't play enough. Guys will leave because they don't like the food served by Aramark in the cafeteria. Guys will leave because they "showed out" at the D2 level and want to "show out" in the MAAC playing for the Manhattan Jaspers.

I think he's a great coach. I just am not sure he's necessarily prepped for how this works now that it's infiltrated his house. One of his good buddies (Jay Wright) retired and said that the changing dynamics of college basketball with the portal caused him to evaluate if he really wanted to do it anymore. He ultimately said "no."

If he has 10 capable players, all ten need to play. Bottom line. Worry about the fall out of who got what minutes after the season. Play to win. Play to keep your team fresh. Only option at this point.

I'm not trying to be critical of Joe. But it's a far different world now than it was pre-Covid as it pertains to college sports.

Regarding the upcoming season (assuming we know the final roster), I'm envisioning the following:


Starting lineup:

Garvin Clarke - PG
Dallis Dillard - G
Jaylen Stewart - G
Ethan Porterfield - F
Dolan Waldo - F

Rotation:

Josh Patteno - G
Denzel Kabasele - G
Damir Brooks - F
Gabriel Romero-Sanz - F

Bench:

Anthony Watson (redshirt candidate)
Jordan Lambert (redshirt candidate)
Walk-on No. 1
Walk-on No. 2
Walk-on No. 3



The 'other' starting forward is probably up for debate -- and may be a camp battle. Joe is extremely high on Waldo so I'm giving him the edge for now.

He's not going to be able to keep Patteno and Kabasele on the bench. They are too talented. So, I fully suspect the five guards rotate a lot -- which, of course, will be much different for IUP fans to watch. Stewart can easily flip over to PG at times.

He'll play Ethan as much as he can. Brooks can't go more than 10-12 minutes without being in serious foul trouble so unless he corrected that he'll remain in that 'energy' role in limited minutes. I could see Brooks actually being Ethan's backup (perhaps a 28/12 split in minutes) and then Waldo and Romero-Sanz split time in the other spot.

Joe certainly has the option to play some 4-guard lineups this year. That could be interesting.

Watson has a year of JUCO under his belt but I just can't see him getting enough minutes for Joe to justify not redshirting him. Lambert is out of high school so he's certainly heading for the redshirt season. They'll provide good emergency depth. I suppose he could not redshirt Watson and go with (6) guards but that would very dramatic for old Redshirt Joe.

Now, that is a tremendously deeper and more talented overall roster. Can they learn to play together very quickly ... is the big question. Hopefully they are all on campus for the summer.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I honestly believe that the 19-20 team was the best IUP team that I can say that I watched. You had Chuckie and Malik Miller, plus all of the same guys you had over the last two years on that team. That team was dominant. They won multiple ways.

That is the "what if" team for me in thinking of IUP basketball. I can't recall how West Liberty looked that year going into the tournament, but IUP was far and away the class of the region, and there was no question that they would be hosting (as they did earn hosting rights). They also were gelling and playing their best basketball at the right time of year too. I honestly think that team could have won the national championship.

But... The cynic in me also recognizes that they would have either:
1. Run into some 7 footer who could not be stopped along the way
2. Played against an elite guard who spent the night before in the hospital before going on to drop 30+
3. Been a casualty to a team shooting nearly 60% from the floor

Do I have that right? Seems like they always run into the "story" when they make a run, or have a team that appears capable of doing so.

That was also the team that lost Tommy Demogerontas in the fourth game of the season.

Demo was looking like he was going to be a dominant player that first season. He wasn't the same following the injury the next season.

But, yes, that will be the team that makes you wonder. Recall they hammered a good Ship team (at Ship) in the PSAC title game. That team also had a (pre-injury) Shawndale Jones as 6th man (who may be the only player ever to win PSAC Tournament MVP as a non-starter).

That team was also deep even without Demo. Anthony White was a superb guard buried on the depth chart. Recall the first game after the Demo injury he came off the bench and smoked East Stroudsburg in the KCAC. Anthony would have started on about 95% of PSAC teams that season.

[IUP24]

You're preaching to the choir.

I think it's simply a matter of the way he's going to coach and that's that.

Polce, Bethea and Diop this past season are perfect examples. Had he played them more his team wouldn't have been playing at turtle speed by the end.

Who knows. Perhaps barely winning Round 1 and then getting waxed in Round 3 finally woke him up. This is certainly a very different recruiting class by Joe's typical standard. These aren't kids coming in this year. This is a group of older players who can all score the basket. Hopefully Joe's theory of only letting three guys shoot the ball will look much different.

On paper, I really like the look of this upcoming team. He got much faster and bigger. They now have an actual (natural) point guard, multiple shooters, big and quick guards, etc. They also have (4) forwards that can all (and will) play. His 'rotation' will have an extra guard (or perhaps two) than a year ago.

But, as we always say, a deep bench doesn't help when you play 7 guys (and the first 5 play 30 mpg or more).

Honestly, I think Joe just knows what's coming so he loaded up as much as he could (and appears to have done a great job of it). Everybody knows Cal is loaded (and just a hunch Joe doesn't want to lose to Danny). He's also now going to get Gannon's up-and-down twice a year (at least). But, he still has to have the muscle to tangle with SRU and Mercyhurst.

It's going to be an interesting year. He has enough talent. Getting all these guys ready to play together by early November is the big challenge.


Ask yourself this: Joe's team went 32-2 last season. But, among Joe's best teams, where would you rank them?

I like Joe a lot. I think he's a great coach, but I'm very curious to see how this plays out next season for him. I'm not entirely sure he's wired to re-recruit his entire roster every year. I'm also not sure he's wired to have guys use him, and what he's built into an elite program, with first-class facilities, and a devoted fanbase, into something that they use as a springboard to a higher level, but (in many cases) a lesser program (relatively speaking). He said all the right things when Armoni left. I'm also pretty sure he thought that was an isolated event. As I said repeatedly last year, that was simply the first one, and the door was now opened. 6-7 guys left this year via the portal. I get some were asked to leave, and that some were down the liners.

Still... That's significant turnover to a program and culture like his.

He simply has to play his entire roster next year (if those guys are capable of being on the floor). There's no debate. There's no saving guys. There's no setting up your roster for the next year, or the one after that. It's one year with a group, and you might have 8 new ones the next year. Guys will leave because they redshirted. Guys will leave because they didn't play enough. Guys will leave because they don't like the food served by Aramark in the cafeteria. Guys will leave because they "showed out" at the D2 level and want to "show out" in the MAAC playing for the Manhattan Jaspers.

I think he's a great coach. I just am not sure he's necessarily prepped for how this works now that it's infiltrated his house. One of his good buddies (Jay Wright) retired and said that the changing dynamics of college basketball with the portal caused him to evaluate if he really wanted to do it anymore. He ultimately said "no."

If he has 10 capable players, all ten need to play. Bottom line. Worry about the fall out of who got what minutes after the season. Play to win. Play to keep your team fresh. Only option at this point.

I'm not trying to be critical of Joe. But it's a far different world now than it was pre-Covid as it pertains to college sports.