Iup basketball

[bballfan03]

Maybe it's just me, or the web stream ....... but did we forget to pay the lights bill? Why is it so dark?

It was sooooo dark! It looked like they had all the lights off except for a few over the court

[bballfan03]

Kaaba Murray (guard) has been added to the roster.

He's been with the team all season but was just officially added. Not sure what the deal was regarding his eligibility in the first semester.

6' / Guard / Freshman

If he's being added for the 2nd semester, it's because he "transferred/enrolled late". Enrollment paperwork has to be in by a certain date (very early in the fall semester) and the student has to have X# of credit hours before they can be eligible to play. Gannons had a few of those over the years.

[IUPalum]

Joe can at least make this season entertaining.

How? Completely scrap everything he believes in.

Throw out the offense. Half of them still don't know it after 13 games. He doesn't have anywhere remotely close to the shooters he needs.


Toss the normal defense. They can't run it.


BUT, what this team is good at is creating chaos and scoring on the fly. They have a lot of slashers.

It's a no-brainer to me to start Kymani, Moore, Pickens, Grove and Damir. That is a FAST lineup.

Triggs and Herring are first off the bench. Sarp is the 8th man.

Herring is far and away their most polarizing player. He's constantly out of position (on both ends). Joe hammers him all night. That said, they score when he's in the game. A lot. He's instant chaos (whether he's trying to be or not). He can fly for being 6'5". His defense is pretty good (almost by accident). He's great on the press. He draws attention. He does true freshman things. But, it works.

Scan the play by play. Every run IUP goes on has a common theme: Herring is on the floor.

Joe's conundrum is Sarp is the right-spot guy and knows the system. Herring is vastly more athletic, bigger and more dynamic -- but, a loose cannon. Joe doesn't like loose cannons.


I have some bad news for him ... this isn't 2019 (or any of his other years). This team could actually be dangerous, but he needs to go 90 percent AAU ball. It is what it is. This rotation isn't built to play his style (odd being he built it).

His two stars aren't playing this year. Mix it up.

I think he built this team thinking Bautista, Dillard and Tomiwa were going to be playing. Yes, I said it, Tomiwa. Joe screwed himself with thinking Tomiwa was coming back, thinking Dillard would be healthy and Bautista would be eligible.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Joe can at least make this season entertaining.

How? Completely scrap everything he believes in.

Throw out the offense. Half of them still don't know it after 13 games. He doesn't have anywhere remotely close to the shooters he needs.


Toss the normal defense. They can't run it.


BUT, what this team is good at is creating chaos and scoring on the fly. They have a lot of slashers.

It's a no-brainer to me to start Kymani, Moore, Pickens, Grove and Damir. That is a FAST lineup.

Triggs and Herring are first off the bench. Sarp is the 8th man.

Herring is far and away their most polarizing player. He's constantly out of position (on both ends). Joe hammers him all night. That said, they score when he's in the game. A lot. He's instant chaos (whether he's trying to be or not). He can fly for being 6'5". His defense is pretty good (almost by accident). He's great on the press. He draws attention. He does true freshman things. But, it works.

Scan the play by play. Every run IUP goes on has a common theme: Herring is on the floor.

Joe's conundrum is Sarp is the right-spot guy and knows the system. Herring is vastly more athletic, bigger and more dynamic -- but, a loose cannon. Joe doesn't like loose cannons.


I have some bad news for him ... this isn't 2019 (or any of his other years). This team could actually be dangerous, but he needs to go 90 percent AAU ball. It is what it is. This rotation isn't built to play his style (odd being he built it).

His two stars aren't playing this year. Mix it up.

[hawks16]

Maybe it's just me, or the web stream ....... but did we forget to pay the lights bill? Why is it so dark?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Kaaba Murray (guard) has been added to the roster.

He's been with the team all season but was just officially added. Not sure what the deal was regarding his eligibility in the first semester.

6' / Guard / Freshman

[IUPbigINDIANS]

So, Joe's bench team (featuring Dallis Dillard and Bautista Rodriguez) took down his starters in an exhibition Monday. I've heard from somebody (in the know) the score wasn't very close.

Granted, Rodriguez is the best player in the program. He'd be playing 37 mpg right now if he was eligible - and highly-likely be an all-conference player this year. Dallis is the exact big, physical guard this team is missing.

It's going to be a fun second half. Next year can't come fast enough but they still have to finish this out.

Like all the D3 teams that come in, I'm sure Thiel will come in fired up tonight. Past Joe teams would screw around for the first half, and he'd blast them at halftime. IUP would then curb stomp them in the second half. Lord knows what we'll see tonight.

Obviously this would have typically been IUP/Mercyhurst Round 1.

[Ship69]

IUP basketball update: https://tonycoccagna.substack.com/p/restart?r=411ko9

I used to work with your brother Tom at the PO many moons ago.

[tonyc]

IUP basketball update: https://tonycoccagna.substack.com/p/restart?r=411ko9

[EyeoftheHawk]

Well, 'rock bottom' arrives when even your die-hard fans don't comment (at all) in the 24 hours after a loss.

Joe's normal mess was even worse yesterday as Luke Triggs was ill and didn't make the trip.

IUP is now 6-6. It's going to be a struggle to finish above .500

I didn’t even realize there was a game until I saw some after the fact social media posts.

[Chuck Norris]

Well, 'rock bottom' arrives when even your die-hard fans don't comment (at all) in the 24 hours after a loss.

Joe's normal mess was even worse yesterday as Luke Triggs was ill and didn't make the trip.

IUP is now 6-6. It's going to be a struggle to finish above .500

It was a pretty loaded day football wise. When I did briefly tune into the game the audio and video weren’t synched up which became irritating quickly.

[IUPalum]

Well, 'rock bottom' arrives when even your die-hard fans don't comment (at all) in the 24 hours after a loss.

Joe's normal mess was even worse yesterday as Luke Triggs was ill and didn't make the trip.

IUP is now 6-6. It's going to be a struggle to finish above .500

Tis the season...

[IUPalum]

Thoughts:

The defense on all levels was atrocious. They won't win games unless that is cleaned up.

Offensively, they got some secondary scoring from Grove/Herring/Brooks but that won't be enough when you're giving up easy buckets and Moore is still jacking up ill advised shots. Moore knows he needs to score but what he isn't understanding is that if he gets others involved, it'll start to create easier opportunities for him.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Well, 'rock bottom' arrives when even your die-hard fans don't comment (at all) in the 24 hours after a loss.

Joe's normal mess was even worse yesterday as Luke Triggs was ill and didn't make the trip.

IUP is now 6-6. It's going to be a struggle to finish above .500

[Ship69]

Well, IUP's performance certainly wouldn't be considered a work of art.

The theme all year has been good stretches mixed with awful stretches. Last night had more bad than good, but they (amazingly) somehow found a way to win.


THE GOOD

* Damir Brooks nearly had a triple double. He had a career night with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 7 blocks. Kutztown had no answer for him. Make no mistake, IUP won because of him.

* Tyler Grove hit three big treys -- seemingly ending a games-long slump.

* Kymani Merraro is going to be a superstar. He's doing things at the PG position we've never seen at IUP (from a freshman). He's fearless.


THE BAD

* IUP is getting physically mauled every game. Somebody aside from Brooks has to rebound. Teams drive the hoop with ease.

* Joe's system. He has to adapt to his roster. He built it. He needs to adjust. This isn't 2019 (or any other year). He doesn't have shooters all over the floor. He has two 6'5" (maybe) post players. This team can't play his traditional half-court game. What this team does have is speed and athletes. Players like Alphonso Pickens and Ian Herring aren't meant to play half-court offense.

* It's only been 11 games, but this group far too often looks lost. They are routinely a split second late on passes, shots, screens, defensive switches, etc. The expectation was they'd look better after the Finals break. They actually looked worse.

* Christian Moore isn't a surprise anymore. He was swarmed last night for 40 minutes. Hopefully Grove busting out of his slump will alleviate some of the pressure Moore is facing.


The 'so-so'

* Ian Herring is the wildcard on this team. Without question, he gets hammered by Joe the most every game. He's routinely out of position, etc. HOWEVER, good things happen when he's on the floor. Herring is incredibly quick for his 6'5" frame. He's becoming a good defender. He can also really drive the hoop. IUP's offense performs better when he's in the game.

* Luke Triggs has a tough job. He's not a Center by any means. At best, he's about 6'5". He's up against giants nightly. His offense can be pretty good. I think Joe could run more through him. He's also going through the annual 'short leash' syndrome Joe gives most new players.

* Grove has to get more physical on the defensive end.

Your season sounds very much like Ship's to this point, although your guys have managed to close the deal on more occasions. Ship has lost all four games at home so far, and all of them outside of Gannon have been extremely winnable.