Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I was going to say about Ethan. There must be no issues with his health if he’s playing this much. Speaking of Ethan.. Am I the only one that thinks he just looks, I don’t know, “off?” Not to say he’s not playing well or isn’t impactful. I think he’s actually regressed from last year, when he supposedly was injured or not fully healthy due to illness. Maybe I’m the only one who feels that way. He’s still racking up points and rebounds, but I think there’s other parts of his game that were more polished and impactful last season. He’s not shooting the 3 ball as well, does not get his jumpers to fall in general with the same frequency, and has turned the ball over a bunch.

This is just me watching and not knifing into the deep stats to prove or disprove my opinion. I just feel like something is off with him. It could be he was just so dominant last year and my expectations for him have been swayed unfairly.

Ethan was never a shutdown defender. He's never going to be, either. But, he does pretty well for the most part. He still gets tough boards and some blocks. He is also faster than he looks. He had a real tough assignment guarding PSAC Jesus yesterday. Kromka is very skilled, strong and fast. If you breath in his direction you also get a foul called and he can charge you all day without getting called. He really gets star treatment - especially up there.

I thought they should have collapsed on him more in the low post. I know the fear with UPJ is their inside-out game (which worked very well in the first half). But, typically JPK doesn't kick it back out. He's going to the hole.

Health-wise, Ethan still isn't 100 percent but he's way stronger than he was a month ago.

Regardless, that was a huge win yesterday. UPJ is very strong in the half-court. They stormed out to an 18-9 lead after IUP missed several bunnies early, and that building was rocking. I thought when IUP cut it to four at half they were going to win. UPJ isn't going to lose many games in the West. That was a good SOS win.

The end of the court IUP shot at in the first half is awkward. Fans stand above the hoop, etc. I knew they'd shoot much better in the second half. It's a similar effect as the KCAC. Visiting teams all shoot well in the first half at the scoreboard end but then shoot terrible in the second half in to the horseshoe.

[boatcapt]

West Liberty got hammered today by Fairmont by 25. That’s another odd score I didn’t see coming. A narrow loss in Fairmont’s building would be a reasonable prediction, but this result is a bit surprising. WLU only shot 36%.

And people were ready to stick a fork in Fairmont when they went on that head scratching three game losing skid in early December. Since then they have gone 7-1 losing only to then #19 ranked Virginia Union in overtime in Richmond.

My WAY to early prediction is that they are the #7 seed with #1 seed talent and pull an upset.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The combinations we sometimes see are baffling, but somehow they find a way to work. IUP played a deeper bench thank UPJ yesterday and maybe that was the difference in the last 3-5 minutes. Early on I was surprised at Stewart’s minutes but then the kid got hot and maybe we saw what we couldn’t see in practices. It looks now like Bethea had a chance to win that spot and just wasn’t ready. If Stewart can resemble what we saw yesterday, it’s like landing a key mid-year transfer.

I’m with you on KJ. I don’t get it either unless it’s a trust factor where Joe feels he can steal some minutes while feeling confident he won’t make negative plays. Hard to say. He’s kind of a non entity when he’s out there. I was surprised when he put up a shot yesterday. Ethan must be close to 100% given those minutes.

From what I've heard, KJ is a good practice player. It just doesn't seem to translate to games. The way they use him, too, is just as a passer. Teams know by now he's not an offensive threat.

He played over Brooks yesterday. I don't recall Brooks playing at all. KJ got 3-4 minutes in the first half.

This Stewart item (coming out party) makes things interesting. We know Shawndale and David are still going to play heavy minutes. Dallis got bumped yesterday. Polce played but very little.

In case nobody noticed, Joe did go with a 4-guard lineup in stretches in the second half. I think we may see more of that in the coming weeks.

[IUPalum]

I was going to say about Ethan. There must be no issues with his health if he’s playing this much. Speaking of Ethan.. Am I the only one that thinks he just looks, I don’t know, “off?” Not to say he’s not playing well or isn’t impactful. I think he’s actually regressed from last year, when he supposedly was injured or not fully healthy due to illness. Maybe I’m the only one who feels that way. He’s still racking up points and rebounds, but I think there’s other parts of his game that were more polished and impactful last season. He’s not shooting the 3 ball as well, does not get his jumpers to fall in general with the same frequency, and has turned the ball over a bunch.

This is just me watching and not knifing into the deep stats to prove or disprove my opinion. I just feel like something is off with him. It could be he was just so dominant last year and my expectations for him have been swayed unfairly.

Let’s be honest, did you really think Ethan could shoot the three at a 50% clip again? That is out of this world numbers. The part of his game that is a little down is his defense against bigger players. Let’s not forget all the weight Ethan lost and never put back on. Ethan will be fine and is getting better everyday.

[IUP24]

The combinations we sometimes see are baffling, but somehow they find a way to work. IUP played a deeper bench thank UPJ yesterday and maybe that was the difference in the last 3-5 minutes. Early on I was surprised at Stewart’s minutes but then the kid got hot and maybe we saw what we couldn’t see in practices. It looks now like Bethea had a chance to win that spot and just wasn’t ready. If Stewart can resemble what we saw yesterday, it’s like landing a key mid-year transfer.

I’m with you on KJ. I don’t get it either unless it’s a trust factor where Joe feels he can steal some minutes while feeling confident he won’t make negative plays. Hard to say. He’s kind of a non entity when he’s out there. I was surprised when he put up a shot yesterday. Ethan must be close to 100% given those minutes.

I was going to say about Ethan. There must be no issues with his health if he’s playing this much. Speaking of Ethan.. Am I the only one that thinks he just looks, I don’t know, “off?” Not to say he’s not playing well or isn’t impactful. I think he’s actually regressed from last year, when he supposedly was injured or not fully healthy due to illness. Maybe I’m the only one who feels that way. He’s still racking up points and rebounds, but I think there’s other parts of his game that were more polished and impactful last season. He’s not shooting the 3 ball as well, does not get his jumpers to fall in general with the same frequency, and has turned the ball over a bunch.

This is just me watching and not knifing into the deep stats to prove or disprove my opinion. I just feel like something is off with him. It could be he was just so dominant last year and my expectations for him have been swayed unfairly.

[IUPalum]

I think lost in all this is the great coaching job by Redshirt Joe. He might’ve lost that tag of Redshirt after yesterdays performance. The guts he had to draw up a play for a kid he had planned to redshirt is unheard of! Then to come out of his next time out and draw up a similar play but catch the back door to David bc the defense over guarded Stewart was brilliant!

I dread the day Joe decides to hang it up! Best coach around!

[Scrub]

That league is strange. They could literally play again tomorrow and WL could win by 30.

No doubt. The fast fun-and-gun mentality of the league is susceptible to some wonky scores. There is less consistency to be found in this style of play than in a traditional half-court style, so the PSAC is likely the easier league to bet most nights.

Part of it, too, is that WLU has been the bully of the league for so long that they take every team's best shot. That Fairmont team is much better than their 5-loss record for sure. But Fairmont was also capable of sleepwalking their way to a home loss against Glenville. The fact is that every team is as locked in as it's going to be when WLU walks in the gym. FSU certainly was last night. And that's what you get for being a quality program. You have to be ready to take everyone's best punch, and WLU certainly wasn't yesterday.

Kudos to IUP, though. They get the same treatment in the PSAC--taking everyone's best shot (and having to endure joyously dancing coaches when someone does finally put it together). But so far this year (as well as last year) they have been able to fend off those punches and take care of business.

But in the end, I'd rather be a fan of a quality program that has to weather the storm of everyone's best (and live with the taunts when you fail to punch back) than be a fan of an up-and-down program--like a Glenville--where you just never know what you're going to get night in and night out.

[EyeoftheHawk]

* Tough game at UPJ.
* Officiating was atrocious especially the chubby bald f-er!
* We now see the reason Stewart was activated.
* Joe post game basically said in a nutshell he decided to activate Stewart to help David. Get David some rest and get him off the ball some too. Stewart’s minutes still will be minimal.
* UPJ’s offensive efficiency definitely made it tough for IUP to guard.
* No Brooks today???
*I’m sick of seeing KJ.
* Ethan 40 min. Yikes!

The combinations we sometimes see are baffling, but somehow they find a way to work. IUP played a deeper bench thank UPJ yesterday and maybe that was the difference in the last 3-5 minutes. Early on I was surprised at Stewart’s minutes but then the kid got hot and maybe we saw what we couldn’t see in practices. It looks now like Bethea had a chance to win that spot and just wasn’t ready. If Stewart can resemble what we saw yesterday, it’s like landing a key mid-year transfer.

I’m with you on KJ. I don’t get it either unless it’s a trust factor where Joe feels he can steal some minutes while feeling confident he won’t make negative plays. Hard to say. He’s kind of a non entity when he’s out there. I was surprised when he put up a shot yesterday. Ethan must be close to 100% given those minutes.

[IUPalum]

* Tough game at UPJ.
* Officiating was atrocious especially the chubby bald f-er!
* We now see the reason Stewart was activated.
* Joe post game basically said in a nutshell he decided to activate Stewart to help David. Get David some rest and get him off the ball some too. Stewart’s minutes still will be minimal.
* UPJ’s offensive efficiency definitely made it tough for IUP to guard.
* No Brooks today???
*I’m sick of seeing KJ.
* Ethan 40 min. Yikes!

[Ship69]

That league is strange. They could literally play again tomorrow and WL could win by 30.

When you're a run-and-gun pressing team with talented athletes such as WL appears to have quite often, you can ring up some impressive victories. But if you hit a night when a talented opponent is breaking through the press for easy shots and hitting 3s while your uptempo offense fires up 3s that aren't falling, you can also get handed some big-time losses. Good outweighs the bad if you're talented, but it can happen. A prime example was when Ship's Sweet 16 team of a couple of years back pounded WL by 30-plus points in the playoffs.

Pressing teams shouldn't bother a team with veteran talented guards. Last season Ship won two-of-three from East Stroud, and the two wins were uptempo. With Biss and Hardy at guard and quick wing players in Carter and Johnson, Ship had no trouble running with the Warriors. The one ESU win at Ship came when they went against character and actually won a half-court grinder where both teams scored in the '50s. This year, with Ship inexperienced at guard and ESU with even more depth, the Warriors won the Jan. 4 game in a 30-point runaway. Funny thing is that since the blowout loss at ESU the last three teams Ship has played has tried to press them at some point. The problem for those three teams has been that they ain't no East Stroudsburg.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That does surprise me. Ship, in the midst of a so-so season, went OT with Fairmont and had multiple chances to beat them. They were a good club, but I thought ESU looked far superior.

That league is strange. They could literally play again tomorrow and WL could win by 30.

[Ship69]

Wow

That does surprise me. Ship, in the midst of a so-so season, went OT with Fairmont and had multiple chances to beat them. They were a good club, but I thought ESU looked far superior.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

West Liberty got hammered today by Fairmont by 25. That’s another odd score I didn’t see coming. A narrow loss in Fairmont’s building would be a reasonable prediction, but this result is a bit surprising. WLU only shot 36%.

Wow

[EyeoftheHawk]

West Liberty got hammered today by Fairmont by 25. That’s another odd score I didn’t see coming. A narrow loss in Fairmont’s building would be a reasonable prediction, but this result is a bit surprising. WLU only shot 36%.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Officiating was a disaster. That heavy bald white guy is always bad and the thin black guy thinks he’s part of the show. It’s nauseating. They were bad both ways.

Mercyhurst blasted Slippery Rock by 30 today. I expected that one to be a little more competitive.

Tell you what ... Stewart, as you said, didn't hit fluke shots. Those were set up for him - especially at the end.


So, they have big confidence in him. And, that was a real big moment to go back to back from trey-land corner.


Naturally I lost the radio feed on the way home. I'd be curious what Joe had to say.