Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

If you're considering putting some coin on tonight's University of South Carolina-Beaufort at IUP game ... I'll give you some friendly advise: Don't.

While it should be highly entertaining ... it's hard to say what to expect.

It's not often (ever?) a Peach Belt Conference team will play a game in Indiana. But, former IUP longtime assistant Ron Fudala is the head coach of the Sandsharks (7-1).

This season, USCB is 2-0 against the PSAC -- winning at UPJ (106-88) and Slippery Rock (70-64).

Aside from Fudala, there are several other ties to Pennsylvania. Former IUP guard Kyle Polce is a senior starter. Past WPIAL stars Tasso Sfanos (Mars) and Kevaughn Price (Bishop Canevin) are key contributors.

Price was teammates with current IUP reserve guard Jordan Watson, while both played at BCCC. Fun fact: One poster on here (me) furiously pushed for Joe to sign Price. But, to no avail. Price was the leading scorer in the country his final year in JUCO. He's a very dynamic, well-built (strong) guard.

The final connection is assistant coach Luke Dyer, who had a great career as a player at West Liberty.

The style of play IUP will be up against is quite interesting. The best way to describe it is probably calling it a hybrid/merged version of IUP and West Liberty. What that translates to is IUP will face the chaos and trapping for 4-5 minute stretches. Then they'll 'relax' in to a slightly less chaotic version of it. Then, they'll use some 3/4-court pressing. Then they won't press at all and run Joe's defense with all the switching, etc. Then it all starts over again (in some order). They'll do the 5 for 5 subbing all night.

Using the SRU game for comparison (as the Rock plays much more similar to IUP than UPJ does), the USCB system had mixed results. SRU was without its best player (senior guard Maceo Austin), which certainly didn't help matters. The Rock adjusted fairly well as the game went along -- but was worn out and couldn't hit the side of a barn in the second half. Neither, of course, could USCB (who also looked gassed). With Austin out, USCB swarmed Ike Herster much of the game.

USCB isn't a big team, and SRU was very effective on the glass.


Keys for IUP tonight:

* Inbound the ball quickly. Joe's teams all are very slow in this area. All the 'stall' does is allow them to set up. Avoid the coffin corners. Joe loves to inbound to the corners, which is exactly what they want.

* Alphonso Pickens is getting trial by fire in his season/IUP debut. IUP won't win this game with 7 guys tonight. They need him. Big time.

* Slow. It. Down. USCB was visibly frustrated by Slippery Rock's pace of play. They aren't stocked with WL-quality shooters, either. USCB is built to run with an extremely guard-heavy lineup. Damir Brooks can cause all sorts of problems for them. Use him.

* SRU committed a whopping (29) TOs and still almost won. Cut that number in half.

* Stay composed. This team has some 'animated' players. In particular, they have one guard who likes to stir it up.

* The Zebra Crew. If they draw one of the ticky-tack crews, half of the USCB team will be fouled out.


It's going to be an entertaining game. If anything, this will help this new team get ready to face Gannon twice.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Kyle Police returns Monday night.

I don't want to say Police got run out of Indiana, but, he basically got run out of Indiana.

No denying, however, his early time here he was buried behind a plethora of star guards. He was also frequently injured.

Ironically, he'd have probably started for that mess of a team last year - or, at least been the 6th man.

Polce is a great athlete (and a good young man). I'd have liked to see him finish here.

Regardless, I'm quite certain Ron Fudala will be chasing Joe's job here in a year or two.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I felt like I needed a shower after that. What a mess both teams made of that 40 minutes. I thought I was watching a junior high game.

The positive is IUP won. At about the three minute mark I looked at my buddy and said they’re just in survival mode now and somehow Lincoln managed to hang around until the final few seconds. Thank god they only shot 29%! IUP was an awful 2-18 from behind the arc and they were both big when they happened from Moore. Grove didn’t score until the final couple minutes and he looked like a freshman out there for the first time.

Keep in mind this Lincoln team lost to Cal by 30…BUT…a win is a win and if you can play awful and win you take it. I give Lincoln credit for their heart. They never gave up.

That's how CIAA teams play. If the zebra crew lets it become WrestleMania, what he saw is what happens.

Lincoln wanted to muck it up and it sure did.

Obviously IUP didn't have a banner night, either. It was a good 'watch the film' experience. Why in the world IUP was fouling three-point shooters at the end of the game ...

End of the day that's one you're thankful you escape. That was a brutally physical basketball game.

I do think they could have fed Brooks all night. Lincoln was selling out on the deep shots for 40 minutes.

IUP had several chances to bust that game wide open and couldn't do it.

Monday will be much different. USCB is more a finesse team than a street brawler.

On my list of all-time of games, that one last night is probably in the bottom 3. That was a playground affair.

[EyeoftheHawk]

I'm trying to process the horrendous basketball I watched tonight. One positive, BROOKS!!! He wasn't good enough to play last year.

I felt like I needed a shower after that. What a mess both teams made of that 40 minutes. I thought I was watching a junior high game.

The positive is IUP won. At about the three minute mark I looked at my buddy and said they’re just in survival mode now and somehow Lincoln managed to hang around until the final few seconds. Thank god they only shot 29%! IUP was an awful 2-18 from behind the arc and they were both big when they happened from Moore. Grove didn’t score until the final couple minutes and he looked like a freshman out there for the first time.

Keep in mind this Lincoln team lost to Cal by 30…BUT…a win is a win and if you can play awful and win you take it. I give Lincoln credit for their heart. They never gave up.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I'm trying to process the horrendous basketball I watched tonight. One positive, BROOKS!!! He wasn't good enough to play last year.

Damir could have had 35 points tonight. Why they didn't just feed him all game ... mysterious

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I'm trying to process the horrendous basketball I watched tonight. One positive, BROOKS!!! He wasn't good enough to play last year.

Not sure that was basketball lol. That was a street fight.

[IUPalum]

I'm trying to process the horrendous basketball I watched tonight. One positive, BROOKS!!! He wasn't good enough to play last year.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

When IUP beat Ship early last season, I thought Brooks might have been the best player on the floor that game. Ship actually played what turned out to be one of its better games in that one, but they had no answer for Brook's physicality on the boards. I was shocked with how little playing time he got the rest of the season. Although Ship did better on the boards this year, Brooks again was a factor in IUP holding its own.

It was so bad last year. I honestly think, in fact, it got so bad people quit attending the games. IUP's attendance started to tank down the stretch last year -- and February is when it usually explodes.

The whole arena and fan base knew Brooks should have been playing 32 mpg (or until he fouled out). Add to it they redshirted Romero-Sanz when they desperately needed a big body.

That whole situation stunk so bad it literally turned fans away. It also crippled Porterfield because teams were totally ignoring the SF position and doubling him all year.

Brooks isn't Cobo. He's never going to be. But, he brings an awful lot to the table. He's a beefed up (and taller) version of Tevin Hanner.

It even further trickled down when they had to move their prized SG down to play SF.

That was just a season to put in the vault and forget about it. It was the least enjoyable season of IUP basketball I've ever watched.

[IUPalum]

Video link finally posted.

[Ship69]

He wasn't ready last year.

So we've been told.


LOL. He must have had one heck of a summer.

That whole mess cost IUP at least 3-4 wins last year. Maybe more.

When IUP beat Ship early last season, I thought Brooks might have been the best player on the floor that game. Ship actually played what turned out to be one of its better games in that one, but they had no answer for Brook's physicality on the boards. I was shocked with how little playing time he got the rest of the season. Although Ship did better on the boards this year, Brooks again was a factor in IUP holding its own.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Great news:

Alphonso Pickens could make his season debut tonight.

Good news:

Dallis Dillard has his final knee examination early next week. If all goes well he'll be given the green light to return.


Bad news:

The hammer dropped on Bautista Rodriguez. He will not be eligible to play this season.

What's it all mean?

If anything, they have some closure on the Rodriguez topic. That said, they could desperately use another depth player under the basket. I realize these guys don't grow on trees. That said, there's always some player out there - for whatever reason - looking for a home. I have a hunch they may add a mid-year post player. They don't need a 'starter' level player. Joe is well-connected. Perhaps they lure one of the Covid era players out of retirement who may have a semester of eligibility remaining (i.e. what they did with Bryce last year). Karst Hunter would fill that role immediately -- but that's probably wishful thinking.

Pickens was signed to be the starting PG. Issue there is Joe all the sudden has a budding star in true freshman PG Kymani Merraro. Pickens is much bigger at 6'2" and is a shutdown defender. So, there's some give and take between the two players. Regardless, Joe can figure out the minutes. It's a good problem to suddenly have.

The rotation will bump from 7 to 8 players, and up to 9 when Dallis returns. Dare I say 10 players when Denzel Kabasele soon returns? Joe's comfort zone seems to be about 6.5 players, so we'll see how that all works out. I assume Dallis will be worked back in very slowly -- perhaps as little as 10-12 mpg initially. Even that will be a huge boost.

[IUPalum]

I would surely hope they are just late putting the link up on the site. Even if they don't have announcers, somebody can run the camera.

Kutztown had cheerleaders, announcers and a video last night. No excuse not to at least have a video feed. Most would prefer to just listen to the crowd noise anyway.

If you're going to schedule games on Thanksgiving Eve (at 7:30 p.m.) ... the show goes on. Business as usual.

Agreed, Jack and Tony can announce just like last weekend. This is insanity!!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

WTF!!! Why is there no video for tonight or Monday's games??? This is horrendous!!!

I would surely hope they are just late putting the link up on the site. Even if they don't have announcers, somebody can run the camera.

Kutztown had cheerleaders, announcers and a video last night. No excuse not to at least have a video feed. Most would prefer to just listen to the crowd noise anyway.

If you're going to schedule games on Thanksgiving Eve (at 7:30 p.m.) ... the show goes on. Business as usual.

[IUPalum]

WTF!!! Why is there no video for tonight or Monday's games??? This is horrendous!!!

[EyeoftheHawk]

This actually does happen rather frequently at the KCAC. Historically, I'd venture to guess about 70-75% of spectators actually sit on the side opposite the benches. If you're sitting low, the view is much better (you don't have the press table or benches in your way). Sitting higher it makes no difference but for whatever reason most sit on that side.

Unlike during the Regional, there is no 'press row' on the opposite side during the regular season. So, Row 1 is literally about 36" from the court.

It used to be the alcohol was only sold on the side away from the benches. Now it is sold on both sides. That said, the vast majority still hangs out on the other side.

It's funny. Some nights the benches side looks completely dead on video and the side across is jam-packed. I don't know what it is but it's a thing. The video obviously shoots from the crowded side and shows the empty side.

Yep, I’m one of the ones almost always opposite the benches for the reasons you mention. I still haven’t won one of those darned Insomnia Cookie giveaways when they pick the row and section. They did at least call Section 112 this weekend, but it was the wrong row…again. :(