Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

These next two games lacking Chucky are going to be tough! Mercyhurst looks like they are starting to gel and hopefully Joe speeds up the physical Rock team. They get past those two and then it's pretty favorable up till the UPJ game.

Gary Manchel's teams are always tougher the second time. Like him or not, he is a very good X'S and O's coach and his teams are always exceptionally well prepared. I'm interested to see what adjustments he makes. Luckily, there's only so much you can adjust against Joe's guards. Based on IUP's limitations right now -- and the fact he's obviously seen the Clarion game film -- I'd assume they go right after Ethan Porterfield. If they get him him foul trouble early it will be a very tough game for IUP. Chucky really stole the show in the first Mercyhurst game with 3 steals, 3 blocks, 7 points and 11 boards. He will certainly be missed.

They are going to need a solid game out of Shawn Ulrich tomorrow. Ideally, Ethan stays clean and Ulrich will get 10-12 minutes. Those need to be productive minutes. He's talented ... just needs to put it all together -- play physical, grab boards and cash in on what comes to him. If you get in to a Clarion situation and Ulrich and Dylan Benton have to play big minutes tomorrow ... it could be a tough one.


If I was Joe I might even throw a few curveballs at Mercyhurst, lineup-wise. IUP won the first meeting 71-56 despite missing 11 FTs. They've been red hot at the line as of late. I fully suspect this will still be a game with 2-3 minutes to go.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

What an embarrassing effort from IUP.


Joe's going to get blown out of the building.


Pathetic effort.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I think we must have been saving those timeouts for something. Maybe next year? Lol. Joe stunk as bad as the team.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Incredibly glad I donate to a fully-funded program which routinely has a 6-man rotation by Feb. 1 of just about every season -- which, of course, includes walk-ons. It's ironic it's Groundhog's Day weekend. That's Joe Lombardi's program. Every year is the same. But, at least we have those redshirts ready for the future. Or, at least until they transfer this off-season.

INCREDIBLE effort by the PLAYERS today in the second half. It's not easy to be forced to play IRONMAN basketball. It's not easy to have guards play power forward. It was a great comeback. I'm sure Ousmane Diop enjoyed it from back in Indiana. Shawn Ulrich never took his warm-up jersey off. Dylan Benton played a career-high in minutes. And, of course, IUP couldn't buy a rebound for its life. But, at least we have those redshirts for the future. We don't need them right now. We didn't need them when Tommy Demo went down. Nor when Chucky went town.

IUPAlum said he's seen this movie before. I have, too. The ending sucks. It's always the same.

Chucky Humphries' left hand can't heal fast enough. A season depends on it. There is not help on the way -- even if it is available.


IUP got bailed out today. Gannon and ESU knocked off UPJ and Shippensburg. It takes some of the sting away. Some.

Lombardi kept his 6-man rotation in a press for the entire second half. It produced one turnover -- and wore the crap out of his own team.

Enjoy your dinner tonight, Gary. You earned it today.

[IUPalum]

Incredibly glad I donate to a fully-funded program which routinely has a 6-man rotation by Feb. 1 of just about every season -- which, of course, includes walk-ons. It's ironic it's Groundhog's Day weekend. That's Joe Lombardi's program. Every year is the same. But, at least we have those redshirts ready for the future. Or, at least until they transfer this off-season.

INCREDIBLE effort by the PLAYERS today in the second half. It's not easy to be forced to play IRONMAN basketball. It's not easy to have guards play power forward. It was a great comeback. I'm sure Ousmane Diop enjoyed it from back in Indiana. Shawn Ulrich never took his warm-up jersey off. Dylan Benton played a career-high in minutes. And, of course, IUP couldn't buy a rebound for its life. But, at least we have those redshirts for the future. We don't need them right now. We didn't need them when Tommy Demo went down. Nor when Chucky went town.

IUPAlum said he's seen this movie before. I have, too. The ending sucks. It's always the same.

Chucky Humphries' left hand can't heal fast enough. A season depends on it. There is not help on the way -- even if it is available.


IUP got bailed out today. Gannon and ESU knocked off UPJ and Shippensburg. It takes some of the sting away. Some.

Lombardi kept his 6-man rotation in a press for the entire second half. It produced one turnover -- and wore the crap out of his own team.

Enjoy your dinner tonight, Gary. You earned it today.

I'm going to battle you on the press thing. The 1-2-2 press has more than one purpose. Joe wasn't using it to create turnovers today. If they did then good but that wasn't the purpose. The purpose today was to speed the game up a bit and take Hurst out of their half court offense. Gary loves calling a ton a plays out but the second half he couldn't due to IUP pressing. The other thing, IUP should've got 2 separate 5 second calls when they went man press on the in bounds but the refs had their heads up their butts. I thought Carlo and Baldy were god awful today. They bailed Hurst out on quite a few occasions. It still doesn't take away the fact Joe played Hurst tempo the first half and put them in a hole.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Since the start of last year, IUP is 48-5.

Three of those five losses are to Mercyhurst.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I'm going to battle you on the press thing. The 1-2-2 press has more than one purpose. Joe wasn't using it to create turnovers today. If they did then good but that wasn't the purpose. The purpose today was to speed the game up a bit and take Hurst out of their half court offense. Gary loves calling a ton a plays out but the second half he couldn't due to IUP pressing. The other thing, IUP should've got 2 separate 5 second calls when they went man press on the in bounds but the refs had their heads up their butts. I thought Carlo and Baldy were god awful today. They bailed Hurst out on quite a few occasions. It still doesn't take away the fact Joe played Hurst tempo the first half and put them in a hole.

Grand scheme ... yeah ... it's one game. They put up a great fight in the second half minus two starters.

But, IUP had three guys play more than 38 minutes today. That's insane. By the way, the other two played 32 and 33 minutes. Five guys over 32 minutes. That's ironman basketball. That just can't happen with a team that has the money IUP has in its pocket. It's insanity. It's incredibly poor roster management.

I get what you're saying about the press in the second half. It was desperation. It worked. They cut that 17-point halftime deficit down to 4 points. The players gave everything they had in the second half. They were understandably exhausted in the final 5 minutes.

Chucky's left hand evaluation this week is about the most important thing to happen to this program this year. If it hasn't healed (quickly) correctly -- and he can't come back Saturday night -- I fear this could be a rough month.

Today ... as well as Mercyhurst played, IUP was right there in the end. Nobody can say one more guy wouldn't have made the difference. Heck, 2-3 rebounds may have made the difference. This bye on Wednesday is coming at a perfect time.

The question still remains: If Shawn Ulrich can't get a single second today -- on a day IUP played one post player ... why is he here? If Diop was deemed not ready to play ... why is he here?

I get they went all in last year with Dante and Cobo. I'm just not sure Joe realized he had a better team this year than last year.

Chucky comes back healthy they can win the Region -- or at least give it a good run. Without him ... it's not looking good.

[Golden89]

Since the start of last year, IUP is 48-5.

Three of those five losses are to Mercyhurst.

Holy crap.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The IronMan made me curious ... MPG (last 10 games ... most recent starts on the left)

PLAYER	MC	SH	CL	UPJ	CAL	ED	GU	SRU	MC	LH
Morris	32	33	34	33	34	28	29	29	31	30
Malik	38	33	39	38	35	31	36	39	39	27
Armoni	39	35	30	36	40	29	34	37	38	27
Porterfield	40	21	15	32	37	25	35	34	35	21
Shawndale	33	28	21	40	20	23	26	13	26	31
Chucky	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	26	29	21	27	28	19
Anthony	8	13	14	13	8	17	3	15	OUT	OUT
Benton	10	15	22	DNP	DNP	3	2	DNP	DNP	22
Ulrich	DNP	8	25	8	DNP	12	3	6	3	15
Glover Jr.	DNP	3	DNP	DNP	DNP	3	1	DNP	DNP	8
Demogerontas	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ

[ironmaniup]

The IronMan made me curious ... MPG (last 10 games ... most recent starts on the left)

PLAYER	MC	SH	CL	UPJ	CAL	ED	GU	SRU	MC	LH
Morris	32	33	34	33	34	28	29	29	31	30
Malik	38	33	39	38	35	31	36	39	39	27
Armoni	39	35	30	36	40	29	34	37	38	27
Porterfield	40	21	15	32	37	25	35	34	35	21
Shawndale	33	28	21	40	20	23	26	13	26	31
Chucky	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	26	29	21	27	28	19
Anthony	8	13	14	13	8	17	3	15	OUT	OUT
Benton	10	15	22	DNP	DNP	3	2	DNP	DNP	22
Ulrich	DNP	8	25	8	DNP	12	3	6	3	15
Glover Jr.	DNP	3	DNP	DNP	DNP	3	1	DNP	DNP	8
Demogerontas	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ

That's interesting, Of course with Chucky out Shawdale, and Benton are getting most of his minutes. Maybe a few more to Porterfield as well. If Joe's anything, he is consistent. Look at the times for the two Mercyhurst games.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The White Out is on for Saturday night.

That's better than that time 6 years ago IUP24 lost that game to Gannon.


LOL

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

The White Out is on for Saturday night.

That's better than that time 6 years ago IUP24 lost that game to Gannon.


LOL

To the best of my count IUP24 remains undefeated. LOL.

-

[IUPbigINDIANS]

To the best of my count IUP24 remains undefeated. LOL.

-

LOL ... I said to my buddy that night there would never, ever be another Silent Night while Joe was still the boss.


To my knowledge, that game still holds the attendance record for IUP Basketball. From memory the announced gate was 3,857.

Old JR just spoiled the party.

Side note: I fully expect IUP to draw more than 3,500 tomorrow night.

[IUPalum]

IUP24 better not pull a fast one tomorrow.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

** NEWS **

Chucky has been officially cleared and will play tomorrow.