Iup basketball

[IUPalum]

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Staunch was crying last night too. He smacked the wall a couple times all pissed bc Ethan owned him!

He's understandably pretty frustrated. You can see that just watching him on the court. He's not playing with the same fire he had two years ago on their good team.

Staunch is at his best in a smaller role -- in spurts. I wouldn't mind having him off the deep bench on Joe's team this year. But, the way Cleary is forced to play him for long stretches, ... he's just not going to be as productive. You'd get the most out of him in a 12-15 mpg role.

He was able to thrive two years ago when they had Keshawn Liggins, Anthony Coleman and Jaymon Mason at guard. He really played that garbage man role very well. Being a focal point of the offense is just not his strength.

[IUPalum]

Staunch was crying last night too. He smacked the wall a couple times all pissed bc Ethan owned him!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

They played awful and survived a terrible Boro team and a terrible officiating crew!

It was very apparent in the first half they just wanted to put on a show for the home crowd. I mean, Edinboro crowd. There was almost 1,000 in McComb. That's a huge crowd up there.

And, by put on a show, I mean play the total opposite of the composed, structured Lombardi style we've grown so accustomed to watching. I'd bet that was not a fun experience behind closed doors at halftime. If you're going to be tossing circus passes behind your back, botching alley-oops, etc., the old ball coach is going to be none too pleased.

The second half was much cleaner.

Gotta be honest ... not a fan of a particular player on Edinboro's team.

[IUPalum]

They played awful and survived a terrible Boro team and a terrible officiating crew!

[bballfan03]

Final

IUP 88
Edinboro 53

The only definite block is if it occurs in the restricted area...other than that I think they eeny meeny miney mo it.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Final

IUP 88
Edinboro 53

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Empty the bench, Joe. Nothing stupid here.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Joe up 41-26 at the half.


Hopefully he reminds the team this isn't the NBA All-Star Game and they play their game in the second half.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Joe gonna lose his mind at halftime.

[IUPTrackMan]

....,IUP's 'favorite' official ... the one for years we've called 'GQ' ... actually got promoted this year. He's the head official of his group now. He worked the IUP/SRU game last week. In his younger days he had a very rough history with Joe Lombardi ... used to 'T' him up every game. Oddly, as he's now the head man, he kind of really let Joe work him last week -- as was pointed out by Ian Grady many times........

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I only watched until IUP was up near 20 so I missed the warning should have been T. Was it for getting on the officials? Only thing I can think of in which a warning would officially stop a game would be if it was a procedural technical in which a second warrants a T (i.e. delay of game, bench misconduct etc). I've been surprised that Jefferson hasn't yet received a T. Theres been a few times that I thought he should've been close to #2. Maybe some of the refs are starting to realize they're horrible and the chances they made a bad call are high lol

That was actually one of the 'better' crews at the IUP/Gannon men's game. Take that for what it's worth, but compared to the other crews they aren't too bad. Historically they don't 'T' up many coaches, and, by PSAC standards, they let the players play.

IUP's 'favorite' official ... the one for years we've called 'GQ' ... actually got promoted this year. He's the head official of his group now. He worked the IUP/SRU game last week. In his younger days he had a very rough history with Joe Lombardi ... used to 'T' him up every game. Oddly, as he's now the head man, he kind of really let Joe work him last week -- as was pointed out by Ian Grady many times. Perhaps their years of badgering each other grew them closer.

It's sad to say but the difference in crews is amazing. I can tell from the moment they walk out what kind of game it will be. One trio in particular is by far the worst in the league. Two of them are just too old. They can't get up and down anymore. They call fouls from 30' away, etc. They are also the crew still basking in their old glory ... and think the crowd is actually there to see them. Any game they officiate has about double the fouls called of any other crew. It ruins the game. They also love to 'keep things even' and will make sure the calls are about 50/50. Drives me nuts. Call what's real.

While the topic is up ... I have absolutely no idea what a charge or a block is anymore. They don't, either. You could show the same charge to the same crew 10 times and half the time they call it on the offensive player and the other half they call it on the defender.

Over the years I've found watching the coaches interact with the officials to sometimes be more entertaining than the games. Lombardi is a master of the craft. Gary Manchel is very good. Danny Sancomb is great. They toe the line so well ... they push, push, push but know exactly when to back off. Kevin Reynolds, on the other hand, was the opposite. He'd come across so abrasive. John Reilly and his group of 19 assistants would scream for 40 straight minutes. All of them. At the same time. They screamed so much the officials didn't even know when they were being yelled at most of the time. LOL.

One of the funny moments of the IUP/SRU game (and you only saw this if you were there) was Ian Grady got so fed up with Joe working the officials that he actually told GQ he was getting worked. Grady is making progress but he has to get a little more savvy. It will come in time. Most fans don't realize it ... but in a close game ... the coach who works the crew the best typically wins the game. Not a coincidence.

[bballfan03]

The biggest thing I took away from that game was simply getting it on film. David Morris showed in the second half (when cut loose a bit) he can really be a huge factor in the offense. He went 5-7 from the field (4-5 from deep) and 5-6 at the line. When he's a threat out there it only helps free up others. I knew that game was coming from him. Now, upcoming opponents can worry about him, too, during film study. I think he's been frustrated at times this year, too, so that was a needed game for him. It's hard to go from being the scorer all your life to being the PG in Joe's offense.

Joe said after the Shippensburg game they changed a lot of the offense. He wanted them to start driving more. It's done several things. For one, he has big guards who can all do it well. Secondly, they are either making the shot or getting to the line (averaging 24 FT attempts last three games ... up almost 10 from first half). Thirdly (and the thing GU struggled defending) is it has put a fear factor in to defenses and they are collapsing on the ball. It is getting IUP a lot of wide open trey attempts. Saturday night was really the first time all year they showed how well they are capable of shooting from deep (12-27).

We've slowly seen Joe's offense evolve this season. I think early on he still wanted it to run as if Dante was playing PG. This team is thriving offensively the more and more they get away from that slower tempo as this group can play much faster. Last year's team was better at playing a slower pace.

IUP won the boards by 6 (35-29) but was again led by a guard (Malik had 7).

I only watched until IUP was up near 20 so I missed the warning should have been T. Was it for getting on the officials? Only thing I can think of in which a warning would officially stop a game would be if it was a procedural technical in which a second warrants a T (i.e. delay of game, bench misconduct etc). I've been surprised that Jefferson hasn't yet received a T. Theres been a few times that I thought he should've been close to #2. Maybe some of the refs are starting to realize they're horrible and the chances they made a bad call are high lol

[IUPalum]

I've been waiting for that comment. Seems kind of odd, huh? Lol.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

So this year the PG had to distribute, the last 4 with Dante he was allowed to shoot at will. Craziness... David has to become more of a scoring threat every game for the team to be tougher to play. Losing Demo has forced that to happen. I still say they need to go deeper on the bench.

I've been waiting for that comment. Seems kind of odd, huh? Lol.