Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Inside the resume ... a look back on IUP's season to date and how its opponents have done up to this point. This graph will also include IUP's opponents' best wins on the season (recall there is a category or O.O.W.%). Bethany, D3, is not calculated in the record below.

OPPONENT	RESULT	Record	Best Win
West Virginia Wesleyan	W	4-7	@ West Liberty
Concord	W	4-7	UPJ, Charleston
@ Le Moyne	W	8-4	@ New Haven, @ Mercyhurst
Bloomsburg	W	5-6	UPJ
East Stroudsburg	W	7-3	Virginia Union, Mercyhurst
Felician	W	4-7	Dominican (NY)
@ Mansfield	W	3-7	No wins over .500 teams
Bethany	W	D3	D3
@ Shepherd	W	6-5	Bowie State, Slippery Rock
@ Shippensburg	L	8-3	Virginia Union, SRU, Cal, IUP
TOTAL	9-1	49-49	@ Le Moyne, ESU, @ Shepherd

This was definitely a lighter schedule than years past. Keep in mind, Lake Erie College and Bridgeport were both scheduled -- and both bailed out. Lake Erie is currently 9-6 after cancelling on IUP and taking a game at Clarion instead. Bridgeport is currently 9-2. So, those two cancellations really swung our opponents' overall record. Essentially, those two games were replaced at the last minute by Felician. Fairmont State was also listed on the first schedule IUP released, but the game quickly was deleted. FSU then played a D1 exhibition on that date.

But, with the strength of the West this year, SOS isn't a concern. Consider they have Slippery Rock, UPJ, Mecyhurst and California each twice. Le Moyne is past its tough non-conference schedule and should cruise through its league. ESU is putting together a nice run and the win at Shepherd was a strong road victory. West Virginia Wesleyan's record is just baffling.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

A look ahead to Lock Haven's visit tomorrow night ...

Record: 4-5
PPG: 80.2 (70 ppg allowed)

As Joe eluded to last week, this is an interesting game. Forget the 4-5 record. It's deceiving. This will be a formidable test.

Lock Haven has had some bad showings this season against weak competition, but it has played its best against good teams. For instance: tight losses at Cal (73-70) and Slippery Rock (75-70), along with a tragic, 96-92, OT loss to Pitt-Johnstown in their last outing. Tragic, because the Bald Eagles blew a 26-point lead.

This game will be a scorekeepers dream. Each team only plays 6-7 guys.

Lock Haven's weakness is its bench. They hardly use it at all. But, the starting five is very strong. Two 6'4" upperclassmen guards lead the way. Matt Cerruti (18.4 ppg) and Christian Kelly (20.3 ppg) have played as well as any duo in the league so far this season -- and both play nearly 40 minutes a game. The Bald Eagles also have two big, physical post players in Jesse McPherson (6'7", 215 lbs) and Nasir Campbell (6'7", 225 lbs). McPherson plays both guard and forward and is putting in 12 points a game. Campbell is averaging just under a double-double. As a duo, they are going to cause IUP some headaches under the basket. Cerruti and Kelly smoked UPJ for 27 and 28 points.

And, of course, the fifth starter is an old 'friend' of the IUP program ... Seton Hill cast-off Trevor Lecuona. For those with short memories, he was the instigator of the famous 'goon game' in Greensburg two years ago. He is a serviceable point guard and is a documented Grade-A agitator.

The weaknesses:

* Short bench - They don't go to the bench a whole lot and when they do not much scoring comes from it. Key reserve guard Eli Washington was getting about 19 mpg but has missed the past two games.
* 3-point shooting - Much like IUP, the deep shot has been pretty bad thus far. And, much like IUP, they keep chucking it regardless. LH is hitting 29% for the season on 213 attempts.
* Turnovers - 15 per game. IUP's stingy defense should be able to create a lot of turnovers in this one. LH likes to run and get 'playground-ish' during games. That said, they get to the FT line a ton.

Quick Notes:

* First of two home games in a four-day stretch. Mercyhurst visits Monday night.
* IUP has won (at least) 10 straight in the Lock Haven series
* IUP is 13-50 from deep in its past two games. IUP's most dominant win this season (80-56 over East Stroudsburg) ... was the game IUP shot its least amount of 3-pointers (7-16)
* The Hawks were called for 24 fouls at Shippensburg -- nearly 10 more than their season average. Ship went 27-31 at the line. IUP was just 12-16.
* IUP had its worst shooting performance of the year at Shippensburg, hitting just 40% from the floor and 6-25 from deep.
* Shawndale Jones scored just 6 points (combined) in his past two games. He's playing out of position but they need him more involved in the offense.
* Speaking of more involved, David Morris has been shooting the ball really well ... think it may be time to cut him loose a bit more. He also had 0 turnovers in 33 minutes at Ship. The team had 13 but the point guard had none. Odd stat.
* Chucky is another one with a nice shot and he's a strong finisher at the basket. He could be getting more scoring opportunities. IUP has hit just 83 of 257 (32%) deep shots. Perhaps it's time for a change of strategy a bit. Let Morris play to his strength. This roster right now could be an elite drive and pop team. Malik may be the best creator in the league.
* These games are all big the rest of the way. This is a must-win game for IUP with Mercyhurst, at SRU and at Gannon on tap for next week.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That's certainly more size than you usually see in the PSAC.

He's a big boy. However, at that size ... they come down here for a reason. The mid-year transfer is a risky proposition in regard to team unity, etc. But ... sometimes you really need to do it.

[Ship69]

Central Missouri just added Marshall grad transfer Ante Sustic (6'11", 230 lbs). One semester to play. When there was talk of a mid-year transfer ... he's exactly what they could have used.

That's certainly more size than you usually see in the PSAC.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Central Missouri just added Marshall grad transfer Ante Sustic (6'11", 230 lbs). One semester to play. When there was talk of a mid-year transfer ... he's exactly what they could have used.

[Ship69]

Well ... Fite wanted to recruit Sleva to IUP. Joe didn't want him. Fite left and signed Sleva.

Imagine Cobo Diaz and Dustin Sleva as teammates. Joe may have won two national titles.

It almost happened. Literally. It was real close.

In Joe's defense ... Sleva was like 6'4" in high school and weighed about 90 pounds. He had an incredible growth spurt in college.

Well, that was certainly a case where Fite's philosophy worked out. Other times not as well. There are certainly different ways to build a good team, and IUP's way obviously has worked out for them. Fite's major task next year will be finding a replacement for Castello, who is a prime example of a player whose value doesn't always show up in the box score. He might have to find another transfer to do that.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Obviously that route has been very successful for IUP and some of the league's other teams. Fite seems to have a little different philosophy as from what I've heard he'd rather get players out of high school and develop them. He did take two (Nedrow and Hardy) coming into this season, and I think with Nedrow it was primarily because he needed some size up front to prevent Castello from being overwhelmed. Carlos Carter, despite being relatively thin, has also been an effective rebounder, enabling Ship to more than hold its own on the boards so far this season. Hardy provides another ball handler at guard to take some pressure off Biss and also is decent on defense.

Well ... Fite wanted to recruit Sleva to IUP. Joe didn't want him. Fite left and signed Sleva.

Imagine Cobo Diaz and Dustin Sleva as teammates. Joe may have won two national titles.

It almost happened. Literally. It was real close.

In Joe's defense ... Sleva was like 6'4" in high school and weighed about 90 pounds. He had an incredible growth spurt in college.

[Ship69]

This is Joe's 13th season. Keep in mind that list is only post players. In a typical year they do about half transfers and half high school players. Historically, he only takes transfers with multiple years of eligibility. But, conference wide, that's not a lot of transfers for that time period. There are teams in our league who were taking 8-10 yearly.

Obviously that route has been very successful for IUP and some of the league's other teams. Fite seems to have a little different philosophy as from what I've heard he'd rather get players out of high school and develop them. He did take two (Nedrow and Hardy) coming into this season, and I think with Nedrow it was primarily because he needed some size up front to prevent Castello from being overwhelmed. Carlos Carter, despite being relatively thin, has also been an effective rebounder, enabling Ship to more than hold its own on the boards so far this season. Hardy provides another ball handler at guard to take some pressure off Biss and also is decent on defense.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Just curious. What sort of time period does this represent? That's a lot of transfers.

This is Joe's 13th season. Keep in mind that list is only post players. In a typical year they do about half transfers and half high school players. Historically, he only takes transfers with multiple years of eligibility. But, conference wide, that's not a lot of transfers for that time period. There are teams in our league who were taking 8-10 yearly.

[Ship69]

As we're about to set sail on another West season -- and do it, again, with a very thin bench (particularly under the basket) -- it made me curious to look back at the recent era (Lombardi) of post players who have come in to the program (scholarship players only). As we all know, truly elite post players at the D2 level are hard to find but they do exist.

Joe's had a great deal of success recruiting and developing high school post players. He hasn't signed a lot of them, but he's hit home runs with most of the ones he did sign. His luck with transfers down low has been a different story ... more of a mixed bag of success, flops and busts.

High School Recruits:

Darryl Webb - Arguably the best player in school history
Jacobo Diaz - On a very short list of best players in school history
Devon Cottrell - Very solid career
Marcel Souberbielle - Arguably the player who brought the 'new age' in to IUP basketball. Likely an IUP Hall of Fame player.
Ethan Porterfield - Joe's next star in the coming years.
Nathan Lemke - Bust
Chris Edwards - Solid career
Dan Ayebo - Solid career
Jalen Vaughns - Redshirted and left program after one year.
Jeremy Bonifacio - Redshirted and left program after one year.

Transfers (here's where things get tricky ... and, I'm sure I missed one or two):

Tommy Demogerontas - Was on pace for a monster season through four games prior to ACL. Should be a superstar and All America candidate next season.
Ousmane Diop - Remained a redshirt despite Demo going down in just Game 4. Likely not a great sign. Team desperately needs and still taking redshirt.
Willem Brandwijk - Had his moments. Most feel he was under-utilized.
Marko Krivaevic - Timing is everything. Had he arrived a year later he'd have played heavy minutes. Was part of a crowded front-court in his only season.
Shawn Ulrich - Potential is there but minutes have not been. Deep bench player at the moment.
Chucky Humphries - Solid contributor
Blake Danielak - Redshirted and then didn't live up to the hype. Had some moments -- good and bad. Overall solid depth guy.
Tevin Hanner - Solid contributor and career
Daddy Ugbede - Elite offensive player. Total hack on defense. Constant foul trouble held him back from having monster numbers. But, truly gifted offensive player.
Jeremy Jeffers - Solid contributor and career
Dom Keyes - One of the most unfortunate busts of the Lombardi era. Highly questionable redshirt his first year and trouble off the court his second. Never played a second at IUP.
Kalusha Ndoumbe Ngollo - Looked intimidating on the court. That was about all.
Blake Vedder - Took a gamble on the 7'3" project. Played early in lone season but vanquished to deep bench. Left after just one year.
Josh Wiegand - Solid contributor ... kind of the end of the old era of IUP bigs.
Willi Estrella - Solid player
Kahmell Broughton - Lot of hype coming from University of Houston. It ended with hype.
C.J. Rudisill - Technically a walk-on but became an injury-induced starter by mid-season. Left after lone year.
Akida McClain - Very solid contributor

Danielak and Keyes both redshirted in years those teams drastically needed healthy post players. IUP missed the NCAAs both years. I can't not think of these two seasons every time I see Diop languishing on the pine in a track suit. I think the Shippensburg game exposed some weaknesses under the basket -- defensively, in particular. As IUP heads in to the West gauntlet ... and will see plenty of big, physical guys in the paint ... that's certainly the concern going forward this season. They have to get Ulrich more game-ready. There's going to be games Chucky and Ethan get in foul trouble. And, frankly, Ulrich is just a really big body under there that nobody is going to push around. They are lucky to have Shawndale and to be able to throw him down there. But, he's a 6'3" guard being asked to play power forward. Next week's coming fast ... and it's a big one -- Mercyhurst, at SRU and at Gannon. IUP will be undersized in all of them. It's going to be a war in the paint.

Just curious. What sort of time period does this represent? That's a lot of transfers.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Kahmell Broughton is the guy on this list that really blows my mind. The guy was built like a brick **** house, the tape showed how dominant he was but... We still never got a story on why the redshirt and then he left for family purposes. FRUSTRATING!!!

Make what you want of this, but, ...

Bigs who were redshirted (for whatever reason):

Kahmell Broughton
Akida McLain
Blake Danielak
Dom Keyes
Ousmane Diop
Shawn Ulrich

All but Ulrich came from a D1 program. Keyes had PLAYED as a true freshman at UPJ and then tore it up at Harford. Then he had to redshirt here. Danielak had to redshirt all season in a year they lost Devon Cottrell very early in the year and eventually started a walk-on. Diop is a 6'10", 240 lb, athletic freak sitting at the end of a bench for a team dying for a defensive post player.

As a fan and supporter of the program ... it's just maddening. Redshirting these guys has cost IUP two NCAAs in the past 5 years. And, who freaking knows if they'll even be back for Year 2. I will never, ever understand the logic. Diop should have been activated the day after Demo was lost for the season. Joe builds these teams assuming everything will go perfect and nobody will get hurt. Then, the moment one player goes down, the season gets screwed. I know they are still good even without Demo. But, there were some alarming things in that Shippensburg game on the defensive end. With Demo I think this was a Regional Title team. I'd have bet on it. Without ... they 'probably' make the NCAAs. Beyond that, however, ... we'll see.

I don't know how developed Diop is at this point. Frankly, I don't really care, either. His physical size alone would alter teams. It's also well documented he can run very well (as a former giant soccer player) and can jump out of the building. They don't need him to play 35 minutes. They need a guy like him to play in spurts. Bang it. Draw and give fouls. Block some shots. Play 10-12 minutes a game. That's it. If he's not ready to do that right now ... why is he here? He's the biggest guy in the arena at every game this season. What are we trying to do here this year?

[IUPalum]

Kahmell Broughton is the guy on this list that really blows my mind. The guy was built like a brick **** house, the tape showed how dominant he was but... We still never got a story on why the redshirt and then he left for family purposes. FRUSTRATING!!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That's some nice work there. Very interesting to look at. I think maybe one name missing may be Akida McLain (sp?) who of course was a transfer from Boston College. I think he was in the Joe Lombardi era.

-

Yep. I knew I'd miss one ... and that's a HUGE one to miss. I went from memory and, well, I'm getting older. He was obviously a key cog on Joe's first National Finalist team.

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

That's some nice work there. Very interesting to look at. I think maybe one name missing may be Akida McLain (sp?) who of course was a transfer from Boston College. I think he was in the Joe Lombardi era.

-

[IUPbigINDIANS]

As we're about to set sail on another West season -- and do it, again, with a very thin bench (particularly under the basket) -- it made me curious to look back at the recent era (Lombardi) of post players who have come in to the program (scholarship players only). As we all know, truly elite post players at the D2 level are hard to find but they do exist.

Joe's had a great deal of success recruiting and developing high school post players. He hasn't signed a lot of them, but he's hit home runs with most of the ones he did sign. His luck with transfers down low has been a different story ... more of a mixed bag of success, flops and busts.

High School Recruits:

Darryl Webb - Arguably the best player in school history
Jacobo Diaz - On a very short list of best players in school history
Devon Cottrell - Very solid career
Marcel Souberbielle - Arguably the player who brought the 'new age' in to IUP basketball. Likely an IUP Hall of Fame player.
Ethan Porterfield - Joe's next star in the coming years.
Nathan Lemke - Bust
Chris Edwards - Solid career
Dan Ayebo - Solid career
Jalen Vaughns - Redshirted and left program after one year.
Jeremy Bonifacio - Redshirted and left program after one year.

Transfers (here's where things get tricky ... and, I'm sure I missed one or two):

Tommy Demogerontas - Was on pace for a monster season through four games prior to ACL. Should be a superstar and All America candidate next season.
Ousmane Diop - Remained a redshirt despite Demo going down in just Game 4. Likely not a great sign. Team desperately needs and still taking redshirt.
Willem Brandwijk - Had his moments. Most feel he was under-utilized.
Marko Krivaevic - Timing is everything. Had he arrived a year later he'd have played heavy minutes. Was part of a crowded front-court in his only season.
Shawn Ulrich - Potential is there but minutes have not been. Deep bench player at the moment.
Chucky Humphries - Solid contributor
Blake Danielak - Redshirted and then didn't live up to the hype. Had some moments -- good and bad. Overall solid depth guy.
Tevin Hanner - Solid contributor and career
Daddy Ugbede - Elite offensive player. Total hack on defense. Constant foul trouble held him back from having monster numbers. But, truly gifted offensive player.
Jeremy Jeffers - Solid contributor and career
Dom Keyes - One of the most unfortunate busts of the Lombardi era. Highly questionable redshirt his first year and trouble off the court his second. Never played a second at IUP.
Kalusha Ndoumbe Ngollo - Looked intimidating on the court. That was about all.
Blake Vedder - Took a gamble on the 7'3" project. Played early in lone season but vanquished to deep bench. Left after just one year.
Josh Wiegand - Solid contributor ... kind of the end of the old era of IUP bigs.
Willi Estrella - Solid player
Kahmell Broughton - Lot of hype coming from University of Houston. It ended with hype.
C.J. Rudisill - Technically a walk-on but became an injury-induced starter by mid-season. Left after lone year.
Akida McClain - Very solid contributor

Danielak and Keyes both redshirted in years those teams drastically needed healthy post players. IUP missed the NCAAs both years. I can't not think of these two seasons every time I see Diop languishing on the pine in a track suit. I think the Shippensburg game exposed some weaknesses under the basket -- defensively, in particular. As IUP heads in to the West gauntlet ... and will see plenty of big, physical guys in the paint ... that's certainly the concern going forward this season. They have to get Ulrich more game-ready. There's going to be games Chucky and Ethan get in foul trouble. And, frankly, Ulrich is just a really big body under there that nobody is going to push around. They are lucky to have Shawndale and to be able to throw him down there. But, he's a 6'3" guard being asked to play power forward. Next week's coming fast ... and it's a big one -- Mercyhurst, at SRU and at Gannon. IUP will be undersized in all of them. It's going to be a war in the paint.