Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I still worry about him being over matched on the defensive end against larger teams..Gannon and Clarion pushed him around last year in the exhibitions.

Those were his first college games and they were really short-handed. At full force, he becomes the forgotten man on the floor. Leave him open and he can go bombs-away. He has a great role this year in being that bench guy who can come in and light it up. The Big 3 guards are such elite drivers that they start to constantly suck defenders in with them -- leaving Bryce uncontested for the quick pop-out. It's working so far.

But, I agree. He's not there yet defensively. He has time, however. He's very quick, plays with a ton of emotion and aggressiveness, takes charges, etc. He's grown on me a lot these first three games. He's a sniper for sure -- that's a role I love for him in this offense. As film gets out, teams will see he can't be left alone, which will then open other things up. For his freshman season, I think 15-17 mpg is perfect.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I told BigIndians this a couple weeks ago when we were talking. The entire campus is dead. There's no life there anymore. There's no vibe. Off campus too. The areas which used to be littered with students in off campus housing: gone, empty, or just dead. The off campus apartments aren't filled. The spots on Philly Street, even through the week, which would get tons of foot traffic were lifeless. Nobody is there. It's almost not believable. You graduated the year after I did, so we were both on campus at the same time.

I was recruiting for my company at the Safety Science career fair back in September - I do this annually, and it's always a nice reunion and 'check in' to look at what's happening up there. There wasn't an in-person event last year, so it was neat to see what changed in 2 years. On that Thursday night, me and a couple folks were walking around Philly Street after dinner. We ended up going to Culps that evening. I wasn't looking for a college good time, but I was at least hoping there was some activity. Nothing. On a Thursday night. All those places where you'd see specials and bars overcrowded with people were just dead. Apparently 'Country Night' is still a thing, but everything there has changed immensely since we've graduated.

Enrollment there has plummeted. I believe it was my sophomore year when the high water mark for enrollment was hit (over 15,000). I can't find the 2021 numbers, but the fall of 2020 saw an undergraduate enrollment of 8,010. That's a MASSIVE drop. They aren't even opening up all the dorms on campus. I've also heard they are requiring two years on campus now, but I could be wrong.

I suppose that if you looked at those numbers and extrapolated those out, that kind of explains some of the phenomenon's we are describing. If you've got 15,000 on campus, that's 3,750 per class. That also gives you about 7,500 'of age' juniors/seniors who can go out to those bars on Philly Street, or throw those off campus parties. With 15,000 on campus, you have more to draw from who just might be interested in a basketball game on a Tuesday night. When you cut your enrollment that much, everything we're both describing comes to fruition. Philly Street's absolutely dead anymore. It's almost not believable.

It's a far different campus than it was just 3-4 years ago -- let alone 20-some years ago. Enrollment is obviously way, way down. Word is they may not even open some of the dorms next year. Cut their losses on the utilities, etc. Hopefully this is rock bottom, but I have my doubts. You figure, IUP was designed and built to be a pretty large school. Now it is, but you have half the kids.

The saddest irony of the whole thing is the campus has never been this nice. Ever. Now that they closed the Grant Street section that used to split campus and made it part of campus, it really has the vibe of schools similar to Miami, OH, or Ohio University. Very similar setup, etc.

In the past, I'd have never even considered going 'uptown' for dinner past about 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. As you said, it's not an issue any longer. I know a couple bar owners in town and they are hurting. They told me they do OK on the big nights from like 11 p.m. to close but it's usually a ghost town prior to 11 p.m. I don't know if they'll all survive. My guess is they will not.

Interesting times.

[IUPalum]

LOL.


For those who haven't got to see any games yet (0-3 on video feeds) ... Bryce Radford is having a really good start. He's hit 4 treys per in 2 of the 3 games. Very long range shooter. He's officially a freshman but an academic junior so he's very mature and polished for being an R-FR. He's going to have a pretty elaborate scoring resume by the time he leaves town.

I still worry about him being over matched on the defensive end against larger teams..Gannon and Clarion pushed him around last year in the exhibitions.

[Ship69]

I told BigIndians this a couple weeks ago when we were talking. The entire campus is dead. There's no life there anymore. There's no vibe. Off campus too. The areas which used to be littered with students in off campus housing: gone, empty, or just dead. The off campus apartments aren't filled. The spots on Philly Street, even through the week, which would get tons of foot traffic were lifeless. Nobody is there. It's almost not believable. You graduated the year after I did, so we were both on campus at the same time.

I was recruiting for my company at the Safety Science career fair back in September - I do this annually, and it's always a nice reunion and 'check in' to look at what's happening up there. There wasn't an in-person event last year, so it was neat to see what changed in 2 years. On that Thursday night, me and a couple folks were walking around Philly Street after dinner. We ended up going to Culps that evening. I wasn't looking for a college good time, but I was at least hoping there was some activity. Nothing. On a Thursday night. All those places where you'd see specials and bars overcrowded with people were just dead. Apparently 'Country Night' is still a thing, but everything there has changed immensely since we've graduated.

Enrollment there has plummeted. I believe it was my sophomore year when the high water mark for enrollment was hit (over 15,000). I can't find the 2021 numbers, but the fall of 2020 saw an undergraduate enrollment of 8,010. That's a MASSIVE drop. They aren't even opening up all the dorms on campus. I've also heard they are requiring two years on campus now, but I could be wrong.

I suppose that if you looked at those numbers and extrapolated those out, that kind of explains some of the phenomenon's we are describing. If you've got 15,000 on campus, that's 3,750 per class. That also gives you about 7,500 'of age' juniors/seniors who can go out to those bars on Philly Street, or throw those off campus parties. With 15,000 on campus, you have more to draw from who just might be interested in a basketball game on a Tuesday night. When you cut your enrollment that much, everything we're both describing comes to fruition. Philly Street's absolutely dead anymore. It's almost not believable.

[Ship69]

That's true. But, if you play and the school is willing to pick up the tab for grad school ... why not.

IUP has a football player next year who took a redshirt in 2019, Covid 2020 and took a medical redshirt this year. He'll be an academic senior in the Fall and a football freshman. That's crazy.

[IUP24]

Saturday was my first time back to Indiana with school in session (I visited with some friends over the summer) during the pandemic. Where were the students? I'm not talking just at the KCAC and the non-existent student section. I went down Philly Street to pick up a sandwich and pizza from Subs n Suds and the whole downtown was dead at 9:45 p.m. on a Saturday. Normally the weekend before a holiday break isn't a popular time to go home but dang...it was empty. Maybe everyone was studying.

I told BigIndians this a couple weeks ago when we were talking. The entire campus is dead. There's no life there anymore. There's no vibe. Off campus too. The areas which used to be littered with students in off campus housing: gone, empty, or just dead. The off campus apartments aren't filled. The spots on Philly Street, even through the week, which would get tons of foot traffic were lifeless. Nobody is there. It's almost not believable. You graduated the year after I did, so we were both on campus at the same time.

I was recruiting for my company at the Safety Science career fair back in September - I do this annually, and it's always a nice reunion and 'check in' to look at what's happening up there. There wasn't an in-person event last year, so it was neat to see what changed in 2 years. On that Thursday night, me and a couple folks were walking around Philly Street after dinner. We ended up going to Culps that evening. I wasn't looking for a college good time, but I was at least hoping there was some activity. Nothing. On a Thursday night. All those places where you'd see specials and bars overcrowded with people were just dead. Apparently 'Country Night' is still a thing, but everything there has changed immensely since we've graduated.

Enrollment there has plummeted. I believe it was my sophomore year when the high water mark for enrollment was hit (over 15,000). I can't find the 2021 numbers, but the fall of 2020 saw an undergraduate enrollment of 8,010. That's a MASSIVE drop. They aren't even opening up all the dorms on campus. I've also heard they are requiring two years on campus now, but I could be wrong.

I suppose that if you looked at those numbers and extrapolated those out, that kind of explains some of the phenomenon's we are describing. If you've got 15,000 on campus, that's 3,750 per class. That also gives you about 7,500 'of age' juniors/seniors who can go out to those bars on Philly Street, or throw those off campus parties. With 15,000 on campus, you have more to draw from who just might be interested in a basketball game on a Tuesday night. When you cut your enrollment that much, everything we're both describing comes to fruition. Philly Street's absolutely dead anymore. It's almost not believable.

[IUP24]

LOL.


For those who haven't got to see any games yet (0-3 on video feeds) ... Bryce Radford is having a really good start. He's hit 4 treys per in 2 of the 3 games. Very long range shooter. He's officially a freshman but an academic junior so he's very mature and polished for being an R-FR. He's going to have a pretty elaborate scoring resume by the time he leaves town.

I followed along by listening to Jack on the U92.5 app last night for the game. Really wish there was a feed. Any word on when it'll be coming? Obviously only so much you can take away from listening on the radio, and it's early, but it did seem like they just are a complete group. The size and depth in the front court is something I haven't really seen since I've been watching Joe's teams. I'm not sure he's had a bigger more athletic team up front, combined with elite guard play at this level.

Shawndale Jones has picked off right where he left off from March of 2020 when they won the PSAC. He was a monster those couple playoff games. It's amazing they didn't have any attrition through all of this. My sister's wedding was this past weekend, so I was unable to really follow along with either of the first two games, but felt refreshing to listen last night. It had been 20 months since I had the opportunity to follow along, watch, or listen to an IUP basketball game. Almost two years. That's a long, long time. Really excited for this season.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

There's going to be quite a few of these third-year freshmen in the league this season. It will be interesting to see how many of them hang around after their senior academic year.

That's true. But, if you play and the school is willing to pick up the tab for grad school ... why not.

IUP has a football player next year who took a redshirt in 2019, Covid 2020 and took a medical redshirt this year. He'll be an academic senior in the Fall and a football freshman. That's crazy.

[Ship69]

LOL.


For those who haven't got to see any games yet (0-3 on video feeds) ... Bryce Radford is having a really good start. He's hit 4 treys per in 2 of the 3 games. Very long range shooter. He's officially a freshman but an academic junior so he's very mature and polished for being an R-FR. He's going to have a pretty elaborate scoring resume by the time he leaves town.

There's going to be quite a few of these third-year freshmen in the league this season. It will be interesting to see how many of them hang around after their senior academic year.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The most important news surfacing out of IUP is it sounds like the Hawks avoided a major injury last night. David Morris left the game early in the second half. Tony reported today that it isn't serious. The game was already a blowout when he got hurt so there was no point to risk anything. Sounds like he'll be fine.

He was away from the ball when it happened so I'm not sure if he just got tangled up with the player he was defending or exactly what happened. He was walking fairly normal afterward so hopefully it was just precautionary.

[Chuck Norris]

LOL.


For those who haven't got to see any games yet (0-3 on video feeds) ... Bryce Radford is having a really good start. He's hit 4 treys per in 2 of the 3 games. Very long range shooter. He's officially a freshman but an academic junior so he's very mature and polished for being an R-FR. He's going to have a pretty elaborate scoring resume by the time he leaves town.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

LOL.


For those who haven't got to see any games yet (0-3 on video feeds) ... Bryce Radford is having a really good start. He's hit 4 treys per in 2 of the 3 games. Very long range shooter. He's officially a freshman but an academic junior so he's very mature and polished for being an R-FR. He's going to have a pretty elaborate scoring resume by the time he leaves town.

[Chuck Norris]

[IUPbigINDIANS]

If that's all true, what you're describing sounds frighteningly like NWMo last year. Several of the strongest guards in D2 (Hudgins and Bernard) and a couple of stretch bigs (including Hawkins, who is now merely averaging a double-double in D1).

You're not doing anything to dissuade me from thinking that WLU's travel coordinator better start booking rooms at the Hilton Garden-Indiana in mid-March. : )

Long way until March. I'm more worried about the West schedule this year. This is the deepest West in a long time. Going to be some wars in Jan/Feb. Gotta stay healthy, too.

[Scrub]

WL's press is much better than Le Moyne's -- and Le Moyne doesn't have near the quality shooters that WL possesses.

The post player problem IUP causes this year is they have two who basically can play power forward or drain deep shots on you. Demo is essentially a 6'9" guard but also an incredible rebounder. Porterfield is 5-tool. Then, the muscle comes off the bench. It's a problematic blend.

But, the real strength is the three starting guards. Shawndale, Armoni and Morris are pretty elite. They draw so much attention that the post players are having a field day. So far. Early, as you said.

If that's all true, what you're describing sounds frighteningly like NWMo last year. Several of the strongest guards in D2 (Hudgins and Bernard) and a couple of stretch bigs (including Hawkins, who is now merely averaging a double-double in D1).

You're not doing anything to dissuade me from thinking that WLU's travel coordinator better start booking rooms at the Hilton Garden-Indiana in mid-March. : )