Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Photos IUP posted from the last game sure as heck don't look like 3,000. Was anybody there and can confirm? Maybe its an old pic.

I was at the game. I wouldn't have guessed the 3,012 but it was pretty full. I'd have guessed 2,500 to 2,700 for sure. What can be deceiving is most of the crowd sits across from the teams and in the horseshoe curve. The students all get crammed in across from the IUP bench. The side which appears in most photos is the benches side which is almost always the less populated side (kind of the unoffical senior citizen side).

The ladies also had a big crowd last night. It emptied out with about 10-11 minutes left in the men's game as it was well over. So, if they were late game photos then it would have looked much lighter.

[Fightingscot82]

Photos IUP posted from the last game sure as heck don't look like 3,000. Was anybody there and can confirm? Maybe its an old pic.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Those are fantastic numbers. Do you have any idea of what causes the significant bump in the draw in Indiana? Obviously, it's a world class arena and that helps. And, yes, a winning program helps too. But WLU, Fairmont, and Wheeling (down our way) all have great arenas and winning traditions. And average about 1/3 of the draw. Plus, if your description of pricing is any indication, I can't believe 3,000 people are willing to pay it. WLU is charging something like $7 and drawing many fewer bodies. With similar resources (good program, nice arena, history of supporting the team, etc.), what do you think accounts for the extra 1,500 people willing to pony up the dough and show up for IUP vs. WLU?

Edit to add: I realize that IUP's enrollment is significantly larger, so there's a larger student body to draw from, but I get the sense from your posts that the arena is mostly filled with "townies"--which I would say is the same scenario here. Maybe 2/3 townies and 1/3 students.

A couple years ago they made a huge push to get people in the building. This was done with group nights, team nights, etc. The theory, I beleive, is that if they could get people to try it out .... they'd come back.

The KCAC doesn't have the feel of small-time basketball. They've went to great measures in the past year to enhance the 'game night' atmosphere. The Hilton being right next door added a whole new element (it's literally like 100' away). It's become a major social gathering spot before and after games, etc. They have a really nice bar and restaurant. So, many are coming to the game -- and getting a social experience. The food has been upgraded inside the KCAC. They have a prime rib sandwich carving station on Saturday's. This year they also moved the bar to the entire concourse on the side opposite the benches. They sell high-end beer, and also wine and mixed drinks.

I sense they realized basketball alone wasn't enough to draw larger crowds. They have done fantastic in making the game an actual event. The in-game music has been drastically improved (modernized) this year. There is entertainment at every game break.

Joe's teams are also extremely visible in the community. They do jobs at local churches, food drives, ... lots of stuff. Locals have taken notice. They are also a likable bunch. Guys like Chucky engage anybody they meet. People cheer for them and in turn the attendance is rapidly climbing.

Joe had 1-2 pretty unlikable teams in the past five years. The gate took a hit in those years.

Keep in mind you could probably ask about 80% of those in attendance last night what IUP's record was and nobody would know. But, they come in and cheer (and spend money). I'm just waiting for IUP to start charging for basketball parking like they do for football. It's coming. Too much money to pass up.

I will say for the first time since Darryl Webb left IUP really does have a homecourt advantage this year. The crowds have been loud and engaged. As I said the other day the Cal game 10 days ago was the loudest that building has been in forever.

[Scrub]

Those are fantastic numbers. Do you have any idea of what causes the significant bump in the draw in Indiana? Obviously, it's a world class arena and that helps. And, yes, a winning program helps too. But WLU, Fairmont, and Wheeling (down our way) all have great arenas and winning traditions. And average about 1/3 of the draw. Plus, if your description of pricing is any indication, I can't believe 3,000 people are willing to pay it. WLU is charging something like $7 and drawing many fewer bodies. With similar resources (good program, nice arena, history of supporting the team, etc.), what do you think accounts for the extra 1,500 people willing to pony up the dough and show up for IUP vs. WLU?

Edit to add: I realize that IUP's enrollment is significantly larger, so there's a larger student body to draw from, but I get the sense from your posts that the arena is mostly filled with "townies"--which I would say is the same scenario here. Maybe 2/3 townies and 1/3 students.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Joe had another huge crowd last night ... with an announced gate of 3,102. That's a really big number for a Wednesday night and the opponent being Seton Hill. That's three straight games with 3,000 or more in the building.

Season average is up to 1,773 -- by far the highest average in the past 5 years. With two big Saturday night games still on the schedule (SRU and Gannon) ... I think they will easily surpass 2,100 for the season average.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Stats:

Malik Miller - 32 points, 5 assists, 4 boards, 1 block
Armoni - 21 points, 7 assists, 13 boards
Shawndale - 12 points, 3 boards
Porterfield - 10 points, 5 boards
Morris - 6 points, 8 assists
Benton - 6 points (2-2 trey)
Anthony - 5 points


TEAM

FG: 60%
3PT: 46.2%
FT: 87.5%
TO: 11
Boards: 37 to 33
STL: 4
Blocks: 4

Final:

IUP 92
SH 65

[IUP24]

It seems like it balances out.

[Inkblot]

I'm not sure how it wouldn't. By the way you explain it at least. You are theoretically always going to be putting 2 teams back on the road to play a game. What if the 1 and 2 seeds aren't close? IUP, Ship, and WLU are all in the mix to potentially host. All are fairly close.

What if, hypothetically, Gannon was the top seed in the men's and women's bracket and hosted. For a lack of confusion, we'll only run with the men's side and say that Fayetteville State was the 2 seed... 2-7 and 3-6 go to North Carolina while 1-8 and 4-5 go to Erie. You put 6 teams on the road to begin with. So that's 6 instead of 7 teams traveling. I can get with that. But then, let's say that the fourth seed, East Stroudsburg, comes out of the 2nd round and has to play Gannon in the regional final. I'm not sure how travel costs were reduced in that scenario.

East Stroud, a team from northeast PA, would drive to North Carolina for two games. After that, they would then spend another full day on a bus driving to the northwest corner of the state. That makes absolutely zero sense to me.

You did yeoman's work during football season evaluating travel items as it pertains to mileage, flights, etc. I'm not concerned about that. I'm looking at it from the standpoint of efficiencies of travel. The travel plan that I just laid out should never have to happen. This opens the door for that to happen. I just don't agree.

If a university has the infrastructure, facilities, and accommodations to host both, they should host both. I don't know how everything gets split financially, but I feel like that impacts the amount of revenue a school could generate from the event.

It seems like it balances out.

[IUP24]

How does this add travel costs?

I'm not sure how it wouldn't. By the way you explain it at least. You are theoretically always going to be putting 2 teams back on the road to play a game. What if the 1 and 2 seeds aren't close? IUP, Ship, and WLU are all in the mix to potentially host. All are fairly close.

What if, hypothetically, Gannon was the top seed in the men's and women's bracket and hosted. For a lack of confusion, we'll only run with the men's side and say that Fayetteville State was the 2 seed... 2-7 and 3-6 go to North Carolina while 1-8 and 4-5 go to Erie. You put 6 teams on the road to begin with. So that's 6 instead of 7 teams traveling. I can get with that. But then, let's say that the fourth seed, East Stroudsburg, comes out of the 2nd round and has to play Gannon in the regional final. I'm not sure how travel costs were reduced in that scenario.

East Stroud, a team from northeast PA, would drive to North Carolina for two games. After that, they would then spend another full day on a bus driving to the northwest corner of the state. That makes absolutely zero sense to me.

You did yeoman's work during football season evaluating travel items as it pertains to mileage, flights, etc. I'm not concerned about that. I'm looking at it from the standpoint of efficiencies of travel. The travel plan that I just laid out should never have to happen. This opens the door for that to happen. I just don't agree.

If a university has the infrastructure, facilities, and accommodations to host both, they should host both. I don't know how everything gets split financially, but I feel like that impacts the amount of revenue a school could generate from the event.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Lol. I remember both of those games. I recall that it was actually the football team dancing under the basket that night. They had that really old school set up where there's a stage built into the gym. In your memory, is that the craziest environment that Joe has ever played in?

I remember being at a game up at SRU my junior year when IUP went up there and clinched the PSAC West. That place was pretty charged up. Tight game that IUP opened up in the last 8 minutes. I also remember being in the ASRC when IUP beat WL in the regional final. That was an electric atmosphere. IUP brought a great crowd down to that game. The ones who came were very loud too.

Although we lost that night ... Top 5 D2 atmosphere I've ever seen. So odd. Like a freaking flash mob.

[Chuck Norris]

When that happens (as it did in the South Central region last year), the team splits hosting duties for both. They host the 1-8-4-5 half of both regionals, while the #2 seeds host the other halves. The first two rounds are moved up a day to allow a travel day for the regional finals, which are both hosted by the highest seed remaining even if that team didn't host the first two rounds.

Here's how that looked last year:

Friday, March 15

at West Texas A&M
(W) 4 Angelo State vs. 5 Westminster (UT), 12:00 CT
(W) 1 West Texas A&M vs. 8 Eastern New Mexico, 2:30 CT
(M) 1 West Texas A&M vs. 8 New Mexico Highlands, 5:00 CT
(M) 4 Texas A&M Commerce vs. 5 Dallas Baptist, 7:30 CT

at St. Edward's
(M) 2 St. Edward's vs. 7 Angelo State, 5:00 CT
(M) 3 Colorado Mines vs. 6 Lubbock Christian, 7:30 CT

at Colorado Mesa
(W) 2 Colorado Mesa vs. 7 Texas A&M Commerce, 6:00 MT
(W) 3 Lubbock Christian vs. 6 Tarleton State, 8:30 MT

Saturday, March 16

at West Texas A&M
(W) 1 West Texas A&M vs. 4 Angelo State, 5:00 CT
(M) 1 West Texas A&M vs. 4 Texas A&M Commerce, 7:30 CT

at St. Edward's
(M) 2 St. Edward's vs. 6 Lubbock Christian, 6:00 CT

at Colorado Mesa
(W) 2 Colorado Mesa vs. 3 Lubbock Christian, 7:00 MT



Tuesday, March 19

at West Texas A&M
(M) 1 West Texas A&M vs. 2 St. Edward's, 7:00 CT

at Lubbock Christian
(W) 3 Lubbock Christian vs. 4 Angelo State, 8:00 CT

I kinda like this. Guards against regional finals in a mostly empty gym if the top seed gets knocked out early.

[Inkblot]

You know what's absolutely hilarious? For an organization that has overhauled their entire D2 playoff system merely to save cost on travel they will effectively ADD travel costs if they actually were to go through with this again.

How does this add travel costs?

[IUP24]

It had never happened before last year, so they had to improvise, but now it's been written into the manual.

You know what's absolutely hilarious? For an organization that has overhauled their entire D2 playoff system merely to save cost on travel they will effectively ADD travel costs if they actually were to go through with this again.

[IUP24]

The pest from Greensburg visits the KCAC tonight. Oddly, this series has had some heated moments over the past 5-6 years.

Recall Seton Hill's first and only every win against IUP back on Feb. 24, 2016. What's laughable looking back at that game is the official box score says there were only 275 people in the McKenna Center that night. I was there. That number is missing a zero. There wasn't a seat in the building or anywhere to stand. Seton Hill had fans dancing under the basket during foul shots. Joe walked in to a full-blown hornets' nest that night -- and eventually received a dagger of a technical foul with about 90 seconds remaining. Seton Hill went on to win, 91-83 - essentially knocking IUP out of the NCAA Tournament. I still believe to this day the technical cost IUP the game. The Hawks won their Round 1 game against UPJ in the PSAC Tournament before falling 90-89 in OT at West Chester via a miracle last second shot.

Fast forward two years and the late season trip to Greensburg cost IUP yet another NCAA bid. The Hawks won this time, 65-64, but the damage was done. This was the game Seton Hill 'gooned it up' and Anthony Glover ended up getting two technicals and ejected (and suspended for IUP's first game of the PSAC Tournament). Dante Lombardi also went down via a cheap shot and broke his wrist. For Glover's career to end that way was a travesty. His second technical was a reaction -- which was called by a stooge ref from at least 50' away.

Much has changed since those two games. Tony "Tark the Shark" Morocco has retired. Kendrick Saunders' teams play with much more class. Saunders seems to being doing a total rebuild from the ground up. Morocco's teams often played dirty (also reference the brawl at West Chester) but he did have a lot of talent during the latter years of his tenure. His teams routinely underachieved.

One year Joe called Seton Hill's gym worse than Indiana High Schools in the Indiana Gazette. The Seton Hill announcers still mention that every year. He's not wrong. It's a yellow shoebox. But, on the rare occasion it's packed a juiced up, it's very difficult for visitors. The somewhat budding rivalry seems to have ended with the Shark's retirement. But, it sure had its moments.

Lol. I remember both of those games. I recall that it was actually the football team dancing under the basket that night. They had that really old school set up where there's a stage built into the gym. In your memory, is that the craziest environment that Joe has ever played in?

I remember being at a game up at SRU my junior year when IUP went up there and clinched the PSAC West. That place was pretty charged up. Tight game that IUP opened up in the last 8 minutes. I also remember being in the ASRC when IUP beat WL in the regional final. That was an electric atmosphere. IUP brought a great crowd down to that game. The ones who came were very loud too.

[Scrub]

Interesting. This makes WLU, Charleston, & Ship HUGE fans of the IUP women all of a sudden. Whomever gets the #2 seed stands to get a home game or two in the tourney if the IUP women come through!