Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

100% agree! Joe pretty much said in the pregame Saturday that they were moving away from the press because it wasn't accomplishing what he wanted. Not sure what he wanted to accomplish. The 1-2-2 press isn't really a press to create turnovers. It's more to slow teams down getting into their offensive sets. I hate to say it but a lot of teams in the PSAC don't run a lot of offensive sets. It's starting to become an AAU run and gun.

We saw that Saturday from SRU. The plan was toss the ball down low and attack IUP's weakness, or drive the basket and see what happens. They don't really have any shooters.

Add to it you can't actually play defense any longer. EVERYTHING under the basket is a foul.

Wednesday is a big one. This isn't going to be the Seton Hill JV team they saw two weeks ago.

[IUPalum]

Quite a coincidence for IUP ... when you play your best players and stop running an ineffective press your team gets better.

What a concept.

100% agree! Joe pretty much said in the pregame Saturday that they were moving away from the press because it wasn't accomplishing what he wanted. Not sure what he wanted to accomplish. The 1-2-2 press isn't really a press to create turnovers. It's more to slow teams down getting into their offensive sets. I hate to say it but a lot of teams in the PSAC don't run a lot of offensive sets. It's starting to become an AAU run and gun.

[IUPNation]

It’s nice to see IUP sweep evil away….

[IUPbigINDIANS]

All the forwards better be ready on Wednesday! SH has their full roster back and those big men are athletic loads!!!

Quite a coincidence for IUP ... when you play your best players and stop running an ineffective press your team gets better.

What a concept.

[IUPalum]

Joe lit a fire under Bautista.

That was his best game by a mile. Great to see.

All the forwards better be ready on Wednesday! SH has their full roster back and those big men are athletic loads!!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Joe lit a fire under Bautista.

That was his best game by a mile. Great to see.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

🧹

[IUPbigINDIANS]

A bit random and sorry to change subjects, but ESPN has a long post-mortem on Golden State finally trading former first-rounder Jonathan Kuminga to Atlanta. In the story, it mentions Kuminga's trainer is Ant Wells. Sure enough, it appears that's the former IUP point guard(who also had a cup of coffee with Toronto's G League team) who led us to the 2013 PSAC title over Slippery Rock (in a crowd 90 percent in green because of IUPattys). Good for him.

He's a good guy. I'm glad to see he's been able to stay in the game and have success.

That SRU game, my opinion, was probably the best atmosphere - overall - for a game in the history of the KCAC. It would take an act of God to get that many students to a game these days. Not to mention, the PSAC Title game typically falls when the campuses are empty (Spring Break). But, that's a whole other level of idiocy and discussion.

The loudest moment, however, was Porterfield's game-over trey against Cal to win the Regional. Not only was that the loudest moment, but I think that was by far the best moment ever inside the building. IUP had to beat them for a fourth time that season to win the Region -- and that Cal team was really, really good. Add in Danny getting the crowd so worked up and it was just a huge outburst when the ball went through the net.

The other game in my 'Top 3' inside the KCAC came on Jan. 25, 2013. Similar to the story above, Kevin Reynolds -- in really his peak form -- had the KCAC crowd in a frenzy (which is clearly not easy to do). It was a Saturday night. Packed. Half the building was lit up. It was loud. SRU led most of the game and it really appeared the streak was going to finally end. That was a vintage KR team that looked like an NBA lineup. Long story short, right when SRU was in grasp of putting the game away, IUP hit a couple shots to bring the score real close. KR then freaked about a call and the crowd erupted on him. Further backstory, SRU got called for something like 3x more fouls that night than IUP. In the little tirade (after being frustrated all night), he finally drew a technical. That event changed the course of the final minutes. IUP went on to hit the winning layup with about 8 seconds left, and won, 66-64. The crowd that night made a massive difference.

The game just had it all. Joe and KR hated each other back then. They were obviously much younger and more hyper. The games and crowds were way better during that stretch. IUP has lost so much by playing Saturday afternoon games as opposed to night games. Most don't realize but for about a 20-some year stretch IUP was one of the very few playing exclusively Saturday night home games. It's just different today. The crowds, even when somewhat large, just aren't the same. The energy is nowhere close to those games in 2013, etc.

Anyway, sorry for the quick trip down memory lane.

[hawks16]

A bit random and sorry to change subjects, but ESPN has a long post-mortem on Golden State finally trading former first-rounder Jonathan Kuminga to Atlanta. In the story, it mentions Kuminga's trainer is Ant Wells. Sure enough, it appears that's the former IUP point guard(who also had a cup of coffee with Toronto's G League team) who led us to the 2013 PSAC title over Slippery Rock (in a crowd 90 percent in green because of IUPattys). Good for him.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It’s always interesting watching UPJ play. Not much has changed over the years, that’s for sure. Bob Rukavina has been there since I started paying attention to local college basketball in the late 80’s. Getting off the bus they don’t look like they could beat United High School. I can’t ever remember them having a team that looked the part, but they do what they’ve always done well and they have some nice banners hanging in their gym. I often wonder how good they could be if Bob ever had the resources to compete with other schools. I’ll give credit where it’s due. That dude is truly a D2 coaching legend.

As for IUP, they played pretty much to form with some good and bad stretches. I agree that Grove should be out there from the tip. He’s playing really well and seems to be comfortable in his role. If IUP had any kind of consistent inside presence they would have blown UPJ out of their own building, but that’s beating a dead horse. This is a perimeter team now that will win when shots fall and get blown out when they don’t. Defense is an afterthought.

The fluidity of UPJ's ball movement is custom made to play against IUP's struggling defense.

I'm sure you noticed but when UPJ was able to run, they scored at will. IUP's transition 'defense' was non-existent. I've also never, ever, seen a team lose guys in the corner more than IUP does.

That said, I thought their half-court defense was fairly good.

IUPAlum and I were talking during the game and we both thought UPJ was gassed the final 7-8 minutes. Rukavina is playing a real small rotation. Yet, IUP couldn't put them away.

Their big guy (Baden Forup) can't be guarded. He either makes the play or gets every single call. The older Kromka was like that when he was there. That dude is 6'7", 240 lbs and built like a rock -- yet gets protected by the officials like he's a feather in the wind. People from other teams have complained about the same thing. Even defensively, Forup blasted Christian Moore on a three-point shot right before half. No call. That dude is the Teflon Don of the PSAC West. Don't get me wrong, he's a great player. I sure wish we had him.

Of all the teams in the bottom half fighting for a spot, UPJ is the one I'd like to avoid in the first round. They know too much of what IUP does and how they do it. I honestly think they know Joe's system better than some of Joe's own players know it.

Look at last night ... Will Kromka got shutout (0 points). That's not happening again. IUP shot 51.5% from outside on 33 attempts. That's likely not happening again, either. UPJ is the worst matchup of those bottom teams for this particular IUP team. But, Round 3 would be in the KCAC.

[EyeoftheHawk]

It’s always interesting watching UPJ play. Not much has changed over the years, that’s for sure. Bob Rukavina has been there since I started paying attention to local college basketball in the late 80’s. Getting off the bus they don’t look like they could beat United High School. I can’t ever remember them having a team that looked the part, but they do what they’ve always done well and they have some nice banners hanging in their gym. I often wonder how good they could be if Bob ever had the resources to compete with other schools. I’ll give credit where it’s due. That dude is truly a D2 coaching legend.

As for IUP, they played pretty much to form with some good and bad stretches. I agree that Grove should be out there from the tip. He’s playing really well and seems to be comfortable in his role. If IUP had any kind of consistent inside presence they would have blown UPJ out of their own building, but that’s beating a dead horse. This is a perimeter team now that will win when shots fall and get blown out when they don’t. Defense is an afterthought.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

IUP went 17-33 from deep (7 treys by Christian Moore) and the Crimson Hawks survived the yearly trip to the Dirty J.


IUP appeared to be pulling away several times but couldn't slam the door shut. Not a pretty defensive game.

I thought Ian Herring, Tyler Grove and Big Game Luke Triggs all played pretty well.

Joe has a decision to make. Without question his team is night and day better with Grove in the game (he started tonight). He causes a mismatch being 6'8" and such a deep threat. It really frees up the three guards. However, the other post players are stronger defenders.

It's my opinion this team isn't winning anything with defense ... might as well put the firepower on the floor.

Herring and Triggs both hit some big shots (and played more minutes). Both were playing very limited minutes earlier this year. IUP is at its best with them each getting 22+ minutes.

UPJ, as always, put up a good fight. Can we steal the big fella with some NIL? He's a load.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

They won’t play again. PM will be #1 in the AA bracket and Marion Center the #1 seed in the AAA bracket. Both teams are will return 4-5 starters next season though so there will be more battles for sure.

10-4

I always forget schools within the league are in different classifications.

Obviously that's much different that the WPIAL.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Really? He didn't really do anything that wowed me. He only scored 10 points on Joe's ****ty D and not much else to go with it.

I thought he played pretty good D yesterday. If I remember correctly most of his points came off forced TOs.

In fairness he was the only player Joe's team actually guarded. The rest were just baited to shoot at will.

Is doinking four guys really the amount of faith Joe has left in this team?

In other words somebody chase Carmichael around and you other four sit in the paint. If they shoot outside let's try really hard to get the rebound.

Funny thing is Boro shot so bad it actually worked.

It does appear he's finally punted that dreadful 1-2-2 press. About the only thing it accomplished all season was tiring his own team out.

If you aren't trapping, pressing isn't worth it.

[IUPalum]

I really didn't notice Carmichael at all the first game. I certainly did today.

Really? He didn't really do anything that wowed me. He only scored 10 points on Joe's ****ty D and not much else to go with it.