Iup basketball

[boatcapt]

Re: Iup basketball

That would be like Ben telling WL not to play defense because they 'ain't that good at it'

According to the "experts" here, WLU already doesn't play D!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

Or maybe he can't tell his baby boy to knock off shooting because he ain't that good at it??!!

Shooter gonna' shoot!!!

That would be like Ben telling WL not to play defense because they 'ain't that good at it'

[boatcapt]

Re: Iup basketball

Maybe BUT is Joe purposely not using the post action because he wants to save it? The few times they used it against zones it was dominant. Trying to stop those trees at the high and low post wasn't possible against Cal but they didn't use it much or purposely didn't use it. I guess we'll soon see.

Or maybe he can't tell his baby boy to knock off shooting because he ain't that good at it??!!

Shooter gonna' shoot!!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

Seems like the genesis for a game plan vs IUP...Play zone and make IUP's shooters try and beat you from outside. As you pointed out is a previous post, IUP's shooters are taking more outside shots than their shooting % might dictate.

Possibly. However, those teams run the zone year-round. Most teams aren't going to effectively master a zone defense with a day or two prep.

[IUPalum]

Re: Iup basketball

Seems like the genesis for a game plan vs IUP...Play zone and make IUP's shooters try and beat you from outside. As you pointed out is a previous post, IUP's shooters are taking more outside shots than their shooting % might dictate.

Maybe BUT is Joe purposely not using the post action because he wants to save it? The few times they used it against zones it was dominant. Trying to stop those trees at the high and low post wasn't possible against Cal but they didn't use it much or purposely didn't use it. I guess we'll soon see.

[boatcapt]

Re: Iup basketball

When you take out the five games against exclusive zones, IUP's three-point percentage eclipses 40 percent.

Against zones they are shooting the paltry 30-127 from deep (23.6%)
Against all other teams they are shooting 209-519 (40.2%)

That's just a substantial difference.

Seems like the genesis for a game plan vs IUP...Play zone and make IUP's shooters try and beat you from outside. As you pointed out is a previous post, IUP's shooters are taking more outside shots than their shooting % might dictate.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

I'd say 37% is acceptable if you are a team that doesn't take many 3's in a game...say 15 to 20 attempts. Average more than that and a team is playing with fire. They will beat bad teams because they are bad teams but it will present problems when you play a good team that can excede your 3 point shooting by a significant margin.

The problem with that theory in IUP's case, as Fairmont found out the very hard way, is against teams that play like FSU, IUP can torch them from both the outside and pummel them from the inside. IUP massacred Fairmont under the basket. That was men versus boys.

Against two other regional-level teams who play exclusive man, IUP mixed the inside-outside to perfection -- East Stroudsburg (14 made treys) and Shippensburg (11 made treys).

They hit 37% to 40% of their treys in March and they will be nasty (and the favorite to win the region) -- minus if they get matched up with Mercyhurst. Somehow in a decade IUP still acts like they are seeing that junk Triangle and Two for the first time -- every time.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

When you take out the five games against exclusive zones, IUP's three-point percentage eclipses 40 percent.

Against zones they are shooting the paltry 30-127 from deep (23.6%)
Against all other teams they are shooting 209-519 (40.2%)

That's just a substantial difference.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

I'd say 37% is acceptable if you are a team that doesn't take many 3's in a game...say 15 to 20 attempts. Average more than that and a team is playing with fire. They will beat bad teams because they are bad teams but it will present problems when you play a good team that can excede your 3 point shooting by a significant margin.

That's the misleading part. Minus the games against zone teams they are lighting it up from outside. They've shredded every team that has tried to A) press them and B) play them in man.

[boatcapt]

Re: Iup basketball

I'd say 37% is acceptable if you are a team that doesn't take many 3's in a game...say 15 to 20 attempts. Average more than that and a team is playing with fire. They will beat bad teams because they are bad teams but it will present problems when you play a good team that can excede your 3 point shooting by a significant margin.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

The old adage is teams live and die with the three. The thing with this team, however, is it shouldn't have to live and die with it. This roster has three, big, talented zone busters. Yet, like Saturday, they just kept bombing away. Brick after brick.

One thing that jumps out in reviewing the stats is that IUP is starting to rely more and more on the three-point shot.

Consider:

Through the Jan. 2 game against Gannon (12 games), the most three-pointers they attempted in any game was 28. Their average during those first 12 games was about 24 attempts per game. Since then, their attempts have skyrocketed -- with 7 games well over 30 attempts.

They are struggling mightily against zone defenses. Consider these three-point stats:

California (10-36 and 7-33)
Mercyhurst (5-19 and 6-23)
Seton Hill (2-16)

Total: 30-127 (23.6%)

Granted, they don't see exclusive zones very often and that's not a huge sample size. But, fact is pretty clear they shot terribly in all five of those games against a 40-minute zone. Why is that? We obviously aren't the only ones who can see statistics and trends. Not many teams in the regional field play much zone -- thankfully. The answer seems simple. Let Cobo and the boys take over down low. But, they seem hesitant to go down that path.

[IUPTrackMan]

Re: Iup basketball

Statistically, IUP is third in the conference hitting 37 percent from deep on the season. They have taken the fourth most attempts.

Within that number, Dante Lombardi has launched the most in the PSAC (217 attempts out of IUP's 646 total attempts) -- roughly a third of IUP's deep shots. That said, he is among the conference leaders -- hitting .378 percent from deep.

As a whole, they've been pretty solid from deep. It just seems when they go in the tank for a game, they ALL go in the tank together at the same time.

Of the main deep shooters:

Cobo .367
Malik .344
Dante .378
Armoni .340
Bearer .516 (just 31 attempts)


Like it or not, this is a team built around the trey.

The two games this year they've shot the most of them were both against Cal (10-36 and 7-33). In their only two losses of the season they hit 20 and 26 percent. On the positive side, they've shot over 50 percent from outside on numerous occasions this year.

I have no issue with them launching. They have a lot of shooters. I just thought the in-game adjustments have been pretty terrible on the nights that, for whatever reason, the whole team goes in to a funk together. This past Saturday at Cal, for instance, the offense was awful. Not only from the obvious fact they couldn't make any shots, but it was SO predictable. They ran the same set over and over and over and over again. What do they say about the definition of insanity?


For you real stat geeks out there ... you'd be SHOCKED in the difference they shoot from outside between the two ends at the KCAC. It's a baffling difference. It's like that for the visiting team, too. Teams cannot shoot at the horseshoe end of the KCAC. That can be statistically proven. No idea why but it happens so often it can't be called a coincidence.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

Yeah, no, that's not going to happen. I'm all about working inside out with the 3 shooter catching and square to the hoop no matter where the three ball is. These guys are better shooters than limiting their shots. They have to work inside out though and that they don't do.

One thing to keep in mind is you play like you practice -- and several aren't practicing. Armoni and Cobo haven't practiced in weeks. That may change soon but it's no doubt contributed to some flow issues, etc.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball


Valid point. In a perfect world you'd rather not play ESU on the first day of the final four weekend. It's hard to play them with their pace on a Saturday and then turn around and play another strong team on Sunday (assuming you can beat them). It's hard to say who will come out of the East. I assume (dangerous to do) IUP will host UPJ next Wednesday night. Just my guess.

To your point about the West this season, yes, it's been rough. As with the past several Joe teams, this team isn't built to play slop fests. Unfortunately, that's all we've watched for a long time now. I, too, think they will thrive when they aren't in these street brawls.

[Chuck Norris]

Re: Iup basketball