Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Something for next week:

Walsh defeated D1 Oakland in an exhibition. Their new Akron transfer, Kobe Mitchell, scored 32 points.

This past Monday, Oakland lost to Ohio State by just 6 points.

Also of note, Walsh's game at IUP next Thursday will tip-off at a rare 8 p.m. start time.

[Scrub]

Something for next week:

Walsh defeated D1 Oakland in an exhibition. Their new Akron transfer, Kobe Mitchell, scored 32 points.

This past Monday, Oakland lost to Ohio State by just 6 points.

Also of note, Walsh's game at IUP next Thursday will tip-off at a rare 8 p.m. start time.

You often talk about Carlos Carter as one who got away (local Indiana high school product). I wonder if Howlett will one day consider Mitchell as one who got away. He went to a rural Ohio school just across the river from WLU. Obviously, no one begrudged Kobe's desire to try out D1 when he went to Akron, but his return to D2 at a non-WLU school has to sting a bit. Unless, of course, WLU's staff just didn't see his playing style as a fit for WLU's style (which is totally a possibility).

[IUPbigINDIANS]

You often talk about Carlos Carter as one who got away (local Indiana high school product). I wonder if Howlett will one day consider Mitchell as one who got away. He went to a rural Ohio school just across the river from WLU. Obviously, no one begrudged Kobe's desire to try out D1 when he went to Akron, but his return to D2 at a non-WLU school has to sting a bit. Unless, of course, WLU's staff just didn't see his playing style as a fit for WLU's style (which is totally a possibility).

I could tell you some recruiting stories that, looking back, are hard to believe.

IUP has passed on some players who wanted to come here that give people like me a heart attack lol. But, hindsight is always perfect.

They've also had some wild finds. How Cobo Diaz got here from the Canary Islands is quite the story. Daddy Ugbede's recruiting story is crazy.

Brandon Norfleet did his own recruiting to get here as a transfer.

It's funny to look back over the years. Joe had one collassal miss in his tenure in Dustin Sleva.

Obviously, he's also had a lot of home runs. He's also had some busts in the transfer wire to go along with several star imports.

Two names that landed elsewhere were (allegedly) oh so close to coming to Indiana -- Amir Hinton and Micah Till. Stories for another time. I remember being 99.9% sure they had Hinton signed.

As for Carlos, they had Malik Miller and Armoni Foster at the time. Joe doesn't stockpile certain positions (to our pain). He may have said no, but I sure as hell would have tried everything to keep him in town.

[Ship69]

Pretty sure most colleges teams can talk about the "ones that got away" at one time or another. Ship has certainly had its share of those.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Interesting info from the preview article in the Gazette today. A few things stood out to me:

- Still no mention of Romero-Sanz. Every other player on the roster was mentioned but him and MacNamara. Something is up there.
- “We may have to lose a few games before we get an edge defensively. We’re spending less time on defense. You want to practice everything, but there’s only so much time.”
- “KJ probably made the best improvement from last year,”
- “We have two elite shooters with him and Ethan and lot of other good shooters. We’ll shoot it better than we have in the past so we’ll shoot with more con- fidence. That held us back from being an elite offensive team last year. We’re seeking improvement, and I’m optimistic.”

Joe is pretty good at this when he has time to think through the questions so it’s hard to say what he’s really thinking about on these points. The quotes about offense and defense are really interesting, however. I think the grinding nature of being a defense first team is ultimately what led to IUP’s demise last year. They were out of gas, darned near got knocked off in the first round of the NCAA’s, and couldn’t score enough to keep up with an elite offensive team. Joe’s best teams were very good on defense, but not elite like last year’s. Those teams were also significantly better on offense. Looks to me like he’s turning back the clock there, which probably isn’t a bad idea.

For the KJ fans, you’ll be happy to know he’s made the best improvement from last year. :)

[Chuck Norris]

Interesting info from the preview article in the Gazette today. A few things stood out to me:

- Still no mention of Romero-Sanz. Every other player on the roster was mentioned but him and MacNamara. Something is up there.
- “We may have to lose a few games before we get an edge defensively. We’re spending less time on defense. You want to practice everything, but there’s only so much time.”
- “KJ probably made the best improvement from last year,”
- “We have two elite shooters with him and Ethan and lot of other good shooters. We’ll shoot it better than we have in the past so we’ll shoot with more con- fidence. That held us back from being an elite offensive team last year. We’re seeking improvement, and I’m optimistic.”

Joe is pretty good at this when he has time to think through the questions so it’s hard to say what he’s really thinking about on these points. The quotes about offense and defense are really interesting, however. I think the grinding nature of being a defense first team is ultimately what led to IUP’s demise last year. They were out of gas, darned near got knocked off in the first round of the NCAA’s, and couldn’t score enough to keep up with an elite offensive team. Joe’s best teams were very good on defense, but not elite like last year’s. Those teams were also significantly better on offense. Looks to me like he’s turning back the clock there, which probably isn’t a bad idea.

For the KJ fans, you’ll be happy to know he’s made the best improvement from last year. :)

So the “him” in that last quote is KJ? What a fun twist that would be.

I’m calling my shot right now. Feel free to remember this and mock me mercilessly if I’m wrong. If Romero-Sanz is in a tracksuit tomorrow, he’ll never play for IUP.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Interesting info from the preview article in the Gazette today. A few things stood out to me:

- Still no mention of Romero-Sanz. Every other player on the roster was mentioned but him and MacNamara. Something is up there.
- “We may have to lose a few games before we get an edge defensively. We’re spending less time on defense. You want to practice everything, but there’s only so much time.”
- “KJ probably made the best improvement from last year,”
- “We have two elite shooters with him and Ethan and lot of other good shooters. We’ll shoot it better than we have in the past so we’ll shoot with more con- fidence. That held us back from being an elite offensive team last year. We’re seeking improvement, and I’m optimistic.”

Joe is pretty good at this when he has time to think through the questions so it’s hard to say what he’s really thinking about on these points. The quotes about offense and defense are really interesting, however. I think the grinding nature of being a defense first team is ultimately what led to IUP’s demise last year. They were out of gas, darned near got knocked off in the first round of the NCAA’s, and couldn’t score enough to keep up with an elite offensive team. Joe’s best teams were very good on defense, but not elite like last year’s. Those teams were also significantly better on offense. Looks to me like he’s turning back the clock there, which probably isn’t a bad idea.

For the KJ fans, you’ll be happy to know he’s made the best improvement from last year. :)

Nice way to vomit in the morning.

[Chuck Norris]

Nice way to vomit in the morning.

I’m rooting like heck for KJ to shock us all. A team full of good shooters with Clarke to facilitate and Brooks to do the dirty work doesn’t sound too bad if everything pans out.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I’m rooting like heck for KJ to shock us all. A team full of good shooters with Clarke to facilitate and Brooks to do the dirty work doesn’t sound too bad if everything pans out.

KJ plays hard. He's just not a forward. He's way too small. He 'might' be 6'4". Opposing teams ignore him, making it 5 v 4. If he truly did improve that much, other teams at least shouldn't be able to ignore him this year.

They are still sight-unseen so you're right. Joe never, ever talks about taking losses. That's not a good sign.

But, this isn't his first rodeo. They also didn't play any exhibitions so he does have the element of surprise. Perhaps that's the card he's playing.

The great Johnny Lawrence says ... The best defense is more offense.

I'll say this, they better get through this weekend. Walsh and St. Thomas Aquinas may thump them.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Pretty sure most colleges teams can talk about the "ones that got away" at one time or another. Ship has certainly had its share of those.

No doubt. My post was in the IUP thread so that's why it was Joe-centric.

[Scrub]

No doubt. My post was in the IUP thread so that's why it was Joe-centric.

(Plus, my reference to Carter was specifically related to the local kid. There's no doubt that each coach has near-misses among recruiting classes that go on to good careers, but when a star player lives less than 25 minutes from your campus, those ones really sting. You don't even need a hotel room to go and scout his games!)

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I’m rooting like heck for KJ to shock us all. A team full of good shooters with Clarke to facilitate and Brooks to do the dirty work doesn’t sound too bad if everything pans out.

I did a final scan of the schedule this morning and I'm still coming up with the same prediction for the regular season: 20-8


November - 3-2

December - 5-1

January - 7-2

February - 5-3


Granted, this is a much more difficult preseason prediction to make this year. Pair the uncertainties and questions along with what appears to be a tough West -- not to mention two really big non-conference games in November ...

Hopefully when this gets pulled back up in March I was way off.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Interesting info from the preview article in the Gazette today. A few things stood out to me:

- Still no mention of Romero-Sanz. Every other player on the roster was mentioned but him and MacNamara. Something is up there.
- “We may have to lose a few games before we get an edge defensively. We’re spending less time on defense. You want to practice everything, but there’s only so much time.”
- “KJ probably made the best improvement from last year,”
- “We have two elite shooters with him and Ethan and lot of other good shooters. We’ll shoot it better than we have in the past so we’ll shoot with more con- fidence. That held us back from being an elite offensive team last year. We’re seeking improvement, and I’m optimistic.”

Joe is pretty good at this when he has time to think through the questions so it’s hard to say what he’s really thinking about on these points. The quotes about offense and defense are really interesting, however. I think the grinding nature of being a defense first team is ultimately what led to IUP’s demise last year. They were out of gas, darned near got knocked off in the first round of the NCAA’s, and couldn’t score enough to keep up with an elite offensive team. Joe’s best teams were very good on defense, but not elite like last year’s. Those teams were also significantly better on offense. Looks to me like he’s turning back the clock there, which probably isn’t a bad idea.

For the KJ fans, you’ll be happy to know he’s made the best improvement from last year. :)

This keeps reminding me of the painful year Joe was starting a walk-on, 6'5" forward by early January -- all the while having Dom Keyes (6'8") and Blake Danielak (6'7") redshirting.

Anybody else recall the C.J. Rudisill era ?

[Ship69]

KJ plays hard. He's just not a forward. He's way too small. He 'might' be 6'4". Opposing teams ignore him, making it 5 v 4. If he truly did improve that much, other teams at least shouldn't be able to ignore him this year.

They are still sight-unseen so you're right. Joe never, ever talks about taking losses. That's not a good sign.

But, this isn't his first rodeo. They also didn't play any exhibitions so he does have the element of surprise. Perhaps that's the card he's playing.

The great Johnny Lawrence says ... The best defense is more offense.

I'll say this, they better get through this weekend. Walsh and St. Thomas Aquinas may thump them.

To a certain extent, in our league forward seems to be as much about body type as height. John Castello was a very effective forward for Ship at a little over 6-4 as he was physically robust (played tight end in high school) and was a good leaper. The problem comes when you have a skinny guy going up against big bangers and getting killed on the boards. That's one reason Luke Nedrow had value for Ship, even though he slowed the offense at times. It's also why a guy such as Ethan Porterfield is such a load for most PSAC teams who don't have players with his combination of height and bulk to check him. The fact that he, like Castello, can shoot well makes him even more of a matchup nightmare.

[IUP24]

(Plus, my reference to Carter was specifically related to the local kid. There's no doubt that each coach has near-misses among recruiting classes that go on to good careers, but when a star player lives less than 25 minutes from your campus, those ones really sting. You don't even need a hotel room to go and scout his games!)

There's something up with local recruiting at many of these schools at these levels. For some reason, I feel like a lot of them hesitate to recruit the local star from a high school 5 miles away. I think there are a number of factors to that. Many of these D2 and lower level universities are in very small or very rural communities. There's, at times, probably a question to the level of competition they are playing. I think there's an argument that if that player starts, plays well, etc., it could likely increase local interest for the program. But at the same time, if that player doesn't play, or if that player gets benched due to not performing, or if the coach never plays them, etc., that could create a negative situation for the program/player/coach. I think a lot don't want the headache that could come from it and just accept that it may be a miss.

Joe used to always have a token walk-on from a local school. It engaged the community. It gave the crowd something to stick around for during garbage time. However, the difference there is that player was never expected to contribute and wasn't on scholarship.

I don't know the full story with Carlos Carter. Indiana isn't a small high school, so he was actually playing real competition. But that's my take on the local misses for some schools.