Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

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.

A huge number of the 'elite' big men in the West the past 10-12 years have been in that 6'6", 225 lb range. Darryl Webb, Patrick Smith, Daddy Ugbede, Michah Till, John Paul Kromka, etc.

Dustin Sleva and Jacobo Diaz were probably the two that were legitimately in the 6'8" to 6'9" range and were highly skilled.

The league lost two sophomores last year (Tomiwa Sulaiman and Pipeloluwa Ajayi) who both would have become mega-stars in their junior and senior seasons. Both were about 6'6" or 6'7".

I fully expect Ethan Porterfield will have a monster season. He's been a total warrior the past two years. I'd bet two years ago he played at about 60% and last year he was probably around 50%. When he's at full steam he is a matchup nightmare. He's hard to move around yet is probably the best deep shooter on the team. EP is also one of the few who I think actually goes by a shorter height (6'8") than he actually is ... I think he's closer to 6'10". He's also an extremely intelligent player.

It's funny to think back about PSAC 'bigs' in my era here 25-some years ago. IUP's forwards in that time were bigger than most of the lineman on the football team. That's when the whole league was using the 6'8' or 6'9" guys who weighed upward of 255 lbs. Gannon and SRU were the last two teams (in the West, anyway) to finally go away from those giants. I remember Kevin Reynolds had some teams that looked like NBA guys when they'd come out. JR always had massive dudes at Gannon.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Two other items:

Joe said Sarp Furtun (6'3" guard from Turkey) is going to be in the rotation.

Denzel Kabasele is 'dealing with an injury' which explains why we haven't heard much about him. No timetable on his return.

And, from Tony's coverage so far, Romero-Sanz is set to take on the Ousmane Diop role. lol

[IUP24]

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 ?

C.J. Rudisill gave maximum effort lol. He played hard. He played well above his talent level on many nights. But yeah... The chickens eventually came home to roost. That had the feeling of a MLB or NHL team calling some journeyman up from the minor leagues. At the outset, they play incredibly well. Then their play sort of levels off. Then you start to realize why they never made it, latched on elsewhere, or had no pedigree.

I forgot who they lost to at some point that year that ended up being a devastating blow. But I remember CJ getting mauled in the loss.

[IUP1423]

Joe never even made a call to Bryce Butler who played at Greater Latrobe. 25 miles from campus.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Joe never even made a call to Bryce Butler who played at Greater Latrobe. 25 miles from campus.

They also didn't recruit (at all) Latrobe's Jake Biss. Two nearby studs. No calls.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

C.J. Rudisill gave maximum effort lol. He played hard. He played well above his talent level on many nights. But yeah... The chickens eventually came home to roost. That had the feeling of a MLB or NHL team calling some journeyman up from the minor leagues. At the outset, they play incredibly well. Then their play sort of levels off. Then you start to realize why they never made it, latched on elsewhere, or had no pedigree.

I forgot who they lost to at some point that year that ended up being a devastating blow. But I remember CJ getting mauled in the loss.

The game you are thinking of was the infamous loss at Seton Hill. Spencer Casson (SH center) went crazy that night (along with the whole McKenna Center).

Joe's late technical iced it. To this day that is SH's only win against IUP. It was also the last game ever students were allowed to sit (or stand and jump around) directly underneath the hoop inside the yellow shoebox.

That was a monster loss for IUP that night. It basically knocked out the 'island of misfit toys' team from the NCAAs.

[Ship69]

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.

Don't underestimate the simple desire of a lot of kids to get out of their hometown to play ball, either. They might want their families to see their games, but figure that it's nice to be away from the prying eyes of their home community the rest of the week.

[Ship69]

A huge number of the 'elite' big men in the West the past 10-12 years have been in that 6'6", 225 lb range. Darryl Webb, Patrick Smith, Daddy Ugbede, Michah Till, John Paul Kromka, etc.

Dustin Sleva and Jacobo Diaz were probably the two that were legitimately in the 6'8" to 6'9" range and were highly skilled.

The league lost two sophomores last year (Tomiwa Sulaiman and Pipeloluwa Ajayi) who both would have become mega-stars in their junior and senior seasons. Both were about 6'6" or 6'7".

I fully expect Ethan Porterfield will have a monster season. He's been a total warrior the past two years. I'd bet two years ago he played at about 60% and last year he was probably around 50%. When he's at full steam he is a matchup nightmare. He's hard to move around yet is probably the best deep shooter on the team. EP is also one of the few who I think actually goes by a shorter height (6'8") than he actually is ... I think he's closer to 6'10". He's also an extremely intelligent player.

It's funny to think back about PSAC 'bigs' in my era here 25-some years ago. IUP's forwards in that time were bigger than most of the lineman on the football team. That's when the whole league was using the 6'8' or 6'9" guys who weighed upward of 255 lbs. Gannon and SRU were the last two teams (in the West, anyway) to finally go away from those giants. I remember Kevin Reynolds had some teams that looked like NBA guys when they'd come out. JR always had massive dudes at Gannon.

Ship was actually competitive in most games last year because they had three guys — Carter, Johnson, and Dom Sleva — who played bigger than their height. Carter and Johnson mostly did it with exceptional quickness and leaping ability (Carter jumped center against taller guys all season and probably didn't lose more than one or two opening tipoffs). Sleva was more of a scrapper who generally got excellent rebounding position (second in D2 for the year in rebounds). The problem was they'd sometimes pick up fouls banging with the big guys, and there were not comparable players behind them. Sleva coming up with a severe ankle injury the second Millersville game was a killer as he missed the second Shepherd game, which Ship narrowly lost, and wasn't at 100 percent for the PSAC semifinal against Mercyhurst, another narrow loss. He gutted through it, but apparently broken bones were involved and he had an operation after the season.

It looks like Ship will be getting a 6-8 transfer in after the holiday break, and if it's the guy it appears to be it should help the team a lot. Coach Fite says the kid is "good," and he doesn't tend toward hyperbole when describing a player's skills. Unfortunately, it won't be in time to help them with IUP, West Liberty, Cal, etc., early in the season.

[Chuck Norris]

Tomiwa had 6 points and 4 rebounds (20 minutes) in his Towson debut in a loss at Colorado.

14 minutes 1 point 3 rebounds in a 21 point win over Coppin State

[IUPbigINDIANS]

14 minutes 1 point 3 rebounds in a 21 point win over Coppin State

Towson has three guys out, too.


Pip (formerly Mercyhurst) played just 8 minutes in his Bucknell debut.

The PF (Gates) from Rock who transferred to Lincoln Memorial played a combined 3 mins in their first two games.

[Chuck Norris]

Towson has three guys out, too.


Pip (formerly Mercyhurst) played just 8 minutes in his Bucknell debut.

The PF (Gates) from Rock who transferred to Lincoln Memorial played a combined 3 mins in their first two games.

Bryce Butler had 4 points and 4 boards in 18 minutes for CofC in a really close win over Iona. They play Duquesne tonight at 6 on CBS Sports network. I think it’s a tip off tournament in Maryland.

[Scrub]

Bryce Butler had 4 points and 4 boards in 18 minutes for CofC in a really close win over Iona. They play Duquesne tonight at 6 on CBS Sports network. I think it’s a tip off tournament in Maryland.

Yep. I noticed that Butler is coming off the bench. First few games, he's averaging about 17ish minutes a game (not bad). Kobe Rogers from Nova is starting and playing 20+ minutes for CoC.

[Columbuseer]

Yep. I noticed that Butler is coming off the bench. First few games, he's averaging about 17ish minutes a game (not bad). Kobe Rogers from Nova is starting and playing 20+ minutes for CoC.

Not bad minutes, especially considering adjustment period needed when playing against bigger, more athletic opponents,. He only averaged 28 mins at wlu.

[Chuck Norris]

Yep. I noticed that Butler is coming off the bench. First few games, he's averaging about 17ish minutes a game (not bad). Kobe Rogers from Nova is starting and playing 20+ minutes for CoC.

Yeah that many minutes in a game that was close throughout against what’s usually a very solid mid major opponent should be a good sign that he’ll be a key contributor for them.

[Ship69]

Not bad minutes, especially considering adjustment period needed when playing against bigger, more athletic opponents,. He only averaged 28 mins at wlu.

Yeah, I was just talking to a guy from my town who played on one of the better teams our high school ever had and later played some college ball at Mount St. Mary's. The Mount moved to Division I before his junior year, and as he was a center he said playing against the bigger guys in D1 was an eye-opener. "Brutal," he said.