Iup basketball

[EyeoftheHawk]

I wouldn't touch this game even if I was betting your money. LOL.

We all saw first-hand how this IUP team struggled with Lincoln's press for about 90 seconds. I'm sure Fudala is licking his chops. Put it this way: what I saw has me terrified for tonight. I have faith in IUP's athletes tonight. This is a very athletic lineup. Joe's inbounding philosophy is the scary part.

That said, if IUP can figure it out, they should be fine on the other end. IUP (even this young version) is better defensively than Slippery Rock.

It's going to be a wild one.

Turns out IUP’s youth really showed tonight and they were awful on the defensive end. Okay, maybe awful is a little strong because I think UCSB shot better than what they are, but part of that was the number of wide open looks they got. I didn’t have a problem with how IUP played offensively and the guards looked good with just 12 turnovers against a high pressure defense. Still, IUP doesn’t have enough shooters or enough of a consistent inside presence to beat good teams and I think UCSB is pretty good. That Norton dude went off and you wouldn’t have noticed him on the stat sheet before tonight. They played 14 guys and 12 of them scored.

It was fun seeing Fudala back in town and listening to his post-game interview with Jack and Tony afterward. You could tell the guy loves IUP. I firmly believe if Joe retired at the end of the season, Ron would be chomping at the bit to get back here.

[Ship69]

I wouldn't touch this game even if I was betting your money. LOL.

We all saw first-hand how this IUP team struggled with Lincoln's press for about 90 seconds. I'm sure Fudala is licking his chops. Put it this way: what I saw has me terrified for tonight. I have faith in IUP's athletes tonight. This is a very athletic lineup. Joe's inbounding philosophy is the scary part.

That said, if IUP can figure it out, they should be fine on the other end. IUP (even this young version) is better defensively than Slippery Rock.

It's going to be a wild one.

If you're going to get pressed, you'd better hope you don't get the crew Ship had on Sunday.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Appreciate the game preview. I’m planning to be there. What could be more entertaining in Indiana, PA on a Monday night in early December?

I’m also a big Fudala fan and really liked Polce when he was here. I really hated to see them both move on but get why they did. I would say this is a “pick-em” game as far as Vegas is concerned.

I wouldn't touch this game even if I was betting your money. LOL.

We all saw first-hand how this IUP team struggled with Lincoln's press for about 90 seconds. I'm sure Fudala is licking his chops. Put it this way: what I saw has me terrified for tonight. I have faith in IUP's athletes tonight. This is a very athletic lineup. Joe's inbounding philosophy is the scary part.

That said, if IUP can figure it out, they should be fine on the other end. IUP (even this young version) is better defensively than Slippery Rock.

It's going to be a wild one.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Appreciate the game preview. I’m planning to be there. What could be more entertaining in Indiana, PA on a Monday night in early December?

I’m also a big Fudala fan and really liked Polce when he was here. I really hated to see them both move on but get why they did. I would say this is a “pick-em” game as far as Vegas is concerned.

I'm not sure of the academic schedule but I'd assume students are back in town. Hopefully we get some life back in the building. The past couple have been awful crowds.

[EyeoftheHawk]

If you're considering putting some coin on tonight's University of South Carolina-Beaufort at IUP game ... I'll give you some friendly advise: Don't.

While it should be highly entertaining ... it's hard to say what to expect.

It's not often (ever?) a Peach Belt Conference team will play a game in Indiana. But, former IUP longtime assistant Ron Fudala is the head coach of the Sandsharks (7-1).

This season, USCB is 2-0 against the PSAC -- winning at UPJ (106-88) and Slippery Rock (70-64).

Aside from Fudala, there are several other ties to Pennsylvania. Former IUP guard Kyle Polce is a senior starter. Past WPIAL stars Tasso Sfanos (Mars) and Kevaughn Price (Bishop Canevin) are key contributors.

Price was teammates with current IUP reserve guard Jordan Watson, while both played at BCCC. Fun fact: One poster on here (me) furiously pushed for Joe to sign Price. But, to no avail. Price was the leading scorer in the country his final year in JUCO. He's a very dynamic, well-built (strong) guard.

The final connection is assistant coach Luke Dyer, who had a great career as a player at West Liberty.

The style of play IUP will be up against is quite interesting. The best way to describe it is probably calling it a hybrid/merged version of IUP and West Liberty. What that translates to is IUP will face the chaos and trapping for 4-5 minute stretches. Then they'll 'relax' in to a slightly less chaotic version of it. Then, they'll use some 3/4-court pressing. Then they won't press at all and run Joe's defense with all the switching, etc. Then it all starts over again (in some order). They'll do the 5 for 5 subbing all night.

Using the SRU game for comparison (as the Rock plays much more similar to IUP than UPJ does), the USCB system had mixed results. SRU was without its best player (senior guard Maceo Austin), which certainly didn't help matters. The Rock adjusted fairly well as the game went along -- but was worn out and couldn't hit the side of a barn in the second half. Neither, of course, could USCB (who also looked gassed). With Austin out, USCB swarmed Ike Herster much of the game.

USCB isn't a big team, and SRU was very effective on the glass.


Keys for IUP tonight:

* Inbound the ball quickly. Joe's teams all are very slow in this area. All the 'stall' does is allow them to set up. Avoid the coffin corners. Joe loves to inbound to the corners, which is exactly what they want.

* Alphonso Pickens is getting trial by fire in his season/IUP debut. IUP won't win this game with 7 guys tonight. They need him. Big time.

* Slow. It. Down. USCB was visibly frustrated by Slippery Rock's pace of play. They aren't stocked with WL-quality shooters, either. USCB is built to run with an extremely guard-heavy lineup. Damir Brooks can cause all sorts of problems for them. Use him.

* SRU committed a whopping (29) TOs and still almost won. Cut that number in half.

* Stay composed. This team has some 'animated' players. In particular, they have one guard who likes to stir it up.

* The Zebra Crew. If they draw one of the ticky-tack crews, half of the USCB team will be fouled out.


It's going to be an entertaining game. If anything, this will help this new team get ready to face Gannon twice.

Appreciate the game preview. I’m planning to be there. What could be more entertaining in Indiana, PA on a Monday night in early December?

I’m also a big Fudala fan and really liked Polce when he was here. I really hated to see them both move on but get why they did. I would say this is a “pick-em” game as far as Vegas is concerned.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

If you're considering putting some coin on tonight's University of South Carolina-Beaufort at IUP game ... I'll give you some friendly advise: Don't.

While it should be highly entertaining ... it's hard to say what to expect.

It's not often (ever?) a Peach Belt Conference team will play a game in Indiana. But, former IUP longtime assistant Ron Fudala is the head coach of the Sandsharks (7-1).

This season, USCB is 2-0 against the PSAC -- winning at UPJ (106-88) and Slippery Rock (70-64).

Aside from Fudala, there are several other ties to Pennsylvania. Former IUP guard Kyle Polce is a senior starter. Past WPIAL stars Tasso Sfanos (Mars) and Kevaughn Price (Bishop Canevin) are key contributors.

Price was teammates with current IUP reserve guard Jordan Watson, while both played at BCCC. Fun fact: One poster on here (me) furiously pushed for Joe to sign Price. But, to no avail. Price was the leading scorer in the country his final year in JUCO. He's a very dynamic, well-built (strong) guard.

The final connection is assistant coach Luke Dyer, who had a great career as a player at West Liberty.

The style of play IUP will be up against is quite interesting. The best way to describe it is probably calling it a hybrid/merged version of IUP and West Liberty. What that translates to is IUP will face the chaos and trapping for 4-5 minute stretches. Then they'll 'relax' in to a slightly less chaotic version of it. Then, they'll use some 3/4-court pressing. Then they won't press at all and run Joe's defense with all the switching, etc. Then it all starts over again (in some order). They'll do the 5 for 5 subbing all night.

Using the SRU game for comparison (as the Rock plays much more similar to IUP than UPJ does), the USCB system had mixed results. SRU was without its best player (senior guard Maceo Austin), which certainly didn't help matters. The Rock adjusted fairly well as the game went along -- but was worn out and couldn't hit the side of a barn in the second half. Neither, of course, could USCB (who also looked gassed). With Austin out, USCB swarmed Ike Herster much of the game.

USCB isn't a big team, and SRU was very effective on the glass.


Keys for IUP tonight:

* Inbound the ball quickly. Joe's teams all are very slow in this area. All the 'stall' does is allow them to set up. Avoid the coffin corners. Joe loves to inbound to the corners, which is exactly what they want.

* Alphonso Pickens is getting trial by fire in his season/IUP debut. IUP won't win this game with 7 guys tonight. They need him. Big time.

* Slow. It. Down. USCB was visibly frustrated by Slippery Rock's pace of play. They aren't stocked with WL-quality shooters, either. USCB is built to run with an extremely guard-heavy lineup. Damir Brooks can cause all sorts of problems for them. Use him.

* SRU committed a whopping (29) TOs and still almost won. Cut that number in half.

* Stay composed. This team has some 'animated' players. In particular, they have one guard who likes to stir it up.

* The Zebra Crew. If they draw one of the ticky-tack crews, half of the USCB team will be fouled out.


It's going to be an entertaining game. If anything, this will help this new team get ready to face Gannon twice.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Kyle Police returns Monday night.

I don't want to say Police got run out of Indiana, but, he basically got run out of Indiana.

No denying, however, his early time here he was buried behind a plethora of star guards. He was also frequently injured.

Ironically, he'd have probably started for that mess of a team last year - or, at least been the 6th man.

Polce is a great athlete (and a good young man). I'd have liked to see him finish here.

Regardless, I'm quite certain Ron Fudala will be chasing Joe's job here in a year or two.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I felt like I needed a shower after that. What a mess both teams made of that 40 minutes. I thought I was watching a junior high game.

The positive is IUP won. At about the three minute mark I looked at my buddy and said they’re just in survival mode now and somehow Lincoln managed to hang around until the final few seconds. Thank god they only shot 29%! IUP was an awful 2-18 from behind the arc and they were both big when they happened from Moore. Grove didn’t score until the final couple minutes and he looked like a freshman out there for the first time.

Keep in mind this Lincoln team lost to Cal by 30…BUT…a win is a win and if you can play awful and win you take it. I give Lincoln credit for their heart. They never gave up.

That's how CIAA teams play. If the zebra crew lets it become WrestleMania, what he saw is what happens.

Lincoln wanted to muck it up and it sure did.

Obviously IUP didn't have a banner night, either. It was a good 'watch the film' experience. Why in the world IUP was fouling three-point shooters at the end of the game ...

End of the day that's one you're thankful you escape. That was a brutally physical basketball game.

I do think they could have fed Brooks all night. Lincoln was selling out on the deep shots for 40 minutes.

IUP had several chances to bust that game wide open and couldn't do it.

Monday will be much different. USCB is more a finesse team than a street brawler.

On my list of all-time of games, that one last night is probably in the bottom 3. That was a playground affair.

[EyeoftheHawk]

I'm trying to process the horrendous basketball I watched tonight. One positive, BROOKS!!! He wasn't good enough to play last year.

I felt like I needed a shower after that. What a mess both teams made of that 40 minutes. I thought I was watching a junior high game.

The positive is IUP won. At about the three minute mark I looked at my buddy and said they’re just in survival mode now and somehow Lincoln managed to hang around until the final few seconds. Thank god they only shot 29%! IUP was an awful 2-18 from behind the arc and they were both big when they happened from Moore. Grove didn’t score until the final couple minutes and he looked like a freshman out there for the first time.

Keep in mind this Lincoln team lost to Cal by 30…BUT…a win is a win and if you can play awful and win you take it. I give Lincoln credit for their heart. They never gave up.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I'm trying to process the horrendous basketball I watched tonight. One positive, BROOKS!!! He wasn't good enough to play last year.

Damir could have had 35 points tonight. Why they didn't just feed him all game ... mysterious

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I'm trying to process the horrendous basketball I watched tonight. One positive, BROOKS!!! He wasn't good enough to play last year.

Not sure that was basketball lol. That was a street fight.

[IUPalum]

I'm trying to process the horrendous basketball I watched tonight. One positive, BROOKS!!! He wasn't good enough to play last year.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

When IUP beat Ship early last season, I thought Brooks might have been the best player on the floor that game. Ship actually played what turned out to be one of its better games in that one, but they had no answer for Brook's physicality on the boards. I was shocked with how little playing time he got the rest of the season. Although Ship did better on the boards this year, Brooks again was a factor in IUP holding its own.

It was so bad last year. I honestly think, in fact, it got so bad people quit attending the games. IUP's attendance started to tank down the stretch last year -- and February is when it usually explodes.

The whole arena and fan base knew Brooks should have been playing 32 mpg (or until he fouled out). Add to it they redshirted Romero-Sanz when they desperately needed a big body.

That whole situation stunk so bad it literally turned fans away. It also crippled Porterfield because teams were totally ignoring the SF position and doubling him all year.

Brooks isn't Cobo. He's never going to be. But, he brings an awful lot to the table. He's a beefed up (and taller) version of Tevin Hanner.

It even further trickled down when they had to move their prized SG down to play SF.

That was just a season to put in the vault and forget about it. It was the least enjoyable season of IUP basketball I've ever watched.

[IUPalum]

Video link finally posted.

[Ship69]

He wasn't ready last year.

So we've been told.


LOL. He must have had one heck of a summer.

That whole mess cost IUP at least 3-4 wins last year. Maybe more.

When IUP beat Ship early last season, I thought Brooks might have been the best player on the floor that game. Ship actually played what turned out to be one of its better games in that one, but they had no answer for Brook's physicality on the boards. I was shocked with how little playing time he got the rest of the season. Although Ship did better on the boards this year, Brooks again was a factor in IUP holding its own.