Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

I've learned to quit questioning Irish Tom.

His team is just loaded this year -- and very deep.


I'm most curious about this alleged mid-season addition Joe's supposedly adding.

Saturday is a real big game for the men's team. While they didn't play last year WCU has beat Joe the past two meetings.

Both close, yes, but I think many of us are getting tired of 'close' losses in big games.

[IUPalum]

Re: Iup basketball

I've learned to quit questioning Irish Tom.

His team is just loaded this year -- and very deep.


I'm most curious about this alleged mid-season addition Joe's supposedly adding.

Saturday is a real big game for the men's team. While they didn't play last year WCU has beat Joe the past two meetings.

Both close, yes, but I think many of us are getting tired of 'close' losses in big games.

Is there a big mid season addition? I thought that was only if Daunte was going to be out for awhile?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

It was implied that was the plan when Armoni was lost for the season. Who knows. I don't know who you find this time of year but Bravado has a lot of connections I'm sure.

Dante is better but nowhere near 100 percent. I think they need some insurance just in case. It would be a huge problem right now if he had to miss any time.

[IUsuallyPonder]

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

It wouldn't be from another program. There are players out there available for whatever reason. Some of those reasons aren't good -- grades, discipline, etc. Others could be coming off injuries ... who knows. It's happened in the past. One example you see somewhat often is a kid who signed somewhere, showed up in the summer/fall and for whatever reason didn't like where he was and decided not to play. Chances are good if it's happening it has already happened as they'd have to go through the enrollment process, etc.

It's certainly not an ideal situation. Then again, ... you find the right guy at the right time and he fits in ...

They are only carrying four legit guards. If any of them were to go down for any period of time it would be a mess. Chances are you aren't going to find a big scorer on the waiver wire in December but even adding a defensive-minded guard would be a big boost to eat some minutes.

The thing with Joe teams you always have to remember is they rarely come out of the gate on fire. His teams usually start to peak around Christmas. This is a good team. They've showed it in flashes (Ferris State, etc.)

I still see them, after 8 games, as a very strong PSAC team. I haven't seen enough yet to call them anything more at this point. If they get to XMAS break with wins over West Chester and Fairmont ... the conversation starts to change.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

Lost in the football playoff buzz is a pretty big game Saturday at West Chester.

The Rams are 5-0 with wins against (D3) Wesley, Chestnut Hill, (at) Gannon, (at) Clarion and Wilmington (Del.).

WCU has had a big scoring night (91 against Clarion) and a defensive battle (52-44 over Gannon).


A few notes on WCU:

* hitting just 27% on treys (24-88)
* hitting just 59% at the line
* overall shooting 49% from the field
* +6 in rebounding
* forcing 18 TOs per game
* Tyrell Long (6'5" guard) is the top scorer at nearly 21 ppg. Jackson Hyland (6'5" F) is at 17 ppg.
* Malik Jackson is no longer on the team. He would have been a junior this year. If you recall, he hit about 12 treys on IUP at the KCAC during his freshman season.
* IUP has split the past four games against WCU.
* IUP's last trip to WCU ended with Brandon Norfleet hitting a huge trey with seconds left in OT ... only to see the Rams hit a walk-off hero shot as time expired. That was in the PSAC Tournament Final Four.

From a quick analysis Long is going to cause problems. IUP has struggled the past couple seasons containing big, athletic guards. WCU has been awful from outside which means they'll (like most) shoot the lights out tomorrow. Big game for both teams.

[IUsuallyPonder]

Re: Iup basketball

Great analysis as always, IUPbigINDIANS!

Any predictions as to who wins?

[Guest]

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

Here's very sound betting advise when it comes to this team .... run away from the casino as fast as you can ... like 4.4 forty fast.

This is a hard IUP team to figure out. We've seen the good, the bad and the ugly this year -- and we're only 8 games in to it.

Lot of talent and likely will be a scary team come mid-Jan or so ... they've won four straight. Have they beat a good team yet? Yes. Bowie, Bloomsburg and Lock Haven are good teams. However, the three best teams they played ... lost all three. Two of them they could have (should have, perhaps?) won. The opener against Findlay ... they weren't near ready to play that game.

I'm not quite sure how to process the win against The Sciences. The Sciences dang near neat St. Thomas Aquinas and Kutztown -- and did beat UPJ. And, then, IUP just ran them out of the building last week.

What's all this rambling mean? I don't know. One minute this team looks great. The next it looks terrible. I'd be real nervous betting on it. Put it that way.

My prediction is I think they are slowly turning the corner after that rocky start. While they returned a lot of pieces they had some issues incorporating the new parts. It's slowly starting to look like a Joe team again and not the island of misfit toys we saw in early November.

Joe and Blair will treat this like a playoff game tomorrow. Trust me, there's no love lost between those two. IUP is going to struggle with Long tomorrow. Elite guards have smoked IUP the past two seasons. But, all said and done, I think Joe just has a little more quality overall and escapes with a narrow win in the range of 85-79.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

Check out the Gannon cheerleader site ... the head cheerleader is taking pot shots at IUP again ...

Granted it's a thread about the GU loss to Bowie ... several posters are negative toward Gannon ... one gets his comment deleted ... and naturally it somehow eventually turns to the host saying IUP has a low character program.

A link to the Devante arrest naturally gets posted by the host. Of course he doesn't mention (and it's very well known) all charges were dropped.

Keep in mind this is a GU thread about the Bowie game.

Funny to think Gannon can call anybody low character after it puts its football team on the field. Rephrase, Gannon didn't make the comment. The head of the PR site did.

The site is funny -- especially when Gannon loses. If you aren't drinking the kool-aid posts get deleted. It's a funny bunch ... The Reilly lovers and the Reilly haters.

How many other issues has Joe had in his tenure? That dude is a clown ... and a little tired of losing to IUP.


Golden89 ... you're a good fan. Not directed toward you. But that guy just runs his mouth year after year with cheap shots toward IUP.

[Guest]

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

I will visit the site to read the comments ... never his cult-like worship ramblings of the Duke-like imaginary GU Knights.

The latest 'character' baloney was cheesy even for a cheesy web site. Such 'character' kids at GU ... most of which can't transfer out fast enough at the end of each season. I know ... "We Try Harder" and all that crap.

I've watched Gannon a couple times now. Like all the other teams about to play them surely see, one thing jumps off the screen. It's a team based on two players. Zay and Phoenix. That's it. If one of them is off GU is going to struggle. As it's overly apparent watching film, teams are going to smother Zay defensively. A team with strong bigs like IUP is going to get Phoenix in foul trouble quickly. Watch what Sleva does to them today.


It's just funny to take cheap shots at Joe year after year for one occurrence that ultimately was nothing. Guy has some jealously issues in my opinion and is drastically living in the past -- not the current 75% empty Hammermill world. IUP has a roster full of actual student athletes.

He's some mega GU fan ... Joe will be up there in a couple weeks. Tell him to his face his program is 'low character'.

I admire the guy investing his time to promote D2 sports. There aren't many outlets for fans. It's just funny Mr. Censorship routinely slings mud toward Indiana then deletes any negative post from a GU fan. So ironic. Monkey see Monkey do.

[IUsuallyPonder]

Re: Iup basketball

The Gannon Cheerleader Site? Where is that??

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

It's called Gannon Hoops or something like that. Google it.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

Joe's getting out-rebounded by about 90 in the first half.

Maybe next year recruit a defensive player.

Team defense is atrocious.