Iup basketball

[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.

[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]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[IUP1423]

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

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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 ?

[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.