Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I had the Clarion/Hurst game on last night. Mercyhurst was up by 23 points and Clarion scrapped and clawed and got it to within 7-8 in the final 2 minutes. Lakers -4.5 was in jeopardy. The game seemed to turn when Clarion rammed up on the defensive end and starting pressing Hurst. Given IUP's depth issues, their compressed schedule, and difficulty breaking the press, I would press them all night.

Clarion is an interesting team. I thought win/loss-wise, they'd be much better. That said, they've lost a lot of close games and play everybody pretty tough.

They have a gigantic starting lineup, but aren't the deepest team.

IUP's main issues tomorrow will be:

* Hangover after two emotionally tough games

* Clarion has two monsters underneath - big, physical guys. I'm so tired of talking about IUP's post issues I'll leave it at that. You can do the math. Perfect game for Brooks but whatever. He'll have a good seat at least. If they ignore KJ (likely) EP will be swallowed up.

* They have an experienced PG. The other two guards are 6'5" and 6'6" -- not a great matchup for Bryce or Sarp.

* Up at Tippin last year (a game Clarion led by 18 in the second half before an IUP rally), they gave IUP fits (what a shock) with their press. I suspect they run it a lot tomorrow.

* I'd say at best Petteno is doubtful


This will be a tough game.

[Ship69]

I think officiating is bad pretty much everywhere. All sports. All levels. It's an impossible job, especially now. You have 28 different angles, zoomed in, and in super slow-mo with the help of advanced technology to show just how bad you are. Sports aren't played that way. Fans don't watch games at that speed either. You can never be right all the time, no matter how good you are at the job. Replay proves that to be true.

Imagine being an umpire right now. At every turn, somebody on social media wants to eliminate your job and have it be taken by a robot. There are some real bad umpires out there, Angel Hernandez is a prime example, but most are not egregiously bad like that. These leagues/conferences should get rid of the horrific ones like that.

When you consider how we over analyze and review every call, play, etc., there's probably never been a worse time to be an official. Also consider that many of the individuals who are officials, umpires, etc., all started doing it at the youth level and then progress their way up through the ranks. How many people are actually lining up to do that job right now?

I agree it's a horrible job. I certainly wouldn't want to do it. In some cases it's gone beyond booing and yelling about bad calls (which I've certainly been guilty of at times) and gotten to the point where you see videos of nitwits physically confronting officials at youth sports league events. What a poor example it sets for those kids.

I have a friend who loves basketball and was seriously thinking about becoming a PIAA official, but then he officiated a game in our local YMCA recreational league and took so much crap, much of it coming from someone he had considered a friend, that he decided officiating wasn't for him. Our area high school athletic conference can't play all of its football games on Friday nights because there aren't enough football crews to cover the whole league playing on one night.

I try to restrain myself from getting too wound up about the officiating as I know how difficult it is from my brief and largely unsuccessful efforts to do it. I'm someone who likes to mull over a decision before I make it, and you just don't have time to do that on a basketball court. I do wish they'd step up enforcement of traveling (the so-called "Euro step" is one of the game's great farces), the three-second lane violation, and carrying the ball. Almost every player carries the ball on the dribble these days, but some are over the top with it. And as I said in an earlier post, they need to get control of some of the coaches and their sideline behavior. That is something every official should be able to manage.

It's hard to see where you could have robot officials in basketball because there is too much motion and area to cover. We'll have to continue to depend on humans who, like all of us, are fallible. I hope we can continue to get enough of them.

[EyeoftheHawk]

"The technical changed the whole game. Giant momentum swing. Neither team was any good on offense. But, both teams' defense had a lot to do with that. That game had the notoriously atrocious zebra crew - the old man, GQ and tight shirt. They ruin every game -- for both teams. Joe and Danny both lost their minds with them last night."

It was not a well-officiated game. I thought they let a ton of contact go, and then would call some of what Bill Raftery calls "nickel and dimers." The quick trigger for a technical on Stewart might have changed the course of the game as IUP was on a sort of miniature roll at the time. In the context of a game where coaches and players had been chirping and banging around the whole night, it was a real head-scratcher. Not the best of nights for poor Stewart, whose 4-of-19 shooting didn't do a ton for the IUP cause.

One thing I've seen in multiple PSAC games over the past couple of years is that we have several coaches who seem to be going for an Oscar on the sidelines, and it's getting out of hand. Coaches are constantly out of the coaching box and often wander onto the floor while the game is going on. I've seen officials trying to get down the sideline trip over a coach on more than one occasion. Some are in the officials' ear after every call that goes against them, and during timeouts they walk up to the officials and seem to hold mini-conferences with them. They really shouldn't have that much to talk about. I blame most of this on the officials. They need to set parameters, and they're not doing it. That's how games get out of control. A strong official will put up with a certain amount of whining and chattering up to a limit and then will inform the coach he gets Teed up if the crap continues.

The league should sit down with officials before the next season and get a handle on it, but I haven't seen anything that would indicate they'll do so.

Agree with this. It’s one thing to miss a call here and there. That’s going to happen. Call what you see, and don’t call what you don’t. Try to be consistent.

The other part about controlling coaches is easy though. You step out of the box, “T.” You waive a finger in the ref’s face, “T.” Shouting profanity at the ref, “T.” It was out of hand last night and it got out of control because of it. I’m not one to talk about officials much but last night was a special kind of awful.

[IUP24]

"The technical changed the whole game. Giant momentum swing. Neither team was any good on offense. But, both teams' defense had a lot to do with that. That game had the notoriously atrocious zebra crew - the old man, GQ and tight shirt. They ruin every game -- for both teams. Joe and Danny both lost their minds with them last night."

It was not a well-officiated game. I thought they let a ton of contact go, and then would call some of what Bill Raftery calls "nickel and dimers." The quick trigger for a technical on Stewart might have changed the course of the game as IUP was on a sort of miniature roll at the time. In the context of a game where coaches and players had been chirping and banging around the whole night, it was a real head-scratcher. Not the best of nights for poor Stewart, whose 4-of-19 shooting didn't do a ton for the IUP cause.

One thing I've seen in multiple PSAC games over the past couple of years is that we have several coaches who seem to be going for an Oscar on the sidelines, and it's getting out of hand. Coaches are constantly out of the coaching box and often wander onto the floor while the game is going on. I've seen officials trying to get down the sideline trip over a coach on more than one occasion. Some are in the officials' ear after every call that goes against them, and during timeouts they walk up to the officials and seem to hold mini-conferences with them. They really shouldn't have that much to talk about. I blame most of this on the officials. They need to set parameters, and they're not doing it. That's how games get out of control. A strong official will put up with a certain amount of whining and chattering up to a limit and then will inform the coach he gets Teed up if the crap continues.

The league should sit down with officials before the next season and get a handle on it, but I haven't seen anything that would indicate they'll do so.

I think officiating is bad pretty much everywhere. All sports. All levels. It's an impossible job, especially now. You have 28 different angles, zoomed in, and in super slow-mo with the help of advanced technology to show just how bad you are. Sports aren't played that way. Fans don't watch games at that speed either. You can never be right all the time, no matter how good you are at the job. Replay proves that to be true.

Imagine being an umpire right now. At every turn, somebody on social media wants to eliminate your job and have it be taken by a robot. There are some real bad umpires out there, Angel Hernandez is a prime example, but most are not egregiously bad like that. These leagues/conferences should get rid of the horrific ones like that.

When you consider how we over analyze and review every call, play, etc., there's probably never been a worse time to be an official. Also consider that many of the individuals who are officials, umpires, etc., all started doing it at the youth level and then progress their way up through the ranks. How many people are actually lining up to do that job right now?

[iupgroundhog]

Don't be shy. Nepotism is the word. There is no other word.

What is the relationship there?

[Ship69]

"The technical changed the whole game. Giant momentum swing. Neither team was any good on offense. But, both teams' defense had a lot to do with that. That game had the notoriously atrocious zebra crew - the old man, GQ and tight shirt. They ruin every game -- for both teams. Joe and Danny both lost their minds with them last night."

It was not a well-officiated game. I thought they let a ton of contact go, and then would call some of what Bill Raftery calls "nickel and dimers." The quick trigger for a technical on Stewart might have changed the course of the game as IUP was on a sort of miniature roll at the time. In the context of a game where coaches and players had been chirping and banging around the whole night, it was a real head-scratcher. Not the best of nights for poor Stewart, whose 4-of-19 shooting didn't do a ton for the IUP cause.

One thing I've seen in multiple PSAC games over the past couple of years is that we have several coaches who seem to be going for an Oscar on the sidelines, and it's getting out of hand. Coaches are constantly out of the coaching box and often wander onto the floor while the game is going on. I've seen officials trying to get down the sideline trip over a coach on more than one occasion. Some are in the officials' ear after every call that goes against them, and during timeouts they walk up to the officials and seem to hold mini-conferences with them. They really shouldn't have that much to talk about. I blame most of this on the officials. They need to set parameters, and they're not doing it. That's how games get out of control. A strong official will put up with a certain amount of whining and chattering up to a limit and then will inform the coach he gets Teed up if the crap continues.

The league should sit down with officials before the next season and get a handle on it, but I haven't seen anything that would indicate they'll do so.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I thought the same thing. Shot selection was suspect (by both teams) last night. EP was underutilized. When he's involved in the offense, he's dang near unstoppable. But you're right that pick-setting appeared to be his number one job last night.

That said, I did think Clarke was impressive. Even in what was likely not a vintage game from him, it's clear that he's doing all the little things, making the hustle plays, that make him a really nice piece to build around for the future. He'll be a beast if they can get some other pieces around him.

Garvin is a star. He unfortunately doesn't have much of a supporting cast right now. They'd be much different with Dallis Dillard being his wing man.

That said, IUP's four-man team last night just about beat what most consider a Top 2 team in the Atlantic Region. Good teams make you pay playing 5 on 4. Most of IUP's offense revolves around Porterfield, but two solid bigs can easily take him out when they double him all night (which, again, is what good teams do against IUP this year). Petteno not playing last night just killed them. He at least has to be guarded, which takes the double team away on EP. When Ethan is taken away, IUP has little left and reverts to Shawndale ball.

The technical changed the whole game. Giant momentum swing. Neither team was any good on offense. But, both teams' defense had a lot to do with that. That game had the notoriously atrocious zebra crew - the old man, GQ and tight shirt. They ruin every game -- for both teams. Joe and Danny both lost their minds with them last night.

Anyway, that game is in the books. Petteno's health is a huge concern. His wrist was in a brace last night. They need him back badly.


Looking at what remains:

at Clarion
at Mercyhurst
Gannon
UPJ
at Edinboro
Seton Hill
at Slippery Rock
at California
Clarion


Joe's 13-6 right now with 9 games to play. Best case I think they could go 7-2 down the stretch and get to the 20-8 mark (which normally gets one to the dance). That's the best case. However, I think the games at Mercyhurst and SRU will be very challenging. I kind of think they go 5-4 down the stretch (given Petteno's uncertain status). That would put them at 18-10 entering the conference tournament (where they may win one game). That was their shot at Cal last night. Normal night Cal should hammer them.

Quite an 'interesting' year in Indiana.

[Scrub]

Shawndale ball back to the KCAC tonight. 6 second half possessions in which the point guard dribbled the ball down the floor and did not pass it to anyone. Ethan sets a pick and then a lousy forced shot ensued. Three other guys just stood there flat-footed and never moved. Ethan is the best player in the psac and he is just setting picks.

I just do not understand this....

I thought the same thing. Shot selection was suspect (by both teams) last night. EP was underutilized. When he's involved in the offense, he's dang near unstoppable. But you're right that pick-setting appeared to be his number one job last night.

That said, I did think Clarke was impressive. Even in what was likely not a vintage game from him, it's clear that he's doing all the little things, making the hustle plays, that make him a really nice piece to build around for the future. He'll be a beast if they can get some other pieces around him.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The situation with Brooks and Waldo is embarrassing. And it contributes even more to the comment I made regarding Radford and Polce yesterday. Use your bench for goodness sakes. Brooks should be starting, forget coming off the bench.

I won't get into the KJ situation. It is what it is. He plays hard. CJ Rudisill played hard too. But when he missed those two free throws with like 2:30 left and IUP down 4-5, I laughed out loud.

How Brooks can't play a minute last night is, to steal EyeOfTheHawk's verbiage, "astonishing."

Don't be shy. Nepotism is the word. There is no other word.

[IUP24]

Joe said Cal took away their three best offensive weapons.

Lol. They only have four actual D2 players on the current active roster (that he'll actually play). That doesn't leave much.

He's delusional. He fails to mention by playing man crush his actual star gets doubled all night.

I think they'll be in a dog fight at Clarion tomorrow. Fourth game in 8 days after back to back emotional games. I smell a hangover - and some fatigue with his 6-man roster. Clarion plays everybody fairly tight. I could see the Golden Eagles winning tomorrow.

I had the Clarion/Hurst game on last night. Mercyhurst was up by 23 points and Clarion scrapped and clawed and got it to within 7-8 in the final 2 minutes. Lakers -4.5 was in jeopardy. The game seemed to turn when Clarion rammed up on the defensive end and starting pressing Hurst. Given IUP's depth issues, their compressed schedule, and difficulty breaking the press, I would press them all night.

[IUP24]

The situation with Brooks and Waldo is embarrassing. And it contributes even more to the comment I made regarding Radford and Polce yesterday. Use your bench for goodness sakes. Brooks should be starting, forget coming off the bench.

I won't get into the KJ situation. It is what it is. He plays hard. CJ Rudisill played hard too. But when he missed those two free throws with like 2:30 left and IUP down 4-5, I laughed out loud.

How Brooks can't play a minute last night is, to steal EyeOfTheHawk's verbiage, "astonishing."

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Joe said Cal took away their three best offensive weapons.

Lol. They only have four actual D2 players on the current active roster (that he'll actually play). That doesn't leave much.

He's delusional. He fails to mention by playing man crush his actual star gets doubled all night.

I think they'll be in a dog fight at Clarion tomorrow. Fourth game in 8 days after back to back emotional games. I smell a hangover - and some fatigue with his 6-man roster. Clarion plays everybody fairly tight. I could see the Golden Eagles winning tomorrow.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Most everything has been covered. My observations:

- Cal isn’t that good. They should have beaten IUP by 20. They may be “good” for this year’s version of the PSAC, but they’re zero threat to get out of the region.

- That may have been the worst officiated game I’ve seen at this level. That young dude has no business officiating in the league, or even high school for that matter. John is John and the game has passed him by. It was bad for both teams, but the real dagger was the technical on Stewart after the missed call on him being shoved out of bounds. I was right there and Stewart absolutely didn’t deserve the T there, especially after everything Danny and the boys were allowed to get away with. That ended up being a four point swing when IUP was up five. Overall the officials lost control of the game at times. What a mess.

- I could have been happy for Cal for finally breaking the streak until they proved why they’re so easy to dislike with their behavior. That starts with Danny who’s a childish moron. Chirping from the bench by the players at the fans in the final minute after improving their sparkling recent record against IUP (and a very depleted IUP team at that) to 1-21, was pretty tone deaf. Say what you want about Joe’s recent coaching blunders, but IUP players don’t do that. Enjoy your one win in 22 tries. I get it. But maybe look on the wall at the banners hanging in the KCAC and wonder why you don’t have any. To be fair, it wasn’t all the Cal players, but they have a few that need an attitude adjustment.

- Nothing to add to what’s already been said about roster usage. Brooks never saw the floor. That was astonishing.

[Ship69]

KJ plays hard. I'll give him that.

But ... Come on, Joe. Dude is a 'listed' 6'4" guard and you're playing him all night against the best trio of bigs in the league.

Not a soul could convince me that playing the Waldo/Brooks combo wouldn't have been WAY more productive.

Damir should go in the portal tomorrow. Same with Waldo.

This team is what it is but Joe is sabotaging it.

And, as we all said, the foul trouble night would come. So, he had to turn to some guys who literally haven't played in the past 7-8 games. What's he really expect out of guys he hasn't cared to develop?


They played a tough game. Nothing to be ashamed about tonight. Cal is a really good team and they had them pretty stuffed most of the night. Joe just doesn't have enough left -- and he's using what he does have left terribly.

Brooks was one of the best players on the floor when they played Ship earlier in the year. I know he's not their primary offensive threat, but it's not like the guys playing in his place are scoring in bunches. IUP was getting killed on the boards and they needed some physicality. They also seemed to have no real offensive plan much of the first half; it looked like a bunch of guys standing around the perimeter and firing up a lot of 3s, many of them bricks. I thought Stewart was going to shoot them out of the game the first half. IUP was scrappy on defense, and Cal played tight in the first half, perhaps carrying the burden of their long losing streak to the Hawks. It was a competitive game, but certainly not the overall quality of play you'd expect from two teams that were 9-2 in the league going into the game.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Shawndale ball back to the KCAC tonight. 6 second half possessions in which the point guard dribbled the ball down the floor and did not pass it to anyone. Ethan sets a pick and then a lousy forced shot ensued. Three other guys just stood there flat-footed and never moved. Ethan is the best player in the psac and he is just setting picks.

I just do not understand this....

Keep in mind Cal totally ignored our small forward position. Ethan was doubled almost the whole game. That's the trickle down of giving up a position on the floor. Joe's never had a weakness like this in his tenure. Every team they play now knows it and is doubling up on EP.

At least with Damir you have to worry about his dunks and stuff. Petteno draws some attention and his not dressing tonight was a major loss. Waldo can allegedly shoot.

KJ has a red light and doesn't even take shots when he's wide open. Teams are teeing off on it (as they should be). It's very frustrating to watch.

They can get away with this crap against most teams. But, it's why they are 1-6 against the 7 best teams they've played. It is what it is. This isn't an NCAA team. Another month and it's over. Hit the reload button with some impact bigs for next year.