Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The rest of the PSAC needs to solve the Gannon thing, especially those in the West who play them more often. So far, other than the occasional upset, progress seems to be slow.

As has been discussed frequently in this thread ... the way Joe plays them ... the team has no chance.

His 2015 team could dictate IUP's style and beat an up-tempo team.

Needless to say, this is certainly not his 2015 team.

The annoying thing as a fan is nothing changes. It's essentially watching a movie on re-run. Everything they do is custom-made to be smothered by the trap -- from the turtle-slow ball inbounding to routinely getting swallowed in the coffin corner.

As we've alluded, IUP may have a fancy record but this isn't a team going on any sort of March run. I'd say this particular team is good but its ceiling is kind of the top of Tier 2 within the Region.

They'll get a home game Monday night against either SRU, SH or Edinboro. They are 6-0 against those teams but in a one-and-done ... who knows.

Make no mistake they got beat up last night -- physically and mentally. Saturday wont' be pretty. So, who knows where their heads will be come Monday night.

[Scrub]

The rest of the PSAC needs to solve the Gannon thing, especially those in the West who play them more often. So far, other than the occasional upset, progress seems to be slow.

That's precisely what went on in the MEC after Crutch's initial run of dominance. Teams had to figure out how to respond because playing their traditional way wasn't getting the job done. To my recollection, Dwaine Osborne's UC teams were the only ones to remain relatively steadfast in their slow-paced, bang-the-paint style. And Osborne had some success against Crutchfield and Howlett. But most of the league felt the need to start remaking their programs faster and more athletic.

There are certainly multiple ways to beat "the system" (and IUP had one of those recipes about 10 years back), but not responding and just doing more of the same is not really an option. A non-response is just acceptance that Gannon will win the league every year.

Granted, WLU has only lost the regular season league title once in the history of the MEC, but the Fairmonts, UCs, WVSUs, Glenvilles, and--lately--Frostburgs have definitely closed the gap.

Right now in the PSAC, the gap feels cavernous.

[Ship69]

As has been discussed frequently in this thread ... the way Joe plays them ... the team has no chance.

His 2015 team could dictate IUP's style and beat an up-tempo team.

Needless to say, this is certainly not his 2015 team.

The annoying thing as a fan is nothing changes. It's essentially watching a movie on re-run. Everything they do is custom-made to be smothered by the trap -- from the turtle-slow ball inbounding to routinely getting swallowed in the coffin corner.

As we've alluded, IUP may have a fancy record but this isn't a team going on any sort of March run. I'd say this particular team is good but its ceiling is kind of the top of Tier 2 within the Region.

They'll get a home game Monday night against either SRU, SH or Edinboro. They are 6-0 against those teams but in a one-and-done ... who knows.

Make no mistake they got beat up last night -- physically and mentally. Saturday wont' be pretty. So, who knows where their heads will be come Monday night.

It is very frustrating to have a good team that can't quite get over the top in the big games. At Ship the frustration has been having such a Jekyll and Hyde team this season. They were picked preseason to finish fifth in the East and will actually finish at that spot, but the way they've gotten there has been very strange.

[Ship69]

That's precisely what went on in the MEC after Crutch's initial run of dominance. Teams had to figure out how to respond because playing their traditional way wasn't getting the job done. To my recollection, Dwaine Osborne's UC teams were the only ones to remain relatively steadfast in their slow-paced, bang-the-paint style. And Osborne had some success against Crutchfield and Howlett. But most of the league felt the need to start remaking their programs faster and more athletic.

There are certainly multiple ways to beat "the system" (and IUP had one of those recipes about 10 years back), but not responding and just doing more of the same is not really an option. A non-response is just acceptance that Gannon will win the league every year.

Granted, WLU has only lost the regular season league title once in the history of the MEC, but the Fairmonts, UCs, WVSUs, Glenvilles, and--lately--Frostburgs have definitely closed the gap.

Right now in the PSAC, the gap feels cavernous.

One thing you have to have to consistently beat a team running the WL-Gannon system is depth, and I think some of the PSAC teams are lacking it at the moment. Even Cal, which is a good squad and actually has taken down Gannon this year, doesn't go very deep, and it's tough to beat an all-out press system playing only 6-7 players. IUP, as some of its followers have noted on this site, seems to be bamboozled by press systems the past couple of years. The only PSAC team that consistently platoons as much as Gannon is East Stroud, and they haven't seemed to have as many horses as usual recently. You're also going to need some good outside shooting and quality play in the backcourt to beat the press and control tempo at times.

I'm not sure how many teams in the PSAC are supporting the full 10 allowed scholarships. Obviously more money would buy more quality depth. Whether other league teams can accumulate the need players will be something to watch.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Joe will host Edinboro in 48 hours.

Winner goes to West Chester on Wednesday.

[Chuck Norris]

The family calendar finally worked out for me to take in a game in person. I certainly didn’t expect IUP to win, but definitely didn’t anticipate a 24-2 start by Gannon. I guess the silver lining is IUP played them fairly even for the final 30 minutes? Gannon is really good, that’s my expert analysis, lol.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The family calendar finally worked out for me to take in a game in person. I certainly didn’t expect IUP to win, but definitely didn’t anticipate a 24-2 start by Gannon. I guess the silver lining is IUP played them fairly even for the final 30 minutes? Gannon is really good, that’s my expert analysis, lol.

Unfortunately losing by (slightly) less than 20 at home is now considered a success.

Let that sink in.

But, yes, Gannon is very good.

To the IUP players' credit, it would have been real easy to pack it in 8 minutes in. They played pretty well from there.

But, as built, they aren't beating a team like that.

[IUPHawks24]

One thing you have to have to consistently beat a team running the WL-Gannon system is depth, and I think some of the PSAC teams are lacking it at the moment. Even Cal, which is a good squad and actually has taken down Gannon this year, doesn't go very deep, and it's tough to beat an all-out press system playing only 6-7 players. IUP, as some of its followers have noted on this site, seems to be bamboozled by press systems the past couple of years. The only PSAC team that consistently platoons as much as Gannon is East Stroud, and they haven't seemed to have as many horses as usual recently. You're also going to need some good outside shooting and quality play in the backcourt to beat the press and control tempo at times.

I'm not sure how many teams in the PSAC are supporting the full 10 allowed scholarships. Obviously more money would buy more quality depth. Whether other league teams can accumulate the need players will be something to watch.

Few thoughts:

1) Gannon is really good. Good players (certainly more talented than IUP) and well coached. Prosser has no business being anywhere near the PSAC.

2) Until IUP is more comfortable playing in an uptempo game, they will not threaten Gannon. The snail’s pace stuff isn’t going to cut it.

3) Gannon’s style is tailored for the scholarship discrepancies that exist in the PSAC and MEC. You need more than five or six players on full scholarships to compete when a team is full court trapping and looking to get the game into the 80’s for # of possessions.

Take nothing away from Gannon/West Lib/Nova SE, but if you look how IU Indy has fared this year, you see why the style becomes precarious as you move up a level and teams all have 13-15 players on full scholarships. With Mercyhurst now out of the picture, that’s one less fully funded team in the PSAC West, and it will require savvier talent evaluation and coaching (Danny is the only one who has proven he can do it) to threaten Gannon.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Based on the results of the past week, Joe's now riding the NCAA bubble.

They better win two games next week.

[bballfan03]

Few thoughts:

1) Gannon is really good. Good players (certainly more talented than IUP) and well coached. Prosser has no business being anywhere near the PSAC.

2) Until IUP is more comfortable playing in an uptempo game, they will not threaten Gannon. The snail’s pace stuff isn’t going to cut it.

3) Gannon’s style is tailored for the scholarship discrepancies that exist in the PSAC and MEC. You need more than five or six players on full scholarships to compete when a team is full court trapping and looking to get the game into the 80’s for # of possessions.

Take nothing away from Gannon/West Lib/Nova SE, but if you look how IU Indy has fared this year, you see why the style becomes precarious as you move up a level and teams all have 13-15 players on full scholarships. With Mercyhurst now out of the picture, that’s one less fully funded team in the PSAC West, and it will require savvier talent evaluation and coaching (Danny is the only one who has proven he can do it) to threaten Gannon.

As a Gannon fan, as much as fun as it is to watch build and grow, its also sad/annoying watching players and thinking "hes gone, hes gone, hes gone".

Id have to say its inevitable that Precious, Pace and Sekasi will all go low D1 schools. Id like to think if they made a deep run, the fact theyre only losing 2 seniors, it might lure more to stay... but i doubt it.

Oh well, hoping for a deep run!

[Ship69]

As a Gannon fan, as much as fun as it is to watch build and grow, its also sad/annoying watching players and thinking "hes gone, hes gone, hes gone".

Id have to say its inevitable that Precious, Pace and Sekasi will all go low D1 schools. Id like to think if they made a deep run, the fact theyre only losing 2 seniors, it might lure more to stay... but i doubt it.

Oh well, hoping for a deep run!

Well, the way things are set up these days you can have an unsuccessful season and still watch some of your best players leave. It's best to just enjoy the wins while you can get them and let the next season take care of itself.

[IUPalum]

I understand coaching is also about teaching the players to be good young men but winning can't be lost in all that. In order to win you have to have killers on the court! Joe has had a lot of good young men that were also killers. 2015 had guys like Norfleet, Dyer and Jeffers. More recently he had guys like Foster, Miller, Morris and Porterfield. Those guys are great humans and killers!!! Joe talks about the great young men he has this year but where are the killers??? Killers win, killers don't get blown out, killers aren't scared... where are the killers on this team???

[Chuck Norris]

I understand coaching is also about teaching the players to be good young men but winning can't be lost in all that. In order to win you have to have killers on the court! Joe has had a lot of good young men that were also killers. 2015 had guys like Norfleet, Dyer and Jeffers. More recently he had guys like Foster, Miller, Morris and Porterfield. Those guys are great humans and killers!!! Joe talks about the great young men he has this year but where are the killers??? Killers win, killers don't get blown out, killers aren't scared... where are the killers on this team???

I was sitting there yesterday and the team that for some strange reason popped into my head was the 2013 team with Weigand, Wells, Mathis, Marcel etc. From a team makeup standpoint I don’t think there was ever a Joe team less equipped to face an up tempo team. And they played West Lib in that regional final and it was a one point game with 10 minutes to go. From that point their offensive deficiencies caught up to them and they wound up losing by around 20, but they fought like hell to stay in that game as long as they could. That toughness defined IUP basketball, regardless of the roster. They need to find that again.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I was sitting there yesterday and the team that for some strange reason popped into my head was the 2013 team with Weigand, Wells, Mathis, Marcel etc. From a team makeup standpoint I don’t think there was ever a Joe team less equipped to face an up tempo team. And they played West Lib in that regional final and it was a one point game with 10 minutes to go. From that point their offensive deficiencies caught up to them and they wound up losing by around 20, but they fought like hell to stay in that game as long as they could. That toughness defined IUP basketball, regardless of the roster. They need to find that again.

This is the end of a long era.

In the history of coaching, this is almost without fail how it always ends. We are living what it looks like.

Joe's recruiting has tanked. He's coaching like it's 2014 and has been blown by.

Ask yourself this: how many players on this team would have even seen the floor on, say, the 2018 team? One. Maybe two. That's it.

[gman16506]

As a Gannon fan, as much as fun as it is to watch build and grow, its also sad/annoying watching players and thinking "hes gone, hes gone, hes gone".

Id have to say its inevitable that Precious, Pace and Sekasi will all go low D1 schools. Id like to think if they made a deep run, the fact theyre only losing 2 seniors, it might lure more to stay... but i doubt it.

Oh well, hoping for a deep run!

Would think that Precious may be less likely since he already had a try at a lower D1 school (Longwood) and was a non-factor. But who knows what goes through a kid's mind in these times.