Iup basketball

[Chuck Norris]

Add Kevin Capers to your list. Lol

Yeah the Kevin Capers ‘flu game’. Can’t do much when a guy is banking in 30 footers.

Butler, in addition to scoring nearly half of WL’s points only had two assists, but he probably had a half dozen “hockey assists” where his pass out of a double started a sequence that led to a wide open look. It was a brilliant performance.

[Ship69]

Sleva would have been long gone in today's climate. His senior year he was good enough to likely catch on with a P5 program -- certainly a high-end mid-major. Starter in the P5? Hard to say, but certainly a rotation piece. He's (his level player) the exception, though.

I just hope many of these guys realize what they are leaving -- and where they are going.

Tomiwa, for instance, is likely going to get some serious looks from high mid-major programs. But, most of these guys end up in the bush leagues of D1 -- or, eventually, back in D2.

Those first four schools to contact Tomiwa yesterday ... if he signs with any of them he'd be nuts. IUP has better fans, support and facilities than all of them. Going to some dumpster fire like Cleveland State just to say you play D1 ... each his own, I suppose. Tomiwa is also a showman. He was a celebrity in Indiana and the crowd loved him. He may not find that in the places that come calling for him.

There's no doubt a much bigger market for athletic post players. There aren't nearly as many of them. D2 guards trying to go up ... good luck. There are exceptions, obviously. I don't know how Tomiwa's size will translate to the D1 game. He'd be way undersized for the P5 level (and it's highly unlikely any P5 comes calling for him). I'd imagine if he does decide to leave he'll follow a similar path as Phillip Alston and end up at a Loyola-type program. Keep in mind Alston was much bigger (height and bulk) than Tomiwa (and just as fast). I wish him well and hope he lands at a high-level program. I'd just hate to see him leave here and end up at some NEC school (or worse).

Ship caught lightning in a bottle with Sleva. Fite and his staff have a good eye for potential talent, and I believe Sleva grew about four inches in college. Nobody envisioned him becoming the stud he developed into.

Fite has been a guy who'll take a transfer or two (Kiyon Hardy and Rashon Johnson recently), but has made his mark developing high school players. I think that might have to change some in the future. He's already recruited a promising high school kid this year, but he'll almost certainly have to get a couple of transfers in if Ship is to be competitive at all next season. Replacing a group that included all-PSAC East and all-region players with four freshmen will not cut it. The current roster has several guards and a couple of swing players with nobody much over 6-3. A couple of big guys with decent skills should be able to step right in and play.

Yeah, Alston was considerably more polished offensive player than Sulaiman when he transferred.

It's really upheaval in the entire college basketball world right now. You could probably attribute some of the upsets in the NCAA tourney to that. I certainly didn't expect Purdue to lose to Fairly Ridiculous, but their freshmen guards had been bottoming out toward the end of the season, and freshmen guards aren't a good thing to have in the tournament. What we're also finding out is that some of these guys making the big bucks coaching at major conferences can be outcoached by guys making far less at the small schools.

It's interesting, if sometimes distressing.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

With the nice facility IUP has, proven coaching and the emphasis on basketball, I believe you'll be be a top program in the PSAC now and in the near future. What might change is the ability to build the type of dominant teams IUP has built the past couple of years. With Sulaiman possibly leaving and Foster leaving last year, IUP fans are starting to get a taste (in a different manner) of what programs such as Clarion and Mansfield go through most years. The difference of course, is that a strong player at one of those schools might transfer to another PSAC school or other D2 or D3 destination. With a program such as IUP, the destination might be a low- or mid-level D1 program. Either way, you become sort of a farm system for the teams above you, which is not a great thing. IUP probably has the resources to continue to field a strong program even if they lose guys here and there. Obviously that is not the case for most other PSAC programs. I wonder if Ship would have been able to hang on to Dustin Sleva for four years these days. Glad we didn't have to find out. Even though this year's season didn't turn out as well as we'd hoped, I thought it was a tremendous display of loyalty to Chris Fite that Carter, Dom Sleva, Johnson, and Nedrow all returned for their final year. Carter, Johnson, and Sleva would have had multiple suitors if they'd opted out, and Nedrow could have helped some programs.

It's a new world. I hope the teams we follow and like will be able to live in it.

Sleva would have been long gone in today's climate. His senior year he was good enough to likely catch on with a P5 program -- certainly a high-end mid-major. Starter in the P5? Hard to say, but certainly a rotation piece. He's (his level player) the exception, though.

I just hope many of these guys realize what they are leaving -- and where they are going.

Tomiwa, for instance, is likely going to get some serious looks from high mid-major programs. But, most of these guys end up in the bush leagues of D1 -- or, eventually, back in D2.

Those first four schools to contact Tomiwa yesterday ... if he signs with any of them he'd be nuts. IUP has better fans, support and facilities than all of them. Going to some dumpster fire like Cleveland State just to say you play D1 ... each his own, I suppose. Tomiwa is also a showman. He was a celebrity in Indiana and the crowd loved him. He may not find that in the places that come calling for him.

There's no doubt a much bigger market for athletic post players. There aren't nearly as many of them. D2 guards trying to go up ... good luck. There are exceptions, obviously. I don't know how Tomiwa's size will translate to the D1 game. He'd be way undersized for the P5 level (and it's highly unlikely any P5 comes calling for him). I'd imagine if he does decide to leave he'll follow a similar path as Phillip Alston and end up at a Loyola-type program. Keep in mind Alston was much bigger (height and bulk) than Tomiwa (and just as fast). I wish him well and hope he lands at a high-level program. I'd just hate to see him leave here and end up at some NEC school (or worse).

[Ship69]

Yeah, they aren't going anywhere. Joe will have a strong team again next year with or without Tomiwa. He recruits well and has money to spend (a lot of cap space now).

I think it's a good time, however, to reboot some things. As of this moment, he's certainly not the favorite in the West next year (for the first time in forever). He could be by August. We'll see how his shopping goes.

As of today, he has three starters for next year: Ethan, Dallis and Jaylen.

Now, if we see Ethan hit the portal in the coming days, now we're talking total rebuild.

With the nice facility IUP has, proven coaching and the emphasis on basketball, I believe you'll be be a top program in the PSAC now and in the near future. What might change is the ability to build the type of dominant teams IUP has built the past couple of years. With Sulaiman possibly leaving and Foster leaving last year, IUP fans are starting to get a taste (in a different manner) of what programs such as Clarion and Mansfield go through most years. The difference of course, is that a strong player at one of those schools might transfer to another PSAC school or other D2 or D3 destination. With a program such as IUP, the destination might be a low- or mid-level D1 program. Either way, you become sort of a farm system for the teams above you, which is not a great thing. IUP probably has the resources to continue to field a strong program even if they lose guys here and there. Obviously that is not the case for most other PSAC programs. I wonder if Ship would have been able to hang on to Dustin Sleva for four years these days. Glad we didn't have to find out. Even though this year's season didn't turn out as well as we'd hoped, I thought it was a tremendous display of loyalty to Chris Fite that Carter, Dom Sleva, Johnson, and Nedrow all returned for their final year. Carter, Johnson, and Sleva would have had multiple suitors if they'd opted out, and Nedrow could have helped some programs.

It's a new world. I hope the teams we follow and like will be able to live in it.

[IUP24]

It was a bad, bad night. The offensive game plan was puzzling. To play that slow, never attack in transition and beat a team like West Lib, you need to shoot well over 50% from the floor. No one who saw IUP play the 2nd half of the season could have ever imagined that was possible. That game plan put so much pressure on every possession and those guys needed some easy buckets to ease the pressure.

The defense wasn’t good either. The pace of the game held WL well below their averages, but IUP got shredded on defense. Bryce Butler tore them apart in a way I don’t ever remember a single player ever doing to a Joe team (yeah the center from Augusta, but he was just freakishly massive, that was different). Butler toyed with them, whether scoring himself or making the exact right pass out of the double team. That, I don’t think Joe saw coming. I sure didn’t. I knew the kid was good, but I didn’t anticipate him being that good.

But I agree, this will be a season, as good as it was, that will leave us scratching our heads for a long time.

Add Kevin Capers to your list. Lol

[Chuck Norris]

This discussion is the the classic double-edged sword. Most will argue Joe went 32-2, won a 4th straight PSAC Title, won the West for the 300th time in a row and made the Sweet 16.

However, you can point to some glaring flaws in Lombardi's season this year. Was simply making the Sweet 16 really the end goal for a team of this alleged pedigree? I don't think so.

* The whole building, town and opposing teams knew they couldn't hit the side of a barn from outside since early January. It was night after night of box scores reading 5 for 28 from outside or 6 for 33. Yet, he had them just keep chucking. His long belief is outside shooting is the law of averages. Sooner or later things will click. After 8-9 weeks of watching shot after shot clang off the bucket, they needed to change their attack. They never did.

* It's hard to argue the final record standing by itself. But, there's no question a lot of luck went in to that -- especially in late Jan and most of February. Remember, this is the same team that was in severe dog fights -- late in games -- against Clarion, Edinboro and Gannon. They got bailed out at Clarion. Interpret that as you may. They survived at California after blowing a massive halftime lead. They easily could have lost to both ESU and Mercyhurst out at Shippensburg -- and probably should have lost to Winston-Salem. UPJ almost swept them instead of getting swept. They kept winning. No doubt. But should the then-No. 1 team in the country really be scraping by Edinboro, Clarion and Gannon?

* IUP went from lighting up scoreboards in the first half the season to struggling to reach 68 points. The highest IUP scored in its final 5 games was just 67 points.

* The night they lost at Mercyhurst and the lineup he elected to play that evening? Good Lord.

* Some claim his team was physically worn out down the stretch. Perhaps. But ... why was it physically worn out? In the past, Joe's teams never had depth. He had depth this year -- lots of it -- and chose not to use it. Kyle Polce was put in to witness protection in late January. Jaheim Bethea went from the deep rotation to hanging with the local tokens at the end of the bench. Ousmane Diop might as well have quit in November.

* The offense morphed in to some mix of AAU meets playground meets NBA hybrid. There was no flow to it nor any continuity. It was 'good enough' (mostly because their defense was so good) until they finally met a team they really had to score a lot against to beat. West Liberty was the one team all year that could line up with them and was also much deeper than them (again, see above on IUP's perceived lack of depth). IUP had a lot of bad nights in the second half of the season that were simply masked because they had superior talent than nearly every team they played. They won some real ugly basketball games down the stretch.

* Joe refused to let his team attack the basket in transition in the WL loss -- rather electing to force a team in a prolonged, severe shooting slump to set up its offense. That formula worked in 2014-15 but that team had snipers and scorers everywhere. This team, largely due to its 'version' of an offense, did not. This team would have been far better off playing in transition every time the opportunity existed. The end result was getting blown out and embarrassed, at home, in the regional final.

* Why did IUP's offense -- known for the past 10-15 years for being so fluid and structured -- turn in to playground ball? Why was Tomiwa's role just be a garbage man rather than having actual sets run for him?


It was a fun season. No denying. The ending, unfortunately, will always leave a sour taste when remembering this team. It wasn't the loss. Every team but one loses its last game of the season. How they lost ... why they lost ... is what will leave the sour taste.

It was a bad, bad night. The offensive game plan was puzzling. To play that slow, never attack in transition and beat a team like West Lib, you need to shoot well over 50% from the floor. No one who saw IUP play the 2nd half of the season could have ever imagined that was possible. That game plan put so much pressure on every possession and those guys needed some easy buckets to ease the pressure.

The defense wasn’t good either. The pace of the game held WL well below their averages, but IUP got shredded on defense. Bryce Butler tore them apart in a way I don’t ever remember a single player ever doing to a Joe team (yeah the center from Augusta, but he was just freakishly massive, that was different). Butler toyed with them, whether scoring himself or making the exact right pass out of the double team. That, I don’t think Joe saw coming. I sure didn’t. I knew the kid was good, but I didn’t anticipate him being that good.

But I agree, this will be a season, as good as it was, that will leave us scratching our heads for a long time.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Against wlu i was also surprised by:
1) not attacking the rim when they broke the press. I thought they had the outstanding guards to be successful in transition.
2) ball sticking, over dribbling and difficult shots.

We watched the bolded item all of January and February. That wasn't new to that game.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I can't complain about Joe - results speak for themselves - but I agree regarding the bench usage. I often times feel he gets too attached to certain players, and wants to let only those horses run. He seems to eager to not want to play someone, whether it performance, a mistake, or attitude/behavior. They could have gone a strong 8-9 deep, but they never really did.

In my opinion, he was too enamored with the Shawndale Jones comeback story. Jones' performance in that Regional Final was putrid, but he kept throwing up ridiculous running layups and trying to back guys down in the low post. I said to myself with the game in hand and 6 minutes to play that he needed to get Jones off the court.

Yeah, they aren't going anywhere. Joe will have a strong team again next year with or without Tomiwa. He recruits well and has money to spend (a lot of cap space now).

I think it's a good time, however, to reboot some things. As of this moment, he's certainly not the favorite in the West next year (for the first time in forever). He could be by August. We'll see how his shopping goes.

As of today, he has three starters for next year: Ethan, Dallis and Jaylen.

Now, if we see Ethan hit the portal in the coming days, now we're talking total rebuild.

[Columbuseer]

This discussion is the the classic double-edged sword. Most will argue Joe went 32-2, won a 4th straight PSAC Title, won the West for the 300th time in a row and made the Sweet 16.

However, you can point to some glaring flaws in Lombardi's season this year. Was simply making the Sweet 16 really the end goal for a team of this alleged pedigree? I don't think so.

* The whole building, town and opposing teams knew they couldn't hit the side of a barn from outside since early January. It was night after night of box scores reading 5 for 28 from outside or 6 for 33. Yet, he had them just keep chucking. His long belief is outside shooting is the law of averages. Sooner or later things will click. After 8-9 weeks of watching shot after shot clang off the bucket, they needed to change their attack. They never did.

* It's hard to argue the final record standing by itself. But, there's no question a lot of luck went in to that -- especially in late Jan and most of February. Remember, this is the same team that was in severe dog fights -- late in games -- against Clarion, Edinboro and Gannon. They got bailed out at Clarion. Interpret that as you may. They survived at California after blowing a massive halftime lead. They easily could have lost to both ESU and Mercyhurst out at Shippensburg -- and probably should have lost to Winston-Salem. UPJ almost swept them instead of getting swept. They kept winning. No doubt. But should the then-No. 1 team in the country really be scraping by Edinboro, Clarion and Gannon?

* IUP went from lighting up scoreboards in the first half the season to struggling to reach 68 points. The highest IUP scored in its final 5 games was just 67 points.

* The night they lost at Mercyhurst and the lineup he elected to play that evening? Good Lord.

* Some claim his team was physically worn out down the stretch. Perhaps. But ... why was it physically worn out? In the past, Joe's teams never had depth. He had depth this year -- lots of it -- and chose not to use it. Kyle Polce was put in to witness protection in late January. Jaheim Bethea went from the deep rotation to hanging with the local tokens at the end of the bench. Ousmane Diop might as well have quit in November.

* The offense morphed in to some mix of AAU meets playground meets NBA hybrid. There was no flow to it nor any continuity. It was 'good enough' (mostly because their defense was so good) until they finally met a team they really had to score a lot against to beat. West Liberty was the one team all year that could line up with them and was also much deeper than them (again, see above on IUP's perceived lack of depth). IUP had a lot of bad nights in the second half of the season that were simply masked because they had superior talent than nearly every team they played. They won some real ugly basketball games down the stretch.

* Joe refused to let his team attack the basket in transition in the WL loss -- rather electing to force a team in a prolonged, severe shooting slump to set up its offense. That formula worked in 2014-15 but that team had snipers and scorers everywhere. This team, largely due to its 'version' of an offense, did not. This team would have been far better off playing in transition every time the opportunity existed. The end result was getting blown out and embarrassed, at home, in the regional final.

* Why did IUP's offense -- known for the past 10-15 years for being so fluid and structured -- turn in to playground ball? Why was Tomiwa's role just be a garbage man rather than having actual sets run for him?


It was a fun season. No denying. The ending, unfortunately, will always leave a sour taste when remembering this team. It wasn't the loss. Every team but one loses its last game of the season. How they lost ... why they lost ... is what will leave the sour taste.

Against wlu i was also surprised by:
1) not attacking the rim when they broke the press. I thought they had the outstanding guards to be successful in transition.
2) ball sticking, over dribbling and difficult shots.

[IUP24]

My personal opinion (having watched every game):

Their offense wasn't a 'team' offense. It was too geared around certain individuals. So much so, in fact, well, let's just say it was pretty predictable.

Dallis Dillard and Jaylen Stewart should have had WAY bigger roles. Your best deep shooter (Stewart) on the team (on a severely struggling shooting team) was never given any shots. Dallis can really drive the hoop and also shoot from outside (on a severely struggling shooting team) was never given any shots. Your unstoppable SF who is going to have every mid-major in the country calling him today, was essentially fed scraps. Kyle Polce, who can really sling it from deep, well, he had a front row seat in the second half.

Lot of tools on the work bench didn't get used. Put it that way.

I can't complain about Joe - results speak for themselves - but I agree regarding the bench usage. I often times feel he gets too attached to certain players, and wants to let only those horses run. He seems to eager to not want to play someone, whether it performance, a mistake, or attitude/behavior. They could have gone a strong 8-9 deep, but they never really did.

In my opinion, he was too enamored with the Shawndale Jones comeback story. Jones' performance in that Regional Final was putrid, but he kept throwing up ridiculous running layups and trying to back guys down in the low post. I said to myself with the game in hand and 6 minutes to play that he needed to get Jones off the court.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

When I was on campus, Marcel Souberbielle was the big man on campus. The ladies loved him.

I'm curious to know more about that. Is this essentially saying that many players believed his style or approach was why they struggled so mightily on offense the last two months?

My personal opinion (having watched every game):

Their offense wasn't a 'team' offense. It was too geared around certain individuals. So much so, in fact, well, let's just say it was pretty predictable.

Dallis Dillard and Jaylen Stewart should have had WAY bigger roles. Your best deep shooter (Stewart) on the team (on a severely struggling shooting team) was never given any shots. Dallis can really drive the hoop and also shoot from outside (on a severely struggling shooting team) was never given any shots. Your unstoppable SF who is going to have every mid-major in the country calling him today, was essentially fed scraps. Kyle Polce, who can really sling it from deep, well, he had a front row seat in the second half.

Lot of tools on the work bench didn't get used. Put it that way.

[IUP24]

This discussion is the the classic double-edged sword. Most will argue Joe went 32-2, won a 4th straight PSAC Title, won the West for the 300th time in a row and made the Sweet 16.

However, you can point to some glaring flaws in Lombardi's season this year. Was simply making the Sweet 16 really the end goal for a team of this alleged pedigree? I don't think so.

* The whole building, town and opposing teams knew they couldn't hit the side of a barn from outside since early January. It was night after night of box scores reading 5 for 28 from outside or 6 for 33. Yet, he had them just keep chucking. His long belief is outside shooting is the law of averages. Sooner or later things will click. After 8-9 weeks of watching shot after shot clang off the bucket, they needed to change their attack. They never did.

* It's hard to argue the final record standing by itself. But, there's no question a lot of luck went in to that -- especially in late Jan and most of February. Remember, this is the same team that was in severe dog fights -- late in games -- against Clarion, Edinboro and Gannon. They got bailed out at Clarion. Interpret that as you may. They survived at California after blowing a massive halftime lead. They easily could have lost to both ESU and Mercyhurst out at Shippensburg -- and probably should have lost to Winston-Salem. UPJ almost swept them instead of getting swept. They kept winning. No doubt. But should the then-No. 1 team in the country really be scraping by Edinboro, Clarion and Gannon?

* IUP went from lighting up scoreboards in the first half the season to struggling to reach 68 points. The highest IUP scored in its final 5 games was just 67 points.

* The night they lost at Mercyhurst and the lineup he elected to play that evening? Good Lord.

* Some claim his team was physically worn out down the stretch. Perhaps. But ... why was it physically worn out? In the past, Joe's teams never had depth. He had depth this year -- lots of it -- and chose not to use it. Kyle Polce was put in to witness protection in late January. Jaheim Bethea went from the deep rotation to hanging with the local tokens at the end of the bench. Ousmane Diop might as well have quit in November.

* The offense morphed in to some mix of AAU meets playground meets NBA hybrid. There was no flow to it nor any continuity. It was 'good enough' (mostly because their defense was so good) until they finally met a team they really had to score a lot against to beat. West Liberty was the one team all year that could line up with them and was also much deeper than them (again, see above on IUP's perceived lack of depth). IUP had a lot of bad nights in the second half of the season that were simply masked because they had superior talent than nearly every team they played. They won some real ugly basketball games down the stretch.

* Joe refused to let his team attack the basket in transition in the WL loss -- rather electing to force a team in a prolonged, severe shooting slump to set up its offense. That formula worked in 2014-15 but that team had snipers and scorers everywhere. This team, largely due to its 'version' of an offense, did not. This team would have been far better off playing in transition every time the opportunity existed. The end result was getting blown out and embarrassed, at home, in the regional final.

* Why did IUP's offense -- known for the past 10-15 years for being so fluid and structured -- turn in to playground ball? Why was Tomiwa's role just be a garbage man rather than having actual sets run for him?


It was a fun season. No denying. The ending, unfortunately, will always leave a sour taste when remembering this team. It wasn't the loss. Every team but one loses its last game of the season. How they lost ... why they lost ... is what will leave the sour taste.

The only people who refuse to acknowledge IUP's well-documented offensive woes are a select few West Liberty fans. Which is comical considering they only lose when they "shoot bad."

I will say, I think Tomiwa was significantly underused all season. Say what you want about anybody on the team, he was their best player. And I'm not sure it was close in that regard. It does baffle me though that this team never even tried to find something - anything - in transition against West Liberty. Largely, they didn't do that in most of the 2nd half of the season either. I don't think you should attempt to run with a team like West Liberty. The pace and scoring output from WL was where it needed to be to beat them, but as you mentioned, they struggled to put up 68 points in the 2nd half most nights.

Defense is great. But scoring the basketball is ultimately what wins basketball games, or any sport for that matter.

[IUP24]

Tomiwa is the biggest celebrity on this campus in the past 20 years.

A 6'6", ripped up star basketball player with a British accent. That dude has women following him around 24 hours a day on that campus.

He and Lombardi may have butted heads a little bit. I'll leave it at that. Although, I didn't think it was to to point he'd leave over it (just for that reason).

Joe also coached the Regional Final as if he was terrified and word is not only were many players' parents furious with him but also many players vehemently did not agree with his strategy.

So, it could be a combination of a lot of things.

When I was on campus, Marcel Souberbielle was the big man on campus. The ladies loved him.

I'm curious to know more about that. Is this essentially saying that many players believed his style or approach was why they struggled so mightily on offense the last two months?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Interesting. As someone who is just a fan with below average basketball knowledge and zero inside info on the program, I thought something definitely seemed off about that whole night for sure.

This discussion is the the classic double-edged sword. Most will argue Joe went 32-2, won a 4th straight PSAC Title, won the West for the 300th time in a row and made the Sweet 16.

However, you can point to some glaring flaws in Lombardi's season this year. Was simply making the Sweet 16 really the end goal for a team of this alleged pedigree? I don't think so.

* The whole building, town and opposing teams knew they couldn't hit the side of a barn from outside since early January. It was night after night of box scores reading 5 for 28 from outside or 6 for 33. Yet, he had them just keep chucking. His long belief is outside shooting is the law of averages. Sooner or later things will click. After 8-9 weeks of watching shot after shot clang off the bucket, they needed to change their attack. They never did.

* It's hard to argue the final record standing by itself. But, there's no question a lot of luck went in to that -- especially in late Jan and most of February. Remember, this is the same team that was in severe dog fights -- late in games -- against Clarion, Edinboro and Gannon. They got bailed out at Clarion. Interpret that as you may. They survived at California after blowing a massive halftime lead. They easily could have lost to both ESU and Mercyhurst out at Shippensburg -- and probably should have lost to Winston-Salem. UPJ almost swept them instead of getting swept. They kept winning. No doubt. But should the then-No. 1 team in the country really be scraping by Edinboro, Clarion and Gannon?

* IUP went from lighting up scoreboards in the first half the season to struggling to reach 68 points. The highest IUP scored in its final 5 games was just 67 points.

* The night they lost at Mercyhurst and the lineup he elected to play that evening? Good Lord.

* Some claim his team was physically worn out down the stretch. Perhaps. But ... why was it physically worn out? In the past, Joe's teams never had depth. He had depth this year -- lots of it -- and chose not to use it. Kyle Polce was put in to witness protection in late January. Jaheim Bethea went from the deep rotation to hanging with the local tokens at the end of the bench. Ousmane Diop might as well have quit in November.

* The offense morphed in to some mix of AAU meets playground meets NBA hybrid. There was no flow to it nor any continuity. It was 'good enough' (mostly because their defense was so good) until they finally met a team they really had to score a lot against to beat. West Liberty was the one team all year that could line up with them and was also much deeper than them (again, see above on IUP's perceived lack of depth). IUP had a lot of bad nights in the second half of the season that were simply masked because they had superior talent than nearly every team they played. They won some real ugly basketball games down the stretch.

* Joe refused to let his team attack the basket in transition in the WL loss -- rather electing to force a team in a prolonged, severe shooting slump to set up its offense. That formula worked in 2014-15 but that team had snipers and scorers everywhere. This team, largely due to its 'version' of an offense, did not. This team would have been far better off playing in transition every time the opportunity existed. The end result was getting blown out and embarrassed, at home, in the regional final.

* Why did IUP's offense -- known for the past 10-15 years for being so fluid and structured -- turn in to playground ball? Why was Tomiwa's role just be a garbage man rather than having actual sets run for him?


It was a fun season. No denying. The ending, unfortunately, will always leave a sour taste when remembering this team. It wasn't the loss. Every team but one loses its last game of the season. How they lost ... why they lost ... is what will leave the sour taste.

[IUPalum]

Tomiwa is the biggest celebrity on this campus in the past 20 years.

A 6'6", ripped up star basketball player with a British accent. That dude has women following him around 24 hours a day on that campus.

He and Lombardi may have butted heads a little bit. I'll leave it at that. Although, I didn't think it was to to point he'd leave over it (just for that reason).

Joe also coached the Regional Final as if he was terrified and word is not only were many players' parents furious with him but also many players vehemently did not agree with his strategy.

So, it could be a combination of a lot of things.

I always say this, winning covers up a lot of issues.

Joe has won a lot at IUP including national runner up, final fours, etc. We have to remember that no person is perfect. Whether his game plan was right or not against WL, we'll never know. BUT 32-2 is a great season. You can't let one bad game tell the tale of the tape. That West Liberty team is good and hot at the right time. Anyone that is calling for Joe's head is an idiot.

Now on to Tomiwa... in the new era of college basketball, I hate the fact that he's testing the waters but it is the new age of college basketball. I can't say I agree with all this new NIL garage and transfer portal garbage but it is what it is. He's got that option to see what he can get. I truly hope he decides to stay. That kid is a force on the D2 level.