Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Shawndale is a national player of the year candidate. Apparently that performance in the 2020 PSAC tourney was just scratching the surface of how good he could be.

He's really come full circle. He's so big (6'4" and built like a LB) yet so quick and elusive. He's elite taking the ball to the hole. He's scoring or getting fouled. And, his deep shot is a threat which makes him even harder to defend.

Armoni also draws so much attention that you now have to pick your poison.

That's also exactly why Morris has to stay on the floor and out of foul trouble. He's a terrific passer and can also score from all over. When he's in foul trouble Armoni and Shawndale get a 'little' easier to deal with on defense. With all three guards in there -- plus Ethan and Demo ... they're a nightmare.

Sulaiman has to get going. They need more out of him. He has all the tools. Feet are wet now. Time to get going. He's their 'muscle' underneath but he has to play smarter. Four fouls in four minutes is unacceptable. They really needed him last night with all Kutztown's size. Same tonight.

[Chuck Norris]

Safe to say they got their first bad half of the season out of their system tonight.

Nice road win but a lot to correct.

The bench concern is growing ... just 3 points tonight.

Morris and Sulaiman being in foul trouble all night hampered things. Demo had a rough first half but recovered very well.

Shawndale was fantastic. Armoni solid. Ethan hit some big shots. He had a tough assignment tonight.

Not a great shooting night ... just 6-26 from deep.

Kutztown is a pretty difficult opponent. Their offense is pretty much drive the hoop and see what happens -- but they create a lot with it. Athletic team. They played well in the first half but had some major lapses defensively in the final 20 minutes. That team should not be 2-4 with that much talent.

Moe Williams is tough.

I almost question if IUP soon starts doing offense/defense constant subbing with Radford and Polce ... similar to the old Daddy/Devon style.

I suspect they will play much cleaner tomorrow. Good road win tonight.

Shawndale is a national player of the year candidate. Apparently that performance in the 2020 PSAC tourney was just scratching the surface of how good he could be.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Safe to say they got their first bad half of the season out of their system tonight.

Nice road win but a lot to correct.

The bench concern is growing ... just 3 points tonight.

Morris and Sulaiman being in foul trouble all night hampered things. Demo had a rough first half but recovered very well.

Shawndale was fantastic. Armoni solid. Ethan hit some big shots. He had a tough assignment tonight.

Not a great shooting night ... just 6-26 from deep.

Kutztown is a pretty difficult opponent. Their offense is pretty much drive the hoop and see what happens -- but they create a lot with it. Athletic team. They played well in the first half but had some major lapses defensively in the final 20 minutes. That team should not be 2-4 with that much talent.

Moe Williams is tough.

I almost question if IUP soon starts doing offense/defense constant subbing with Radford and Polce ... similar to the old Daddy/Devon style.

I suspect they will play much cleaner tomorrow. Good road win tonight.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

IUP 86
Kutztown 73

Final

[IUPalum]

This is the worst crew in the league. Every. Single. Game.

They thing we watch to see them.

The ref crew made this game hard to watch!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Last 2 mins have taken 15 mins

[IUPbigINDIANS]

This is the worst crew in the league. Every. Single. Game.

They thing we watch to see them.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Lol kid from KU starts it and Armoni gets the T

What BS

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Shawndale up to 29

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Add a missed dunk!

Rough night for him. Things will get better.

IUP up 14 with 3:24 left

[IUPalum]

Tomiwa has 4 fouls in 4 minutes ... on a night they need him.

Add a missed dunk!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Tomiwa has 4 fouls in 4 minutes ... on a night they need him.

[IUP24]

Sloppy first half. Some foul trouble. Struggling from the field. Nice to finally have a stream.

[Ship69]

There is a huge drop-off from 1-5 to 6-9. But, that's fairly common.

I will say this: Joe's typical drop-off after 1-6 is usually like falling off a cliff. This year is better -- depth-wise -- than most Joe teams. Most years he'd choose to redshirt players rather than have quality depth, and, by mid-season, somebody would be hurt and a walk-on would be in the rotation.

His starting five this year is really special. So, naturally there's going to be a dip on the bench.

Looking closer at the (so far) immediate reserves:

There's basically a 'Sixth Man' for the guards and a 'Sixth Man' for the post players.

Tomiwa Sulaiman is going to be one of Joe's next star post players but he's still pretty raw on the offensive end. But, he's a very strong defender and rebounder. He is a physical specimen at 6'6" and 210 lbs and has a massive wingspan. And, in his defense, they aren't running any offense through him. They haven't had a rebounder/defender of his quality coming off the bench in forever.

Ousmane Diop is the other post player living in the outskirts of the (deep) rotation. His role now is perfect. Play 6-12 mpg and create havoc. He's big, fast, not a bad shooter and really just has a way of getting involved. Big boy off the bench at 6'10". Downside is he's a bit of a hack and draws fouls quickly. Amazingly, at his size, he's one of the fastest runners on the floor ... former soccer player.

Kyle Polce is taking on the Greg Bearer role. He's a good defender. Nice size. Quick. Aggressive. But, his main role on offense has been to be a facilitator.

Bryce Radford is a very serviceable backup this year. He brings a long-range threat to the floor, can adequately play the point when needed, plays smart (very few TOs). His glitch thus far has been on the defensive end but he's making headway. I don't think he's a bad defender but he gets a little over-aggressive and gets caught out of position. He's getting better each game.


This bench rotation, keep in mind, is made up of (3) freshmen (although not 'true' freshmen) and Diop (who started playing basketball at 18 years old). In an emergency, the next man in would likely be K.J. Rhodes (another Year 3 freshman). Joe's two NYC 'true' freshmen could also be options but we know his feelings on playing true freshmen.


The major area of concern, obviously, is if one of the starting guards go down for any length of time. As we saw at Bowie, they got pretty discombobulated ... still scored 90 points but the defense wasn't nearly the same. I think Joe's bench is fine this year in the roles they have right now. Not sure any of them are ready to adequately move in to the starting lineup. Sulaiman would probably be the smoothest transition.

But, hey, I've sat through so many Joe seasons of having more dudes on the bench in tracksuits than jerseys, so, right now, this feels like a luxury. Armoni got his Triple Double out of the way. I don't want to see him playing with IUP up 50 points again. Once was enough. Not worth the risk.

Experienced depth is a problem for a lot of teams this year. Certainly was the case during football season, and it's carried over to basketball. Until Biss returns (hopefully this week), Shippensburg basically has five players with more than 10 games experience.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

A tough back-to-back starts tonight. IUP plays at Kutztown.


A look at the Golden Bears:

- Started 0-3 (all single digit losses) but have won two straight

- IUP has won (3) straight in the series and 8 of the past 9 meetings

- Led by junior guard Wesley Butler (19.8 ppg) and Graduate forward Moe Williams (12.5 ppg, 8 rpg, 11 blocks).

- Lot of size with (5) players 6'8" or taller -- several above 230 lbs. Nice blend of speed and muscle under the basket.

- Butler is the main deep threat. He's made 14 treys. The next closest has made 6.

- Deep roster. Appears 11 guys are playing.

- Kutztown is scoring 82.2 ppg and giving up 70.6 ppg
- If you remove the massive blowout of PSU-Berks, Kutztown is scoring 74 ppg and giving up 76.75 ppg against D2 opponents.

- Their overall stats (margins, etc.) are a little hard to grasp as they got out of whack a bit in the 115-46 win over PSU-Berks

- Took D1 Rider to the last shot in a 78-76 exhibition loss

- Moe Williams went for 20 and 10 in his last game against IUP -- an OT loss for the Bears in 18-19

- Strong defensive team. In (5) games only one team has broken 80 points (82 / Lincoln)

- Roster has some familiar names such as Evan-Eric Longino (formerly of West Chester), Oenis Medina (Shippensburg) and Julian Boykins (Seton Hill)