Iup basketball

[Chuck Norris]

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. :)

So the “him” in that last quote is KJ? What a fun twist that would be.

I’m calling my shot right now. Feel free to remember this and mock me mercilessly if I’m wrong. If Romero-Sanz is in a tracksuit tomorrow, he’ll never play for IUP.

[EyeoftheHawk]

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. :)

[Ship69]

Pretty sure most colleges teams can talk about the "ones that got away" at one time or another. Ship has certainly had its share of those.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

You often talk about Carlos Carter as one who got away (local Indiana high school product). I wonder if Howlett will one day consider Mitchell as one who got away. He went to a rural Ohio school just across the river from WLU. Obviously, no one begrudged Kobe's desire to try out D1 when he went to Akron, but his return to D2 at a non-WLU school has to sting a bit. Unless, of course, WLU's staff just didn't see his playing style as a fit for WLU's style (which is totally a possibility).

I could tell you some recruiting stories that, looking back, are hard to believe.

IUP has passed on some players who wanted to come here that give people like me a heart attack lol. But, hindsight is always perfect.

They've also had some wild finds. How Cobo Diaz got here from the Canary Islands is quite the story. Daddy Ugbede's recruiting story is crazy.

Brandon Norfleet did his own recruiting to get here as a transfer.

It's funny to look back over the years. Joe had one collassal miss in his tenure in Dustin Sleva.

Obviously, he's also had a lot of home runs. He's also had some busts in the transfer wire to go along with several star imports.

Two names that landed elsewhere were (allegedly) oh so close to coming to Indiana -- Amir Hinton and Micah Till. Stories for another time. I remember being 99.9% sure they had Hinton signed.

As for Carlos, they had Malik Miller and Armoni Foster at the time. Joe doesn't stockpile certain positions (to our pain). He may have said no, but I sure as hell would have tried everything to keep him in town.

[Scrub]

Something for next week:

Walsh defeated D1 Oakland in an exhibition. Their new Akron transfer, Kobe Mitchell, scored 32 points.

This past Monday, Oakland lost to Ohio State by just 6 points.

Also of note, Walsh's game at IUP next Thursday will tip-off at a rare 8 p.m. start time.

You often talk about Carlos Carter as one who got away (local Indiana high school product). I wonder if Howlett will one day consider Mitchell as one who got away. He went to a rural Ohio school just across the river from WLU. Obviously, no one begrudged Kobe's desire to try out D1 when he went to Akron, but his return to D2 at a non-WLU school has to sting a bit. Unless, of course, WLU's staff just didn't see his playing style as a fit for WLU's style (which is totally a possibility).

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Something for next week:

Walsh defeated D1 Oakland in an exhibition. Their new Akron transfer, Kobe Mitchell, scored 32 points.

This past Monday, Oakland lost to Ohio State by just 6 points.

Also of note, Walsh's game at IUP next Thursday will tip-off at a rare 8 p.m. start time.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Starting 5 photos on IUP athletics Insta account??? Dallis, Jaylen, Ethan, Josh and Dolan

I'd call that random photos being posted. Not a chance Garvin Clarke isn't starting.

The one thing you can see in those pics is Romero-Sanz is dressed during the scrimmage (you can see some others in tracksuits).

[Cobra Hawks]

Starting 5 photos on IUP athletics Insta account??? Dallis, Jaylen, Ethan, Josh and Dolan

[IUPbigINDIANS]

He’s definitely not what you’d call silky smooth, that’s for sure.

I was thinking of him as more of a banger that might get a putback basket or two and cause some problems on defense. I do recognize that it may be a bit of a leap. The Diop situation still baffles me.

So does Jaheim Bethea and Kyle Polce

[EyeoftheHawk]

If Joe never gave Diop a shot then there is no way an uncoordinated MacNamara gets in for meaningful minutes.

He’s definitely not what you’d call silky smooth, that’s for sure.

I was thinking of him as more of a banger that might get a putback basket or two and cause some problems on defense. I do recognize that it may be a bit of a leap. The Diop situation still baffles me.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I'm higher on Brooks than some. I think he's in line for a big step this year. Obviously the foul concerns are real, but if he cleans up that part of his game some, I think he could give solid minutes and be a contributor. I'd also like to see Joe cut Waldo loose and let him just play his game, which he's not necessarily known for doing with young players. He's going to need to put weight on, but given his build and the type of game he plays, he could grow into the role that Marcel had when he was in the program. I think they had those same expectations with Jeffers and Danielak, but they were slightly different players and I don't think Danielak was as talented or lived up to that expectation.

Brooks has a lot of upside. We have to remember he was just a redshirt freshman last year (and played a very limited role). Joe said recently that he has improved a lot this off-season.

Reality is (this year) when he's on the floor he'll be the 5th scoring option -- I project he'll play Joe's famous 'garbage man' role this year. Bad name but a very important job. He can be an elite rebounder. He's big and fast -- and hard to move. They'll toss him the occasional alley-oops. There's enough film of him putting guys on posters last year that teams have to account for him.

His biggest weakness last year, aside from the fouling, was mishandling so many no-look passes that should have resulted in easy lay-ups/dunks. Hopefully that was just a freshman thing.

Joe's already said him and Waldo are going to tag-team the position Tomiwa left behind. I've seen Waldo play a good bit. He's listed as a SF but he really plays more like a 6'7" SG. They can really play different styles depending which is in the game.

The lights get bright in two days. I suspect Friday will be a big crowd. It's the first Opening Night in a very long time that I don't think anybody knows what to expect.

[IUP24]

I'm higher on Brooks than some. I think he's in line for a big step this year. Obviously the foul concerns are real, but if he cleans up that part of his game some, I think he could give solid minutes and be a contributor. I'd also like to see Joe cut Waldo loose and let him just play his game, which he's not necessarily known for doing with young players. He's going to need to put weight on, but given his build and the type of game he plays, he could grow into the role that Marcel had when he was in the program. I think they had those same expectations with Jeffers and Danielak, but they were slightly different players and I don't think Danielak was as talented or lived up to that expectation.

[IUPalum]

It’s hard to say what to expect on Friday, let alone for the entire season. I have a feeling though that it’s not going to be a great year. There are just so many changes and as good as IUP was last year, the margin between winning and losing was still razor thin at times. Keep in mind IUP plays in one of, if not the best, regions in the country. On top of that, the PSAC is right up there with the best conferences and it seems deep this year.

If I’m playing IUP, my game plan is to take Porterfield away and make everyone else beat you. I’m not sold on Brooks as a starter logging a bunch of minutes. It will be interesting to see what Waldo brings to the table. He might be the wild card in this discussion. If he’s proven to be able to survive physically and also be a bit of a sharpshooter, that changes things because IUP has two really good guards in Stewart and Dillard and an elite forward in Porterfield. Apparently Clarke is a true point guard, which will help. We also haven’t talked at all about MacNamara. I know he’s looked pretty sloppy and even a bit lost at times when he’s gotten in, but he is a physical presence and could play 7-8 meaningful minutes per game. If he’s improved, maybe they could even get 10 minutes out of him, but that may be a stretch.

For IUP to make it to the NCAA Tournament this year, Stewart and Dillard will have to prove they can score at the rate needed to support Porterfield. Brooks has to improve significantly on both ends of the floor, Waldo is going to have to bring a new element to the offense that causes defenses problems, and someone is going to have to be a surprise and bring some intangibles to the table that we haven’t talked much about. That’s a long checklist and it might all be doable, but as has been mentioned a ton, there are a lot of unknowns.

Saturday might be the most interesting game IUP has played in the last 10 years.

If Joe never gave Diop a shot then there is no way an uncoordinated MacNamara gets in for meaningful minutes.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Interesting in that there are a lot of new faces that will be expected to fill key roles, and on top of that, we aren’t certain how Dillard, Stewart, and Brooks will grow into their roles of needing to lead the team. Looking back at Joe’s tenure, this is a significant rebuild. Even he won’t know how these guys will respond in key moments in games.

Probably not a coincidence this is the first year in forever they didn't play any exhibition games. Word on the street is -- at times -- they looked very good in their scrimmages.

Personally, I'm not concerned with the guards. That's a good group. Big and fast. They have a natural PG who is strong on both ends (he's not a big scorer but a great creator). Dillard, Stewart and Petteno are all strong shooters. Dillard can also be an elite defender and he's a great rebounder.

My concern is almost exclusively under the basket.

Porterfield is as close to 'healthy' as he's probably been in two years. Obviously he will be the star and an All-America candidate. I get real nervous after him, however.

I do expect a big leap for Damir this year. He was just a redshirt freshman a year ago. My fear is can he play 20+ mpg without fouling out? If he's cleaned that part of his game up, he should have a pretty good year. They don't need him to score much. He needs to rebound and defend. He'll get the occasional alley-oop and some put-backs.

Waldo is going to flip with Damir. They are extremely different players. Damir is more the muscle, high-flying PF type. Waldo is going to be launching treys, etc. He's 6'7" but extremely thin and may struggle banging with the big boys in the West. As he redshirted a year ago, Friday night will be his first collegiate game. He can handle the ball like a guard and is a strong shooter, so he's eventually going to cause some match-up problems.

The fourth post player is obviously the big question. Is Joe going to go with the raw but massive Romero-Sanz, or will KJ again be forced to play in the low post? My hunch is Joe will go with KJ as Ethan's backup (with the theory EP will play 32-34 mpg). Where that obviously becomes a big issue is if Ethan gets in foul trouble or gets banged up. KJ can handle small spurts but he's just not going to be productive playing heavy minutes against drastically bigger players. I think it's a no-brainer to not redshirt Romero-Sanz and to just break him in slowly. But, they call him Redshirt Joe for a reason.

Like I said the other day, I think Concord has either 9 or 10 new players. Both teams may actually wear name tags lol.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Interesting in that there are a lot of new faces that will be expected to fill key roles, and on top of that, we aren’t certain how Dillard, Stewart, and Brooks will grow into their roles of needing to lead the team. Looking back at Joe’s tenure, this is a significant rebuild. Even he won’t know how these guys will respond in key moments in games.

Agreed. You said Saturday and not Friday (Concord) so I thought you were implying there was something special about ND.