Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

I'm guessing due to the Beach Boys concert Thursday night. Not sure why it would take 2 days to put the floor back.

[IUPalum]

Re: Iup basketball

Why the heck are these two Lock Haven games at the Field House? It makes no sense!!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

Tom got a big recriluit at the early signing period ... MiKayla Lovelace from Leechburg. Small school but a baller.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

The next three games ... very strange to say it but at this point it's a massive stretch.

Saturday - Lock Haven (Memorial Field House)

LH is 1-2 ... lost by 3 to Virginia Union and close to Shaw (both teams gave Shippensburg great games). The win came against D3 Carlow. LH isn't a big outside thread (15-50) but rather the damage comes all in a fast-paced transition game. Amir Hinton (33 ppg) is the catalyst ... likely in the Top 2 players in the PSAC. He's going to be a match-up nightmare for a slower IUP team. Defensively LH is giving up 72 ppg and is averaging almost 10 steals per game. This is going to be a battle.

Sunday - Bloomsburg (KCAC)

Bloom is 2-0 with wins over Penn State-Hazelton and Georgian Court ... firing up about 30 treys a game (hitting 40% so far). Led by senior Christian Mortellite (25.5 ppg) -- arguably the best pure shooter in the PSAC. He went for 28 against IUP last season. The Huskies play UPJ on Saturday prior to heading to Indiana. Bloom typically plays a slower pace which should benefit IUP.

Wednesday - (at) Bowie State

Bowie is 1-2 with losses to Wheeling Jesuit and Bloomfield. The win came at Shepherd. Big team ... lot of size. Opened the season at Duke. The big break is no students will be there ... Bowie is probably the loudest gym in D2 when its students are on campus. IUP has won 2 of the past 3 in the series -- all close games. Bowie also has a history of improving as the season moves along and is already battle-tested.


From what we've seen, IUP could go 0-3 in this stretch. Or, it could go 3-0. I don't think either would totally surprise me as of today. It's early but the margin for error is shrinking. Much like Norfleet's senior year, you can't get this early games back later on down the road -- regardless how the second half goes.

Looking a little further ahead, the next game IUP hosts U-Sciences. Typically an easy one but they gave Kutztown all it could handle last night.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

It's odd for sure. I posted Friday night questioning why Dante and Cobo were still in the game up 30 with 3 minutes to play.

If anybody gets the chance to go Saturday ... Amir Hinton is worth the price of admission. I don't how in the world Lock Haven got him. He's like the 6'5" version of Rodney Horton, if anybody remembers him ... and only a sophomore. Joe called him the best player in the PSAC last season as a freshman.

Him and Dustin Sleva would both start at Pitt right now.

Hinton will go crazy against this IUP defense. Hopefully they can find a way to offset him.

Rest assured ... these aren't cute little crossover games anymore. They HAVE to win these 3 before Thanksgiving.

[Chuck Norris]

Re: Iup basketball

IUP is a collection of talented basketball players right now. There's no alpha dog, no killers on this team. And I'm not sure any will emerge.

Add to that, two of the best players are going to be playing the season at less than 100% assuming they both can make it the whole year. Joe is a great coach but he's had some good fortune in that his years at IUP have been for the most part very blessed in the player health department. Outside of Cottrell's different issues I can't recall many key players missing a lot of time. The injuries they do suffer are never nearly as bad as they first seem (see Norfleet's ankle in '14-'15). Maybe this is just the year it catches up to him.

I'm not throwing in the towel yet, it's still early, but there are signs that the stars just aren't aligning this year.

[boatcapt]

Re: Iup basketball

Two sides of the coin, I suppose. Could they have played a gimme schedule and hid the problems? Perhaps. I guess one positive is they've exposed the issues (some blatantly).

The other, other side of the coin...playing an easier opening weekend schedule would have permitted them to give more rest to their injured players and given their back-ups the chance to get minutes and gain some confidence. But that's not Joe's way...swing for the fences and try to make a big splash early!!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

Hopefully IUP moves back the start time of the Nov. 25 game against The Sciences. It's currently set for 2 p.m. (same day as first football playoff game). For the teams sake, anyway, hopefully they move it back. The KCAC would be pretty empty going up against the football team.

[Chuck Norris]

Re: Iup basketball

Nah, I'm there with you. Something is very much amiss. Why on earth are a guy with "severe" tendinitis (per the Gazette) and a guy who just had a surgical procedure playing 39 minutes? I've never heard of getting banged up guys through the season by running them into the ground in the first few weeks. A lot of things just aren't making sense.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

Two sides of the coin, I suppose. Could they have played a gimme schedule and hid the problems? Perhaps. I guess one positive is they've exposed the issues (some blatantly).

I'm just not as optimistic based on four games. Granted, they've played 3 outstanding teams and one below average team. The Ferris and VA State games, despite the flaws, were there to take in the final 2 minutes. Findlay was just a smackdown and they weren't prepared (an exhibition would have done wonders).

One note about the VA State game: They got VA State's best (and biggest) player (Richard Granberry) in foul trouble immediately. He only played 13 minutes the entire game. The coach stashed him for the final 10 minutes and it worked brilliantly for them. IUP couldn't take advantage of it. That's alarming.

VA State did a great job taking away the three. IUP shot 5-22 and earned all five they got. Everyone was contested hard-core. So, the question that kept me up Saturday night: If you get a teams best (post) player off the floor and you know they are just not giving you the three ... how did IUP just not change the offense and pound the ball inside?

IUP was also completely gassed with 10 minutes left.

Glover played 35 minutes
Cobo - 39 minutes
Blake - 37 minutes
Dante - 39 minutes

Willem gets 9 minutes and only had 1 personal foul? Jaylen Vaughn gets 1 minute?

Geez oh man. Is this now Norman Dale coaching Hickory? You can't play against an athletic team using 9-10 players with 4 guys never coming off the floor. You just aren't going to win. This is the same team that said there wasn't enough minutes to justify playing Dom Keyes this year?


I hate to do this ... and haven't in a long time (Chuck Norris: don't jump me) but the big guy lost that game Saturday night. The players fought to the end but just ran out of gas. Joe got out-coached. With Willem and Vaughns riding the pine with exhausted players ... there are some major trust issues at play.

History shows 8 losses will 'usually' get you to the dance. Nine ... depends on the year. Ten ... you're really playing with fire. That's three already by Nov. 11. I can't believe we're having this discussion already.

Next 3 games: Lock Haven and Amir Hinton. Bloomsburg and Larry Bird. Trip to Bowie.

This is the biggest three-game stretch in a long time. Not one of them will be easy, either.

[IUsuallyPonder]

Re: Iup basketball

That was a tough game to watch... Clearly there is talent, but putting it together is the issue...
I won't count this team out, there's a whole season left to grow and develop. All I can say is if it's to mean anything, it better happen sooner rather than later.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

I will say there is talent on that roster. It's not being used correctly. This 1-3 start falls on the big guy. That was just a huge loss last night.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Iup basketball

Maybe they'll get a split next weekend.

Amir Hinton will have a field day on Saturday. Not sure what else Lock Haven has. Christian Moretelite will hit about 10 uncontested treys on Sunday.

Hoping for a split against Lock Haven and Bloomsburg .... says a lot.

Vaughns is one of the best athletes on the team. VA State had speed everywhere. One minute is baffling. Willem was actually OK last night and had a massive defensive play. He's in the dog house for something.

There are so many things you could question from last night. Not worth it.

This team will beat the Urbana types and perhaps compete for the West. Perhaps. Pending something miraculous happens this isn't a regional team. As of now ... Not even close.

After seeing 4 games ... I'd predict something around 17-13 or 18-12.

Joe's last slow starting team had Brandon Norfleet. This one does not. This is a real mess right now. Lineups and rotations need addressed immediately.

This group has now also lost its last 4 home games against top teams (Ship twice, Fairmont and Va State).

Re: Iup basketball

I'll just leave a few thoughts here...

1) Vaughns plays 1 minute? WOW!
2) Willem 9 minutes? That kid hasn't shown me anything!
3) Blake plays way to many minutes. He's not that good.
4) This team forces way to many three point shots, probably because the bigs aren't good.
5) Man to man defense is awful!
6) Team speed is below average.

This is not the team I thought it could be. Not even close.

Very good analysis. Solution is to change the starting 5.

[IUPalum]

Re: Iup basketball

I'll just leave a few thoughts here...

1) Vaughns plays 1 minute? WOW!
2) Willem 9 minutes? That kid hasn't shown me anything!
3) Blake plays way to many minutes. He's not that good.
4) This team forces way to many three point shots, probably because the bigs aren't good.
5) Man to man defense is awful!
6) Team speed is below average.

This is not the team I thought it could be. Not even close.