PSAC WEST

[Ship69]

Coaches are reluctant to adjust what they do... particularly if they have been successful. Gannon won this year because of Coach Fee and the system he installed. Sadly for most of the returning PSAC coaches, they probably will not adjust.

There certainly will need to be some adjustment, but it was more than just the system. The guy brought in a bunch of good players. Included on their roster were players from Virginia, Arizona, Ohio, Maryland, and two guys from Turkey. Josh Omojafo, from Ontario, Canada, was their leading scorer and probably one of the top half-dozen players I saw in the conference this season, and he was a sophomore. They apparently have some bucks to burn up at Gannon and seem to use it more effectively for BB than they do for football. I certainly didn't see many teams in either division of the PSAC this year that had enough quality players to keep up with Gannon. Cal was closest with a very talented top 7.

I kept reading about how Sancomb had seen the system and knew how to handle it better than others, but I thought they fell into Gannon's trap in the last couple of meetings. I think what is dangerous for Cal is that they have enough talented players to think they can play the uptempo game with Gannon. They certainly did that in the early stages of the game Sunday, but they don't play more than 7-8 players and gassed out in the second half. They need to use at least 20 seconds every time down the floor and not toss up quick three-pointers. Gannon is vulnerable on the boards, but not if you throw up a three-pointer before you have rebounders in position. It'll be interesting to see if they try anything different if they meet for a fourth time in the regional, which is certainly not impossible. I'll also be interested in seeing how Millersville, which had mixed results against uptempo teams this season, fares with West Liberty. The Marauders under Casey Stitzel have usually thrived in grinding halfcourt games. They traded routs with Gannon this year and took two of three from East Stroud.

Adjusting is easier said than done. If Fee continues to have the type of success he had this season, coaches will certainly start scheming against it. But you have to have enough talent to do it. Ship tried to play faster this season, but they got caught with an inexperienced, undersized roster and got toasted on the defensive end all season. I expect Chris Fite to get it back on track, but it's going to take time. Bottom line is that they'll have to beat Fee the same way you beat most opponents — with better players.

[Fightingscot82]

Well, a WV league had a Pittsburgh TV quality broadcast. The PSAC had, well, a typical broadcast that was what we've come to expect watching on our computers (one camera that occasionally forgets to follow the action from one end of the court to the other). That's not to mention the audio was the equivalent of listening to two truckers talk on their CBs.

It's also my opinion that for Final Four weekend they should hire professional announcers -- ones not affiliated with the home team. As Ship69 said yesterday, a championship game broadcast doesn't need a homer announcer yapping about foul calls the whole game.

The technical issues happen at this level. For a championship game, it had the production quality of a high school game. The league should treat is a big thing -- not the equivalent to some game in early January. Yesterday was not a good look for the PSAC (production-wise).

Something I learned recently is that some schools have the broadcasts produced by the athletic department. I thought most just left it up to the student radio and TV stations and coordinated the video feed to the masses. I wonder what that breakdown is. The exception to the student broadcasts is probably Cal. They're usually pretty good in quality and substance.

[Ship69]

Something I learned recently is that some schools have the broadcasts produced by the athletic department. I thought most just left it up to the student radio and TV stations and coordinated the video feed to the masses. I wonder what that breakdown is. The exception to the student broadcasts is probably Cal. They're usually pretty good in quality and substance.

Shepherd's football broadcasts are usually pretty good. I haven't watched many of their basketball broadcasts.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

There certainly will need to be some adjustment, but it was more than just the system. The guy brought in a bunch of good players. Included on their roster were players from Virginia, Arizona, Ohio, Maryland, and two guys from Turkey. Josh Omojafo, from Ontario, Canada, was their leading scorer and probably one of the top half-dozen players I saw in the conference this season, and he was a sophomore. They apparently have some bucks to burn up at Gannon and seem to use it more effectively for BB than they do for football. I certainly didn't see many teams in either division of the PSAC this year that had enough quality players to keep up with Gannon. Cal was closest with a very talented top 7.

I kept reading about how Sancomb had seen the system and knew how to handle it better than others, but I thought they fell into Gannon's trap in the last couple of meetings. I think what is dangerous for Cal is that they have enough talented players to think they can play the uptempo game with Gannon. They certainly did that in the early stages of the game Sunday, but they don't play more than 7-8 players and gassed out in the second half. They need to use at least 20 seconds every time down the floor and not toss up quick three-pointers. Gannon is vulnerable on the boards, but not if you throw up a three-pointer before you have rebounders in position. It'll be interesting to see if they try anything different if they meet for a fourth time in the regional, which is certainly not impossible. I'll also be interested in seeing how Millersville, which had mixed results against uptempo teams this season, fares with West Liberty. The Marauders under Casey Stitzel have usually thrived in grinding halfcourt games. They traded routs with Gannon this year and took two of three from East Stroud.

Adjusting is easier said than done. If Fee continues to have the type of success he had this season, coaches will certainly start scheming against it. But you have to have enough talent to do it. Ship tried to play faster this season, but they got caught with an inexperienced, undersized roster and got toasted on the defensive end all season. I expect Chris Fite to get it back on track, but it's going to take time. Bottom line is that they'll have to beat Fee the same way you beat most opponents — with better players.

Watch the film on how IUP beat WL in 2015 and how Charleston did last night. That's the blueprint to beating the chaos. But, as you said, it's easier said than done. You need extremely disciplined players (and big guards help, too).

I don't know what Cal was thinking yesterday. They aren't deep enough to join the track race. They very obviously ran out of gas and were chucking awful (low percentage) treys far too often (exactly what GU baited them to do).

Oddly, IUP gave GU its toughest games since Christmas. They stayed disciplined and didn't jump in to the craziness. Joe needed one more guard and he probably wins both games.

I'd love to see Gannon and Charleston play again. I don't think UC was full strength the first meeting. Charleston is very impressive.

[Ship69]

I don't think the PSAC will pay for a neutral site. Plus PA is too provincial similar to NY. What happens is the PSAC pays a ton of money to rent the Giant Center and they have only a couple hundred attend. At least with the current host situation you get some people. For broadcast discussion, part of the host school commitment should be producing the broadcast.

I think you hit it on the head. The attendance likely wouldn't justify paying for a big arena. The league doesn't do much in the way of marketing, and local television, at least in our area, doesn't cover the PSAC at all. If you watch the Harrisburg stations, you'd have no idea that a PSAC basketball tourney was going on or even that the PSAC played basketball. This despite the fact that a bunch of kids from our area play on PSAC teams.

An alternative might be to rent a big high school gym that is somewhat centrally located. There are certainly facilities in this area big enough to handle a typical PSAC crowd. In my town, I think you might even draw some casual fans as a four-team tourney coming in would be sort of a big deal. Probably would never happen, but what the heck. It certainly would be better to not have to go to the extreme east or west regions of the state during tourney season.

I've also thought the league misses a big opportunity to play at different venues during the December holiday break, when attendance for home games is crap anyway. But sometimes NCAA and league rules get in the way of doing things such as that. I don't know if the NCAA is still stifling charity games. A charity game at a community near campus would have the potential to be a big draw. With gambling on games rampant now, some of the NCAA restrictions seem to be stuck in the past.

[Ship69]

Watch the film on how IUP beat WL in 2015 and how Charleston did last night. That's the blueprint to beating the chaos. But, as you said, it's easier said than done. You need extremely disciplined players (and big guards help, too).

I don't know what Cal was thinking yesterday. They aren't deep enough to join the track race. They very obviously ran out of gas and were chucking awful (low percentage) treys far too often (exactly what GU baited them to do).

Oddly, IUP gave GU its toughest games since Christmas. They stayed disciplined and didn't jump in to the craziness. Joe needed one more guard and he probably wins both games.

I'd love to see Gannon and Charleston play again. I don't think UC was full strength the first meeting. Charleston is very impressive.

It will be interesting to see how the league reacts to Gannon, and this year's regional should be interesting, too.

You probably remember Ship crushing West Liberty by 30 points in the regional a few years back. Ship had several good guards (Justin Macarthur for one) plus Dustin Sleva. When one of my West Virginia friends saw the 98-66 score, he said his initial thought was that it must be a misprint. Problem was Ship was red-hot the first two games of that regional (also crushed top-seeded Virginia State) and then laid an egg against East Stroud in the regional final. I'll always wish that team had made the Elite Eight. When they were having a good shooting night, I think they were capable of knocking anybody off. This season certainly made me appreciate that team more!

[boatcapt]

There certainly will need to be some adjustment, but it was more than just the system. The guy brought in a bunch of good players. Included on their roster were players from Virginia, Arizona, Ohio, Maryland, and two guys from Turkey. Josh Omojafo, from Ontario, Canada, was their leading scorer and probably one of the top half-dozen players I saw in the conference this season, and he was a sophomore. They apparently have some bucks to burn up at Gannon and seem to use it more effectively for BB than they do for football. I certainly didn't see many teams in either division of the PSAC this year that had enough quality players to keep up with Gannon. Cal was closest with a very talented top 7.

I kept reading about how Sancomb had seen the system and knew how to handle it better than others, but I thought they fell into Gannon's trap in the last couple of meetings. I think what is dangerous for Cal is that they have enough talented players to think they can play the uptempo game with Gannon. They certainly did that in the early stages of the game Sunday, but they don't play more than 7-8 players and gassed out in the second half. They need to use at least 20 seconds every time down the floor and not toss up quick three-pointers. Gannon is vulnerable on the boards, but not if you throw up a three-pointer before you have rebounders in position. It'll be interesting to see if they try anything different if they meet for a fourth time in the regional, which is certainly not impossible. I'll also be interested in seeing how Millersville, which had mixed results against uptempo teams this season, fares with West Liberty. The Marauders under Casey Stitzel have usually thrived in grinding halfcourt games. They traded routs with Gannon this year and took two of three from East Stroud.

Adjusting is easier said than done. If Fee continues to have the type of success he had this season, coaches will certainly start scheming against it. But you have to have enough talent to do it. Ship tried to play faster this season, but they got caught with an inexperienced, undersized roster and got toasted on the defensive end all season. I expect Chris Fite to get it back on track, but it's going to take time. Bottom line is that they'll have to beat Fee the same way you beat most opponents — with better players.

Beating a WLU Style team like Gannon is "easy"...on film. Also easy to "teach" in practice. The hard part is doing it in an actual game. To beat them you have to do three things...1. DON'T get drug into up tempo - It is SOOOO seductive for a player when he has broken the press to take it to the rack for an easy 2...but that is what these teams WANT. They will trade 2's for 3's all day long and will get you wore out in the process. 2. Pull their "bigs" inside - System bigs are not really bigs...think of them as tall guards...If you can get them inside with your bigs, they are probably going to get into foul trouble. 3. Go deep...and OFTEN - Even if you don't typically play your top 10 players, you need to against a Style team. Substitute early and often to keep your starting 5 as fresh as possible. Even if your starting 5 are able to hang with (or even build a comfortable lead) over the first half through multiple Style platoon changes, you are playing into their hands...they WANT you to keep your starters in to get more and more tired. 4. Defend the 3 first...even if it comes at the cost of a 2 - Style teams typically win and die by the 3...both percentage and sheer volume. Contest every 3 as if there is 3 seconds on the clock and you are up by 3 points. If you can take away or even limit their 3 game, they become much easier to beat.

Seems easy...but history has shown that it isn't.

[boatcapt]

It will be interesting to see how the league reacts to Gannon, and this year's regional should be interesting, too.

You probably remember Ship crushing West Liberty by 30 points in the regional a few years back. Ship had several good guards (Justin Macarthur for one) plus Dustin Sleva. When one of my West Virginia friends saw the 98-66 score, he said his initial thought was that it must be a misprint. Problem was Ship was red-hot the first two games of that regional (also crushed top-seeded Virginia State) and then laid an egg against East Stroud in the regional final. I'll always wish that team had made the Elite Eight. When they were having a good shooting night, I think they were capable of knocking anybody off. This season certainly made me appreciate that team more!

Sometime teams and/or players get on heaters and it's dam near impossible to stop them. Then, suddenly and for no apparent reason, its gone.

[Scrub]

Beating a WLU Style team like Gannon is "easy"...on film. Also easy to "teach" in practice. The hard part is doing it in an actual game. To beat them you have to do three things...1. DON'T get drug into up tempo - It is SOOOO seductive for a player when he has broken the press to take it to the rack for an easy 2...but that is what these teams WANT. They will trade 2's for 3's all day long and will get you wore out in the process. 2. Pull their "bigs" inside - System bigs are not really bigs...think of them as tall guards...If you can get them inside with your bigs, they are probably going to get into foul trouble. 3. Go deep...and OFTEN - Even if you don't typically play your top 10 players, you need to against a Style team. Substitute early and often to keep your starting 5 as fresh as possible. Even if your starting 5 are able to hang with (or even build a comfortable lead) over the first half through multiple Style platoon changes, you are playing into their hands...they WANT you to keep your starters in to get more and more tired. 4. Defend the 3 first...even if it comes at the cost of a 2 - Style teams typically win and die by the 3...both percentage and sheer volume. Contest every 3 as if there is 3 seconds on the clock and you are up by 3 points. If you can take away or even limit their 3 game, they become much easier to beat.

Seems easy...but history has shown that it isn't.

That's a really good write-up of the blueprint for beating it, Boat. Well said.

And if you want video evidence, just watch Charleston's performance yesterday. They did every one of these things to a tee. I'm pretty sure someone in a Charleston jersey is still following Zach Rasile into his Marketing class today. He couldn't breathe all day long. Defend that first 3, and the result is that WLU has to live with D'Augustino slashing to the rim as their leading scorer. That's not how the Toppers prefer to draw it up.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Sometime teams and/or players get on heaters and it's dam near impossible to stop them. Then, suddenly and for no apparent reason, its gone.

Or if the shiny new coach takes the job at Nova Southeastern.

Some of this was incredible timing, too.

Fee got Omojafo to stay in Erie. Will the land of D1 tempt him in a couple weeks?

They hit their transfers out of the park. That doesn't happen every year. A couple of the star imports are one-year guys.

IUP and Mercyhurst were both way down for the first time in a decade.


All of that said, they've had an incredible year. In fact, they just may be good enough to make a very deep NCAA run. No doubt it is quite the magical season.

[IUPHawks24]

Or if the shiny new coach takes the job at Nova Southeastern.

Some of this was incredible timing, too.

Fee got Omojafo to stay in Erie. Will the land of D1 tempt him in a couple weeks?

They hit their transfers out of the park. That doesn't happen every year. A couple of the star imports are one-year guys.

IUP and Mercyhurst were both way down for the first time in a decade.


All of that said, they've had an incredible year. In fact, they just may be good enough to make a very deep NCAA run. No doubt it is quite the magical season.

Mercyhurst was down about 6-7 years ago for a couple seasons. Then they got Massey, McIntosh, Lang, and then Bradley, Gross and Cannady the following year (among others) and everything changed.

This is the first time IUP hasn't been good in a long, long time. Although they did miss the NCAA Tournament in 2018 (barely, to be fair) before setting off on the torrid run that ended this year.

I'll say this- if Fee doesn't leave (which will largely have to do with what Crutchfield does, as you alluded to above) I think the rest of the West is in trouble. Lombardi and Manchel have been used to running roughshod over everyone for half a decade, that's not going to happen anymore. Both IUP and Mercyhurst had better players last year than what Gannon has this year, which is a testament to Fee's coaching ability. With Danny at Cal and the new younger coaches at Seton Hill and Edinboro, I can see the West becoming more competitive night in and night out.

[Ship69]

Sometime teams and/or players get on heaters and it's dam near impossible to stop them. Then, suddenly and for no apparent reason, its gone.

Shooting comes and goes. Ship had a tremendous shooting team for a couple of years. I believe one season they had a free-throw shooting percentage of more than 80 percent as a team and they had 2-3 guards that could sizzle on a given night. I remember MacArthur going 9-for-9 from the three-point line in one game. Didn't hurt that Sleva at 6-8 could work the boards or hit the 3s. You don't get players like that every season — sure could have used a couple of them this year.

[Ship69]

Beating a WLU Style team like Gannon is "easy"...on film. Also easy to "teach" in practice. The hard part is doing it in an actual game. To beat them you have to do three things...1. DON'T get drug into up tempo - It is SOOOO seductive for a player when he has broken the press to take it to the rack for an easy 2...but that is what these teams WANT. They will trade 2's for 3's all day long and will get you wore out in the process. 2. Pull their "bigs" inside - System bigs are not really bigs...think of them as tall guards...If you can get them inside with your bigs, they are probably going to get into foul trouble. 3. Go deep...and OFTEN - Even if you don't typically play your top 10 players, you need to against a Style team. Substitute early and often to keep your starting 5 as fresh as possible. Even if your starting 5 are able to hang with (or even build a comfortable lead) over the first half through multiple Style platoon changes, you are playing into their hands...they WANT you to keep your starters in to get more and more tired. 4. Defend the 3 first...even if it comes at the cost of a 2 - Style teams typically win and die by the 3...both percentage and sheer volume. Contest every 3 as if there is 3 seconds on the clock and you are up by 3 points. If you can take away or even limit their 3 game, they become much easier to beat.

Seems easy...but history has shown that it isn't.

One of the reasons it is a good system is that it takes advantage of the tendency of college players toward impatience. It has never been easy to get a bunch of young kids to adhere to a system. Bobby Knight in the two-point era won for years at Indiana simply because his teams played with better discipline and made fewer mistakes than their opponents. Other teams had as much or more physical talent than Indiana, but Knight's teams simply outplayed them. Knight's teams started slipping when players got tired of his abusive coaching style, and the three-point shot made it harder to play the sagging man-to-man that had been so effective at Indiana. Then along came the shot clock, which has gone from 45 to 35 and now to 30 seconds, making it more attractive for kids to hoist up a shot in a hurry. I was fine with the 35-second clock, which seemed to me a good compromise that allowed different styles without being too slow. God help us if the colleges ever move to the NBA clock, which might make the college game almost unwatchable.

If I had a quick team, I'd certainly be tempted to play a pressing style with today's rules. If you force a team to take 6-7 seconds to get the ball over the timeline, they're usually down to 20 seconds by the time they set up an offense. If you run one or two cuts that fail, you basically end up chucking up a hurried 3 or some sort of double-clutch thing around the basket.

As you say, one thing you do have to do against a WL-style team is defend the 3. In the Gannon-Millersville game Saturday, Millersville simply wasn't reacting quickly enough to the three-point shooters, Gannon was red-hot, and the Marauders got crushed. If they're not going to defend any better this weekend, they'd better hope West Liberty has an off day. I didn't see the first Gannon-Millersville game, which Millersville won easily. I'm assuming either Millersville defended better that game or Gannon just couldn't hit anything.

I certainly agree that you don't want to get sucked into a tempo that the pressing team has been designed to play. I think Cal's talent almost works against them in that respect. They are a very good fast-break team and actually led Gannon in that category throughout the first half. But they didn't have the depth to keep it up for the full 40. Plus, a full-court game often becomes a foul fest, and that is an advantage for the team with greater depth. I think Omojafo is really about the only player that is a huge loss for Gannon if he goes out. The others seem pretty much interchangeable.

So yeah, combine an effective system with good players, and it is tough to beat. It'll be interesting to see if Gannon can continue the roll (and if they can keep Fee) and make a West Liberty-style run in the PSAC.

[bballfan03]

Or if the shiny new coach takes the job at Nova Southeastern.

Some of this was incredible timing, too.

Fee got Omojafo to stay in Erie. Will the land of D1 tempt him in a couple weeks?

They hit their transfers out of the park. That doesn't happen every year. A couple of the star imports are one-year guys.

IUP and Mercyhurst were both way down for the first time in a decade.


All of that said, they've had an incredible year. In fact, they just may be good enough to make a very deep NCAA run. No doubt it is quite the magical season.

Omajafo is not D1 material. While he's excelled in Fee's system, Mim was a much better all-around player than Omajafo (minus the fact he didn't shoot 3s). Mims didn't cut it at the D1 level and Omajafo wouldn't either.

Don't get me wrong - Omajafo is great! But hes not a D1 player for any namesake D1 team.

I'm erring on the side that Fee is back next year. Being from the area and close to family is huge, I believe, but also if he leaves and doesn't do as well as expected at the new destination... it'll be hard for him to get another gig. Having the mark on your resume that you left a job after one year... will raise a lot of eyebrows as to "is he going to leave us after one year?" It's not a good look.

Additionally this is his first head coaching job and while Gannon has had a historical season - I don't believe they're anywhere near Nova SE or even WLU level.

Personally, I think his best move would be to stay for 4-5 seasons and then look elsewhere.

In the rumor mill, its alleged thet Gannon is talking with him already on an extension. Also allegedly talking with Wright on the women's side... be interesting to see how it works out.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Gannon (men) play at 1 p.m. today. The broadcast is pay-per-view.