PSAC WEST

Re: PSAC WEST

Looks like liggins from edinboro is one hell of a player. 38 points and third 30 point game of the year. Edinboro is definitely the biggest surprise so far in the psac.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: PSAC WEST

Thought I'd catch a few minutes of the Edinboro vs. Charleston game on the computer ... Edinboro is the clear winner of worst live feed in D2 basketball history.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: PSAC WEST

I'm real interested to see how Cal plays at Fairmont State today. I can guarantee IUP will be watching this one very closely this afternoon.

Re: PSAC WEST

The psac west is not as strong as last year. Mercyhurst lost almost everyone and cal lost miki glen and Sierra Barrett is still out with an injury. Gannon lost their only post player and are struggling to hit the 50 point mark. Gannon stats are basically the same as last year with the exception of small improvements in turnovers and a little weaker in rebounding. Last year east went 13-41 against the west and are 13-32 so far with 9 to play. PSAC west and Gannon are not statistically better this year.

[Golden89]

Re: PSAC WEST

What are you talking about? Gannon is 5-5 just like clarion. Do you even watch them? Two wins against the bottom east teams ( Cheney and shippensburg) one against a bottom CIAA team and a win against a 2-7 daemen team. One win out of six against quality opponents. That program has been a train wreck for years. Most likely 0-6 against the top three and splitting the rest would have them ended at 11-17. Not really the train wreck of 9-19 a year ago.

Yes ... I've missed only one home game. The GU women won't be competing for the conference championship and isn't even a shoo-in for the top six to get into the playoffs (and it's a huge decline from the early 2010's). It's not saying much, but Gannon is better, like most teams in the PSAC West.

My only point is that if a team like Gannon is the 7th or 8th best team in its division, then that's a pretty loaded division. The PSAC West is strong this year, even by its lofty standards. Any of the top 4-5 teams in the PSAC west would be favored in the PSAC east.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: PSAC WEST

Records prior to conference play can be very deceiving. The difference in non-conference scheduling philosophy is drastic among different programs.

It will all sort itself out soon enough.

Take the Slippery Rock men, for example. That 8-2 record looks great until you look a little closer at it. With yet another D3 game this weekend, it will soon be 9-2.

Of that, the teams SRU has defeated have a combined record of 17-57. SRU's two loses came against the only good teams they've played (Shippensburg and Kutztown).

Conversely, IUP has a lesser '7-4' record but its opponents have a 63-43 overall record. IUP's four losses have come against teams with a combined 38-3 record.

This Tuesday night, in this example, IUP is playing power Fairmont State. Slippery Rock is playing lowly Ohio University-Eastern.

Point of the story: Don't buy too much in to the records heading in to conference play. Some of them are very fake.

Re: PSAC WEST

This is crazy. A 3-2 record gets you in a three-way tie for SIXTH!! Boro, IUP, and Cal are back to their usual selves. SRU is no longer a pushover, Mercy is improving and Gannon isn't the train wreck they were last year. Not sure about SH or UPJ. There will be some great games coming up.

And poor Clarion might be in for a long season.

What are you talking about? Gannon is 5-5 just like clarion. Do you even watch them? Two wins against the bottom east teams ( Cheney and shippensburg) one against a bottom CIAA team and a win against a 2-7 daemen team. One win out of six against quality opponents. That program has been a train wreck for years. Most likely 0-6 against the top three and splitting the rest would have them ended at 11-17. Not really the train wreck of 9-19 a year ago.

[Golden89]

Re: PSAC WEST

Women's standings - 12/14/2017


boro 5-0, 8-0
iup 5-0, 9-0
cal 5-0, 8-1
upj 4-1, 7-3
sru 4-1, 5-4
sh 3-2, 5-3
gu 3-2, 5-5
mercy 3-2, 5-5
clar 1-4, 5-5


The West ladies had a really strong start. The worst team is at a .500 mark overall.

This is crazy. A 3-2 record gets you in a three-way tie for SIXTH!! Boro, IUP, and Cal are back to their usual selves. SRU is no longer a pushover, Mercy is improving and Gannon isn't the train wreck they were last year. Not sure about SH or UPJ. There will be some great games coming up.

And poor Clarion might be in for a long season.

[Golden89]

Re: PSAC WEST

I'm not saying that the Stroud win makes Gannon a great team. Certainly Stroud didn't play their best game of the season, and Gannon played one of its best games to date to beat them. I'm not a Gannon pom-pom waver by any stretch; I've been critical here and on the GU blog when the circumstances warrant. But I am going to point out facts ... Holding a team to 40 points below its scoring average isn't just a fluke bad game by Stroud; the GU defense deserves considerable credit as well. One question ... If Gannon played at Stroud 10 times, how many times would Stroudsburg break 100? I say none. Stroud plays at home against St. Rose and vs Mansfield later this month. Will ESU score in the 60's in either game?

I'm just relieved that GU got the win. An 0-4 road stretch is devastating. A 1-3 stretch isn't the best, but it's not a killer. Not much margin for error the rest of the way.

Edit: Just looked at the national stats. Gannon is ranked THIRD out of 301 Division II teams in opponents three-point percentage. Every opponent must have their top three-point shooter injured or in foul trouble -- what luck! Or they must be just might pretty decent at defending the shot behind the arc.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: PSAC WEST

Women's standings - 12/14/2017


boro 5-0, 8-0
iup 5-0, 9-0
cal 5-0, 8-1
upj 4-1, 7-3
sru 4-1, 5-4
sh 3-2, 5-3
gu 3-2, 5-5
mercy 3-2, 5-5
clar 1-4, 5-5


The West ladies had a really strong start. The worst team is at a .500 mark overall.

Re: PSAC WEST

Sorry about that, MJ. Didn't know I was

talking about the last four. Thanks for inferring that for me. However, I was citing some facts, statistics ya know, and some observations from the game in question.

Sounds like you were at Bowie? Can I get your opinions on that one? I know a few people who were there. We could compare notes! How does a team surrender a huge lead like that? Here's a hint:no video evidence. Look at the stats. A whole lot of outliers there.

Ship and Kutztown are stretch wins for Gannon. They would have to play close to perfect games to beat those teams, and they're not there at this point, maybe never this season. However, Gannon is deeper and more skilled than ESU at every position, and that's a good equation for a road win.

[quannis]

Re: PSAC WEST

Sorry about that, MJ. Didn't know I was talking about the last four. Thanks for inferring that for me. However, I was citing some facts, statistics ya know, and some observations from the game in question.

Sounds like you were at Bowie? Can I get your opinions on that one? I know a few people who were there. We could compare notes! How does a team surrender a huge lead like that? Here's a hint:no video evidence. Look at the stats. A whole lot of outliers there.

Ship and Kutztown are stretch wins for Gannon. They would have to play close to perfect games to beat those teams, and they're not there at this point, maybe never this season. However, Gannon is deeper and more skilled than ESU at every position, and that's a good equation for a road win.

Re: PSAC WEST

One of the "circumstances" of playing Gannon is that you will be defended all over the floor, and that on the other end of the floor the opponent will have to play defense for the whole shot clock. If those circumstances get a shooter, who might not have the legs or physical attributes to defend for the whole shot clock, into foul trouble on his defensive side, that's part of the game. You have to give credit to Gannon's overall defense from the inside out, with special credit to their 3-point defense. They are very highly ranked 10 games into the season for 3-point defense. ESU is highly ranked in either 3-pointers made or attempted per game. Circumstances dictate that we give credit where credit is due!

[quannis]

Re: PSAC WEST

ESU's two top three-point shooters both played. Nick Giordano (2.4 threes per game) was the one who was in foul trouble -- fouling out in 14 minutes, but was largely ineffective (1/6 from downtown) when he was in the game. Marc Rodriquez (2.3 per game) played 29 minutes and was 0/2 from behind the arc. ESU's third-best three-point shooter, Krawczeniuk, a non-starter who makes 1.7 threes per game, did not play.

I'm sure that Stroud didn't have their A-game, but Gannon's defense, who was able to control the pace of the game, deserves some credit for holding Stroud over 40 points below their scoring average.

One of the "circumstances" of playing Gannon is that you will be defended all over the floor, and that on the other end of the floor the opponent will have to play defense for the whole shot clock. If those circumstances get a shooter, who might not have the legs or physical attributes to defend for the whole shot clock, into foul trouble on his defensive side, that's part of the game. You have to give credit to Gannon's overall defense from the inside out, with special credit to their 3-point defense. They are very highly ranked 10 games into the season for 3-point defense. ESU is highly ranked in either 3-pointers made or attempted per game. Circumstances dictate that we give credit where credit is due!