PSAC WEST

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Hurst and ESU are forces.

We got three dogs chasing the same bone this year.

IUP, ESU and Mercyhurst are all stacked.

[IUPalum]

MEN'S FINALS

SRU 83 Gannon 69

Lock Haven 77 Shepherd 74

West Chester 70 Mansfield 68

IUP 76 Seton Hill 55

Cal 86 Clarion 68

Millersville 70 Bloomsburg 60

UPJ 88 Kutztown 77

Mercyhurst 81 Edinboro 48

ESU 108 Shippensburg 78

Hurst and ESU are forces.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

MEN'S FINALS

SRU 83 Gannon 69

Lock Haven 77 Shepherd 74

West Chester 70 Mansfield 68

IUP 76 Seton Hill 55

Cal 86 Clarion 68

Millersville 70 Bloomsburg 60

UPJ 88 Kutztown 77

Mercyhurst 81 Edinboro 48

ESU 108 Shippensburg 78

[Golden89]

Gannon - You could say things can't get any worse for an injury-riddled, 0-9 team. Then you look at its upcoming schedule: at SRU, at UPJ, IUP, California, Millersville and at Mercyhurst. It's very likely the Golden Knights are on a collision course with an 0-15 start. Prediction: 0-2

Move over, '76 Bucs!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The whirlwind of PSAC West basketball starts tomorrow. Each team still has one crossover remaining, but it's pretty much all familiar foes from here out.

Records can be a bit deceiving this time of the year -- not all schedules are created equally. But, I'd say the West, with the exception of what has happened in the Mon Valley and the former Hammermill Center, has been fairly predictable. Seton Hill was a November darling, starting 5-0 with 5 blowouts, but the Griffins travel to Indiana tomorrow with a now-pedestrian 6-5 record.

The Week Ahead:

IUP - It's Catholic Week in Indiana. Seton Hill and Mercyhurst visit. The first game is hard to grasp. The Griffins have looked incredible at times -- highlighted by a huge upset of East Stroudsburg. Other side of the coin is they've been beaten up by Mansfield, Kutztown and West Chester. Seton Hill has lost 5 of its past 6 games, and, its early high-flying offense was largely grounded for much of December. We all know what's coming Saturday. IUP versus Mercyhurst. The Hawks went 3-0 against the Lakers last year -- tight battles highlighted by the 'charge heard 'round the PSAC' in the conference tournament. IUP did enjoy a two-game stretch of having a full roster -- something pretty rare in the KCAC. That ended quickly. The Hawks played without starting guard Dallis Dillard and backup forward Ousmane Diop at Millersville. Both were with the team but not dressed. No word on either. Jaylen Stewart was elevated from the redshirt list to the active roster -- likely not a good sign for Dillard (who doesn't appear injured). Prediction: IUP should go 2-0 this week, however Seton Hill has trap game potential. The KCAC will give the Hawks a slight edge Saturday, but the Lakers have won some big games in Joe's house in the past.

Mercyhurst - The Lakers enter the week winners of 6 straight -- all blowouts (by an average margin of 30 points). What should be another fairly easy game awaits tomorrow with Edinboro visiting the MAC. The good news for Mercyhurst is they will be flying high entering the KCAC. The bad news is they haven't been punched back in more than a month. IUP punches back. Make no mistake, this is a very dangerous Lakers' team. Prediction: 1-1 ... They'll hang a big number on Edinboro, but look for a 62-56 type game Saturday.

Pitt-Johnstown - The Mountain Cats have won 5 of 6 -- and won't see another extensive press the rest of the regular season. UPJ is doing what it does best in half-court games: playing mistake free, working the shot clock and hitting big shots. The key to beating UPJ seems to be getting them sped up. Kutztown visits Johnstown tomorrow and has the ability to turn up the pace. After a terrible 0-5 start, the Golden Bears are one of the hottest teams in the league, winning 4 of their past 5 games. KU has also cracked 90+ points in its past two outings (Seton Hill and California). UPJ will have to contend with Kutztown's very quick guards, all of which have been on fire shooting the ball of late. UPJ then stays home this weekend as Gannon visits. Prediction: Vegas is saying 1-1 here. Kutztown is hot, deeper and also battle-tested -- and is very good at defending the three-point shot. UPJ should have little trouble with Gannon.

Slippery Rock - The Rock has had two big chances to get a quality road win and got beat up in both of them (Shippensburg and ESU). Luckily, SRU gets to stay home this weekend. Morrow Field House is tough on visitors. Gannon and California come to town this week -- and SRU has to be thinking sweep. The Golden Knights, despite the 0-9 record, aren't an easy out. They are a couple different bounces away from having at least 2-3 wins. The Vulcans' Saturday visit should be much more difficult. California is good team with a bad record. Prediction: SRU will beat Gannon -- likely by double digits -- and then pull out a nail-biter over California.

Edinboro - The Scots haven't been a pushover -- playing competitively in losses to Millersville and Lock Haven. Edinboro has won two straight (Mansfield and Bloomsburg) but has a whole different animal up next. Tomorrow's trip to Mercyhurst has the potential to be ugly. The Lakers are hitting on all cylinders and Edinboro's offense is likely to have major issues against the famous matchup zone. The Scots return home Saturday to host Shippensburg. While they'll again be an underdog, the somewhat good news is the Raiders haven't been too hot on the road. Prediction: Tough week for Edinboro. This is likely an 0-2 endeavor.

Seton Hill - A trip to the KCAC isn't the best cure for a struggling team. The Griffins' scoring is down nearly 15 points per game from November to December. Were they catching teams off guard a bit in November with their new coach and system? Perhaps. The competition also picked up. Conversely, they are giving up about 15 more ppg over their past 6 games. That's a big swing. Opposing teams seem to have figured out their new zone. Nonetheless, this team has made huge strides from a year ago. And, as we saw against East Stroudsburg, they are capable of pulling a major upset. Clarion visits Greensburg on Saturday. Prediction: The game at IUP may be closer than some think -- especially if IUP is already looking to Mercyhurst. Look for the Griffins to go 1-1 this week.

California - The Vulcans are a tough out. They are losing but have been in almost every game. Cal's starting group is very solid, but with two key injured starters still out (all season), depth has been the Achilles' heel. The lack of depth won't matter against Clarion, but Saturday's trip to SRU will be a tough test. Cal could be in the West race if it gets some players back. Prediction: 1-1

Clarion - The Golden Eagles' recent loss at Shippensburg summed up their season to this point. They can hang around for 18-20 minutes, but they have a drastic lack of bench support. That said, Clarion has played well in stretches -- and, arguably could have 3 more wins. Two road games this week won't be easy. The Golden Eagles will be underdogs in both games. Prediction: 0-2

Gannon - You could say things can't get any worse for an injury-riddled, 0-9 team. Then you look at its upcoming schedule: at SRU, at UPJ, IUP, California, Millersville and at Mercyhurst. It's very likely the Golden Knights are on a collision course with an 0-15 start. Prediction: 0-2

[IUPbigINDIANS]

A big PSAC week starts tomorrow. Updated MEN'S standings:

TEAM	PSAC	OVERALL	STREAK
IUP	5-0	11-0	W11
Mercyhurst	4-1	8-1	W6
Pitt-Johnstown	4-1	8-3	W3
Slippery Rock	3-2	9-2	L1
Edinboro	2-3	4-6	W2
Seton Hill	1-4	6-5	L2
California	1-4	4-7	L2
Clarion	0-5	2-8	L6
Gannon	0-5	0-9	L9

[bballfan03]

No practice could ever be more brutal than a Reilly practice and he never had many injuries. Something is fishy.

That's what I'm saying

[IUPalum]

Nope. No idea what's wrong either. Herster missed most of last season with undisclosed injury and now has missed most of the beginning of this season. Lucarotti played every game starting most and now is hurt. The D1 transfer has only played in one game (in the middle) and is out again. I'm curious to know how brutal these practices are that everyone is constantly getting hurt

No practice could ever be more brutal than a Reilly practice and he never had many injuries. Something is fishy.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Ugh ... Haven't posted here. Gannon is an 0-9 team. I knew we wouldn't be very good five minutes that I watched this year. But I didn't expect it to be 0-9. There have been injuries, some bad luck (losing on a banked-in, double-clutch three pointer at the buzzer) and most importantly, some bad basketball. The next three games are one-loss SRU, at three-loss UPJ, and home against #1 IUP. An 0-12 slate is certainly on the table.

I keep hearing that some players will be back and most injuries don't look long-term. The guys that are left are quite young and Kelvin is still searching for the right combination - it seems like he's tried almost every combination mathematically possible.

At least the ladies are good and make it fun to come to the Hammermill, er, Highmark!

Welcome back. It's been a long while.

[IUPTrackMan]

Couple observations from last night:

……
* UPJ hammered a good Shepherd team. UPJ remains undefeated (8-0) against half-court teams - and 0-3 against pressing teams……,

.

Thanks. As always, great insight. The UPJ breakdown is very interesting.

[bballfan03]

Ugh ... Haven't posted here. Gannon is an 0-9 team. I knew we wouldn't be very good five minutes that I watched this year. But I didn't expect it to be 0-9. There have been injuries, some bad luck (losing on a banked-in, double-clutch three pointer at the buzzer) and most importantly, some bad basketball. The next three games are one-loss SRU, at three-loss UPJ, and home against #1 IUP. An 0-12 slate is certainly on the table.

I keep hearing that some players will be back and most injuries don't look long-term. The guys that are left are quite young and Kelvin is still searching for the right combination - it seems like he's tried almost every combination mathematically possible.

At least the ladies are good and make it fun to come to the Hammermill, er, Highmark!

I think they'll end under 5 wins this year. Even with players returning. Clancy is only hitting about two 3s a game, they have no good inside players (Forte is solid but inconsistent. Whitley plays outside more often than not. Ragab is just tall.) Maybe Herster was playing through injury and thats why he couldn't make shots. But I just don't see many wins. No veteran leadership, even with missing players as they're young too minus Kent.

My prediction is 3 wins and I think that's being nice. There don't appear to be many easy games in the West. Maybe some wins against Clarion, maybe Edinboro, maybe Cal (doubtful).

[bballfan03]

They have a lot of dudes out. Any idea when any of them are returning?

Nope. No idea what's wrong either. Herster missed most of last season with undisclosed injury and now has missed most of the beginning of this season. Lucarotti played every game starting most and now is hurt. The D1 transfer has only played in one game (in the middle) and is out again. I'm curious to know how brutal these practices are that everyone is constantly getting hurt

[Golden89]

Lock Haven also defeated Gannon (by 5).

The Knights remain winless (0-9).

Ugh ... Haven't posted here. Gannon is an 0-9 team. I knew we wouldn't be very good five minutes that I watched this year. But I didn't expect it to be 0-9. There have been injuries, some bad luck (losing on a banked-in, double-clutch three pointer at the buzzer) and most importantly, some bad basketball. The next three games are one-loss SRU, at three-loss UPJ, and home against #1 IUP. An 0-12 slate is certainly on the table.

I keep hearing that some players will be back and most injuries don't look long-term. The guys that are left are quite young and Kelvin is still searching for the right combination - it seems like he's tried almost every combination mathematically possible.

At least the ladies are good and make it fun to come to the Hammermill, er, Highmark!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

going offbeat, but I'm putting Gannon Men's over/under at 5 wins and I'm taking the under.

They have a lot of dudes out. Any idea when any of them are returning?

[bballfan03]

going offbeat, but I'm putting Gannon Men's over/under at 5 wins and I'm taking the under.