PSAC WEST

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: PSAC WEST

I don't know ... Staunch has looked real good lately. But, UPJ had nobody to guard him. Their true freshman guard has also emerged the last couple weeks. I also like Mike Beck. I think he's real underrated. IUP barely got by them with Glover and Lombardi both games. Malik both games, also. Malik missed both Gannon games.

I agree they've had their share of moments this year. Take for instance Mercyhurst (of all freaking teams) putting up 93 on them this past weekend (in the Boro).


Tell you what ... if they played this like "Regional Saturday" ... I'd watch all four. Great slate of games. All have good storylines.

[Golden89]

Re: PSAC WEST

Quite a night in the PSAC.

Kutztown at East Stroudsburg
-- ESU swept the regular season match-ups (101-95 at ESU and 102-91 at KU). It's highly likely both teams are going to the NCAAs. A 'Round 4' could follow. ESU is very annoying and challenging to play. The 40 minutes of pressure and deep bench wears teams down. The Warriors have went triple-digit twice on the Bears. For Kutztown to win tonight, it can't happen a third time.


Slippery Rock at Gannon
-- The season series was split -- both winning at home. SRU took it to Gannon, physically, pretty good in the first one. Micah Till got in early foul trouble in the rematch (playing just 25 minutes). SRU is a much different team with Till on the pine -- and Gannon has improved drastically as the season has progressed. The Rock is still without guard Aaron McDonald. It's a big one in the Hammermill. Two 20-win teams ... one turns in uniforms tomorrow. Tough game to predict. Gannon is better overall, but it comes down to the Till factor. If he can stay on the floor, SRU can win. God Bless the officials tonight. A lot depends on the referees. If it's a crew that calls everything, it heavily favors Gannon. If the refs let them play and allow SRU to be its preferred physical menace, it changes things.


Shippensburg at West Chester
-- Two teams heading for the Dance, each team won on its home floor this season. West Chester laid one on the Raiders last week -- winning by 19. Shippensburg shot an ugly 8-for-40 from outside and just 29 percent overall in the loss. That's not likely to happen again tonight. That said, the Rams rarely lose inside Hollinger Field House -- and it will be rocking tonight. Big, rowdy crowds tend to bring the best out of Dustin Sleva. What a Round 2 tournament match-up.


Edinboro at IUP
-- IUP swept the season series -- winning two thrillers. Of course, Round 3 is a lot different now. IUP star guard Anthony Glover is suspended and will be in street clothes along with Edinboro antagonist Dante Lombardi, out with a broken bone in his hand. That's 35 points out of Joe Lombardi's lineup. Stranger things have happened but the Scots are a rare heavy favorite tonight inside the KCAC. The pressure is on Edinboro, which sometimes can have a negative effect. Nobody expects IUP to win -- or knows how they are going to play. Again, stranger things have happened. Malik Miller gets cut loose tonight for the first time. It's his show now. The hyped but rarely seen Jalen Vaughns is going to get heavy minutes. Cobo Diaz presents a lot of issues. The KCAC crowd got to Jaymon Mason a week ago. Trey Staunch will be a target tonight. Vegas would make Edinboro a 10-12 point favorite (at least). It's Edinboro's game to lose. Can they deal with pressure?

I will happily take IUP and 10.5 points tonight. Edinboro is basically three players; I don't see Staunch being a factor tonight. I've seen Edinboro come back from over 30 down to make a game mildly interesting and seen them rally from 15 down to almost win. But any team that falls behind by that many points on a regular basis is not a strong squad. And their propensity to lose close games is not a coincidence either. I don't blame IUP fans for feeling the way that you feel, but from a more neutral perspective, the situation isn't as dire as it may seem.

Four fascinating matchups tonight ... I want to watch all four!

[Golden89]

Re: PSAC WEST

Am I the only one who takes issue with the seeding, reseeding, not reseeding in the PSAC tournament? The pig tail games, could potentially produce quarter final match ups of
1 vs 4, & 2 vs 6, but the seeding in the semi's is based off of the highest remaining geographic seed?

The Gannon site says that the Final Four will be reseeded, meaning that it's not a certainty that the winner of GU / Rock gets the winner of ESU / Kutztown. Is that new this year? I thought that it was a hard bracket in the past.

[IUPalum]

Re: PSAC WEST

The Gannon/IUP brawl after the game was ridiculously handled just like the Glover situation. Glover should be playing tonight and it's a crime that he isn't!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: PSAC WEST

The key with the IUP/SH mess was nobody from SH got a second technical. I think their previous probation (from the WCU brawl) was likely based on any further ejections.


You'd laugh watching the first technical. For a league to suspend a star player for a postseason game over that lack of an incident ... bush league at its finest. Look how the Gannon/IUP melee was handled. Only one player each suspended for an all-out brawl? Video, of course, was sent to Fort Knox.

[VoiceOfReason]

Re: PSAC WEST

We take pride in being the biggest league in the NCAA, yet they function like a YMCA rec league. I've not seen the SHU/ Glover stuff, I'd just like an official definition of "probation". I'd be thrilled to have a league office that functioned with transparency, and the best interest of the league. Don't get me started on the Clarion football schedule again, this conference is so good, fun, competitive, and bush league all at the same time

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: PSAC WEST

Take last year for instance. IUP vs Ship in the semi's WAS the final. It was a shame they played it on Saturday and not Sunday.

[VoiceOfReason]

Re: PSAC WEST

Am I the only one who takes issue with the seeding, reseeding, not reseeding in the PSAC tournament? The pig tail games, could potentially produce quarter final match ups of
1 vs 4, & 2 vs 6, but the seeding in the semi's is based off of the highest remaining geographic seed?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: PSAC WEST

Quite a night in the PSAC.

Kutztown at East Stroudsburg
-- ESU swept the regular season match-ups (101-95 at ESU and 102-91 at KU). It's highly likely both teams are going to the NCAAs. A 'Round 4' could follow. ESU is very annoying and challenging to play. The 40 minutes of pressure and deep bench wears teams down. The Warriors have went triple-digit twice on the Bears. For Kutztown to win tonight, it can't happen a third time.


Slippery Rock at Gannon
-- The season series was split -- both winning at home. SRU took it to Gannon, physically, pretty good in the first one. Micah Till got in early foul trouble in the rematch (playing just 25 minutes). SRU is a much different team with Till on the pine -- and Gannon has improved drastically as the season has progressed. The Rock is still without guard Aaron McDonald. It's a big one in the Hammermill. Two 20-win teams ... one turns in uniforms tomorrow. Tough game to predict. Gannon is better overall, but it comes down to the Till factor. If he can stay on the floor, SRU can win. God Bless the officials tonight. A lot depends on the referees. If it's a crew that calls everything, it heavily favors Gannon. If the refs let them play and allow SRU to be its preferred physical menace, it changes things.


Shippensburg at West Chester
-- Two teams heading for the Dance, each team won on its home floor this season. West Chester laid one on the Raiders last week -- winning by 19. Shippensburg shot an ugly 8-for-40 from outside and just 29 percent overall in the loss. That's not likely to happen again tonight. That said, the Rams rarely lose inside Hollinger Field House -- and it will be rocking tonight. Big, rowdy crowds tend to bring the best out of Dustin Sleva. What a Round 2 tournament match-up.


Edinboro at IUP
-- IUP swept the season series -- winning two thrillers. Of course, Round 3 is a lot different now. IUP star guard Anthony Glover is suspended and will be in street clothes along with Edinboro antagonist Dante Lombardi, out with a broken bone in his hand. That's 35 points out of Joe Lombardi's lineup. Stranger things have happened but the Scots are a rare heavy favorite tonight inside the KCAC. The pressure is on Edinboro, which sometimes can have a negative effect. Nobody expects IUP to win -- or knows how they are going to play. Again, stranger things have happened. Malik Miller gets cut loose tonight for the first time. It's his show now. The hyped but rarely seen Jalen Vaughns is going to get heavy minutes. Cobo Diaz presents a lot of issues. The KCAC crowd got to Jaymon Mason a week ago. Trey Staunch will be a target tonight. Vegas would make Edinboro a 10-12 point favorite (at least). It's Edinboro's game to lose. Can they deal with pressure?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: PSAC WEST

You can see Joe's interview on the IUP site. It uploaded this morning.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: PSAC WEST

2 questions....

1. If they burn Foster's shirt, are they an Elite 8/ Final 4 team?
2. If IUP loses to Boro, are we certain they don't fall out of the top 8?

1. Doubtful ... although you can't score if you don't shoot
2. Hard to say. My hunch is pending there are no surprise winners in the conference tournaments, they will still get in with a loss tomorrow. All but three in the region take another loss this week.

[VoiceOfReason]

Re: PSAC WEST

2 questions....

1. If they burn Foster's shirt, are they an Elite 8/ Final 4 team?
2. If IUP loses to Boro, are we certain they don't fall out of the top 8?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: PSAC WEST

I think it's safe to say Liggins wrapped up West POY last night with his 26 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists ... deservedly so. He reminds me a lot of Brandon Norfleet. Their games are similar and they are built just about identically.

How about Trey Staunch ... in 22 minutes he went for 22 points and 9 rebounds on 8-for-10 FGs and 6-6 FTs.

He may be bored tomorrow night without Dante Lombardi around.

If you'd have told me before the game Jaymon Mason and Anthony Coleman would have a combined 12 points ... I wouldn't have given Edinboro a chance. The Scots didn't shoot real well (42% FG and 23% from deep) but were money at the FT line (19-21). It sounded like a great crowd up there. They'll have to deal with the opposite effect tomorrow.


The game also ended the stellar careers of UPJ's Dale Clancy and Isaac Vescovi. Both will be very successful in life -- and both would likely make great coaches should they stay in the game. Vescovi is a 4.0 GPA mathematics major. The Mountain Cats will return future stars Josh Wise and Drew Magestro next winter -- nice building blocks -- but desperately need to add some size. They got crushed last night under the basket. Coach Rukavina has a way of finding guys. But, replacing Clancy and Vescovi won't be easy.

[IUPalum]

Re: PSAC WEST

Herman Edwards once said. "You play to win the game!'

[IUsuallyPonder]

Re: PSAC WEST

It's a tough call. When Pat Narduzzi was grilled on it ... his response was, paraphrase, ... when you're in that position (redshirt) you're one play away from being the backup or the man. That's unfortunately the nature of it. That's why they're here.


Recall the situation Pitt was in at the end of the season. Kenny Pickett was going to redshirt until Pitt lost its starter in the Syracuse game, then Ben Dinucci's helmet came off ... so Pickett had to enter to run a play ... burning his redshirt. Narduzzi was heavily criticized for it at the time ... why not just let a WR take the snap. Of course, when Pickett beat No. 2 Miami on Thanksgiving ... opinions changed.

Odds are Dante is done for the season -- certainly at any level of effectiveness. Do you try and salvage this year or save a fourth year for down the road?

That's why Joe makes the big bucks. All I'm saying is don't be shocked.

Great analysis - especially when it's possible Dante is (most likely) out for the year. Do you basically say this is a wasted year, or try to make something out of it? Boy, I wouldn't want to be in Joe's position.