PSAC WEST

[IUPalum]

IUP laying a massive turd at the moment. Down 15-6 about 5 minutes in. Must be all the masks.

[Fightingscot82]

IUP laying a massive turd at the moment. Down 15-6 about 5 minutes in. Must be all the masks.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

On paper, today isn't a great overall lineup. But, there are two big ones on the board. And, thank goodness that thrilling Penn State Brandywine at West Chester game was played last night. The Rams won by 50, 99-49. I was going to set the line at 49.5.


Mercyhurst at Clarion - The first meeting was a massacre. The Lakers did anything they wanted on the way to a 101-66 blowout victory. A month later, Clarion is showing some signs of life. A win today would get the Golden Eagles up to .500 overall -- a place not seen in Clarion in February in, well, a very long time. The Golden Eagles play well in Tippin Gymnasium. When the Birds are Chirpin' (what they call the faithful student section that sits right beside the visiting team) they can be a distraction. Vegas says Mercyhurst gets the win, but, those pesky Eagles may cover the spread. Lake Show -12

Shepherd at Bloomsburg - Shepherd is the lowest scoring team in the league at just 66.6 ppg. But, the Rams only give up 65 ppg. Their host today plays the same type of defense as the Washington Generals. Look for Shepherd to have an offensive explosion today -- perhaps even cracking 80 points. The Huskies will score around 65-68 points. Rams -12

Lock Haven at Kutztown - The Gamblers' Nightmare Bowl Game. Both enter on losing streaks. Both show flashes of being at least solid teams. Both look good one night. Awful the next. Flip a coin. Play Rock, Paper, Scissors. What the heck. It's Saturday. Be bold. Take the road team. Lock Haven -1

Seton Hill at Gannon - The women's game is the main event today. But, this could be an entertaining affair. The Knights won Round 1 in Greensburg, but it was fairly close. Seton Hill has been up and down since then. Gannon has better athletes -- and more of them. But, the Griffins can stay in the game. Question is if they can win the game. Seton Hill will hang around, but ultimately come up short. Gannon -7

East Stroudsburg at Millersville - Each team has 4 conference losses. Both are hot. The Marauders are red hot, in fact -- winners of 9 straight. Millersville won at ESU earlier this year. They have the guard play to deal with the press. But, this should be a spirited Warriors' team looking for revenge. All winning streaks come to an end. ESU -2

IUP at Slippery Rock - Joe Lombardi tweeted out for the 'IUP Nation' to make the trip across Rt. 422. There's some theories it was a cryptic message to the football message board icon. That's probably debatable. What isn't debatable, is Morrow Field House has been a house of horrors for Lombardi. Many top-ranked IUP teams -- just like today's version -- have made the 70-minute bus ride and lost. SRU is a school that for 364 days a year could care less about basketball. Today is the one day it does. Between 1,600 and 2,100 typically attend today -- wild considering a typical home game at Morrow draws between 150 and 200 people. Even the walkways atop each basket have standing fans today. IUP has to start fast. The games they've lost up there they've given SRU hope -- and that massive crowd gets rolling. The Rock has the size to match up well with IUP. The Crimson Hawks' defense makes the difference. Barely. IUP -3

UPJ at Edinboro - Pitt-Johnstown is coming off a thrilling, 71-70, win at California. Last time they came off a thrilling win, they got clobbered. Edinboro doesn't have the talent to clobber them, but they do have the talent to put a scare in to UPJ. The Mountain Cats' offense collapsed against the Mercyhurst zone. The Scots' zone isn't nearly as good, but it just may be good enough. UPJ wins, but this one is closer than most expect. UPJ -12

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Herster took a big elbow to the face in the IUP game from KJ Rhodes. He stayed in. Perhaps he later failed the concussion test.

Olsen is legit. KJ needs to play him 35 mpg. He's way better than the dude from Erie taking his minutes. No comparison from what I saw.

Herster, from what I witnessed, is legit. But, he gets rattled easy. The KCAC crowd targeted him after he mouthed off. From there he spent more time yapping with Row 1 than playing

[Golden89]

I don't understand Pickens starting over Olsen. Or how Joanitas starts when people are out (and does well) then plays 10 mins regularly.

Minus Clancy, I think their ideal lineup is
PG Olsen
SG Paul
G/F Herster
F Mims
F/C Dodds

[IUPalum]

Yeah but he's not been with the team even for home games

[bballfan03]

Yeah but he's not been with the team even for home games

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Looks like IUP now has a good opportunity to bury SRU with back to back games against them. SRU is basically in do or die mode.

Wounded animals can be dangerous. Saturday isn't going to be easy. Morrow will be rocking and rolling.

I think it's clear SRU was looking way past Clarion last night. Actually, I think they played like they were already gearing up for the weekend.

And, Morrow has been a headache for Joe. He's just 6-4 in his last 10 visits -- and was heavily favored in all of those losses. In fact, the 19-20 team barely escaped up there or he'd be .500.

You're battling the crowd up there ... the scorers' table, etc. It's hostile (for this game), loud, cramped, etc.

They ABSOLUTELY need a fast start. Quiet that crowd and most will head to Ginger Hill at halftime. SRU has some nice players who will cause some matchup problems. Their defense was dreadful last night against Clarion, but, I don't think they were very focused. Gerald Jarmon hung 36 on them.

I've been at all four of Joe's recent losses up there. You CANNOT let that crowd get engaged. It seems half their student body shows up for this game and they all hate IUP (it's a football thing lol). But, when Morrow is rolling, I've seen SRU feed off that and play well above their heads.

[IUPalum]

Clarion got the big W over SRU.

Looks like IUP now has a good opportunity to bury SRU with back to back games against them. SRU is basically in do or die mode.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Updated Men's Standings

WEST

TEAM	PSAC	OVERALL	STREAK	NEXT TWO GAMES
IUP	12-2	18-2	W3	@SRU, SRU
Pitt-Johnstown	12-2	16-4	W2	@Boro, @Gannon
Mercyhurst	12-4	18-4	W1	@Clar, Gannon
California	9-4	14-5	L1	BYE, @SHEP
Slippery Rock	7-5	11-7	L1	IUP, @IUP
Gannon	7-6	10-7	W1	SH, UPJ
Clarion	5-9	9-10	W2	Mercy, Boro
Edinboro	3-9	5-12	L8	UPJ, @Clarion
Seton Hill	3-13	3-18	L2	@Gannon, BYE

EAST

TEAM	PSAC	OVERALL	STREAK	NEXT TWO GAMES
Millersville	12-4	18-4	W9	ESU, @Kutz
Shippensburg	11-4	14-6	L1	Mans, WCU
East Stroudsburg	11-4	13-6	W2	@Mill, Kutz
West Chester	6-8	11-8	W1	PSU-B, @Ship
Shepherd	5-8	9-10	L1	@Bloom, Cal
Kutztown	4-10	7-13	L3	LH, @ESU
Lock Haven	3-11	6-12	L5	@KUTZ, Mansfield
Mansfield	3-12	4-17	W3	@Ship, @LH
Bloomsburg	2-12	3-15	L8	Shep, @ESU

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Clarion got the big W over SRU.

[IUPalum]

Clancy is with team so that'd promising

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Clarion hammering SRU at halftime.


#trap

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Cal up 6 at half on UPJ

[bballfan03]

I don't understand Pickens starting over Olsen. Or how Joanitas starts when people are out (and does well) then plays 10 mins regularly.

Minus Clancy, I think their ideal lineup is
PG Olsen
SG Paul
G/F Herster
F Mims
F/C Dodds