'21-'22 VULCANS MBB

[IUPbigINDIANS]

VULCANS surprisingly take the season series as they fight to hold on against a hot shooting (13-36 3pt) LAKERS team. In the end extra successful trips to the line (20-29 vs 11-18) made the difference. Phil Alston submits another vote for POY with 38pts and10 rbds. Pegram with 21and Palek with 13 backed him up.
Looking forward it is absolutely critical that DS reverses the trend and hangs on to Alston, Palek and Collins as a young experienced foundation for next year's team. Any repeat of the exodus from the past two teams will be beyond frustrating.

If Alston was 2" taller he'd be in the ACC next year. The 6'6" height could be the savior for Vulcans' fans.

I'd still be a little nervous about him. If he tests the market the mid-majors are going to fight over him.

Nice win tonight.

I'm now 0-2 picking Cal games this week.

[CALUPA69]

If Alston was 2" taller he'd be in the ACC next year. The 6'6" height could be the savior for Vulcans' fans.

I'd still be a little nervous about him. If he tests the market the mid-majors are going to fight over him.

Nice win tonight.

I'm now 0-2 picking Cal games this week.

Question....if IUP beats UPJ and CAL beats GANNON on Saturday, both the VULCANS and CATS will be 16-6 in the West, they split the season and CAL will be overall 21-7 vs 20-8, does that mean #3 CAL plays #6 GANNON again on Monday ???

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Question....if IUP beats UPJ and CAL beats GANNON on Saturday, both the VULCANS and CATS will be 16-6 in the West, they split the season and CAL will be overall 21-7 vs 20-8, does that mean #3 CAL plays #6 GANNON again on Monday ???

Not sure on the tie-breaker.

That's more of a FS82 question.

I'd 'assume' overall record would break the tie but cannot confirm.

[ctrabs74]

Question....if IUP beats UPJ and CAL beats GANNON on Saturday, both the VULCANS and CATS will be 16-6 in the West, they split the season and CAL will be overall 21-7 vs 20-8, does that mean #3 CAL plays #6 GANNON again on Monday ???

Let me address this question by breaking down ALL of the tiebreaker scenarios (records listed below will reflect outcomes of games played on Saturday, not the current records).

Per the PSAC Men's Basketball Operating Code:

In the process of breaking the tie among multiple teams, each tiebreaker step will be calculated until at least one team is awarded a higher seed OR at least one team is eliminated from the tiebreaker. At that point, remaining ties shall be broken by restarting the tiebreaker process with the first step (emphasis mine).

Based on the current standings as of Wednesday, 23 February, IUP has officially clinched the #1 seed in the PSAC West at 19-2. Slippery Rock is locked in at the #5 seed 13-8 regardless of what happens on Saturday, while Gannon is the #6 seed at 10-11, 3 1/5 games clear of Edinboro (6-14; one lost cross-over game at West Chester which won't be made up). With that in mind...

A Cal loss locks the Vulcans into the #4 seed, regardless of any other results. A Mercyhurst win over Slippery Rock locks the Lakers into the #2 seed, even if UPJ beats IUP to force a tie for second place, thanks to their head-to-head sweep of UPJ (90-61 on 1/26; 70-58 on 2/16).

Okay, those were the easy ones... here are the more complicated scenarios:

1. Cal beats Gannon; IUP beats UPJ; Mercyhurst beats Slippery Rock

(2) Mercyhurst 17-5
(3) UPJ 16-6
(4) Cal 16-6

UPJ and Cal split their season series (UPJ 71, Cal 70 on 2/2; Cal 83, UPJ 63 on 2/14), so the next tie-breaker is record vs. top seeded teams ahead of UPJ/Cal, starting with IUP. IUP swept Cal this season (84-71 on 1/5; 87-79 on 2/9), but UPJ beat IUP 70-68 on 1/24. That gives the tiebreaker for the #3 seed to UPJ while Cal ends up #4.

2. Cal beats Gannon; UPJ beats IUP; Slippery Rock beats Mercyhurst

(2) UPJ 17-5
(3) Cal 16-6
(4) Mercyhurst 16-6

Cal earns the #3 seed based on their season sweep of Mercyhurst (87-71 on 1/22; 79-76 on 2/23).

3. Cal beats Gannon; IUP beats UPJ; Slippery Rock beats Mercyhurst

(2) Cal 16-6
(3) Mercyhurst 16-6
(4) UPJ 16-6

Cal went 3-1 vs. Mercyhurst/UPJ; Mercyhurst went 2-2 vs. Cal/UPJ; UPJ went 1-3 vs. Cal/Mercyhurst. Per the playoff tiebreaker protocol, Cal is awarded the #2 seed, so we re-start the tiebreaker process between Mercyhurst and UPJ. Again, the Lakers sweep of UPJ gives the #3 seed to Mercyhurst and #4 seed to UPJ.

[CALUPA69]

If, as I suspect, the overall record is the tiebreaker, Monday would be #3 CAL vs #6 GANNON and #4 UPJ vs #5 SRU. Should the VULCANS win they would travel to Erie which could get chippy very fast. At the finish of tonight's game some of the LAKERS didn't take kindly to Brent Pegram pumping a larger and noisier than usual crowd and some scuffling ensued. DS and GM also exchanged pleasantries. It could be interesting.
Posted this prior to definitive tiebreaker explanation....
Please disregard everything except the part about the CONVO KERFUFFLE which could be a factor should the VULCANS and LAKERS play again this year.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

If, as I suspect, the overall record is the tiebreaker, Monday would be #3 CAL vs #6 GANNON and #4 UPJ vs #5 SRU. Should the VULCANS win they would travel to Erie which could get chippy very fast. At the finish of tonight's game some of the LAKERS didn't take kindly to Brent Pegram pumping a larger and noisier than usual crowd and some scuffling ensued. DS and GM also exchanged pleasantries. It could be interesting.
Posted this prior to definitive tiebreaker explanation....
Please disregard everything except the part about the CONVO KERFUFFLE which could be a factor should the VULCANS and LAKERS play again this year.

I watched the final minute of the game this morning. That ending sure did get chippy. It was hard to see exactly what sparked it because the camera was pointed a different direction.

It appeared like Miykah McIntosh and Brent Pegram were in the middle of it. McIntosh was restrained by several players when the camera view changed.

Who knows. Those two teams could have a Round 3 and a Round 4.


And, of course, you know what will happen. IUP and Cal both swept Mercyhurst.

So, naturally, Mercyhurst will beat them both when the stakes are the highest. LOL. It's happened several times.

[CALUPA69]

If, as I suspect, the overall record is the tiebreaker, Monday would be #3 CAL vs #6 GANNON and #4 UPJ vs #5 SRU. Should the VULCANS win they would travel to Erie which could get chippy very fast. At the finish of tonight's game some of the LAKERS didn't take kindly to Brent Pegram pumping a larger and noisier than usual crowd and some scuffling ensued. DS and GM also exchanged pleasantries. It could be interesting.
Posted this prior to definitive tiebreaker explanation....
Please disregard everything except the part about the CONVO KERFUFFLE which could be a factor should the VULCANS and LAKERS play again this year.

Watching the final 10 minutes BP was being his usual charming self and taunting especially on one lay-up he got to go in front of MM. Definitely no love lost between those two.
Scenario #1 from above seems most likely which will result in two outstanding Monday night rematches with SRU @ CAL and GANNON @ UPJ. The first game was a season split with the visiting teams winning. The second game was also a season split with a total point difference of 3. Anyone who says they know which way those games are going is really stretching the truth.

[IUPalum]

From an outsiders prospective, I watched the last 10 minutes of the game with the final 2:22 lasting almost 30 minutes for crying out loud. BP was definitely doing a lot of taunting. The officials let that chippiness go way to far. Thank god that the Hurst boys restrained MM because they can't afford to lose him. BP of course was taunting and waving at MM all the way to the locker room. Crazy, hopefully they get calmed down before these possible rematch(s)

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Watching the final 10 minutes BP was being his usual charming self and taunting especially on one lay-up he got to go in front of MM. Definitely no love lost between those two.
Scenario #1 from above seems most likely which will result in two outstanding Monday night rematches with SRU @ CAL and GANNON @ UPJ. The first game was a season split with the visiting teams winning. The second game was also a season split with a total point difference of 3. Anyone who says they know which way those games are going is really stretching the truth.

If Gannon doesn't get some dudes back they aren't beating anybody on Monday night.

[IUPalum]

If Gannon doesn't get some dudes back they aren't beating anybody on Monday night.

I'd be willing to be Herster shows up Monday but past him things have been quiet with Olsen. Clancy should be done with the concussion.

[CALUPA69]

[Columbuseer]

I agree that he is a great coach. Many coaches were happy to see him leave the Mountain East!

[IUPHawks24]

If Alston was 2" taller he'd be in the ACC next year. The 6'6" height could be the savior for Vulcans' fans.

I'd still be a little nervous about him. If he tests the market the mid-majors are going to fight over him.

Nice win tonight.

I'm now 0-2 picking Cal games this week.

He could play for more than a few ACC teams right now. Armoni should win POY because of how dominant IUP has been, but Alston is the top individual talent in the league.

Cal was fortunate last night- Hurst was in control of the game and then couldn't score down the stretch. Had some solid looks for their better players. Pegram got bailed out by the officials on two different occasions, but he puts pressure on them to make calls with how hard he attacks the rim. Not a fan of his antics though.

I think Saturday is going to be a really tough game for Mercyhurst. We'll see if they can get it done. Huge game for their NCAA hopes and for how the PSAC seeding will go. If they win, it looks like they'll probably be in and also get themselves another home game versus Cal. If that's the case, going to be no love lost for Round #3. I just think the Rock is a difficult matchup for them.

[CALUPA69]

I agree that he is a great coach. Many coaches were happy to see him leave the Mountain East!

Don't believe he is out of the picture forever. WU is learning the hard way that winning MBB in a league with WLU, WVSU, UC et al takes special skills and DS has them. As we near the fourth anniversary of the springtime coup, their program is going nowhere fast where as the one he took over is on the rise from basketball hell. DS isn't, IMO, a state school guy. He was brought up in the parochial atmosphere and his wife is Principal of a very successful regional Catholic hs. He recruits the privates (6 of his current roster), and if WU could let bygones be bygones he would likely be able to have the Cardinals, reduced enrollment and all, back on the mountaintop within 3 yrs. Until then he'll do what he loves coaching basketball and wait for the call from St John of the Big Athletic Budget. I'm happy he's in the Valley until then.

[Scrub]

Don't believe he is out of the picture forever. WU is learning the hard way that winning MBB in a league with WLU, WVSU, UC et al takes special skills and DS has them. As we near the fourth anniversary of the springtime coup, their program is going nowhere fast where as the one he took over is on the rise from basketball hell. DS isn't, IMO, a state school guy. He was brought up in the parochial atmosphere and his wife is Principal of a very successful regional Catholic hs. He recruits the privates (6 of his current roster), and if WU could let bygones be bygones he would likely be able to have the Cardinals, reduced enrollment and all, back on the mountaintop within 3 yrs. Until then he'll do what he loves coaching basketball and wait for the call from St John of the Big Athletic Budget. I'm happy he's in the Valley until then.

Your scenario is dependent upon Wheeling still having a school, let alone a basketball team. They've survived so far, but I wouldn't guess that they're out of the woods financially yet. I wouldn't be surprised if they went the way of Urbana before long.