ATLANTIC REGION polls, rankings and blah, blah, blah

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That's really hard to figure. They brought just about everything back. On paper that should be a very complete, very deep team. Not sure what is happening down there.

My only guess is they also added some imports who were borderline stars at their previous schools. Perhaps the meshing is taking longer. Can't all be the star.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Bowie State nearly beat Augusta, falling 73-70.

The Bulldogs are now 2-9.

[WarriorVoice]

ESU had a typical 10-0 run towards the end of the first half to extend a 2-point lead to 12, and put away a very gritty and quick Georgian Court squad on Friday night. They get a break until Sunday the 18th when they start a back-to-back. We'll learn a lot on that Sunday-Monday trip to Seton Hill and Cal.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

ESU had a typical 10-0 run towards the end of the first half to extend a 2-point lead to 12, and put away a very gritty and quick Georgian Court squad on Friday night. They get a break until Sunday the 18th when they start a back-to-back. We'll learn a lot on that Sunday-Monday trip to Seton Hill and Cal.

ESU, my opinion, is the top team in the Atlantic.

[Scrub]

ESU, my opinion, is the top team in the Atlantic.

You have to say that so you don't sound like a jerk admitting that IUP is the top dog. ; )

But I'll say it. IUP, reigning national semifinalist, is the top dog here until they're dethroned. Period. ESU might be able to do it. WLU might be able to do it. VUU might be able to do it. Heck, the Mercyhurst kryptonite might show up in March and do it. But until someone does, IUP is the team to beat.

[IUPalum]

You have to say that so you don't sound like a jerk admitting that IUP is the top dog. ; )

But I'll say it. IUP, reigning national semifinalist, is the top dog here until they're dethroned. Period. ESU might be able to do it. WLU might be able to do it. VUU might be able to do it. Heck, the Mercyhurst kryptonite might show up in March and do it. But until someone does, IUP is the team to beat.

Relax, IUP isn't that good this year.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Relax, IUP isn't that good this year.

I would agree ... there are some issues in Indiana right now.

For starters, we haven't seen IUP at (or even near) full strength yet this year.

At best, Ethan Porterfield has played so far at around 60 percent. He had surgery right after the Miami exhibition. The good news is he's slowly coming back to form and health. It was certainly the right decision to rest both him and Shawndale yesterday.

Damir Brooks is making progress but has a ways to go. Ousmane Diop also didn't dress yesterday (his season debut was expected but didn't happen). The deep bench is gone ... they've all been in warm-up suits the past several games. None of them are on crutches or wearing boots ... so I have no idea what is happening there.

As a whole (so far) this is an incredibly streaky offensive team. They can really rev it up at times but also hit some real long lapses of looking out of sorts.

The defense has been outstanding. In 8 games they've only given up 61 points once. That's impressive. Of the 5 regular guards, 4 of them can be shutdown defenders (Dallis, Polce, David and Bethea).

I'm expecting them to start to hit full stride in January. They have to get Diop back and playing. He's an immediate, huge defensive upgrade the moment he returns. K.J. is doing his best but he's not a low post player.

This could be a big team. They aren't there yet. But, there's plenty of time. West Chester is going to be a tough game a week from today.

[Ship69]

I would agree ... there are some issues in Indiana right now.

For starters, we haven't seen IUP at (or even near) full strength yet this year.

At best, Ethan Porterfield has played so far at around 60 percent. He had surgery right after the Miami exhibition. The good news is he's slowly coming back to form and health. It was certainly the right decision to rest both him and Shawndale yesterday.

Damir Brooks is making progress but has a ways to go. Ousmane Diop also didn't dress yesterday (his season debut was expected but didn't happen). The deep bench is gone ... they've all been in warm-up suits the past several games. None of them are on crutches or wearing boots ... so I have no idea what is happening there.

As a whole (so far) this is an incredibly streaky offensive team. They can really rev it up at times but also hit some real long lapses of looking out of sorts.

The defense has been outstanding. In 8 games they've only given up 61 points once. That's impressive. Of the 5 regular guards, 4 of them can be shutdown defenders (Dallis, Polce, David and Bethea).

I'm expecting them to start to hit full stride in January. They have to get Diop back and playing. He's an immediate, huge defensive upgrade the moment he returns. K.J. is doing his best but he's not a low post player.

This could be a big team. They aren't there yet. But, there's plenty of time. West Chester is going to be a tough game a week from today.

This is always a weird time of year for PSAC teams with the finals and holiday breaks. Ship had a great December last season but for some reason never seemed to click quite as well after the break. If they can get a win or two this week, they might get out of December in much better shape than it looked like at the beginning of the month. Will just have to see.

Porterfield seems to be having a rough stretch for IUP. Obviously you need him near 100 percent for the team to reach its full potential as his combination of size and shooting ability are rare in D2. Hope your non-suited players don't indicate academic trouble. That seems doubtful, although I had a friend whose grandson plays at the local middle school tell me that five boys weren't suited up for a recent game. That left them with seven players, and they got crushed.

IUP should be scary good if they get their team together.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

This is always a weird time of year for PSAC teams with the finals and holiday breaks. Ship had a great December last season but for some reason never seemed to click quite as well after the break. If they can get a win or two this week, they might get out of December in much better shape than it looked like at the beginning of the month. Will just have to see.

Porterfield seems to be having a rough stretch for IUP. Obviously you need him near 100 percent for the team to reach its full potential as his combination of size and shooting ability are rare in D2. Hope your non-suited players don't indicate academic trouble. That seems doubtful, although I had a friend whose grandson plays at the local middle school tell me that five boys weren't suited up for a recent game. That left them with seven players, and they got crushed.

IUP should be scary good if they get their team together.

The two deep bench guys are high honor students. Shawndale and Ethan just got the day off.

Joe got some fringe rotation guys heavy minutes yesterday which was very good. PSU-Altoona wasn't terrible. They actually have one guy I think could play at IUP ... not just be on the team but actually play.

They were way better than Pitt-Greensburg or Bethany was in the past.

That game was a late schedule add. They didn't need to play it. But, it served the purpose of preventing two weeks off prior to Kutztown and West Chester. It was basically a practice against some different faces. They also got out healthy most importantly.

I'm planning to tune in to your game tomorrow night. It should be entertaining. Big game for both teams.

[boatcapt]

The Fairmont hype train has derailed. Falcons lost for the third time last night.

I'm not ready to count them out just yet although three straight losses does make me wonder if they are as good as we thought. No shame in losing to a very good WVSU and Concord is proving to be better than perhaps we thought. There loss to Glenville is a head scratcher but even here, Glenville is proving to be a pretty good squad.

Fairmont still has time to live up to their hype but this three game skid has left little room for error.

I think they need to go 5-0 over the next five. No small feat seeing as how that includes games against a tough Ship squad at Ship AND a game vs 8-1 VUU.

[IUPalum]

The sinking boat has spoken.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

This week's D2SIDA Men's Basketball Atlantic Region Poll:

RANK	TEAM	RECORD
1	IUP (4)	8-0
2	West Liberty (2)	9-0
3	West Virginia State	8-1
4	Virginia Union	8-1
5	East Stroudsburg	8-0
6	Winston-Salem State	8-1
7	Claflin	8-0
8	Lock Haven	6-1
9	West Chester	6-2
10	Concord	7-3

Receiving votes: Slippery Rock (6), Davis & Elkins (2), Virginia State (2)

[Ship69]

The two deep bench guys are high honor students. Shawndale and Ethan just got the day off.

Joe got some fringe rotation guys heavy minutes yesterday which was very good. PSU-Altoona wasn't terrible. They actually have one guy I think could play at IUP ... not just be on the team but actually play.

They were way better than Pitt-Greensburg or Bethany was in the past.

That game was a late schedule add. They didn't need to play it. But, it served the purpose of preventing two weeks off prior to Kutztown and West Chester. It was basically a practice against some different faces. They also got out healthy most importantly.

I'm planning to tune in to your game tomorrow night. It should be entertaining. Big game for both teams.

I'll be attending. We'll see if Ship can put another good game together after hitting on most cylinders vs. Slippery Rock. I'm leery of the game as all indications are that Fairmont has a lot of talent that hasn't played up to full potential, so there's no chance we'll catch them in a complacent mood. If Ship can get 1-2 wins this week and beat Clarion at the end of the month, we'll get out of December in better shape than I would have thought a couple of weeks ago.

[Scrub]

This week's D2SIDA Men's Basketball Atlantic Region Poll:

RANK	TEAM	RECORD
1	IUP (4)	8-0
2	West Liberty (2)	9-0
3	West Virginia State	8-1
4	Virginia Union	8-1
5	East Stroudsburg	8-0
6	Winston-Salem State	8-1
7	Claflin	8-0
8	Lock Haven	6-1
9	West Chester	6-2
10	Concord	7-3

Receiving votes: Slippery Rock (6), Davis & Elkins (2), Virginia State (2)

The bottom half of that is real weird looking with the likes of Claflin, Lock Haven, & Concord. All are having good years to be sure. But none is a traditional power. And the absence of both Fairmont and your normal PSAC West powers (Cal, Mercyhurst, and sometimes Gannon) is glaring. Obviously tons of basketball left to play, but a very different looking poll than we're used to.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The bottom half of that is real weird looking with the likes of Claflin, Lock Haven, & Concord. All are having good years to be sure. But none is a traditional power. And the absence of both Fairmont and your normal PSAC West powers (Cal, Mercyhurst, and sometimes Gannon) is glaring. Obviously tons of basketball left to play, but a very different looking poll than we're used to.

You're right ... lots of familiar names not on that list at the moment ... Fairmont State, Cal, Ship, Mercyhurst, etc.

You mentioned Gannon ... to see that program 0-6 is just hard to fathom. It's been awhile now since the last time they were a force ... going on 8 years or so now.

Cal has (5) losses but they could be night and day different here soon. Danny isn't saying much about when his two missing starters will finally debut this season. Even without them, they've played some really good teams very tough.

Claflin has had a couple of these starts in the past, so we'll see how that plays out.

I've watched Lock Haven this year. They are legit and blasted Cal two weeks ago. The have a pretty interesting home court advantage, too. That is one odd gym.

Concord is pretty solid.