2023 Men's Basketball Atlantic Regional Tournament THREAD

[IUPbigINDIANS]

We played with way too much uncontrolled emotion and focused too much on the hype of the matchup. Took about 3/4th of the game to settle down. If they played again tomorrow I’d put money on us

Perhaps. But, Yoakum is the best player in the country. He'd had lit up anybody's rear ends game after game.

The Crutch worshipers can keep praising him but he took Yoakum (and a natty).

[IUPbigINDIANS]

But they held WL well below their average…if they just had hit their shots. You all called it that the bad shooting would be their downfall,

This isn't an IUP conversation. They blew that opportunity (at home). Joe lost control of that team. Different conversation.

[Columbuseer]

We played with way too much uncontrolled emotion and focused too much on the hype of the matchup. Took about 3/4th of the game to settle down. If they played again tomorrow I’d put money on us

I think that was a big factor. For a few, the stage made them play with incredible effort but missing good judgment. So uncharacteristic that wlu had 2 technicals, a flagrant 2 and a flagrant 1. That hurt the team.

I wish players would quit talking to refs and opponents and just let their play do the talking. Hard to get a technical with your mouth shut.

[Columbuseer]

Perhaps. But, Yoakum is the best player in the country. He'd had lit up anybody's rear ends game after game.

The Crutch worshipers can keep praising him but he took Yoakum (and a natty).

St. Crutch proved one can win it all with this style and should silence the naysayers. Yoakum graduated and was at wlu for 5 years. I don't blame him for leaving and getting a masters.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I think that was a big factor. For a few, the stage made them play with incredible effort but missing good judgment. So uncharacteristic that wlu had 2 technicals, a flagrant 2 and a flagrant 1. That hurt the team.

I wish players would quit talking to refs and opponents and just let their play do the talking. Hard to get a technical with your mouth shut.

Not sure it was uncharacteristic. They just finally got called for it.

[IUPHawks24]

Not sure it was uncharacteristic. They just finally got called for it.

Exactly. Dirty ass team. Got what they deserved. Never seen a team flop so much either the last couple years when I watched them at the Regional.

[IUP24]

Exactly. Dirty ass team. Got what they deserved. Never seen a team flop so much either the last couple years when I watched them at the Regional.

I could be wrong, but if the technology is not available, I don’t think officials can call flagrant fouls since they can’t review them. I saw Sarson do stuff over the line in that game against Mercyhurst. He’s a hot head.

You can get away with that stuff when you a student operating one camera. When there’s 30 cameras run by professionals that catch everything, you can’t.

[IUP24]

I think that was a big factor. For a few, the stage made them play with incredible effort but missing good judgment. So uncharacteristic that wlu had 2 technicals, a flagrant 2 and a flagrant 1. That hurt the team.

I wish players would quit talking to refs and opponents and just let their play do the talking. Hard to get a technical with your mouth shut.

Maybe they take after their head coach.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Maybe they take after their head coach.

It starts there. From the way he carries himself to the nonsense he spews in his interviews, the kids take on that demeanor. Looks like a Napoleon complex to me. It’s not all of the WL players, but there are a few that can’t make a play without getting in the face of an opposing player. Those same players apparently never commit a fowl either because they complain about every single one. That was an ugly look for WL yesterday. Sarson was on the radar screen from the opening tap in the regional when he was constantly getting in Kromka’s face. To Kromka’s credit, he ignored it. He’s a classy player, while Sarson is…well…Sarson.

To Columbuseer’s point, just play the game and don’t act like a clown. Let your play do the talking and quit trying to act like it’s somehow WL against everybody.

[Columbuseer]

Maybe they take after their head coach.

Their head coach definitely does not encourage this behavior. He did not do it as a player. Over the last 6 years, i have seen very few technicals and can't remember the last flagrant.
i am hoping this experience will teach some players to play with more maturity and better judgment.

[IUP24]

Their head coach definitely does not encourage this behavior. He did not do it as a player. Over the last 6 years, i have seen very few technicals and can't remember the last flagrant.
i am hoping this experience will teach some players to play with more maturity and better judgment.

To EyeoftheHawk’s point, Howlett needs to mature as a coach. He made the entire regional “West Liberty against the world.” His team was ranked in the top 5 in the country. He made postgame comments that suggested the entire thing was a PSAC vs MEC thing. He talked like he was a poster on this very message board. Who knows, maybe he is. You’d be surprised at how many coaches read and post here. The last 2-3 minutes of the game against IUP were spent flailing his arms up and playing to the crowd. When you’re the walk on at the end of the bench, I get it. When you’re the paid professional coaching, grow up some.

Players don’t play or act the way West Liberty so frequently does unless they think it’s okay to do so. At some point, you need to move on from the us against the world, poor little West Lib, bunker mentality. Best winning % in college basketball since 2010.

[IUPNation]

To EyeoftheHawk’s point, Howlett needs to mature as a coach. He made the entire regional “West Liberty against the world.” His team was ranked in the top 5 in the country. He made postgame comments that suggested the entire thing was a PSAC vs MEC thing. He talked like he was a poster on this very message board. Who knows, maybe he is. You’d be surprised at how many coaches read and post here. The last 2-3 minutes of the game against IUP were spent flailing his arms up and playing to the crowd. When you’re the walk on at the end of the bench, I get it. When you’re the paid professional coaching, grow up some.

Players don’t play or act the way West Liberty so frequently does unless they think it’s okay to do so. At some point, you need to move on from the us against the world, poor little West Lib, bunker mentality. Best winning % in college basketball since 2010.

I was waiting for sone sort of fracas to break out…sone of those West Liberty players looked like they wanted to fight.

[Columbuseer]

To EyeoftheHawk’s point, Howlett needs to mature as a coach. He made the entire regional “West Liberty against the world.” His team was ranked in the top 5 in the country. He made postgame comments that suggested the entire thing was a PSAC vs MEC thing. He talked like he was a poster on this very message board. Who knows, maybe he is. You’d be surprised at how many coaches read and post here. The last 2-3 minutes of the game against IUP were spent flailing his arms up and playing to the crowd. When you’re the walk on at the end of the bench, I get it. When you’re the paid professional coaching, grow up some.

Players don’t play or act the way West Liberty so frequently does unless they think it’s okay to do so. At some point, you need to move on from the us against the world, poor little West Lib, bunker mentality. Best winning % in college basketball since 2010.

I will have to watch the post game press conferences again. I don't recall any negative statements toward PSAC or the opponent. He definitely believes the KCAC is a difficult place to win against IUP. He has much respect for PSAC teams.

I think his gestures you mention were to the wlu crowd to encourage them to show appreciation to the team for accomplishing a daunting task in winning the game against the team that was #1 for much of the year.

After a loss, some folks used to criticize St. Crutch for not being fiery enough. Everyone sees things differently. Just different personalities.

[boatcapt]

You're right about that (unless you go get Fee, as someone pointed out previously). But the downside is that if you try to play the WLU system without the horses, it will probably look like bad basketball in a hurry. As the IUP posters like to point out, the system works because the right players are playing it. The wrong players in the system = a .500 Bluefield State team. I would hope Lamberti would have the ability to get the right players into the system, or WLU wouldn't look like WLU basketball either.

"Athletic ability" is a relatively new recruting goal of WLU. I think you can play the WLU Style with less gifted athletes. In fact, having gifted athletes comes with its own problems that seem to popup every season to some degree. Every system (and make no mistake, every team runs a system) requires players with particular skill sets for it ti be successful. Very few coaches change their system to meet the skills of their players or, in fact, recruit players that don't meet the skills of their systems. Take IUP for example, it will never happen but if Joe overnight decided to play the WLU Style, his team would look pretty bad...They don't have the horses to do it.