IUP Women’s Basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That X100! Obviously Reed Thyne is a great scorer and I don’t want to take that away from her. However, she benefits from a system designed to get her a ton of easy looks and Mesa runs it very well. I don’t think she took a shot from more than five feet away. Credit to them and you can only win 37 games (33 in a row) if you’re a damned good team.

Saying that, when Weaver was on the floor it was a different story. The combination of Shae’ and Belle Bosch did a great job on her in the biggest moments, often just playing her 1 on 1. Weaver had no problem scoring on Reed Thyne and was way more physical. Bosch is an unsung hero in this game. She was physical and disruptive on defense and scored 9 critical points. Ellie was unstoppable with the ball in her hands in 1 on 1 situations. Mesa ran three different players at her and none of them were effective. Maggio did what she does and Marin once again hit a big three that sure felt like the dagger. She only took three shots all night but ran the offense beautifully and had very few turnovers.

The only thing I didn't agree with was Craig going slow-down the final 4 minutes. He had Mesa gassed. When IUP was up 11-12 I thought had they kept pushing they'd have blown the game open and probably won by 16-17.

Instead the "prevent offense" (which almost never works) let Mesa catch their breath and before you knew it was getting close again.

To be honest if Weaver doesn't sit for that extended period early I don't think that was even a game. IUP would have blown them out.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I actually thought it was a great IUP crowd and it was a very solid fan showing on Tuesday afternoon, which was an awful time slot. That place can get loud. You couldn’t even hear the band play at times. IUP chartered three busses to bring students down and they were impactful. I thought it was funny that they (the entire football team) sat at the end Mesa was shooting at to start, and then moved to the other end to do the same at halftime. They were engaged and energetic.

GVSU will have a lot of fans on Saturday. It’s a long drive, but a drive and not a flight. I bought tickets as soon as they came available. It might end up being one of the best attended women’s finals ever given the proximity of the schools.

I'd die to have that type of engaged IUP crowd at the KCAC.

Joe and Craig combined have had one engaged KCAC crowd in the last 3 years and that was the women's game vs Winston-Salem (arguably a Top 2-3 atmosphere in building history).

IUP sending the buses and the band was fantastic. Todd deserves a lot of credit on that front.

As you said that Duquesne gym is tiny and the noise just gets stuck in there. The acoustics are similar to old PSAC 1970s gyms (which that basically is ... just a nicely renovated version).

[IUPNation]

I'd die to have that type of engaged IUP crowd at the KCAC.

Joe and Craig combined have had one engaged KCAC crowd in the last 3 years and that was the women's game vs Winston-Salem (arguably a Top 2-3 atmosphere in building history).

IUP sending the buses and the band was fantastic. Todd deserves a lot of credit on that front.

As you said that Duquesne gym is tiny and the noise just gets stuck in there. The acoustics are similar to old PSAC 1970s gyms (which that basically is ... just a nicely renovated version).

They need to send the whole marching band on Saturday!

Every IUP athlete should be there too!

I wish I could go…the chance to see IUP in a national title game this close to home is a rarity!!

[Chuck Norris]

What a game last night. To lead wire to wire in a national semifinal is darn impressive. When Mesa punched back hard after the 12-0 start I was definitely nervous that they’d start to take over, but IUP had another counter punch. Mesa’s two stars obviously got theirs but IUP absolutely locked everybody else down.

Tomorrow is a tall task. IUP has to avoid the absolute disastrous starts that doomed the men in their two NC appearances. A very pro IUP crowd should help in that regard.

I know he was pretty disenchanted with all things IUP by the time he stopped posting here, but I’m sure IUP Crimson Hawks is looking down and smiling right now.

[Bballfan]

Tomorrow is a tall task. IUP has to avoid the absolute disastrous starts that doomed the men in their two NC appearances. A very pro IUP crowd should help in that regard.

To beat Grand Valley you have to limit turnovers and hit the 3's. You also have to put up a lot of points as they have so many offensive weapons. They are beatable and their bench is not as deep this year, but Weaver absolutely must be able to stay on the floor and not get in foul trouble.

[LakerDad]

What a game last night. To lead wire to wire in a national semifinal is darn impressive. When Mesa punched back hard after the 12-0 start I was definitely nervous that they’d start to take over, but IUP had another counter punch. Mesa’s two stars obviously got theirs but IUP absolutely locked everybody else down.

Tomorrow is a tall task. IUP has to avoid the absolute disastrous starts that doomed the men in their two NC appearances. A very pro IUP crowd should help in that regard.

I know he was pretty disenchanted with all things IUP by the time he stopped posting here, but I’m sure IUP Crimson Hawks is looking down and smiling right now.

IUP played about 10 times better last night than on Tuesday. I was rooting for IUP so we would have a loud and raucous gym on Saturday. Keep sending those busloads on Saturday!

Great venue for the final 8. Large enough yet intimate for the size of the crowd.

GV missed about 20-25 layups and short shots last night, and went like 2 for 17 on 3 point attempts. But winning the rebounding 64-28 evened things out somewhat.

The recipe to beat GV was there last night, but UAH was too small. If GV makes 35-40% of its 3 point shots (and that's a big if), then beating GV is very unlikely.

[IUPalum]

Also...Jack Benedict gets to call an IUP national title game for the first time since 1993. Good to see Mo Zukic, Tony C and Jack on press row tonight. IUP is lucky to get the media coverage it does, even if the Gazette is a shell of itself now.

And good on Coach Tort getting some football team members there tonight. Where was the men's basketball team?

Men's basketball team is busy in the portal.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Men's basketball team is busy in the portal.

Joe's trying to get Scooter another year.

[IUPalum]

Joe's trying to get Scooter another year.

Heck, start working on getting Armoni another year. He's already on the bench and can get the ban back together. lol

[IUP24]

To beat Grand Valley you have to limit turnovers and hit the 3's. You also have to put up a lot of points as they have so many offensive weapons. They are beatable and their bench is not as deep this year, but Weaver absolutely must be able to stay on the floor and not get in foul trouble.

I'm not going to pretend that I've watched the women's team extremely close this year until the postseason, but the only item I can offer is that it appears as though the officials from different conferences/parts of the country are clearly enforcing the rules differently from a foul perspective and it's been challenging for IUP. To be at this stage and have foul trouble very early from multiple players in back to back games at this point isn't coincidental.

I'm not sure how else you can defend that Reed from Colorado Mesa. She's phenomenal and her footwork and how she moved was not something I've ever seen at this level in the women's game. But I also think she got some help too from how the game was called. It seemed like they wanted to call tons of hand checking, any defensive positioning around her, etc. There were plenty of times she was aggressively trying to get position in the low post and easily could have gotten called for an offensive foul, but the adjustment to reposition from whoever guarded her ended up getting called for a foul.

To be clear here, I'm not blaming officials at all. It's a hard job. But IUP needs to do a better job at adjusting to how the game is being called from officials they are not familiar with.

[Bballfan]

I'm not going to pretend that I've watched the women's team extremely close this year until the postseason, but the only item I can offer is that it appears as though the officials from different conferences/parts of the country are clearly enforcing the rules differently from a foul perspective and it's been challenging for IUP. To be at this stage and have foul trouble very early from multiple players in back to back games at this point isn't coincidental.
.

You are 110% correct. So officiating is by region. Some in-region do multiple conferences, but when you get to the NCAA regionals those officials are going to be from your region. Of course that is different when you get to the Elite 8, as you are going to see officials from all part of the country.

From what I have observed, in the Atlantic region a much more physical brand of basketball is played. And you are right, IUP has to adjust accordingly. What might be no foul when playing Gannon or Cal UP, might get called with officials from another region.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

What a game last night. To lead wire to wire in a national semifinal is darn impressive. When Mesa punched back hard after the 12-0 start I was definitely nervous that they’d start to take over, but IUP had another counter punch. Mesa’s two stars obviously got theirs but IUP absolutely locked everybody else down.

Tomorrow is a tall task. IUP has to avoid the absolute disastrous starts that doomed the men in their two NC appearances. A very pro IUP crowd should help in that regard.

I know he was pretty disenchanted with all things IUP by the time he stopped posting here, but I’m sure IUP Crimson Hawks is looking down and smiling right now.

The neat thing about this run is IUP is playing drastically different style opponents each game.

Winston-Salem would probably be in this same spot had they beat IUP. They are a nightmare with their speed, size and chaos. I think they'd have beat both teams IUP has defeated in the E8 thus far. IUP hasn't played a team like them all season.

Holy Family reminded me of Seton Hill. Colorado Mesa was very similar to Gannon in speed (slower pace) and style of play.

IUP has a legit shot tomorrow. Grand Valley is obviously very strong but this sure isn't some David vs Goliath match-up. It was hard to take much out of watching GVSU last night. Alabama-Huntsville was extremely small and not very fast (IUP is the complete opposite).

We tend to only look at opponents, but looking at in reverse ... IUP is a very tough match-up. Carey has depth, size, speed, toughness, etc. As the Mesa coach said last night you cannot simply focus in on 1-2 players because the others can crush you. Wilkerson is just a major headache to deal with for 40 minutes. Maggio is a magician and Weaver can hurt you from all over on both ends. Then you have to contend with Marin, who gets left out of the scoring game plan but is capable of going for 20+ on a given night.

Who knows what will happen but on paper this should be an excellent game.

[hawks16]

I don't remember the Jack angle. He didn't call either of Joe's national title game losses?

blocked them out of my memory

[EyeoftheHawk]

I'm not going to pretend that I've watched the women's team extremely close this year until the postseason, but the only item I can offer is that it appears as though the officials from different conferences/parts of the country are clearly enforcing the rules differently from a foul perspective and it's been challenging for IUP. To be at this stage and have foul trouble very early from multiple players in back to back games at this point isn't coincidental.

I'm not sure how else you can defend that Reed from Colorado Mesa. She's phenomenal and her footwork and how she moved was not something I've ever seen at this level in the women's game. But I also think she got some help too from how the game was called. It seemed like they wanted to call tons of hand checking, any defensive positioning around her, etc. There were plenty of times she was aggressively trying to get position in the low post and easily could have gotten called for an offensive foul, but the adjustment to reposition from whoever guarded her ended up getting called for a foul.

To be clear here, I'm not blaming officials at all. It's a hard job. But IUP needs to do a better job at adjusting to how the game is being called from officials they are not familiar with.

In person it looked bad, and then watching the game again this morning on ESPN+ proved it. Even the play-by-play team on the broadcast called out the officials several times. If that long-haired woman that IUP has had in its last three consecutive games is back, I’m going to lose my mind. How does she get three consecutive IUP games or even get to officiate at this stage being that bad is a mystery to me. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her blow the whistle against anyone other than IUP. That male ref was pretty bad as well, but I felt equally bad for both teams at least. Let’s hope there’s a good crew for tomorrow afternoon so officiating isn’t a factor.

[Bballfan]

The neat thing about this run is IUP is playing drastically different style opponents each game.

Winston-Salem would probably be in this same spot had they beat IUP. They are a nightmare with their speed, size and chaos. I think they'd have beat both teams IUP has defeated in the E8 thus far. IUP hasn't played a team like them all season.

I absolutely agree with you about Winston-Salem to a point. They definitely had the talent and skill to be where IUP is now, but they also played undisciplined, took bad shots at times, and that is how they basically blew the game against IUP.

I absolutely give IUP a chance to win tomorrow. There are two Grand Valley opponents to look at who played them close in the last couple months. Wayne State (Michigan) lost to them by 1 point at Grand Valley and then GV lost to Wayne State in Detroit. The first 1point GV victory is a an outlier though, as GV's All-American post didn't play. She did play when they lost and GV couldn't hit the side of a barn that game.

But just last week GV only beat Northwood by 10. Now Northwood had one of the best players in the nation at guard, better than any IUP guard. However, Northwood's post, while good, is not at the level of Weaver. I think IUP has a better starting 5 than Northwood and a better bench. But will that be enough? Again, IUP must limit their turnovers, hit some 3's, and work to prevent GV from hitting too many 3's.