IUPUI - Observations from Indy

[tbone77]

Mrs tbone and I travelled to Indy to watch the games. The women's game was closely contested. We hit free throws we win.

The men's game was once again the tale of two halves.

First ten minutes all ORU. Aggressive man defense. Good shooting. Good perimeter ball movement on offense. L.O. all over the place doing amazing things, and Caleb was Caleb (a great thing). JB is feeding the ball and not trying to do too much. He was shooting the 3 ball nicely.

Then we let them back in the game. Some really bonehead turnovers and one obvious miss on the part of the ref. The ref said Eric Folkes kicked the ball on his own dribble when it was clear to most of the fieldhouse that the defender kicked the ball. Mickey enters the game and immediately passes to IUPUI the first time he touches the ball. Our 12 point lead is down to 2 with about 4 minutes to go. We get it back to 4 at half.

The second half starts nicely. I think we get the lead back to 9 or so, and IUPUI changes its offensive tactics. They let George Hill take the ball at the top of the key and basically go one-on-ORU in dribble penetration and the guy goes crazy for about the next three to four possessions. We cannot stop him. He makes some of the most contorted and amazing shots under the basket. But he makes them. He gets LO to foul him a couple of times during this period and LO has to take a seat. We don't have anybody else that can effectively stop the penetration either, but we do finally start collapsing on him in the paint. He starts passing to the corner and the IUPUI guys must have swallowed GPS lasers at halftime. They were not shooting well the first half (27% 3 pt pct), but now they can't miss and start draining threes.

We got looks. We played a different offensive set wherein the PG moves the ball around until we have about 12 seconds left on the shot clock with Caleb on the FT line. At about 10 seconds left, Yemi moves up to screen Caleb's defender. PG passes to Caleb and Caleb moves around the screened defender. He either goes up with a shot or passes to a wing. He made one spectacular pass to LO underneath and we couldn't make the basket. Caleb drew a ton of fouls in this set and made most of his FT's.

I saw some of the IUPUI talking about Van Senus being "the man" on Caleb. Boy I didn't see it that way. I don't mean to dis the guy, but he can't carry Caleb's water. Can you say slow? He fouled on about every attempted defense and fouled out with 7 minutes of court time. However, we went COLD for several minutes. Drew hit a couple and JB got a 3 to fall at a critical moment. Eric Fowlkes didn't play as well as he can.

Chris didn't get many chances and neither did Moses. I am sure Hunter had read the box from the Oakland game and Chris was well-defended. However, I thought he and Moses should have had more minutes.

Mickey only pulled ONE board but they were pretty weak at center as well.

IMO, we lost to a very hot shooting Jag team in a game that became street ball....effective street ball for the Jags. The refs were not a real issue as I saw it.

Comments about IUPUI:

1. The floor was wet at both ends. At one point LO is down on his hands and knees for what seemed like 2-3 minutes trying to wipe up the moisture. They apparently don't have anybody to do this at the "Jungle".

2. Very high school feel in the gym. You have to walk under the baskets to go to the restrooms or concession areas. The swimming facility must be one of the best in the country. Amazing.

3. This was "the biggest regular season game in IUPUI div 1 history" according to Hunter, but it only got about 4" of print on page 8 in the Indy paper Sunday. Valpo got bigger headlines on the same page. Apparently IUPUI doesn't get much love even in the hometown.

4. Hunter was dancing on the floor after the game for quite some time. I think he is probably a good guy who loves his job, but can't quite get the "its all about me" thing to go away after watching him. But he did get a win in the biggest game of his career (his words) so maybe I shouldn't be too critical.

5. The maniacs were great. Yes there were more Jags to make more noise in the crackerbox gym. However, the rehearsed moves and cheers were great. I saw alot of IUPUI fans laughing and pointing often during the game during many of the rehearsed moves and ref jeers. I heard one IUPUI fan tell a couple of the maniacs in a good natured manner that "although they sucked, he liked them and thought they were quite good". I guess a compliment.

6. We sat by some nice IUPUI folks. They put up with our cheering and we threw some props to Hill and Brandon Cole who both played very well. They were amazed we would travel to Indy, and could never imagine going to Tulsa to watch a game.

It is a bummer to lose a game we could win. We enjoyed the other side of watching road wins at SW Mo State last year and Wichita the year before. Guess it was time for a humble trip home.

Sorry this turned into a book.

[Jaguar_Fan]

Hello all. Some of you might remember me from the ORU board that used to be apart of the Rivals network. I was the lone IUPUI fan who dropped by ever once in awhile with the username HoosierBoy.

Now your board has changed to a much friendlier format, and I've changed my username to update the times.

Last night's ballgame was simply fantastic, and in terms of importance, it was easily the biggest game to ever be played in the IUPUI Gymnasium.

After seeing all the Mid Con teams play this season, it's clear that IUPUI and Oral Roberts are 1-2 in the conference, and the conference and overall records reflect that.

I agree with tbone's analysis on the women's game. Your student section had a MAJOR impact on the atmosphere of the women's game, and I'll even admit, that was a "home game" for you.

The ORU students were loud, proud, and I thought really affected the play of the IUPUI women's team. The Jags just didn't look good in any phase, and seemed really rattled.

However, ORU kept missing a lot of free throws in cluch situations, and IUPUI took full advantage and won the ballgame.

Now onto the men's. I think ORU thought that if they were to send quite a few students to this game, that their presense would be able to change the atmosphere because they would be louder and bigger than IUPUI crowds in the past.

Thankfully, I can say this was not meant to be. That was easily the loudest I've ever heard the IUPUI Gymnasium, and outside of any game against Valpo or Ball State, that was easily the largest student section we've ever had at a ballgame.

The Jag student section did drown out the ORU students, and I was surprised at how the ORU students seemed more into the women's game than the men's. Even when ORU was up 12 in the first half of the men's game, and 9 in the second, I was thinking they'd be louder than what they were.

If I were ORU, I would have been surprised at the amount of IUPUI fans, and how loud they were. In years past, this simply would not have been the case.

Now onto the game. This IUPUI team is really special. As has been mentioned previously, we just find ways to win when down in the second half, and we've done it all year long.

Shooting over 70% against a team that had been holding opponets under 60 points a game lately is very impressive. 50 points in the 2nd half....if you would have told me we would have done that on ORU I would have laughed.

This team is very mentally tough, and they have an attitude and swagger that they will not lose, especially in "The Jungle." We're also a very balanced team as well. George Hill is going to get his because he is a very special talent. However, Brandon Cole is capable of having a big night, Byles is capable of having a big night. Burks and Barlow are also capable of having big nights.

ORU is a very impressive team, and what more can you say about Caleb Green that hasn't been said already? What I was impressed with were some of his passes.

Obviously his offensive moves speak for themselves. I was also upset that at times we were so focused on stopping Green inside that we left some of your three point shooters open in Bluitt and Meloy.

IUPUI fans know all to well about Bluitt making threes.....after all he was the one who sent the game into overtime two years ago at IUPUI.

And there are many reasons why Van Senus doesn't play all that much. You're right, he is slow, and he's still got a lot of work to do, but he's getting better. He has size and height and that cannot be taught.

I was also disappointed in the lack of coverage about the game in the Indianapolis Star. The biggest home victory in the program's history doesn't even get coverage from a writer of the paper.....that's sad.

With all that said, I do think that these two teams will see each other in Tulsa once again. I do think ORU is a little better talent wise than IUPUI, but I do think that IUPUI is a lot tougher mentally, and I just like Hunter a little better with the Xs an Os than I do Sutton. It'll be another battle that's for sure.

I hope Indianapolis was an enjoyable place to visit.

[Jaguar_Fan]

One more thing to add from the IUPUI prespective. This program just finished up it's biggest regular season week at 4-0.

That's HUGE for this program to go 4-0 which each game was bigger than the rest in terms of importance and history. IUPUI handled the pressure great, the Jags just never really seem bothered by it.

We beat Valpo for the first time ever in Indianapolis, and then we knocked off Oral Roberts in front of probably the largest crowd ever in that place.

The crowds were great during the home stand.

To be on the brink of a regular season conference title, that's pretty special for us

[tmh8286]

Thanks tbone and Jaguar_Fan for two excellent reports, from opposite sides of the gymnasium! It was really great to get both perspectives.

tbone, glad you and Mrs. tbone were able to make the trip and see a truly great game. Hard fought in every way. Must have been fun.

Jaguar_Fan, I wanted to just comment on what you said about the Maniacs being sent by ORU - the University didn't send them, they raised the money themselves to make the trip up. Also, as you might have read elsewhere on the board, many of the ORU fans there were actually family and friends of Eric Fowlkes that bussed down from Milwaukee. That's a minor detail, I know, but I wanted you to realize that the University didn't really send anyone up as fans.

I also wanted to comment on this quote:

With all that said, I do think that these two teams will see each other in Tulsa once again. I do think ORU is a little better talent wise than IUPUI, but I do think that IUPUI is a lot tougher mentally, and I just like Hunter a little better with the Xs an Os than I do Sutton. It'll be another battle that's for sure.

Without putting our guys down in any way, I would agree with you about your team's mental toughness. They just don't give up, and when they are down they find a way to win. In game after game this season, when they are behind at the half, they simply outplay their opponent in the second half and end up with the W. If you go back and look at some of my old posts you will find that I've been predicting an IUPUI meltdown for some time, but you guys just keep on winning. It's going to make for a really fun and exciting Mid-Con Tournament.

Hunter may be a great coach, but his over the top behavior makes him hard for people outside the program to appreciate.

[Jaguar_Fan]

Being an IU fan as well, I love Hunter even more so because of the contrast he has in comparison to Mike Davis.

I just enjoy seeing how involved Hunter is in a ballgame, instead of seeing a stoic figure on the sidelines.

Yes, I do know that he doesn't bring warm and fuzzies like a Homer Drew will, but at the end of the day, he's getting the job done and the locals love the guy.

I'll give the ORU students their props for driving that long of a way for a regular season game. I can't see many schools doing that.

And IUPUI has won quite a few games this conference season that they simply should not have won.

We should have lost at Oakland at the beginning of the season...trailed 24-5 early.....still trailed 74-64 with less than five to go.... and our only lead of that ballgame was the final score.

We should have lost to Southern Utah at home. We blew a 16 point lead in that game, and SUU had the lead with less than a minute to go in that ballgame. SUU was up by three, and David Barlow quicky drove the lane and got a shot inside that dropped to cut the lead to one. Brandon Cameron then stole SUU's inbounds pass, was fouled, and then made both free throws to win that game.

We should have lost at Valpo....trailing by 22 early in the second half and by 20 at the half.

Right now this team just has the mindset that no matter what's going on, they're just not going to lose because they've shown the ability to come back. To do it on the road at Oakland and at Valpo is more impressive to me than being able to do it at home because there is no crowd backing you, willing you to victory.

IUPUI just doesn't panic when the pressure is on......they thrive.

[ORUHomer]

Hey tmh, you might want to check your sources. The Maniac road trip to KC was the only planned trip of the year and the only trip they raised money for. The Indy roadie, from what I understand, was not planned and was made to happen by some help on from other sources within the University. Does it really matter either way? Just curious. I'm just glad they were able to go.

I, like several others, was surprised by the lack of playing time for Riouse, Vealy, and Ehambe...not quite sure what was going on there, especially with IUPUI's line-up and style of play. I have not heard if they played a lot more man defense than we thought, or if that played into the player rotations, which is the only thing I can think of at the moment. Also, I noticed Yemi once again received considerable minutes but had little to offer on the stat sheet. Not sure what he offered defensively either, especially in the second half. This one is a toss-up for me, especially given that he was a big factor on defense in the games leading up to this when we were holding opponents under 60.

[maniac prez]

tmh, the UMKC trip was paid for by the club (granted the GEC helped in that respect ) but a day or two after we had been back from that trip, admin had contacted me about sending a part of the club to IUPUI. The athletic dept. and coach sutton paid for the trip (or at least thats what I think...). They fealt that our presence could make a difference in the game, and contrary to jaguar_fan's thoughts, we were definately we more pumped and into the guys game than the girls, we had our red bulls before the guys game, and I had to try to keep my kids back so that they didn't run over our own bench!!!! We may have seemed more into the girls game, but that was simply because we were the only ones making noise... We were WAY pumped for the guys game and we were the loudest 50 students you've ever heard, I promise, but that place was packed, and once IUPUI made their run in the 2nd, our presence wasn't fealt too much, we kept cheering and hooting and hollering, but the other 2000+ people in that small gym were definately drowning us out overal... We definately did the best we could, we seriously were freaking out for alot of the game, everyone was so pumped and so many of them said they had such an awesome time at the game, even though we didn't win, it was just that good of a game and that much fun to be a part of... We obviously didn't have the whole group there, we took about 20 more to UMKC and we have anywhere from 40-60 more that come to games (especially weekend ones...) but we had our most diehard and crazy Maniacs there and we definately tried our hardest to get our teams out with a W, but in the end I would say mental toughness for both teams got us... Good news is all that matters is 3 days in March, we'll see IUPUI with our packed house in the UMAC, except we'll have about 3000-4000 more people than they had, can't wait for that game, that'll be fun!!!

[tmh8286]

Actually, I'm glad that the University helped them out with the trip. I didn't think that that had happened much in the past, and my only deal was seeing to it that the Maniacs got credit where credit was do.

The Maniacs work hard all season to raise money for the trips they make, and I wanted to make sure their hard work was recognized. That's all. I really don't have any sources to check, ORUHomer. Just what I knew from the past.

I'm glad you guys set the story straight.

[maniac prez]

Thanks TMH, I appreciate it...

[ORUHomer]

Cheers!

[Guest Blevins]

I have a hard time buying that Hunter is a great "X's and O's" coach. How hard its it to tell your guys to go 1-on-1 with their defender and if you don't have a shot, pass it to another player? They run the same play EVERY time down the floor.

BTW, Hunter played better defense on Larry Owens in the first half than any of his players!

[tmh8286]

BTW, Hunter played better defense on Larry Owens in the first half than any of his players!

Care to explain, for those of us that weren't there, Blevins?

[Guest Blevins]

For two straight possesions in the first half, Hunter was about two feet from Owens, including the one play when Larry turned to corner and jammed on the baseline. He was out on the court about halfway between his bench and the 3-point line when we had the ball in the half court.

[tmh8286]

How many times would he have to be T'ed up before he'd figure out what the lines on the court actually mean?

[tbone77]

Great comment Mr. Blevins. The LO dunk was spectacular.. if it is the one I am thinking it looked like they had him boxed in and he did a quick spin turn around the defenders and slammed it... and (hung just a second or so afterwards...protecting the other players of course!).

Hunter's whole schtick is hard for me to watch. He obviously is trying to do anything he can to help his team win. Like whining and going through all sorts of charades on the sidelines after every single call that goes against him. (I am pretty sure I would say the same thing if he was our coach, although it is a lot easier to overlook things in people you know and support.) I am sure most of the IUPUI folks love his act but it gets really old when there are obvious fouls... and there are always some obvious fouls.

But his antics didn't win the game. IUPUI did what they needed to do to win. The fact that they shot lights-out for about the last six or seven minutes determined the outcome of the game more than anything else in my opinion. I hope we work on defending Hill if we face them in the tourney.

ps ... fyi, several GEC members helped with $$$ for the maniacs trip to IUPUI.

[TD]

Being an IU fan as well, I love Hunter even more so because of the contrast he has in comparison to Mike Davis.

I just enjoy seeing how involved Hunter is in a ballgame, instead of seeing a stoic figure on the sidelines.

Yes, I do know that he doesn't bring warm and fuzzies like a Homer Drew will, but at the end of the day, he's getting the job done and the locals love the guy.

Speaking of Hunter, Jaguar Fan, there was a caller on WIBC's sports call-in show that was saying that Hunter should replace Davis at IU. He said Hunter already knows how to get the recruits from Indianapolis and the rest of Indiana which is somewhat lacking for Davis. He said if Hunter can win at IUPUI he could go way beyond that with the money & facilities at Bloomington. What do you think?

[Jaguar_Fan]

I'm also very active on Peegs.com, and Hunter's name has been thrown around by IU fans as a possible replacement.

I think he might get an interview, but I don't think he'd get the job. IU is probably going to be looking at a coach who is already in one of the power conferences, and has himself established.

I do think that Hunter has a MUCH better reputation throughout the state than Davis, and has recruited better in the state for a long time.

I enjoy how Hunter has developed IUPUI's program.......with high school players from Indianapolis and high school players from Indiana.