First, the Summit League standings are pretty much the same. Even the Power Rankings didn't change much through the weekend. But if you somehow missed IUPUI's drubbing - and I do mean drubbing - of IPFW and Oakland, you may have missed the best games of the year in Indianapolis. The Jags came roaring out against IPFW. Five scorers in double digits, a whole mess of three pointers from Sean, and a clear cut victory against the tied-for-second-in-the-win-column Mastodons.
But then the real treat showed itself on Saturday. The women played their guts out, coming back from a huge deficit to tie the game with just seconds left...and then they fouled. Less than three seconds left, one made free throw, an intentional miss, and they lost. But a one-point loss to the Summit League's second best team was a very good outcome. The ladies fought hard and nearly stole one...a great omen of things to come for the men.
The guys come out with a clear game plan: Take the ball to the paint. Alex, Leroy, Stephen, and Christian all did just that. Oakland big-man and probable NBA first-rounder Keith Benson tried to take over things early, but could get going with the four-on-one attack inside. He was quickly off the court, and second-up Will Hudson couldn't come close to slowing the Jaguars down. The Grizz attempted a come back via jump shots, but as anyone who follows the sport knows, the closer you are more you will score. IUPUI won in the paint 58-34. The final of 100-88 doesn't give the Jaguars their just deserves for just how well they played.
Alex Young won the January Summit League Player of the Month Award for his performance through the month. He went for 22.4 points (50% FG, 71% FT), 8.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.3 steals. Oh and he won the Summit League Player of the Week Award after going for 27.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists against the #1 and #2 teams in the League.
Oakland is still on top of the power rankings, but they are looking a lot less dangerous after the game at Conseco. Besides Oakland and IUPUI, no one really scares me TOO much, but hey it's The League. Anything is possible, right?
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Hopefully everyone had a great Super Bowl with friends and loved ones, or in Kyle Whelliston's case, had a good Last Man. I'm pretty sure our friend Jefferey at Ohio is still competing... Student On Sports was at, you guessed it, TEDDY'S! If you haven't tried their Cheese Fries or special Mayonnaise (cilantro is my favorite), do it! They'll be the Official SoS sponsor through the end of the season for sure, and as The Red Zone becomes OFFICIAL on campus, we're looking to keep them on! Corey and the gang have been incredibly good for
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UPDATED SUMMIT LEAGUE TRUE STANDINGS
Oakland (12-1)
IUPUI (9-3)
IPFW (9-4)
Oral Roberts (8-5)
UMKC (7-5)
SDST (7-6)
NDST (6-7)
Southern Utah (3-9)
Western Illinois (2-10)
Centenary (0-13)
CURRENT TOURNAMENT MATCHUPS
Day One:
1 Oakland v 8 Southern Utah
2 IUPUI v 7 NDST
Day Two:
3 IPFW v 6 SDST
4 Oral Roberts v 5 UMKC
For the record, if the standings hold, I NEED to be there for the day-two games. Any of those four teams playing any of the other four will be incredible good, and I hear rumors about South Dakota State's fans being out of their minds. I mean, what else is there to do in South Dakota? (I've been there. Unless you have a snow sled, the answer is nothing at all.)
I got a chance to listen to Young's interview on 1070 with JMV yesterday. Solid interview and it's good to see him finally getting some recognition locally...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.1070thefan.com/jmv/podcast.aspx
ReplyDeleteIt's on here!
You think the 100-88 score vs. Oakland doesn't give IUPUI "their just deserves for how well they played"?! Like Oakland was lucky to close the gap to 12 at the end? Are you serious? Oakland was down 3 (88-85) with the ball with a little over a minute left in the game. The final 12-point margin was mainly the result of IUPUI going 9-9 from the FT line over the last minute of the game, and 4 of those were from the double technical against Greg Kampe. Keith Benson fouled out of the game after playing only 18 minutes (mainly on touch fouls) and the overall FT disparity was insane (IUPUI went to the line 34 times compared to 7 total for Oakland).
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying IUPUI didn't deserve the win. They did. Alex Young is a great player, Siakam had an outstanding game, and Oakland didn't respond well to losing Benson. Hunter is a good coach and the team executed a good game plan. It's not an accident that the only two league losses Oakland has over the past 2 years have been to the Jags. But to say that Saturday's game was a "drubbing" doesn't do justice to the true drubbing IUPUI put on Oakland last year.