IPFW

[ballinhog]

Our first real game in 13 days, this team is far from a pushover. They're picked to win the Summit league this year. They have a very talented backcourt and last year they were 6th in the county in 3pt%.

Gonna be a very tough opener. Should be fun and a good early gauge of how well our guys are gelling together as a team.

[bolo1010]

Hopefully are length and depth will keep them disrupted to get into any kind of zone around past the arc.  Hoping to be able to find the game online somewhere.

[ballinhog]

Hopefully are length and depth will keep them disrupted to get into any kind of zone around past the arc.  Hoping to be able to find the game online somewhere.

This one should be on TV I would hope

[Danny J]

This one should be on TV I would hope

SEC+

[Ironhawg]

Real Hog ball!  Woo hoo! 

[Arazorbackguy1]

If we have any trouble with this team then we will be in for a long year.  For those that don't know, it's University of Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne.  Enough said.

[litmachog]

They are ranked 15 in the initial Mid-major top 25.

[FineAsSwine]

They are ranked 15 in the initial Mid-major top 25.

Enough said

[ballinhog]

If we have any trouble with this team then we will be in for a long year.  For those that don't know, it's University of Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne.  Enough said.

I respectfully disagree. One reason being is it's just simply the first game of the year and first real game together for much of our team. I can actually picture us struggling at times early in the season as we continue to build continuity, but i see us improving almost every game. By season's end and by tourney time, we should be more than capable of beating anybody we play.

IPFW is a very good team. The have 3 guards returning that would give anybody fits and they're very dangerous from behind the arc. Their backcourt has one thing ours doesn't have, yet, and that's chemistry.

That said, at the end of the day I think we're too talented, too athletic, and have much more depth than they do. So as the game wears on I see us eventually pulling away and winning by at least 8 points.

[daprospecta]

I follow CBB as a whole and IPFW is one of the teams that will play hard,sound basketball.  They, like most mid majors are usually undersized.  Our problem(until now) is that we were often undersized and would sometimes struggle against well-coached undersized teams.  Not this year though, I'm not worried about IPFW. I'm not saying we overlook them but I don't think we lose to teams like IPFW this year unless we have a horrible night shooting the ball.

[bolo1010]

I follow CBB as a whole and IPFW is one of the teams that will play hard,sound basketball.  They, like most mid majors are usually undersized.  Our problem(until now) is that we were often undersized and would sometimes struggle against well-coached undersized teams.  Not this year though, I'm not worried about IPFW. I'm not saying we overlook them but I don't think we lose to teams like IPFW this year unless we have a horrible night shooting the ball.

I just hope our recovery on the 3's from the inside back to the kick out 3's are better than previous years. Seems to have been a problem for us but maybe with our length when can at least get a hand in their face to disrupt the shot.

[Champs04]

If we are having to worry about IPFW then this is going to be a long year.

[FineAsSwine]

If we are having to worry about IPFW then this is going to be a long year.

Some of us are sort of nervously optimistic about the upcoming season and will probably fret over all types of imaginary hobgoblins as we go trick-or-treating with the Hogs during this chemistry building phase early on but I am going to go ahead and go on record, the Hogs WILL BEAT IPFQ IPFW by double digits and most likely, 20 or more.

[The Hogfather]

If we have any trouble with this team then we will be in for a long year.  For those that don't know, it's University of Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne.  Enough said.

Definitely not enough said.  You can't do this anymore.  There is talent all over the place, including IPFW.

[1hawgballer2]

I just hope our recovery on the 3's from the inside back to the kick out 3's are better than previous years. Seems to have been a problem for us but maybe with our length when can at least get a hand in their face to disrupt the shot.

Comments:
We now have strong rotations from guards to our forwards play. Previously their scrimmages were amoung each other, Friday's game was the first time since the Spain trip they played someone other than themselves you can bet the game film footage will assist in driving home the need for strong perimeter defense and rotations. Don't mistake this team for last season's team with so many mishaps.

[Swine-as-wine]

Definitely not enough said.  You can't do this anymore.  There is talent all over the place, including IPFW.

We should take every game seriously (we as in the team).......BUT........if we go into games with mid majors,
worried to death that there is a chance that we might lose, (I say that as fans) then we've not improved a bit
since that red headed step child Pelphrey was here. We aren't players on this team, so it's ok for us as fans to
overlook small school teams, and expect to win in blow outs. That's what good teams do, and that's what I'm expecting
from this team.

[Champs04]

I want a good year bad.

[FineAsSwine]

I want a good year bad.

There is something real wrong with that phrase.

[Rawker]

Definitely not enough said.  You can't do this anymore.  There is talent all over the place, including IPFW.

Indeed.  I swear I feel like every time I get on this board I'm reading posts from people who have never watched college basketball.  Not only is there talent with at least half the schools that enable them to beat anyone in the upper half, all of that talent is getting the training from a very early age to prepare for any level of competition.  There are simply almost no gimmes anymore.  I'm not trying to excuse the Hogs if they lose, I'm just saying that the Hogs - like almost anyone below the top 5 or 10 - could just as easily lose as win this game against a team coming off of an NIT / 24-9 year and with veterans coming back. They'll have to play well to win, but if they don't they'll still have 25+ games to come back from it.

[HoopS]

Teams like this can absolutely beat many teams in the country. Us included. Gotta play well. And if we lose, the season wouldn't be over. This isn't football. Mid majors, especially when they return a lot of vets, can trouble. I think some folks need to dig deeper than the name of the opponent. What you find is sometimes squads like this are better than a lot of P5 teams.

[The Hogfather]

We should take every game seriously (we as in the team).......BUT........if we go into games with mid majors,
worried to death that there is a chance that we might lose, (I say that as fans) then we've not improved a bit
since that red headed step child Pelphrey was here. We aren't players on this team, so it's ok for us as fans to
overlook small school teams, and expect to win in blow outs. That's what good teams do, and that's what I'm expecting
from this team.

Worried to death?

You can't say, "Look at their name.  We should kill them!" anymore. 

[yraciv]

I'm going to disagree and think we beat these guys comfortably.  IPFW has not had a lot of success on the road against major conference teams. Last year they opened the year losing to a good Valpo by 14, played at Utah and lost by 17, at Indiana lost by 25, and the played at San Diego State when they were clicking and lost by 24.

This year they just return 3 of 6 8+ ppg scorers. The addition of Mo Evans, arguably their 2nd best player, who they lost to academics last year, will help.  They did lose the conference player of the year though in Max Landis.  Their big time rebounder is a 6'5 guard, so I think our size neutralizes that somewhat.  They've got a good program and might contend for the Summit again, but they've got a lot to figure out early in the year. I think we're far too deep and play a pace they hardly ever see, so we run them out of gym and beat them by 20+.

[The Hogfather]

I'm going to disagree and think we beat these guys comfortably.  IPFW has not had a lot of success on the road against major conference teams. Last year they opened the year losing to a good Valpo by 14, played at Utah and lost by 17, at Indiana lost by 25, and the played at San Diego State when they were clicking and lost by 24.

This year they just return 3 of 6 8+ ppg scorers. The addition of Mo Evans, arguably their 2nd best player, who they lost to academics last year, will help.  They did lose the conference player of the year though in Max Landis.  Their big time rebounder is a 6'5 guard, so I think our size neutralizes that somewhat.  They've got a good program and might contend for the Summit again, but they've got a lot to figure out early in the year. I think we're far too deep and play a pace they hardly ever see, so we run them out of gym and beat them by 20+.

I too think we should win going away.  I just want people to stop saying things like, "Do you know what IPFW or IUPUI stand for?  Enough said.  If we don't beat them by 50, we should give up basketball for good!"

[010HogFan]

Regardless of how good they are, we will get clowned on from every angle if we lose the first game to that team.

[root_hawg]

If your name is 4 letters like IPFW, then Ark shouldn't or better not be worried

[FineAsSwine]

If your name is 4 letters like IPFW, then Ark shouldn't or better not be worried

Number 15 seeded MTSU knocked number 2 seeded Michigan State out of the NCAA tournament last year.

M-T-S-U. 4 letters.

[HoopS]

If your name is 4 letters like IPFW, then Ark shouldn't or better not be worried

if you don't respect your opponent, you will become a headline the next day. Judging a team by their name is equal to judging them by their uniforms, or their band. I hope our players and coaches are smart enough to know this.

[wheelspigharvey]

I like to think our returning players aren't overlooking anybody.

[Kevin McPherson]

This is NCAA D1 basketball = mid-majors have been beating name schools in November AND March for decades, and the parity seems to be more apparent every season. Programs like Fort Wayne and UTArlington, both Top 15 in preseason mid-major power rankings, know what it's like to beat high-major programs. Beating these teams at home won't stand out on a NCAAT resume, but it will help SOS/RPI if these teams can stay within the RPI Top 50-75 througout the season.

I think Fort Wayne could give the Hogs fits in 9 days, hope not but we'll see.

[bolo1010]

I actually think they might hang around for awhile if our 3s ain't falling again but our depth will eventually wear them down.  They have 3 pretty good all purpose gaurds that can shoot but I'm thinking eventually our points in the paint and depth will wear them down.  They have a pretty big drop off after their 3 good gaurds it seems.

Still CMA won't have them looking past this team just like Mike Shashesky( that's how you spell it right? Didn't feel like looking up the spelling so sounded it out. Yes sarcasm) wouldn't have his team looking past them.  Play your hardest and best no matter who you're playing. 

The OP and others on this thread are correct tho.  Mid majors are getting better every year. 

[Rawker]

I too think we should win going away.  I just want people to stop saying things like, "Do you know what IPFW or IUPUI stand for?  Enough said.  If we don't beat them by 50, we should give up basketball for good!"

Expecting a win, but I personally don't think we win "going away" in this first game.  You must factor in that, although we still have Kingsley and DH and MW, we have A LOT of new pieces that need at least a few games to gel beyond the practices they've had.  Hogs' talent and depth should be much better than an IPFW in the long run, but the first game against a team that knows how to win is scary.  But, home court gets us past the scariness, IMO.