Week #5 - Games of Interest

[rambone 78]

So what's the story with Bentil?

Anybody heard anything?

[Obadiah]

No action last night and only two games involving URI OOC opponents are on tap this Friday night:

* Prairie View A&M at TCU. 8 PM.

* Valparaiso at Chicago State. 8 PM.

[ace]

Rutgers plays at George Washington tomorrow. The current line has GW as 19 point favorites.

If you haven't checked in on Rutgers lately, they're a mess. Eddie Jordan is in year three of his rebuild- went 12-21 in year one, 10-22 in his second year. So far, they are 4-5 with wins over Rutgers-Newark, Central Arkansas, Central Connecticut State, and Howard. They also have zero recruits signed for next year.

[TruePoint]

TCU and Valpo with cupcake blowout wins tonight.

[ATPTourFan]

Rutgers plays at George Washington tomorrow. The current line has GW as 19 point favorites.

If you haven't checked in on Rutgers lately, they're a mess. Eddie Jordan is in year three of his rebuild- went 12-21 in year one, 10-22 in his second year. So far, they are 4-5 with wins over Rutgers-Newark, Central Arkansas, Central Connecticut State, and Howard. They also have zero recruits signed for next year.

Remember how so many thought Dan was seriously entertaining the Rutgers job????

[NYGFan_Section208]

Power 5 conference?

[Billyboy78]

Rutgers plays at George Washington tomorrow. The current line has GW as 19 point favorites.

If you haven't checked in on Rutgers lately, they're a mess. Eddie Jordan is in year three of his rebuild- went 12-21 in year one, 10-22 in his second year. So far, they are 4-5 with wins over Rutgers-Newark, Central Arkansas, Central Connecticut State, and Howard. They also have zero recruits signed for next year.

Remember how so many thought Dan was seriously entertaining the Rutgers job????

Didn't he publicly state that he did have interest in that job, not during the hiring process, but after Jordan was hired? I wonder if that job opens up again after this year.

[ramster]

Rutgers plays at George Washington tomorrow. The current line has GW as 19 point favorites.

If you haven't checked in on Rutgers lately, they're a mess. Eddie Jordan is in year three of his rebuild- went 12-21 in year one, 10-22 in his second year. So far, they are 4-5 with wins over Rutgers-Newark, Central Arkansas, Central Connecticut State, and Howard. They also have zero recruits signed for next year.

Remember how so many thought Dan was seriously entertaining the Rutgers job????

Didn't he publicly state that he did have interest in that job, not during the hiring process, but after Jordan was hired? I wonder if that job opens up again after this year.

And they recently lost to Seton Hall by 29 on their own home court. Rutgers got outrebounded by Seton Hall by 21!!

[NYGFan_Section208]

Train wreck

[ramster]

Rutgers plays at George Washington tomorrow. The current line has GW as 19 point favorites.

If you haven't checked in on Rutgers lately, they're a mess. Eddie Jordan is in year three of his rebuild- went 12-21 in year one, 10-22 in his second year. So far, they are 4-5 with wins over Rutgers-Newark, Central Arkansas, Central Connecticut State, and Howard. They also have zero recruits signed for next year.

Remember how so many thought Dan was seriously entertaining the Rutgers job????

Didn't he publicly state that he did have interest in that job, not during the hiring process, but after Jordan was hired? I wonder if that job opens up again after this year.

Maybe even before the year is over, getting in line early for a new coach. Could have an assistant coach out the season.

[ace]

There's a new AD, who is supposed to have a renewed focus on basketball. I don't see Jordan going anywhere, but this rebuilding and winning thing is not as easy as some think. They have a good pg; he's young and it has shown, but that's a good place to start, if he sticks around. It's not just the record, though. The team has lacked effort and just played some really dumb basketball at times. The only '16 recruit they had bailed and committed to Tennessee instead.

[Obadiah]

Saturday action in the A-10:

* Duquesne at St. Francis (PA). 1 PM.

* George Mason at James Madison. 4 PM.

* Rutgers at GW. 4:30 PM. On CBS Sports.

* Longwood at Richmond. 6:30 PM.

* Chattanooga at Dayton. 7 PM.

* Western Carolina at Davidson. 7 PM.

* Alabama A&M at Saint Louis. 8 PM.

I see the GMU game as the only A-10 loss of the day.


In URI OOC opponent games:

* Bryant at Providence. 12 Noon.

* Ohio at Cleveland State. 1 PM. On ESPN3.

* Old Dominion at Georgia State. 2 PM. On ESPN3.

* Maryland - Eastern Shore at Maryland. 4:15 PM. On BTN.

* Rider at Charleston Southern. 5:30 PM.

* Holy Cross at Hartford. 7 PM.

Other game of interest:

* Arizona State at Kentucky. 3:15 PM. On ESPN.

[RF1]

Rutgers is a mess right now on and off the playing surface. The AD and football coaches were recently fired. Its teams are struggling to compete in the Big Ten and it has had many bad PR issues.

The football coach was accused of pressuring a professor to improve a players grade which had put him on a suspension. The Scarlet Knights went just 4-8 this year, but were rocked by scandal, including the arrests of several key players charged in a series of home invasions, reports of failed drug tests, and the improper contact by Coach Kyle Flood with a faculty member aimed at boosting the grade of a key cornerback who had been deemed academically ineligible to play.

The AD Julie Hermann got into trouble after making inappropriate comments regarding the Penn State Sandusky sex scandal. She had been hired more than two years ago after head basketball coach Mike Rice (who himself had replaced disgraced Coach Fred Hill) was booted after verbally and physically abusing his players. Soon after, Hermann was dogged by accusations of her own abuse of players dating back to her volleyball coaching days at Tennessee, problems she never bothered to mention while interviewing for the job. Hermann also claimed not to remember being part of the wedding of an assistant coach who filed a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit against her — despite evidence from a wedding video she insisted didn’t exist.

Rutgers hired Patrick Hobbs, Dean Emeritus of the Seton Hall University School of Law who previously led the athletics program at Seton Hall University, to be the new athletic director. He has his work cut out for him dealing cleaning things up and trying to help Rutgers complete its transition to the very competitive Big Ten.

The Rutgers basketball coach Eddie Jordan might not be totally safe, but he may hang on bit longer. The new AD has his focus elsewhere which might help Jordan. His being a former popular player at Rutgers also probably gives him more leeway. Jordan's hiring was not even without controversy. Initial press releases listed him as an alumnus of Rutgers but it later came out he had never graduated.

All in all, the Rutgers Athletic Dept has a lot of issues it is dealing with. Any good coach would have to give a lot of thought on whether it is a good place to work.

[rambone 78]

Hiring Hobbs was the first positive thing they've done toward changing that mess. [Since Rice]

Will take a couple of years at least to get things moving in the right direction, but that's a good start.

Don't see any more interest from Dan, until they get a lot better at basketball....not sure even then...

[RF1]

I wonder if we will see another Donaldson column about disappointing local attendance in tomorrow's edition of the Jounral. Providence College, coming off an exciting last second road win and having its highest ranking (#15) since 2004 drew just 8,425 for its game versus Boston College at the 12,400 seat Dunkin Donuts Center.

The nationally 15th ranked PC Friars, entering the day at 9-1, beat Bryant 74-67 in front of 7,369 at the 12,400 seat Dunkin Donuts Center. Being a Saturday day game, there were no work weeknight issues. I wonder if Jim Donaldson is penning an article about disappointing attendance.

BTW-No Dunn today. Cooley however had to play the injured Bentil off the bench as PC got down by double digits in the early going before cutting the lead to 4 at the half.

[TruePoint]

Duquesne squeaked by St Francis PA. Cleveland State being handled by Ohio U. And ODU down a point at half at Georgie State. Would be nice for ODU to pull that one out and get a road win ahead of our matchup with them.

[ramster]

I wonder if we will see another Donaldson column about disappointing local attendance in tomorrow's edition of the Jounral. Providence College, coming off an exciting last second road win and having its highest ranking (#15) since 2004 drew just 8,425 for its game versus Boston College at the 12,400 seat Dunkin Donuts Center.

The nationally 15th ranked PC Friars, entering the day at 9-1, beat Bryant 74-67 in front of 7,369 at the 12,400 seat Dunkin Donuts Center. Being a Saturday day game, there were no work weeknight issues. I wonder if Jim Donaldson is penning an article about disappointing attendance.

BTW-No Dunn today. Cooley however had to play the injured Bentil off the bench as PC got down by double digits in the early going before cutting the lead to 4 at the half.

No Fazekas either (mono) and Cartwright was sick but played.

[ramfan85]

Bryant played well, as you would expect in a" true rivalry" game.

[UCH21377]

We don't play these teams, but I was at the UConn/Ohio St game today at Gampel. UConn beat a very young Buckeye team easily. Hamilton is a very good player, probably NBA bound, IMO. Jalen Adams is very quick, very good, lot of talk among followers that he should supplant Gibbs in the starting lineup. I can see it; he's that good. Enoch didn't play except a little garbage time at end. And yes, they were sold out.

[TruePoint]

ODU fell short. Cleveland State made a game of it but lost by 9. Rider did get a win.

Dayton is down late in the first half against Chattanooga.

[TruePoint]

Dayton falls to Chattanooga. WTH, Dayton? Kendall Pollard is the goat - missed a FT that would have put Dayton ahead with 0:30 left and then fouled the Chattanooga guy with 0:05 left and the guy hit both.

[ATPTourFan]

Not good when the top program loses a game like that at home. That will prevent them from being ranked.

GW, however, continues to roll and who knows they may get the #25 spot in the AP.

[Obadiah]

Five A-10 games on tap this Sunday and with four of the teams on the road, it will be a difficult challenge for A-10 teams to come out on top for the day. Besides URI at Nebraska, we have:

* Coppin State at Fordham. 1 PM.

* UMass at Florida Gulf Coast. 1:30 PM. On ESPN3.

* Saint Joseph's at Temple. 4 PM.

* La Salle at Villanova. 5 PM.


Only one URI OOC opponent in action today:

* LSU at Houston. 5:30 PM. On ESPN2.

[ramster]

ST John's 8 point underdogs beating Syracuse by 11 with 5 minute to go
Fordham up 41-21 with 3 minutes to go in 1st half. Mandel Thomas 4-4 on threes. Son of URI Ram Chad Thomas. Fordham going to win 8th straight game
UMASS off to slow start vs FGCU

ST Joe underdog by 4 at Temple
LaSalle underdog by 25 at Villanova

[RF1]

Fordham is likely to have just one loss at the end of the OOC schedule. They however have played no really good teams and only one game will have been a true road game (@UT-Arlington). All their other games are or will be at home in the Bronx except for a supposed "neutral" site game vs a very bad Boston College in nearby Brooklyn. Fordham is likely to have played just one of its ten OOC games vs a team that is expected to finish in the top 150 RPI. While they winning their games, some by large margins, they are still a very unproven commodity given the level of competition and site of the games.

[hrstrat57]

Happy for Fordham. Might have to actively root for a different rams team....

[BPR2010]

Pretty awful day for the A-10 with Umass also losing to Dunk City. St. Joe's is the only hope vs. Temple as I don't see LaSalle keeping it remotely close against Nova.

[ramster]

Fordham is likely to have just one loss at the end of the OOC schedule. They however have played no really good teams and only one game will have been a true road game (@UT-Arlington). All their other games are or will be at home in the Bronx except for a supposed "neutral" site game vs a very bad Boston College in nearby Brooklyn. Fordham is likely to have played just one of its ten OOC games vs a team that is expected to finish in the top 150 RPI. While they winning their games, some by large margins, they are still a very unproven commodity given the level of competition and site of the games.

RF1,
I agree Fordham is an unproven commodity, for sure.
Their loss to UT Arlingtin was their 1st game of the season and on the road. UTA beat Memphis and Ohio State and lost to Texas in OT. At 8-2 they are a pretty good team and not a bad loss for Fordham.
Fordham beat St John's who beat Syracuse today by 12.
What's interesting about Fordham is the significant margins of victory, but as you note against less than stellar competition.

Today, Thomas and Severe hit 9-10 on 3 pointers with Thomas going 6-6. His Dad, Chad Thomas played for URI. Sure the competition is not good in 2-win Coppin State but hitting 9-10 is impressive with no defense at all.

Just a month ago people here were calling Fordham an embarrassment to the A10 and should be sent out of the conference. I'm not there, instead letting the new coach have some time. He did very well at his previous job.

I hope all A10 teams do well in OOC games for the sake of the conference. I'm guessing thought, that even with a weak schedule many are surprised at their 8 game win streak. I was not a big fan of Paschall, especially his bad defense, so maybe his transfer to Villanova has not hurt so bad.

Anyway, we play Fordham twice, so we will soon see what they are made of.

[ramster]

ST Joe's wins over Temple by 1 point in OT.

[Stop! Rammer Time]

Houston beats LSU in OT 105-98

Ben Simmons fouled out late in regulation, but LSU was still able to send it to OT on a 3 with 5 seconds to go. Houston was able to prevail despite their seeming disdain of playing any sort of defense.

[rambone 78]

Ramster, we couldn't shoot as well as Fordham is doing, if we were doing a shootaround by ourselves.

They have been horrible shooters their whole careers at Fordham.

Now, they can't miss. Yeah, the opponents stink. But they still have to make them.

Our "shooters" have gotten worse, not better. Our FT's have got worse, if that's possible.

338 out of 351 teams.

If someone's not embarrassed by that, then they can't be embarrassed.

There is NO EXCUSE for it. This coaching staff has fallen flat on their faces.

The honeymoon is officially over. Seriously.

[RhowdyRam02]

Please, you've been relentlessly negative for a few years now at least. I think you're secretly happy they shot 50% on free throws today just so you can say I told you so.

[RF1]

Future A-10 road opponent GW just made the national polls. They are #21 in the AP Poll and #22 in the Coaches Poll. PC is now #14 in both and Maryland is #6 in the AP and #7 in the Coaches.

[ATPTourFan]

Need dat quality win! Go Colonials (until we meet at the Smith Center)