Week #1 - Games of Interest

[Obadiah]

Friday is the opening day of the college basketball season and this first shortened week finds URI with a preseason top ranking 25 in both the USA and AP polls. Expectations are high, let's just hope it's not Hillary high.

The Friday night schedule:

In the A-10:

#23 URI hosts Dartmouth. 7 PM.

UMass-Lowell pays a visit to UMass - Amherst. 4 PM.

LaSalle takes on Temple in a Big Five game on ESPNN. 7 PM.

UNC-Asheville at VCU. 7 PM.

VMI at Richmond. 7 PM.

Loyola (MD) at Duquesne. 7 PM.

Fordham at E. Tennessee State. 7 PM. On ESPN3.

Austin Peay at Dayton. 7 PM

Maryland - Eastern Shore at GW. 7 PM

Ball State at Saint Louis. 8 PM.


In games involving this season's OOC opponents:

Albany at Penn State. 7 PM. On ESPN3. Campus game in the HOF Tip-Off.

Marist at #1 Duke. 7 PM. On ACCN. Campus Game in the HOF Tip-Off.

Also in campus HOF games, Brown at Cincinnati. 7 PM. On ESPN3.

James Madison at Old Dominion. 7 PM.

Southern Utah at Valparaiso. 8 PM. On ESPN3.

Morgan State at Houston. 8 PM. On ESPN3.

Also,
Harvard at Stanford. 11 PM. On ESPN2

[TruePoint]

Annnnnnd we're back!

[ramster]

Obadiah,
Thanks for putting this together
How did it feel to type that #23 in front of the URI? Hopefully you will be typing numbers in front all season long

#23 URI hosts Dartmouth. 7 PM

[Obadiah]

Ramster, it was great feeling to type #23 URI!!

Here is the Blue Ribbon view of quality and prospects of URI's 2016-17 OOC opponents:

Code: Select all

Team	    2016 RPI	    Conference	             BR Forecast

Dartmouth	  281	     Ivy 	            Picked to finish 8th.
Marist	     321	     Metro Atlantic 	 Picked to finish 9th
Brown	      309	     Ivy 	            Picked to finish 7th
Cincinnati	  55	     American	        Picked to finish 2nd
Duke	        15	     Atlantic Coast	  Picked to finish #1
Penn State	 121	     Big Ten	         Picked to finish 10th
Belmont	     97    	 Ohio Valley	     Picked to finish #1
Valparaiso	  31	     Horizon  	       Picked to finish #1
PC	          32	     Big East	        Picked to finish 8th
Old Dominion  116	     Conference USA	  Picked to finish 4th
Houston	     90 	    American	        Picked to finish 4th
Holy Cross	 236	     Patriot	         Picked to finish 3rd
William & Mary 72	     Colonial	        Picked to finish 5th

[ATPTourFan]

So in the A10, SLU got blown out at home, LaSalle lost in OT at Temple (respectable showing there), and Fordham pooped itself against East Tennessee St.

Duke eviscerated Marist who gets us next. Sucks to be them, but hey -- gotta pay the bills when you're a little fish in D1.

Also, as seen here on KeaneyBlue, UConn got beaten at home by Wagner so they'll be dropping out of the Top 25 (if there is any fairness in this world).

[Bos8]

Random stat of the night- former URI target and Hofstra big man Rokas Gustys grabbed 23 rebounds last night in a 2 point win against Coppin State. He would have fit in nicely here- he was 0-8 from the FT line!

[ATPTourFan]

Holy crap!!! Is that a NCAA record for futility at the stripe??

[Dre3000]

We also have a Matt Butler sighting! Scored 25 points going 7/14 from 3 against Ole Miss. His Tennessee-Martin squad ended up falling short by 3 points. Still good to see him getting plenty of minutes and a green light!

[ramster]

Matt could shoot. Glad to see him off to a great start!

[STC]

Jim Christian's BC squad picked up where it left off losing 79-73 at home to Nicholls. BC never had a lead.

Nicholls was picked last in the Southland Conference and is just 35-57 over the past three years.

Preston was lucky to get out when he did, BC is going to be the biggest dumpster fire of any P5 school.

[ATPTourFan]

I love that Preston got out and Boston college is sucking in football and basketball.

[SmartyBarrett]

[Obadiah]

The A-10 went 7-3 in season openers last night. The reaining four conference team hold their openers today. Only La Salle and Fordham opened the season on the road with both losing.

In a surprise in a Hall of Fame Tip-Off campus round game, Albany, picked for a third place finish in America East, upset Penn State on the Nittany Lions home court, 87-81. Albany led Penn State by 16 points at the half.

In other games last night, Stanford beat Harvard 80-70

The Saturday schedule:

In the A-10:

St. Bona hosts St. Francis(PA). 4 PM.

Toledo at St. Joseph's 7 PM.

Towson at George Mason. 7 PM.

Appalachian State at Davidson. 8 PM.


In games involving this season's OOC opponents:

Grand Canyon at Duke. 5:30 PM. On ACCN. Duke will be playing a HOF campus game for the second night in a row.

Trinity (IL) at Valparaiso. 8 PM..

[Obadiah]

In Saturday action the A-10 went 3-1:

St. Bona beat St. Francis(PA), 92-82

St. Joseph's beat Toledo, 77-76. The Hawks felt the loss of Bembry.

Towson beat George Mason, 67-61.

Appalachian State fell at Davidson, 86-64.

In games involving this season's OOC opponents:

Duke, after a sluggish start, probably due to fact they were plaing two games within 24 hours, eventually routed Grand Canyon, 96-61.

Valparaiso had to make a second half comeback to beat NAIA Trinity (IL), 89-75.


In Sunday action;

Only A-10 game is Duquesne in a visit to Penn State who is out to redeem themselves after an surprising home court loss to Albany on Friday. 6 PM start.

Also, Brown hosts Niagara. 3 PM.

Holy Cross gets into action at South Carolina, as part of the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational. 6 PM. On SECN.

[bigappleram]

It's going to be a long season in Hawk Hill. I see them near the bottom of the league, too much lost.

[RoadyJay]

I'm looking forward to putting a beating on SJU twice this season. Revenge! Outside of UMass there is no other A10 team I despise more.

SJU, Dukes, Fordham, Mason, GW, SLU all look weak this year.

[bigappleram]

Tend to agree, tho I would give Fordham and GW a better chance to break above those other teams. Middle of league is stronger than normal IMO - lasalle, umass, Bonnies, Davidson all could be formidable. Then us, vcu, dayton that on paper are a cut above.

[eli#10]

Gibbs did not play for Davidson. Aldridge had 31 points.

[Rhode_Island_Red]

It's going to be a long season in Hawk Hill. I see them near the bottom of the league, too much lost.

Too bad. I wouldn't mind seeing Young Frankenstein go 0-28 this season.

Unless he's playing Pee-C. Then I'd root for a double forfeit.

[Bos8]

Ilker Er scores 16 in 19 minutes points for former RIC Coach and current Maine headman Bob Walsh in a 20+ point win vs Longwood. After the committing/not committed to URI fiasco, he went to a JUCO and just began his first season (JR Year) at Maine.

[Section104]

You'd think UConn losing would put Cincinnati in the top 25 in both polls - great to see prior to our matchup (assuming we take care of business prior),

[PeterRamTime]

Yep! We are gonna be involved in a top 25 brawl in November!
Hopefully 2...

[reef]

Cinci wiping the floor with Brown is a good thing.
I can't believe how terrible BC is in both football and hoop. Say it ain't so Jimmy C
St. Louis and Fordham getting blown out not a good thing for the conf