Game 7: @ Valparaiso - Tues 8pm ESPN3

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 7 years ago

What happened last year, matters little.
My worry is, quick whistles on the road,and Hassan and Iverson
spending a lot of time sitting.
Our lack of frontcourt depth is troubling.
Zero points vs. Belmont.
Where's Mike Laysard?

ElmCityRhody · Unread post by **ElmCityRhody** » 7 years ago

did i miss something ?

where is andre berry ?

not for big minutes but at least for some minutes ??

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 7 years ago

Good question. Berry showed he could contribute, last year,
and is supposedly in better shape this year.
Where is he?
Akele and Langevine combine for 5.5ppg and 5.5 rpg.
I hoped with ARD on staff, maybe Dan would put some
larger emphasis on the 4-5 positions.
Still, we continue to see 4 guards at times.
How long does anyone actually think Iverson can guard Peters,
before he gets his first two fouls?
Potentially useful pieces are glued to the bench.
Time to use them.

Sweep The Leg · Unread post by **Sweep The Leg** » 7 years ago

rodfromcranston wrote:Good question. Berry showed he could contribute, last year,
and is supposedly in better shape this year.
Where is he?
Akele and Langevine combine for 5.5ppg and 5.5 rpg.
I hoped with ARD on staff, maybe Dan would put some
larger emphasis on the 4-5 positions.
Still, we continue to see 4 guards at times.
How long does anyone actually think Iverson can guard Peters,
before he gets his first two fouls?
Potentially useful pieces are glued to the bench.
Time to use them.

Iverson needs to stop using his hands so much in defending. You don't need to reach in constantly. He only needs to stay with and disrupt Peters, make it more difficult because you aren't going to shut him down. He has a large enough wingspan to contest any jump shot. If Iverson gets in foul trouble, who guards him? I would put Robinson or Terrell on him even with size difference and if he posts up shade a big to help and force him to pass. I don't think any of our bigs can handle him off the dribble.

And make Peters play defense. Whoever he's guarding, run that player through multiple screens and picks even if only a decoy or attack him and try to draw some fouls. But, tire him our or have him ride the pine in foul trouble.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

Iggy1979 · Unread post by **Iggy1979** » 7 years ago

Berry and Laysard are offensive players. URI has plenty of offense (leads the A-10 in FG percentage). That's why Langevine is getting the minutes. I don't understand why everyone is so hot to get minutes for bench players when URI has six experienced players. Go with your best!

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 7 years ago

The problem is when either Hassan or Kuran get into foul trouble. If both get into foul trouble at the same time, which happens quite a bit, we have serious problems.

skwalk47 · Unread post by **skwalk47** » 7 years ago

ramster wrote:URI - 1 1/2 across the board today.

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-bas ... las-vegas/

Line has gotten hammered pretty hard in favor of us. Now we are -3.5 across the board. Vegas likes us...

sf2010 · Unread post by **sf2010** » 7 years ago

Rhody15 wrote:That was one of the most awkward interviews I have ever seen.

Holy coachspeak, Batman. Makes me appreciate what we have in Hurley, and what we moved away from in Baron.

RhodysRelevant · Unread post by **RhodysRelevant** » 7 years ago

appears as though ill be watching this one on the cell phone again, guess its better than not watching at all.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 7 years ago

RhodysRelevant wrote:appears as though ill be watching this one on the cell phone again, guess its better than not watching at all.

If you have a smart TV or an xbox one/ps4 you can download the watch espn app on either and watch on TV.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

And remember, the game will be available on-demand via WatchESPN shortly after its conclusion for anyone who cannot watch live.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

I sure hope this continues tonight... from the GoRhody gamenotes:

FIRST SIX GAMES OF 2016-17 PROVING MORE EFFICIENT FOR TERRELL
• Through six games this season, Jared Terrell is connecting at a much higher rate from the floor vs. the 2015-16 season.
• Last year, Terrell averaged 10.2 ppg, shooting 33.3% (22-60) from the floor and 25.0% from 3FG (5-20) through the first six games.
• This season, the 6-3 guard is averaging 14.3 ppg., 47.5% (29-61) from the floor and 47.4% (9-19) from beyond the arc.

Da_Process_Survivor · Unread post by **Da_Process_Survivor** » 7 years ago

Blue Man wrote:
RhodysRelevant wrote:appears as though ill be watching this one on the cell phone again, guess its better than not watching at all.
If you have a smart TV or an xbox one/ps4 you can download the watch espn app on either and watch on TV.

you can also stream live on any computer at watchespn.com

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 7 years ago

Iggy1979 wrote:Berry and Laysard are offensive players. URI has plenty of offense (leads the A-10 in FG percentage). That's why Langevine is getting the minutes. I don't understand why everyone is so hot to get minutes for bench players when URI has six experienced players. Go with your best!"

Really? So you never noticed that Hassan and Kuran are very foul prone?
So you don't want any offense to replace your two best frontcourt players?
Maybe get some rebounds, too?
Their replacements (Akele and Langevine)averaged 2.75 ppg and rpg each. WHOOPDIE DOO!
They have been invisible the last two games.
Since he got here, Hurley has claimed he's pining for a stretch 4.
Laysard was supposed to be just that, or so we were told.
We saw Berry contribute last season.
We need quality depth, for the fouling situation,
that seems to happen almost every game.
Maybe we should just be good little doobies and say,
"Oh, everything is fine!"?
We know that questioning the status quo makes us bad fans or PC fans, right?

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 7 years ago

I think Cyril gets some quality minutes tonight.....we could use a Cincy type performance from him.......

but yes, we need contributions from more guys like Laysard.....if Hassan and Iverson sit for long periods tonight, we'll be in trouble....

URIGONZO · Unread post by **URIGONZO** » 7 years ago

Line is bouncing between 2.5 and 3. Gotta love the Rams here. I'm expecting an great offensive game for EC.

josephski · Unread post by **josephski** » 7 years ago

rodfromcranston wrote:
Iggy1979 wrote:Berry and Laysard are offensive players. URI has plenty of offense (leads the A-10 in FG percentage). That's why Langevine is getting the minutes. I don't understand why everyone is so hot to get minutes for bench players when URI has six experienced players. Go with your best!"
Really? So you never noticed that Hassan and Kuran are very foul prone?
So you don't want any offense to replace your two best frontcourt players?
Maybe get some rebounds, too?
Their replacements (Akele and Langevine)averaged 2.75 ppg and rpg each. WHOOPDIE DOO!
They have been invisible the last two games.
Since he got here, Hurley has claimed he's pining for a stretch 4.
Laysard was supposed to be just that, or so we were told.
We saw Berry contribute last season.
We need quality depth, for the fouling situation,
that seems to happen almost every game.
Maybe we should just be good little doobies and say,
"Oh, everything is fine!"?
We know that questioning the status quo makes us bad fans or PC fans, right?

I'm not sure Berry is the answer but I agree that Hurley needs to try and work Layssard or Berry into some more games. As things stand Layssard or Berry will have to contribute next year, one of them might even start unless Hurley goes with Akele or we get a grad transfer. Whoever Hurley thinks is more likely to contribute next year is who he needs to be giving more minutes to.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 7 years ago

Dan is probably reluctant to play ML or AB in games where there is little margin for error, like the last 3 games and the next 4......at some point though, he will have to start working them in......next year's frontcourt MIGHT be a little shaky...we need more help up front even though it's early...if ML ends up not being the answer at the stretch 4, then who will be?

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 7 years ago

Speaking of next year, and speaking of playing the best players, next year, most likely our 5 best players (and maybe even 6) will all be guards.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 7 years ago

Billyboy, we'll be known as the all-scrappy team......Cyril's got the potential to be good though....but ML? Again, it's way early in his career, let's hope he's at least a late bloomer.....

We really need a ready-made big for next season......could be the reason why we still have an opening.....

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 7 years ago

......I don't think we have seen enough of the bench bigs to what they are......seems like can't get them enough sustained time against quality opponents......maybe against the lower A-10 group of teams they will see more meaningful time.....looking forward to tonite, gotta win this one keep on track.....back to the bench bigs, thought we were gonna see more of them with some expected drop off, but surprised they have played so little.....the bench continues to shorten?

Da_Process_Survivor · Unread post by **Da_Process_Survivor** » 7 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:Speaking of next year, and speaking of playing the best players, next year, most likely our 5 best players (and maybe even 6) will all be guards.

yeah, youre totally right. No freshman is ever a vastly improved player in game 30 vs game 1.

How quickly we forget Hassan looked like a baby deer learning to walk the 1st half of his freshman year

Iggy1979 · Unread post by **Iggy1979** » 7 years ago

Glad to see you haven't lost your touch Rod.
Hurley has determined that Langevine is more ready to play than Berry or Layssard, and I'm going to go with his assessment over yours.
What I've seen of Berry and Laysard, they can't cover anyone at this point. Hurley said Layssard was never taught proper defensive technique. So this is a learning year for him, which will include minutes here and there.
Berry, even with his weight loss, is a step slow on D, although he has good offensive and rebounding instincts.
The team is 5-1 and ranked and we're complaining that the 11th and 12th players aren't getting enough minutes.
Some things never change.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 7 years ago

Da_Process_Survivor wrote:
Billyboy78 wrote:Speaking of next year, and speaking of playing the best players, next year, most likely our 5 best players (and maybe even 6) will all be guards.

yeah, youre totally right. No freshman is ever a vastly improved player in game 30 vs game 1.

How quickly we forget Hassan looked like a baby deer learning to walk the 1st half of his freshman year

Agree. But none of the bigs will be better than EC, Jared, Jarvis or Stan. According to Dan, Dowtin is our best freshman, so there's 5. And then there's Fatts...

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 7 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:
Da_Process_Survivor wrote:
Billyboy78 wrote:Speaking of next year, and speaking of playing the best players, next year, most likely our 5 best players (and maybe even 6) will all be guards.

yeah, youre totally right. No freshman is ever a vastly improved player in game 30 vs game 1.

How quickly we forget Hassan looked like a baby deer learning to walk the 1st half of his freshman year
Agree. But none of the bigs will be better than EC, Jared, Jarvis or Stan. According to Dan, Dowtin is our best freshman, so there's 5. And then there's Fatts...

This is either next level trolling, or completely missing the point.

Da_Process_Survivor · Unread post by **Da_Process_Survivor** » 7 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:
Da_Process_Survivor wrote:
Billyboy78 wrote:Speaking of next year, and speaking of playing the best players, next year, most likely our 5 best players (and maybe even 6) will all be guards.

yeah, youre totally right. No freshman is ever a vastly improved player in game 30 vs game 1.

How quickly we forget Hassan looked like a baby deer learning to walk the 1st half of his freshman year
Agree. But none of the bigs will be better than EC, Jared, Jarvis or Stan. According to Dan, Dowtin is our best freshman, so there's 5. And then there's Fatts...

you do realize that being good and not being one of the 4 best on a team are not mutually exclusive ideas...right? It is entirely possible and common to be a good/very good player on a team and not be considered one of it's best players.

For example, is Jimmy G a bum because he isnt one of the 4-5 best players on the Patriots? Is Jackie Bradley a bum because Ortiz/Betts/Bogaerts/Price are considered better players than him?

Guess what, on top level teams the upperclassmen are the best players. Unless you get a 1 and done, having a freshman/sophomore as one of your best players pretty much means you dont have any best players.

RhodysRelevant · Unread post by **RhodysRelevant** » 7 years ago

Blue Man wrote:
RhodysRelevant wrote:appears as though ill be watching this one on the cell phone again, guess its better than not watching at all.
If you have a smart TV or an xbox one/ps4 you can download the watch espn app on either and watch on TV.

have a ps4 ty! I used the app to watch it on my phone vs cincy... didn't realize i could use it that way great info!

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

josephski · Unread post by **josephski** » 7 years ago

Da_Process_Survivor wrote:
yeah, youre totally right. No freshman is ever a vastly improved player in game 30 vs game 1.

How quickly we forget Hassan looked like a baby deer learning to walk the 1st half of his freshman year

How quickly some forget Hassan was a higher ranked recruit and started over half his games during his freshman year.

I'm optimistic Layssard and Langevine will be as good as Hassan but I'm not going to blindly assume it will happen.

PeterRamTime · Unread post by **PeterRamTime** » 7 years ago

I think Berry will get a look in this game since it's gonna be a slower paced game.
Unless Hurley puts extra emphasis on speeding them up.
Berry can score though. Would like to see him on offense

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

sf2010 · Unread post by **sf2010** » 7 years ago

josephski wrote:
Da_Process_Survivor wrote:
yeah, youre totally right. No freshman is ever a vastly improved player in game 30 vs game 1.

How quickly we forget Hassan looked like a baby deer learning to walk the 1st half of his freshman year
How quickly some forget Hassan was a higher ranked recruit and started over half his games during his freshman year.

I'm optimistic Layssard and Langevine will be as good as Hassan but I'm not going to blindly assume it will happen.

Nobody's asking you to blindly assume anything, but let's think about the competition Hassan had for frontcourt playing time when he was a freshman. To say it is a step below current Hassan and KI is a bit of an understatement.

Normally I'm in the camp of giving the younger guys more playing time and letting them learn that way, keeping an eye towards the future. Not. This. Year. This is our year, and Hurley should play the guys who give him the best chance to win every night, based on ability and matchups. When we got up 20 on Belmont he went to the bench, and they got the lead down to 6. Should he have stuck Layssard and Berry in there to let them learn and improve?

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 7 years ago

Martin played plenty during his freshman year.
He didn't start until game 12, as a 17 year old.
Guess what? Nobody gets better sitting on the bench.
I'm thinking of the big picture, not the GMUs and Lasalle's.
If you want to do more than just make the NCAAs,
this team needs to develop some frontcourt depth to compete
against the big boys.
So Iggy can get snarky because I had the temerity to
question Coach K, er I mean Dan.
Two words for you, and it's not Merry Christmas.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

Glad Rod's back.

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 7 years ago

Yep, the KI/Hass foul factory factor is always a concern. Also agree with concerns about bench production depth. Not a solved issue by any means, but among upsides: Hass didn't get his 1st foul in the last game until about the 6:00 mark of the first half and while it's the same players as last year for the most part, they seem deeper, within the core group, in terms of how much talent and scoring potential there is. JG + JT (because of their improvement) + EC seems to have more capability to pick up scoring slack than JG + JT + ? did last year. (You could sub Four for ?, but that was getting canceled out on the D end?)

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 7 years ago

ATPTourFan wrote:Glad Rod's back.

Same, but...pretty sure that "Go sh*t in your hat" is more than just two words, isn't it?

Da_Process_Survivor · Unread post by **Da_Process_Survivor** » 7 years ago

rodfromcranston wrote:Martin played plenty during his freshman year.
He didn't start until game 12, as a 17 year old.
Guess what? Nobody gets better sitting on the bench.
I'm thinking of the big picture, not the GMUs and Lasalle's.
If you want to do more than just make the NCAAs,
this team needs to develop some frontcourt depth to compete
against the big boys.
So Iggy can get snarky because I had the temerity to
question Coach K, er I mean Dan.
Two words for you, and it's not Merry Christmas.

On a 7 win team, not a team eyeing a deep postseason run.

and actually, yeah players do get better sitting on the bench...all the time. Its called being a freshman.

I mean, imagine if Florida State hadnt ruined Jameis Winston by redshirting him...he could've really been somebody.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 7 years ago

Cut the shit.
We're not Florida State football.
Kentucky wins NCAAs with freshmen.
This isn't 1965 with Freshmen teams.
Freshmen play major roles in men's basketball.

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 7 years ago

rodfromcranston wrote: How long does anyone actually think Iverson can guard Peters, before he gets his first two fouls?

over/under = 2.5 possessions....

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 7 years ago

So now because our FR bigs haven't become immediate impact players we have to hope they are "late bloomers" - classic Rambone. They are 6 games in to their freaking careers. The number of bigs who did nothing their FR year and blossomed into good players in their SO-JR year is a very long list. Beyond the Top 10-15 blue chip bigs the situation with Layssard is quite similar to many others. Not ready for this level yet.

Our coach has been consistent in that he values the ability to defend over everything, and he didn't mince words in the preseason in explaining that big Mike wasn't ready to play defense at this level yet. Same situation with Berry. That's why Cyril is playing.

And Hassan played as a Freshman on a crap team - comparing that to playing time for our FR bigs when we are ranked in the Top 25 is apples and oranges.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 7 years ago

I would caution, that being in the top 25 in November,
is no assurance they'll be there in March.
Let's see where we are going into conference play, first.
Four landmines to get around before then.
I love our starting five.
You still need more than five to win.
Unless you're the John Wooden Bruins, where players
not in the top six or seven were on milk cartons.

josephski · Unread post by **josephski** » 7 years ago

sf2010 wrote:
josephski wrote:
Da_Process_Survivor wrote:
yeah, youre totally right. No freshman is ever a vastly improved player in game 30 vs game 1.

How quickly we forget Hassan looked like a baby deer learning to walk the 1st half of his freshman year
How quickly some forget Hassan was a higher ranked recruit and started over half his games during his freshman year.

I'm optimistic Layssard and Langevine will be as good as Hassan but I'm not going to blindly assume it will happen.
Nobody's asking you to blindly assume anything, but let's think about the competition Hassan had for frontcourt playing time when he was a freshman. To say it is a step below current Hassan and KI is a bit of an understatement.

Normally I'm in the camp of giving the younger guys more playing time and letting them learn that way, keeping an eye towards the future. Not. This. Year. This is our year, and Hurley should play the guys who give him the best chance to win every night, based on ability and matchups. When we got up 20 on Belmont he went to the bench, and they got the lead down to 6. Should he have stuck Layssard and Berry in there to let them learn and improve?

You're right, the competition was less which allowed Hassan to get more playing time, which is even more reason to not expect Langevine or Layssard to progress as fast as Hassan because they don't have the opportunity to play as much. Right now our best players have been the highest ranked recruits besides Jarvis. Look at a guy like Thompson, good player, but no one should expect him to turn into EC or Terrell.

I keep hearing this is our year but if our bench can't even contribute against Belmont then just how good is this team? I'm still waiting to see if the Cincinatti game is how we should consistently look or if that's going to be the best game we play all season.

Rhodymob05 · Unread post by **Rhodymob05** » 7 years ago

Starting 5 are studs,

Robinson, Thomson, Akele, Langinvine Berry? Mixed feelings on the second line here, but there have definitely been times this season when they take control and play well. I remember the days when we didn't even have a starting five and playing the bench was like throwing them to the wolves. I'm optimistic, but I'm confident in this team, November or not.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 7 years ago

I don't understand why anyone disagrees with my statement that our guards next year will be our best players. One through four and possibly 5 and 6. My statement was in response to Iggy saying don't play the bigs, play your best players. Langevine and one of the other bigs will play big minutes next year. That doesn't mean they're better than Robinson. No, you don't always play your best players the most minutes, especially when you're going to have a team with 7 talented guards.

BleedBlue87 · Unread post by **BleedBlue87** » 7 years ago

I would like to see some defensive intensity right at the opening tip tonight. Offense is great this year but I feel like I haven't seen that same type of grittiness and intensity of that 2015 defense. Different team for sure but I figured since this is Dan's most athletic team that the D would be top notch.

PeterRamTime · Unread post by **PeterRamTime** » 7 years ago

I'm feeling like we should include Stan in the Stud category. He has been vital.
It would be great if Thompson and Akele could start to assert themselves offensively a little more. They can both shoot the three. Hope they could start to come in and knock down some threes. If they can do that with some consistency that'd take us up a notch.
I think they already play pretty good D.

Probably not going to see Laysaard, or maybe even Berry until Holy Cross. Dan obviously feels like he'd be taking some chances that he doesn't want to take with them.
I'd hope he gives them a chance against Holy Cross, William and Mary and Saint Louis.
I'd like to see them get playing time so they can develope because you'd think we'd still be able to win those games while playing them.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 7 years ago

Name bench contributors on the 97-98 team besides Preston Murphy? David Arigbabu? I can't name another. As the season progresses IMO you need 7, at tops 8 guys you can count on. I think we know our first 6, Dan needs to learn who he can trust with those next 2 roles. We need the bench to contribute and play to their strengths. If Cyril could come in and grab some boards, block a shot or two and Nikola could knock down 1-2 three pointers and defend his position well that would be more than enough.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 7 years ago

BAR, that wasn't classic Rambone......what will be classic Rambone will be after we cough up a winnable game.....hopefully that won't happen though.....but history says that it will happen at some point.....

I'm not trashing our freshmen, although to you it seems like it...yeah it's early...just looking ahead, nobody knows how good they will be....all we can do is wait and see.....

Our roster isn't balanced, that's the problem....not so much this year, but it could be next year, that's all I'm saying.

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