The 2017-2018 Season

Talk about the men's team, upcoming opponents and news from around college hoop.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by rhodylaw »

Note the coach openly talking about playing 4 guards - it is going to happen, I would expect about 15 to 20 mins a game next year if not more. We need to play to our strength, which is ridiculous guard depth.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by rodfromcranston »

It could happen(playing 4 guards), but not because of
guard strength, but because of front court weakness.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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From the above article...

"The European trip is a great chance for these front court players to get a ton of practice time and ton of minutes. So we probably, on the trip, will stay away from a lot of four guard play. There’s a lot of subtle things you can do with four guards but I think it’s something that’s easy to adapt to… so a huge focus will be to get these front court guys minutes and practice and really develop them."
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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rodfromcranston wrote:It could happen(playing 4 guards), but not because of
guard strength, but because of front court weakness.
I think it is the exact opposite. It would be coaching malpractice to bury any of the guards on this roster next year due to some antiquated idea about what combination of heights you need to have on the floor. I'm worried we will have enough minutes for all these guys even assuming we play a lot of four guard lineups. As long as the guards buy into the fact that everyone on the floor has a rebounding responsibility, I'm not really worried about it. It's not like there are a ton of fours on other teams that are going to get on the block and post up and score on a Jared Terrell, Stan Robinson or Christion Thompson. Most of the guys the fourth guard will be defending are face-up players anyways.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by rodfromcranston »

Yeah, floor balance and interior offense and defense are antiquated ideas.
Give me a break!
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by rambone 78 »

Teams with talented [and tall] front lines will have their way with us.

Yeah we don't play many of those during the regular season, but if we make the NCAAT, it will be our undoing.

We will go only so far as matchups allow.....we will be limited.....

Dan wants us to be able to play with the big boys? Well, get some [big boys that is] who can play, and then it could happen.

Rod, we're wasting our time trying to convince some here. Results will make our point.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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Fantastic read the season can't get here soon enough
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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rambone 78 wrote:Teams with talented [and tall] front lines will have their way with us.

Yeah we don't play many of those during the regular season, but if we make the NCAAT, it will be our undoing.

We will go only so far as matchups allow.....we will be limited.....

Dan wants us to be able to play with the big boys? Well, get some [big boys that is] who can play, and then it could happen.

Rod, we're wasting our time trying to convince some here. Results will make our point.

just like Justin Patton, the 7ft top 10 pick was going to kill Hass and KI and be a headache in last year's tournament? Oh wait, we outrebounded Creighton and Hassan took it to him and stole his lunch money.

just like Oregon's front court height was going to kill us and expose our weakness? Oh wait, we were tied with 1min to go with Hassan out injured. and lost because of their guard making plays, not the front court.

yeah, more size is always a good thing, but its not some massive achilles heel like you want to chicken little it to be
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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In the end, it was the inability to get rebounds against
Oregon, that cost us the game.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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rambone 78 wrote:Teams with talented [and tall] front lines will have their way with us.

Yeah we don't play many of those during the regular season, but if we make the NCAAT, it will be our undoing.

We will go only so far as matchups allow.....we will be limited.....

Dan wants us to be able to play with the big boys? Well, get some [big boys that is] who can play, and then it could happen.

Rod, we're wasting our time trying to convince some here. Results will make our point.
Everyone seems to be assuming that the big men we saw last year are going to be the same players this year. We have no idea how layssard and tertsea and preston will play next november, or february.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by TruePoint »

I'm not advocating for an approach that disregards size and ignores the benefits of having big guys on the floor. I'm simply saying that you need to put your best players on the floor and then build your approach and style of play around that. If your best players are interior players, I'm fine with constructing your approach around that. For next year's URI team, we have an embarrassment of riches in the backcourt. We will have guys that play sparingly that would start for almost every other team in the conference. You have to make sure you're getting your best players onto the court.

If we can survive the first 35 games relying heavily on guards but could run into trouble if we advance into the NCAA tournament as has been suggested, I view that as a good problem to have. By the time it becomes a factor, we will have had plenty of time to get the big guys to the point where they can give us their best game, and you can always adjust your approach and game plan for any individual opponent. If you happen to run into a team where you'd be better off with a series of big bodies coming into the game and leaving better, smaller players on the bench, there is no law saying you can't do that if you decide in other games that you're better off playing the better, smaller players.

Final point on this: the team with the extra big guy is not the only team with an advantage when one team plays an extra guard. Yes, you can better rebound and protect the rim, but a team with an extr guard can dictate tempo, space the floor, run the court, pressure the everywhere, and create mismatches of their own on offense. So it's not like the advantages all flow in one direction.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by rambone 78 »

I agree with your points TP.....but like I said, good big guys will beat good little guys in frontcourt play almost always....if our frontcourt develops to a point farther than expected, then of course things are OK.....that's what we're going to find out.

Dan is no dummy...he knows like we all do that we need more frontcourt talent.....most likely we have to hope that what we do have right now can at least compete against the bigger teams we'll face....players like Stan and EC are good rebounders for their size....they will have to get after it.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by Billyboy78 »

I'm still waiting for us to "run, run, run!" You can hear Dan yelling it, even after made baskets, but we rarely see it. Maybe Fatts will be the guy to get us to "run, run, run!"
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by adam914 »

Billyboy78 wrote:I'm still waiting for us to "run, run, run!" You can hear Dan yelling it, even after made baskets, but we rarely see it. Maybe Fatts will be the guy to get us to "run, run, run!"
Dan did talk about this a little in his interview with Disano. Sounds like he thinks the intense style of defense we play has had some affect on that. Obviously that's not going to change, but it does sound like something he wants to work on.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by ramster »

TruePoint wrote:
rodfromcranston wrote:It could happen(playing 4 guards), but not because of
guard strength, but because of front court weakness.
I think it is the exact opposite. It would be coaching malpractice to bury any of the guards on this roster next year due to some antiquated idea about what combination of heights you need to have on the floor. I'm worried we will have enough minutes for all these guys even assuming we play a lot of four guard lineups. As long as the guards buy into the fact that everyone on the floor has a rebounding responsibility, I'm not really worried about it. It's not like there are a ton of fours on other teams that are going to get on the block and post up and score on a Jared Terrell, Stan Robinson or Christion Thompson. Most of the guys the fourth guard will be defending are face-up players anyways.
I don't think it is the idea of being tied to an antiquated idea

Last season we heard a lot about our guard play preseason. Much of the preseason focus was directed upon Mathews, Terrell and Garrett plus Robinson when reading about the Top 25 ranking. As the OOC went on DH talked often about how the guards were not playing together as well as he had hoped and he was working on that. Guard play was our potential strength. Now we have the same guards, all 1 year older and experienced plus Russell - depth and talent for sure.
Mathews, Terrell, Garrett, Robinson, Dowtin, Thompson + Russell

But last season the absolute VCU domination by Martin and Iverson and Langevine was amazing. Oregon and URI were Top 3 in blocked shots, both strong in rebounding. Martin and Iverson were immense for us down the stretch. They were strong against Big East Creighton and in the A10 Tournament. Our Big Men put the team on their back in March.

It's no surprise that Martin and Iverson are trying out for NBA Teams right now - it would not surprise me if they both make an NBA Team Roster - they are both very special players and people.

Now two big holes to fill. We had Martin, Iverson and Langevine as the primary big men - only 1 is left.

Dan is saying he will not play 4 guards in London and Paris. From among Tertsea, Akele, Layssard, Preston, Berry the door is now open for 1 of these guys to grab a starting position.

But also interesting is that the door is open for one of the Guards to grab a starting position. Should be lot's of competition for that coveted 5th spot on the floor - competition is great, the more the better. It's fun to speculate about who the 5th starter will be but the 10 days of practice, plus London/Paris plus October/November preseason will tell the HC a lot.

I personally do not like the 4 guard line up, or 4 players 6'4" or less. But if that is the best possible team DH feels he has then so it is, but I don't like that landing spot.

Sure we can beat a lot of teams with 4 guards, but 2 of the perennial teams to beat are VCU and Dayton.
Dayton will not be starting 4 guards, no way.

Starting line up for Dayton will most likely include; 6'10" Kostas Antetokounmpo whose brothers are both in the NBA, Giannis and Thanasis, and they work with their younger brother a lot; 6'7" Josh Cunningham will be a likely starter; along with 6'8" Xeyrius Williams.

I don't like our chances against Dayton or VCU with 4 guards, so I really hope that 1 our Big Men step up and win the 5th Starting Spot and another grabs the 1st Big Man off the bench spot like Langevine did last year.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by rodfromcranston »

Ramster +1! He gets it.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by Billyboy78 »

And that's the question. Are we satisfied with winning the A10 and making the tourney? Or do we want to make a little run in the tourney, say a sweet 16? Personally, I want to make a little run.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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Billyboy78 wrote:And that's the question. Are we satisfied with winning the A10 and making the tourney? Or do we want to make a little run in the tourney, say a sweet 16? Personally, I want to make a little run.
and being loaded with big men is NOT a pre-requisite to that.

Once again, we were 60 seconds away from the Sweet 16 last year with 1 front court player (KI). Not only that, it was against a team noted for it's abundance of front court size. A healthy Hass and we beat Oregon and make the sweet 16 with no traditional big men and an overall lack of front court size.

Dayton made the Elite 8 a couple years ago with ZERO main contributors taller than 6'7

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sch ... /2014.html

top 5 scorers were 6'4, 6'7, 6'6, 6'4, 5'9
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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Oregon played the game without their best big man.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by Seawrightspostgame »

Cinci, Duke, Valpo, PC, and Houston all got production out of their front court on us last year. With our good front court. Belmont was missing their guy.

Then in conference at least 6 teams had legit front courts that didn't play away from the basket.

We played Oregon close but their big guy dominated and ultimately that rebound decided the game at the end.

Playing all guards calls for a high wire act. I know why people say they want that, but it isn't realistic.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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K mac kind of addressed this in talking to Hurley and Cooley about Golden State. http://www.providencejournal.com/sports ... sfeed=true
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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Again, the question is not whether you would prefer to have a perfectly constructed roster or an imperfectly constructed roster. Everyone would like to have frontcourt quality to match the backcourt quality. Me, Hurley, the players on the team, literally everyone.

The question is: with this particular imperfect roster (just about every roster will be imperfect in one way or another, just a fact of life), would you rather play to your strengths and get your best players on the court, or would you rather stick to the established idea of playing three smaller guys and two bigger guys just because that's what you do - even if it means leaving better players on the bench in favor of taller players. Personally, I'd rather get creative and find ways to get my best players on the court and basically box left handed - show teams something different than they're used to seeing, be hard to prepare for, be hard to guard (to steal a phrase) with a traditional lineup and try to force teams out of their comfort zone. Your preferences may vary.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by Da_Process_Survivor »

TruePoint wrote:Again, the question is not whether you would prefer to have a perfectly constructed roster or an imperfectly constructed roster. Everyone would like to have frontcourt quality to match the backcourt quality. Me, Hurley, the players on the team, literally everyone.

The question is: with this particular imperfect roster (just about every roster will be imperfect in one way or another, just a fact of life), would you rather play to your strengths and get your best players on the court, or would you rather stick to the established idea of playing three smaller guys and two bigger guys just because that's what you do - even if it means leaving better players on the bench in favor of taller players. Personally, I'd rather get creative and find ways to get my best players on the court and basically box left handed - show teams something different than they're used to seeing, be hard to prepare for, be hard to guard (to steal a phrase) with a traditional lineup and try to force teams out of their comfort zone. Your preferences may vary.
Im definitely in 'play your best 5' camp. If its 4 guards, so be it. Make them adjust to you, not the other way around. Make them have to figure out a way to keep up with our guards and to handle the talent and ability they have.

keeping talent on the bench in favor of a "traditional" line up is nothing more than doing the other team a favor.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by Billyboy78 »

Let's play our best 5...this could possibly be E.C., Jared, Stan, Jeff and Jarvis......go get 'em!!!
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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Da_Process_Survivor wrote:
TruePoint wrote:Again, the question is not whether you would prefer to have a perfectly constructed roster or an imperfectly constructed roster. Everyone would like to have frontcourt quality to match the backcourt quality. Me, Hurley, the players on the team, literally everyone.

The question is: with this particular imperfect roster (just about every roster will be imperfect in one way or another, just a fact of life), would you rather play to your strengths and get your best players on the court, or would you rather stick to the established idea of playing three smaller guys and two bigger guys just because that's what you do - even if it means leaving better players on the bench in favor of taller players. Personally, I'd rather get creative and find ways to get my best players on the court and basically box left handed - show teams something different than they're used to seeing, be hard to prepare for, be hard to guard (to steal a phrase) with a traditional lineup and try to force teams out of their comfort zone. Your preferences may vary.
Im definitely in 'play your best 5' camp. If its 4 guards, so be it. Make them adjust to you, not the other way around. Make them have to figure out a way to keep up with our guards and to handle the talent and ability they have.

keeping talent on the bench in favor of a "traditional" line up is nothing more than doing the other team a favor.
I said in my explanation to let the competition begin. Go for it. May the best players win the starting spots. I said let the Guards and the Forwards and the Center(Tertsea) battle it out for the 5 starting spots. There is no disagreement from me with either of you two guys on that. Wherever that lands the spots, lands the spots. Fine. Head Coach decision.

But, where I do disagree with you would be where that lands the URI Team in it's ability to get the NCAA or Bust Bid which is what it's all about

I much, much prefer that we have 2 Big Men start and 1 strong Big Man off the bench. Tradition? No. Shot Blocking, Offensive Rebounding, Defensive Rebounding, Defensive Boxing out, Offensive Boxing Out - absolutely!! I think you may be over-estimating the ability of our 6 guards to dominate, much like last year when I think the guards on our team were overestimated in preseason, and our 3 Big Men were underestimated as it turned out. The 3 big men carried us to the win streak, the A10 Title and the NCAA success.

I think the loss of Iverson and Martin is being underestimated.
I would love to see the Big Men surface much like Langevine did last year.

But if the best starting 5 is 4 guards or as Billyboy said 5 guards then throw the ball up and let's go.

I'll enjoy the season of running and gunning but not rebounding or shot blocking or NCAA dancing,

I already do not think that this team will be as good as last year's team. Last year was special and we lost two very special players.

It's great that you think 4 guards will be successful and drive the other teams crazy with match up difficulties - just don't restart a Baron 2.0 thread if it doesn't land us in the NCAA, because I will be shocked if a 4 Guard Line up does.

One other thing to consider is I don't see our Guards as great 3 point shooters. Average to maybe slightly above average at best. If they were light's out shooters I might buy into the 4 Guard concept better.

But nobody knows what the line up will be, that's for sure to be determined. May the best players win the starting spots.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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TruePoint wrote:Again, the question is not whether you would prefer to have a perfectly constructed roster or an imperfectly constructed roster. Everyone would like to have frontcourt quality to match the backcourt quality. Me, Hurley, the players on the team, literally everyone.

The question is: with this particular imperfect roster (just about every roster will be imperfect in one way or another, just a fact of life), would you rather play to your strengths and get your best players on the court, or would you rather stick to the established idea of playing three smaller guys and two bigger guys just because that's what you do - even if it means leaving better players on the bench in favor of taller players. Personally, I'd rather get creative and find ways to get my best players on the court and basically box left handed - show teams something different than they're used to seeing, be hard to prepare for, be hard to guard (to steal a phrase) with a traditional lineup and try to force teams out of their comfort zone. Your preferences may vary.
You don't want us to run out a Baron 3-minute center starter for every game? :)
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by UCH21377 »

I think everyone believes Hass is a big loss, but IMO Iversons shoes may be harder to fill. It's easy to forget he was 6'9 with length and athleticism. We have no replacement for him on Defense
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by ramster »

UCH21377 wrote:I think everyone believes Hass is a big loss, but IMO Iversons shoes may be harder to fill. It's easy to forget he was 6'9 with length and athleticism. We have no replacement for him on Defense
Iverson is a huge loss. Martin is a huge loss.

The loss of these two players became even larger based on how tremendously well they played during the Regular Season win streak, absolutely dominating the big front line of VCU, then the A10 Tourney and then the NCAA. Big, big shoes to fill. No surprise they are being courted by NBA Teams as we speak. Great players, great individuals who led URI to it's first A10 Title, first NCAA Tournament and 1st NCAA Tournament win in the 21st Century.
Players will be in the line up but they will not replace Iverson and Martin this year.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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ramster gets a 5 star [out of 5] rating with his last 2 posts......
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by Billyboy78 »

So, as a 6'8" or 6"9" guy is posting up on our 6"4" guard and getting offensive rebounds to extend possessions, we're going to dictate play....ok, I can't wait to see that.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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ramster wrote:
UCH21377 wrote:I think everyone believes Hass is a big loss, but IMO Iversons shoes may be harder to fill. It's easy to forget he was 6'9 with length and athleticism. We have no replacement for him on Defense
Iverson is a huge loss. Martin is a huge loss.

The loss of these two players became even larger based on how tremendously well they played during the Regular Season win streak, absolutely dominating the big front line of VCU, then the A10 Tourney and then the NCAA. Big, big shoes to fill. No surprise they are being courted by NBA Teams as we speak. Great players, great individuals who led URI to it's first A10 Title, first NCAA Tournament and 1st NCAA Tournament win in the 21st Century.
Players will be in the line up but they will not replace Iverson and Martin this year.
We're all well aware of what Iverson and Martin contributed and achieved. It was nice to finally have seniors, especially one to play all four years in this version of the program. But that's what having a good program is all about- you graduate great players, appreciate the hell out of what they contributed, and then look to the next in line to embrace their opportunities. It's time for those guys to step up, and they'll be challenged to do so. The coaches are laying it out for them- show what you can do, or we'll work around you. I'm excited about seeing these guys who were thought highly enough of to recruit and sign show what they can do. ARD is the one that mentioned NBA in the same sentence as Layssard. Hopefully he takes the off-season seriously this time around. Rosters always have a gestalt quality to them. Yes, KI and Hassan are gone, but the remaining pieces do not stay static in their absence.


If you want to debate an area of obvious strength... with the goal to improve passing and move quicker down the court, who's your choice for point guard, Dowtin or Garrett?
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by Billyboy78 »

ace wrote:
ramster wrote:
UCH21377 wrote:I think everyone believes Hass is a big loss, but IMO Iversons shoes may be harder to fill. It's easy to forget he was 6'9 with length and athleticism. We have no replacement for him on Defense
Iverson is a huge loss. Martin is a huge loss.

The loss of these two players became even larger based on how tremendously well they played during the Regular Season win streak, absolutely dominating the big front line of VCU, then the A10 Tourney and then the NCAA. Big, big shoes to fill. No surprise they are being courted by NBA Teams as we speak. Great players, great individuals who led URI to it's first A10 Title, first NCAA Tournament and 1st NCAA Tournament win in the 21st Century.
Players will be in the line up but they will not replace Iverson and Martin this year.
We're all well aware of what Iverson and Martin contributed and achieved. It was nice to finally have seniors, especially one to play all four years in this version of the program. But that's what having a good program is all about- you graduate great players, appreciate the hell out of what they contributed, and then look to the next in line to embrace their opportunities. It's time for those guys to step up, and they'll be challenged to do so. The coaches are laying it out for them- show what you can do, or we'll work around you. I'm excited about seeing these guys who were thought highly enough of to recruit and sign show what they can do. ARD is the one that mentioned NBA in the same sentence as Layssard. Hopefully he takes the off-season seriously this time around. Rosters always have a gestalt quality to them. Yes, KI and Hassan are gone, but the remaining pieces do not stay static in their absence.


If you want to debate an area of obvious strength... with the goal to improve passing and move quicker down the court, who's your choice for point guard, Dowtin or Garrett?
Are you saying that Layssard didn't work hard enough last offseason? He didn't look like he was in good enough shape to play to me. As for point guards, I think Jarvis can advance it quicker, but Jeff has slightly better vision. I wonder if Fatts might be the guy (eventually) to be the one to get the ball up and lead the break...not yet, but later in the season and beyond. I admit, I have not seen him in person, but he seems to have those qualities from what I've seen on tape.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by theblueram »

Dowtin or Garrett? That's a tough one. Jarvis when healthy is a very good point guard. Jeff improved so much during the year, he showed he is a starting pg. It's a good situation to have. But they are two different players. I think Jarvis is more of a leader, but Jeff has more talent. It's a toss up for me.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by Rhody74 »

I always felt that a healthy Garrett made the team substantially better, even when he didn't score. However, Downton deserves to get major minutes, too.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by rambone 78 »

blueram, like was said elsewhere, it's a good problem to have.

There aren't many teams out there with good depth at PG.......

I think Jeff has good leadership qualities also....he was frequently directing traffic as PG last season.....pretty good for a freshman.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by TruePoint »

ramster wrote:One other thing to consider is I don't see our Guards as great 3 point shooters. Average to maybe slightly above average at best. If they were light's out shooters I might buy into the 4 Guard concept better.
If you think the quality of looks you get impacts shooting percentage (I do, personally), then you could probably expect to see an improved team 3FG percentage on the season if you played more spread around the perimeter.

The relative strengths and weaknesses of playing four guards is obviously an interesting philosophical basketball discussion. I can't think of a roster better constructed to do a case study than URI's 17-18 roster. URI is super talented next year, but just so happens that the talent is heavily distributed in the backcourt. My hypothesis is that talent will win out and URI will be very good, possibly better than last year.

I also wouldn't totally rule out the emergence of another front court player as a legitimate contributor, and this team does have a history of losing guys to injury for various amounts of time, so maybe all of this discussion will be moot, but regardless I'm as much curious to see how this plays out as a basketball fan as I am excited to watch it as a URI fan.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

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.......and God bless you all that keep the fires going during the "off season"....amazing....thanks
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by ace »

Billyboy78 wrote:Are you saying that Layssard didn't work hard enough last offseason? He didn't look like he was in good enough shape to play to me. As for point guards, I think Jarvis can advance it quicker, but Jeff has slightly better vision. I wonder if Fatts might be the guy (eventually) to be the one to get the ball up and lead the break...not yet, but later in the season and beyond. I admit, I have not seen him in person, but he seems to have those qualities from what I've seen on tape.
Yeah, Layssard didn't show up to Summer two last year in as good of shape as they had hoped and encouraged him to. But, I'm not going to kill him over that. Hopefully, it was a learning experience, and he'll show necessary and continued maturity moving into his sophomore year. You heard Dan talk about it a lot with Kuran- be a teammate/player everyone else can depend on and know what to expect from. If you spend any time at all around or watching this team, there are a lot of different (and big!) personalities in this group. It's fun, and they're not aiming for some cookie-cutter team, just be reliable.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by theblueram »

Bone, Dowtin certainly displayed improvement. I can't wait to see him next year. Very confident for a freshman. And he has great court vision. Great passing. Guard play will not be an issue at all next year for sure. Langevine will be fine in the frontcourt as well. He showed great improvement. Can't wait to see him play next year either.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by rambone 78 »

TP, the quality of looks we get from 3 next season could be impacted by how much pressure opponents put on the perimeter.

If our opponents don't have to worry as much about our frontcourt abilities, then they could increase pressure on the guards.....extend their defenses....and make it harder to get those open looks.

That's where having a good balance comes in.....we need our bigs to step up their game....Cyril stays on the floor, Ryan to be an impact player, and either MT or ML [or both] to show improvement enough to be contributors....
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by Da_Process_Survivor »

rambone 78 wrote:TP, the quality of looks we get from 3 next season could be impacted by how much pressure opponents put on the perimeter.

If our opponents don't have to worry as much about our frontcourt abilities, then they could increase pressure on the guards.....extend their defenses....and make it harder to get those open looks.

That's where having a good balance comes in.....we need our bigs to step up their game....Cyril stays on the floor, Ryan to be an impact player, and either MT or ML [or both] to show improvement enough to be contributors....
If we had spot up jumper guards, I'd completely agree with you.

However against highly talented guards who are slashers you stretch out your defense at your own peril. The goal for this team is going to be open up the paint defense and open up the driving lanes.

Also, we are completely dismissing 2 big men we have on the team. Big men sitting and learning as freshmen is very common and done by just about everyone who isn't a 1 and done
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by Seawrightspostgame »

Worst thread
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by reef »

I am sure at times we will see the 4 guard lineup. I am not a fan of it for the most part but at times based on matchups it could work
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by TruePoint »

rambone 78 wrote:TP, the quality of looks we get from 3 next season could be impacted by how much pressure opponents put on the perimeter.

If our opponents don't have to worry as much about our frontcourt abilities, then they could increase pressure on the guards.....extend their defenses....and make it harder to get those open looks.

That's where having a good balance comes in.....we need our bigs to step up their game....Cyril stays on the floor, Ryan to be an impact player, and either MT or ML [or both] to show improvement enough to be contributors....
I hate to turn this into riveting X-and-O talk, but if a coach sees a team with four excellent guards on the floor and thinks to himself "I know, we should pressure them!" then that is his funeral. I would absolutely welcome that. You pull their defense away from the rim and open up opportunities for dribble penetration and you can get sliced to death. You open up guys scoring at the rim, dump offs for dunks, kickouts for threes. That is the best thing that could happen. And even if you somehow have three perimeter defenders good enough to bottle up three of our guards without any help, somewhere among those matchups will be one guy a little too big and a little too slow to stay in front of his guy.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by Billyboy78 »

They can play zone defense.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by TruePoint »

That's what I was originally getting at, which is what I would envision opening up a lot of perimeter opportunities.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by rodfromcranston »

So? You still need to make those shots.
Our guards are not efficient in shooting.
Just look at the shooting and 3 point percentages.
Not exactly Curry and Thompson out there.
ANY team needs floor balance to win.
No inside game means teams just jam the perimeter.
If they have a rim protector, even worse.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by rambone 78 »

Rod, again we're wasting our time trying to convince some here. Just have to wait until the season unfolds to prove our point.

If we're going to be as good or better next season, our bigs will have to be better than expected. The only known quantity is Cyril, and he's still only a soph.
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Re: The 2017-2018 Season

Unread post by Da_Process_Survivor »

rodfromcranston wrote:So? You still need to make those shots.
Our guards are not efficient in shooting.
Just look at the shooting and 3 point percentages.
Not exactly Curry and Thompson out there.
ANY team needs floor balance to win.
No inside game means teams just jam the perimeter.
If they have a rim protector, even worse.

if you're clamoring for floor balance, then why are you beating the 'we need more bigs' drum?

On a team loaded with slashers that are inconsistent shooters from distance, why are you begging for more players that are going to clog the lane?

If you want floor balance, you should be pushing for them to add more guards that are spot up shooters (like a Four McGlynn) to pull the defense to the perimeter and stretch it out.
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