KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

in looking at a lot of the ballots and such that were released to this point, Nevada and URI are being linked in the "we don't care the conference they deserve to be in" thread of thought this week.

College basketball is lightyears ahead of college football in the non-power conference inclusion category.

#24 in the AP

#24

http://www.collegepolltracker.com/basketball/

!! Great news. Go Rhody

Top 25 !!!!!!

Great day to be a ram fan!

And with games at Fordham on Wednesday and hosting Duquense on Saturday, I have high hopes Rhody will add to its win streak and climb higher in next week's poll.

This ranking should ensure that all five of the remaining home games will have big crowds. This Saturday should be special as URI has not played very many games at the Ryan Center being ranked. With students back and likely to be on the bandwagon, it should be a great atmosphere.

great stuff rhody !

keep it up !

RhodyKyle wrote:The A10 is so weak this year that no matter how many games URI wins, they will not crack the top 25.

Never been so excited to be soooo wrong.

Andy Katz puts us at #12!!! in his Power 36. "But it's about time URI got it's due. This team has deep March potential."
But what does he know, he has only covered the sport for 20 years. Further validates what some were saying last week about our very own local voter. Go Rhody!

Congrats guys, surprised there was as much movement as there was but surely a pleasant sight ... For a while they really weren't penalizing teams for losing games, this week teams got hammered. Solid change

#23 in the USA Today Coach's poll.

http://sportspolls.usatoday.com/ncaa/ba ... ches-poll/

I'm sorry but St Marys going from well unranked to #16 in the country is an absolute travesty. Anybody else agree ??

Duquesne game is gonna be nuts!

kevie's got us at 23

reef wrote:I'm sorry but St Marys going from well unranked to #16 in the country is an absolute travesty. Anybody else agree ??

I agree, I had #20 or 21 tops

reef wrote:I'm sorry but St Marys going from well unranked to #16 in the country is an absolute travesty. Anybody else agree ??

It shows the benefits of having another quality team in the conference. URI has two non conference wins far better than anything St. Mary's has, and URI also has better losses. Because the rest of the A-10 has tanked, though, it takes a while to get recognition. The good thing for URI is once they're in the top 25, they'll keep moving up as long as they keep winning.

reef wrote:I'm sorry but St Marys going from well unranked to #16 in the country is an absolute travesty. Anybody else agree ??

I'm equally surprised about Florida -- a week ago they lost to a bad Ole Miss team ... this week they beat a mid-level tournament team at home, and then went to Kentucky and won, but Kentucky they AP just said was not good enough to be in the Top 25. Yet Florida goes from 1 vote last week to 366 votes this week.

Winning at the kennel is no easy task. I think they jumped too much with the win, but them the breaks. you play a highly ranked team and win on their court, you are going to get votes, especially when mixed with this week's new narrative of there are the the P5, BE, WSU,CINN, Zaga, and newly appreciated URI, Nevada, St. Mary's

Yeah I don't mind St Mary being ranked about 21 but 16 seems way high for them with a 40 ish RPI and they are putting too much stock in them beating a Gonzaga team that is not as good as Gonzaga teams of old

rhodyrudder wrote:kevie's got us at 23

He's gonna get the rolled-up newspaper in the snout for that.

So much is based on legacy and history versus today, the eye test, and really getting inside the numbers to dissect wins from losses and the state of the teams when you beat them.

Gonzaga and Xavier are good case in point. Both very strong programs, with good not great teams this year. Both have been fairly over ranked all year. Xavier should be in the 15-18 range but has hovered in or around Top 10 all year. Sorry they aren't a Top 10 team. I would have no fear in drawing their name in March. Same for the Zags. That said, those programs earned that respect and I would much rather it go to them then the usual P5 teams.

Just wanted to stop by and say congrats on the well deserved ranking! Also I tip my cap to Coach Hurley for scheduling our home and home series. He saved our ass from an OOC SOS perspective. Good luck the rest of the way! Can’t wait to watch the return game next season, I’m sure URI will be out for blood.

This is one of the craziest ballots I've seen. 8 extreme picks and some of them are real head scratchers.

http://www.collegepolltracker.com/baske ... 17/week-12

Iggy1979 wrote:This is one of the craziest ballots I've seen. 8 extreme picks and some of them are real head scratchers.

http://www.collegepolltracker.com/baske ... 17/week-12

Must be the KMac of Michigan, putting Michigan ahead of Michigan State in Lansing is some high level trolling.

Of course, we head to Rose Hill in our first ranked week as #24......................

Graham Couch is often the subject of Poll Attacks - not hard to see why.

I voted a thumbs down for all that didn't pick Rhody.

Iggy1979 wrote:I voted a thumbs down for all that didn't pick Rhody.

Haha. I did too. I also tweeted at them, politely, to consider Rhody.

Two voters had Rhody at #16. 18 voters had URI off their ballot. 47 voters had the Rams in their top 25.

http://www.collegepolltracker.com/baske ... -rams/2017

John McNamara checking in at 17 - the better McNamara

The way I see it is there is 18 voters who didn’t rank us..
Well time to make them believers!!!!

Nice day for the Hurleys ASU 21 URI 24

Summary of the 12 Weeks of Voting

Note how devastating the Nevada and Alabama losses were

Steady climb the last 6 weeks since the Alabama Loss from:
45 - Lost Alabama (A)
38 - Beat Charleston (H) - Moved 7
37 - Beat Iona (H) - Moved 1
36 - Beat FGCU (H) and George Mason (H) - Moved 1
30 - Beat LaSalle (H) and George Washington (A) - Moved 6
27 - Beat Saint Louis (A) and Saint Bonaventure (H) - Moved 3
24 - Beat UMASS (H) and Dayton (A) - Moved 3

ATPTourFan wrote:Graham Couch is often the subject of Poll Attacks - not hard to see why.

What is weird about Couch is he had URI

Week 1 @ #17 the highest of any voter
Week 2 @ #17 the highest of any voter
Week 3 @ #25 and the only voter to vote for URI
Week 4 @ #24 where Couch and Rothstein were the only Voters for URI
Week 4 @ #23

and he has not voted for URI since

He was our best Voter of the 65 and then disappeared

The Fordham game gives this team the opportunity to complete the cycle. The loss to FU was a low point, and had brought up questions about quite a few things. Since that loss last February, we have lost 4 times. We went to the NCAAT and were a 3pt shot away from beating Oregon. We're on a 10 game winning streak and ranked in the Top 25. Complete the cycle on Wednesday and enjoy the welcome home on Saturday!!!!!

It is good to be a Rhode Island Rams fan these days.

reef wrote:Nice day for the Hurleys ASU 21 URI 24

When was the last time two brothers were ranked at the same time?

Must’ve been the Miller brothers (Dayton and Arizona)?

RoadyJay wrote:

reef wrote:Nice day for the Hurleys ASU 21 URI 24

When was the last time two brothers were ranked at the same time?

Must’ve been the Miller brothers (Dayton and Arizona)?

Would think you are right. Could have been as recently as last year, if not the season before. At any rate, I can't imagine there are that many other pairs of brothers to accomplish this. Bob Sr should be especially proud of his sons today.

What a nice Monday!

Thanks Packman04. Nice to see Nevada get a slot in the AP poll. Great win over Boise State and your return match with the Broncos on Feb. 14 should be another barn burner of a game. The BSU arena will be one of the eight first round sites in this year's NCAAT. Wouldn't it be ironic if the Rams end up there.

What nice recognition and free advertising!

RIFan wrote:What nice recognition and free advertising!

Exactly right. Plus gets increased interest from Alumni all over the world, increases donations, increases Freshmen applications and the list goes on and on.

Publicity like this had a lot to do with the Ryan Center being built - a Practice Facility in the works, life is good in Kingston

Lofty ranking......

Interesting look at URI’s A10 results so far. Assuming they win Weds all of their eight A10 wins will be against the bottom 8 teams. They have zero wins against the teams in 2nd-6th.

It’s nice recognition for the school, the program,” URI guard E.C. Matthews said. “On our things-to-do list, it wasn’t getting ranked. We’re blessed to be there, but we have bigger plans.”

“It’s hard not to pay attention to it, but that wasn’t one of the main goals that we set out to do this year,” URI guard Jared Terrell said. “We’re trying to win a conference championship and get further in the NCAA Tournament.”

DIALED in!

rjsuperfly66 wrote:

reef wrote:I'm sorry but St Marys going from well unranked to #16 in the country is an absolute travesty. Anybody else agree ??

I'm equally surprised about Florida -- a week ago they lost to a bad Ole Miss team ... this week they beat a mid-level tournament team at home, and then went to Kentucky and won, but Kentucky they AP just said was not good enough to be in the Top 25. Yet Florida goes from 1 vote last week to 366 votes this week.

Two things to remember...

1) The rule of recency: when given a number of data points, people remember things that are most recent.

2) The power of national TV: people see St. Mary's go to Gonzaga and win. People see Florida go to UK (a tough place to win at regardless of how well UK is playing) and win.

URI will start getting some games on NBCSN and ESPN2 here in the coming weeks. Keep winning and they'll continue to rise up the polls. However, keep in mind that if they lay an egg in front of everyone, say bye-bye to the ranking. Established programs can lose some games and keep their ranking. But not programs on the fringe of "big time."

Pretty Amazing Stuff