RPI: 18luke wrote:Have to improve the outside shooting immediately or the conference games are going to be even uglier than this one.
SOS: 9
A10: 10th ranked conference
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
RPI: 18luke wrote:Have to improve the outside shooting immediately or the conference games are going to be even uglier than this one.
Agree, their 2nd half was a ton better then the 1st. but if they play just a little better i think the CofC and Iona games are wins by 10+ that look a lot better then these grinding games. If the team shoots a few percentage pts better we will be singing a different tune.rambone 78 wrote:TP, that's all good.....if we keep winning.
We just need to play a little better, that's all. We can beat teams like Iona playing 15 minutes of good basketball....but is that good enough all the time?
Team Current RPI Expected RPI Virginia 18 7.4 Nevada 14 19 Seton Hall 17 20.3 Rhode Island 19 31.5 St. Bona 50 43.9 Alabama 22 46.3 Providence 56 84.3 Davidson 170 87.4 Iona 108 93.2 VCU 109 101.1 Dayton 72 111.3 La Salle 70 121.8 Charleston 182 130.8 UNC Asheville 145 137 Saint Joseph's 203 169.1 GW 160 172.4 FGCU 222 173.5 Massachusetts 176 183.7 Saint Louis 171 213.1 Duquesne 270 239.3 George Mason 236 240.8 Richmond 262 254 Brown 277 267.1 Fordham 285 271.3 Holy Cross 306 279.5When you watch us play, it isn't hard to identify areas where we aren't perfect. I agree that can and should shoot better, but clearly whatever we are doing is working. The proof is in the pudding. If we were beating up on the 209th ranked schedule I would the first person here ringing the alarm, but what we are doing is working against good teams. I also think that our shooting struggles actually bode well for this team, since we are winning without shooting it well and shooting is one of those things that tends to level off over time. I think we will find our level shooting the ball, and when we do it will make us that much tougher to play against.
For a pure numbers look at this. If you assume that Rhody plays the rest of the season the way they played the last game, you could project the following losses (also adjusting for home court vs away):TruePoint wrote:Just to give a visual of the point I've been trying to make here:
Team Current RPI Expected RPI Virginia 18 7.4 Nevada 14 19 Seton Hall 17 20.3 Rhode Island 19 31.5 St. Bona 50 43.9 Alabama 22 46.3 Providence 56 84.3 Davidson 170 87.4 Iona 108 93.2 VCU 109 101.1 Dayton 72 111.3 La Salle 70 121.8 Charleston 182 130.8 UNC Asheville 145 137 Saint Joseph's 203 169.1 GW 160 172.4 FGCU 222 173.5 Massachusetts 176 183.7 Saint Louis 171 213.1 Duquesne 270 239.3 George Mason 236 240.8 Richmond 262 254 Brown 277 267.1 Fordham 285 271.3 Holy Cross 306 279.5.
Based on the way they’ve been playing, they’re predicted to win the conference and are favored to win all but one game (at Bona).Rhody83 wrote:For a pure numbers look at this. If you assume that Rhody plays the rest of the season the way they played the last game, you could project the following losses (also adjusting for home court vs away):TruePoint wrote:Just to give a visual of the point I've been trying to make here:
Team Current RPI Expected RPI Virginia 18 7.4 Nevada 14 19 Seton Hall 17 20.3 Rhode Island 19 31.5 St. Bona 50 43.9 Alabama 22 46.3 Providence 56 84.3 Davidson 170 87.4 Iona 108 93.2 VCU 109 101.1 Dayton 72 111.3 La Salle 70 121.8 Charleston 182 130.8 UNC Asheville 145 137 Saint Joseph's 203 169.1 GW 160 172.4 FGCU 222 173.5 Massachusetts 176 183.7 Saint Louis 171 213.1 Duquesne 270 239.3 George Mason 236 240.8 Richmond 262 254 Brown 277 267.1 Fordham 285 271.3 Holy Cross 306 279.5.
Bonnies at home
At Bonnies
At VCU
At Dayton
At LaSalle
At Davidson
That would be 12-6. I think they will do better than that because I think they will play better. This refutes what I believe TP’s point is - that they don’t have to play better. They need to improve their shooting.
First, I don't know where you are getting these projections from, but according to rpiforecast URI will be favored in all of its remaining games save for @Bonnies, where they will be 1.5 point dogs. I am not predicting a 18-1 finish, but it would be pretty surprising if the rest of the season played out the way you have supposed here. I understand that you're saying that if they play as they did last night this could happen, but not only is it unlikely that they repeat their worst performance over and over again, they have already gone on the road and played that bad and still almost beat a team that is better than all the teams that you mentioned (except maybe Bonnies).Rhody83 wrote:For a pure numbers look at this. If you assume that Rhody plays the rest of the season the way they played the last game, you could project the following losses (also adjusting for home court vs away):TruePoint wrote:Just to give a visual of the point I've been trying to make here:
Team Current RPI Expected RPI Virginia 18 7.4 Nevada 14 19 Seton Hall 17 20.3 Rhode Island 19 31.5 St. Bona 50 43.9 Alabama 22 46.3 Providence 56 84.3 Davidson 170 87.4 Iona 108 93.2 VCU 109 101.1 Dayton 72 111.3 La Salle 70 121.8 Charleston 182 130.8 UNC Asheville 145 137 Saint Joseph's 203 169.1 GW 160 172.4 FGCU 222 173.5 Massachusetts 176 183.7 Saint Louis 171 213.1 Duquesne 270 239.3 George Mason 236 240.8 Richmond 262 254 Brown 277 267.1 Fordham 285 271.3 Holy Cross 306 279.5.
Bonnies at home
At Bonnies
At VCU
At Dayton
At LaSalle
At Davidson
That would be 12-6. I think they will do better than that because I think they will play better. This refutes what I believe TP’s point is - that they don’t have to play better. They need to improve their shooting.
Earlier in this thread:When you watch us play, it isn't hard to identify areas where we aren't perfect. I agree that we can and should shoot better, but clearly whatever we are doing is working. The proof is in the pudding. If we were beating up on the 209th ranked schedule I would the first person here ringing the alarm, but what we are doing is working against good teams. I also think that our shooting struggles actually bode well for this team, since we are winning without shooting it well and shooting is one of those things that tends to level off over time. I think we will find our level shooting the ball, and when we do it will make us that much tougher to play against.
Charleston thread:With the qualifier that I was traveling in New York and didn't actually get to (have to?) watch this, I'm not all that bothered by what seems like a subpar performance. They're going to happen. I'll take it as a good sign that we can throw up a subpar performance and still beat a pretty good team - likely a tournament team.
Want to start seeing a little bit more finely tuned performance as we ramp up for the stretch run over the next month. This team is obviously about as talented as we expected and getting healthier. Good teams should improve thru January and February and peek in March. If that happens we will be OK.
Defending that post in the Charleston thread:There have been some games where we haven't shot it well, but we've played the 8th toughest schedule in the country and did the hardest part of that without the preseason POY in our conference and some of it without our best big man (or with a severely limited version of him). And yet, here we sit with an RPI hovering around 20 and expected to end up around 30, with wins against some good teams and no losses to bad teams. How bad could we be, really?
Shooting is an easy thing to identify - my wife could say "wow we are missing a lot of shots today" - but there are a lot of other things that go into winning basketball games. We must be doing a bunch of those things reasonably well. If anything, the ability to win games against legitimate teams without having really found our level offensively is encouraging. I am never surprised by the unrelenting insistence on finding the gloom to focus on, but things are actually pretty good right now.
I'm sure I could go back further and find more examples. If you think we have different opinions and want to have a discussion about it, fine. But don't misrepresent what my point is so that you can make your argument. I think it is obvious that my point is not what you said it is.Rambone, it is totally fair to say "I think this team can shoot better from the floor, and it will need to if it wants to accomplish its highest goals this season." That is an entirely uncontroversial thing to say and I'd agree with you. I just take exception to the idea that "we have not played really well...we will need to raise our game in conference." I don't think I agree with that.
I don’t like to think of who is the teams best player. Fact is for URI to max out their performance this season they need BOTH Terrell and Mathews playing their best basketball.theblueram wrote:Jared is this teams best player. The crowd needs to egg him on and he will go. Yell at him, tell him he needs to take over in game and he will.
CTRamfan wrote:The development of a team chemistry has slowed the offense mostly, and the defense somewhat........all as a result of injuries to E.C., Cyril, and Ryan.
E.C.'s play the last eight minutes was really encouraging.....HURLEY had him playing a one man zone at the top of the key. He switched off only when the center was there......I thought those five minutes were the turning point of the game. Iona was not able to penetrate. Hats off to Hurley.
He is a true team player, and doing whatever it takes.
Fatts was playing against defenders as quick as him, with more length. His shots kept Iona's defense honest, even though they weren't falling.
Cyril and Andre's footwork was too slow, but we may not see teams that would match Iona's speed. I saw Cyril grimace on one rebound, and he didn't play after that......Akele could match their pace. He is taking fewer shots this year, and concentrating on offensive rebounds.
Garrett is having a really nice senior year on both sides of the ball.
Dowtin has gotten much more aggressive.
Stan and Jared are "the men".
The chemistry will come. It effects the offense, as well as the defense. Hurley is still learning the right combos. Have faith all, we will have a nice year. Cyril's injury will probably be season long, and as a result there will be a lot of experimenting.
72,Rhody72 wrote:I don't understand EC's situation. He hurt his wrist and returns and stands around on offense making his teammates play 4 on 5. His stamina should not be an issue, particularly for the time he is playing.
Fatts has hit the wall and has had a negative impact on team performance the past 2 games. The official scorer has been generous with regard to his TOs. His decision making with the ball is awful. Will he turn into another Akeem Richmond?
I thought EC and Cyril would be the key to success this year, and they hardly played against Iona. Jared, Jeff and Stan are carrying this team.
I'm watching FGCU vs Wichita. URI is going to get its clock cleaned Wednesday night if the present level of play continues.
FT shooting has improved. 3Pt shooting is a disgrace.