X FACTOR

[Smokinjimit]

It is scary to think about how bad of a team Baron would have fielded this season. The only reason we have any wins this year is X and the new coach. I think Baron might have had a very tough time winning ANY games this season if he had stayed. Maybe one or two games if he got lucky. Thank God we got Hurley. With the conference's changing the way they are we would have been lucky to be invited to play in a cyo league.

Not trying to pile on Baron but if he was around we might have lost 30+ games. Scary...

[section(105)]

The offense would have had its ebbs and flows............but the individual and team defense would have been awful.......

[Rhody72]

Actually, I think that they might have played the same to slightly better with Baron and this is meant as no slight on the job that DH has done this season. Any time you change the culture of an organization and have so many new parts (in practice anyway), you take a step back. On the court, we would have had BB and not XM. BB is probable better than any eligible player this year other than XM. I suspect that Baron would have brought in scholarship players who are better than DH's walk-on to provide badly needed depth.

But, I think that this question is irrelevant for the future of URI basketball. Going forward we will have better talent as well as a style of basketball that can get us to the NCAAs. With JB, we would have crawled our way back to mediocrity.

[rodfromcranston]

Wait, Baron was going to bring in recuits that Hurley couldn't?
I want what you're smoking.
Maybe Baron would have tried to cover up Holton's problems,
like he did when Holton enrolled here?
That would have made them better than our present team.
Also, didn't Hare say he wouldn't have come here if Baron returned?
So, no Munford, Aaman, Hare, but Shengalia, Billy and Holton.
No defense, no half court offense, no discipline, better rebounding.

[Smokinjimit]

Sorry 72 I can't see how this team would be remotely better without X on the court and without Huley on the bench.

[ace]

I suspect that Baron would have brought in scholarship players who are better than DH's walk-on to provide badly needed depth.

I don't know what this means. Do you mean the transfers, not the walk-ons?

[rodfromcranston]

I think he means, Baron would have brought in a pile of shit end of the bench
waste of a scholarship players, instead of the transfers Hurley brought in.

[seanmc94]

Hare was already on board. You can argue the team would be equal this year(BB, hare, holton). Next year will be the big leap and then '14.

[Iggy1979]

I think Holton would be gone no matter what but Mccoy might still be there.

[SmartyBarrett]

Not trying to pile on Baron but if he was around we might have lost 30+ games. Scary...

I promise they wouldn't have lost 30+ games. Rhody only has a 29-game schedule this year

[The Dude]

Holton would still be gone. BB would be here but Xavier Munford would not. McCoy might be here, but Brooks wouldn't be playing as well as he has been on defense or in any other aspect of the game. Also, I'm not sure Malone would be as good or Powell would be as good. Malone lost a lot of weight. It appears Powell has gotten some valuable teaching from Bobby, Dan and Preston. I don't see how in any way that this team would be better in any aspect of the game with Baron around. Their defense is MUCH better than it's ever been as well. This team is currently 3-19 at best if Baron was still the coach.

[STC]

So let me get this straight, somehow if Jim Baron had stayed, we would have been better this year? That is a joke.

Last year under Baron, URI ranked 321st in scoring defense at 75.5 ppg out of 338 teams and then you would have to subtract Baron's only interior presences in Outerbridge and Holton and somehow URI would have been better?

(go here to see the defensive stats for yourself... http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/ran ... rtCode=MBB )

Through Feb 14th, 2013 URI was 177th in the country in scoring defense at 66.3 ppg. Also, add in Munford who is a better player than Billy, and what are we really talking about?

URI would have between 2-4 wins if Baron was coaching this year and NONE of the wins would have been anything more than pure luck.

[rodfromcranston]

Hare only had a verbal, no LOI, and had to be re-recruited by Hurley.
McCoy was a player Hurley wanted nothing to do with.

[TruePoint]

Hare very well may have gone elsewhere had Baron stayed. This place was one lit match short of a dumpster fire. I agree with the OP: we likely would be staring at a donut in the win column had Baron not been let go. As bad as we all thought things were, they were actually even worse than that beneath the surface.

As far as 72 goes, its almost to the point where you can disregard his posts. Its just contrarianism of the highest order.

[Billyboy78]

Aside from the different players each coach would have and each coach's coaching ability, how many academic/legal problems have there been under Hurley as compared to last year under Baron. Do you think these problems would have suddenly ended had Baron stayed?

[ramfan85]

Baron is now trying to get one of his "questionable" student athletes into Canisius.

[Smokinjimit]

I'm not sure which is scarier. The condition of the program under baron at the time he left. Or that there were people out there who who so clueless as to defend him and his record.

By the way do the baron butt kissers still post here?

[rodfromcranston]

Yup, look at the 20 or so people, who said they'd be happy
if Walrus made the dance.
They're the ones who are "disappointed" in Hurley and our record.

[giovanni]

Why would you guys even waste the time to argue comparing Baron to Hurley? Anyone doing that is just looking for a pointless argument , or probably shouldn't waste their time watching basketball, because obviously they don't understand the game at all.

[adam914]

Baron is now trying to get one of his "questionable" student athletes into Canisius.

Huh? Can you elaborate?

[Rhody72]

It is probably a safe assumption that Hare would be here with or without DH. He verbaled to Baron and Murphy was here in either case. Yes, Baron would have kept or brought in a pile of #### as he always did who were better than the walk-ons DH has. In aggregate, the talent level would be about the same and the results about the same (XM is better than BB and JB's recruits would be better than DH's walk-ons).

The future is much brighter right now. I am just refuting the argument that our record for this season would be much worse if Baron had been retained. I look forward to next season when we have a team with some very good coaching and talent.

[ace]

Again, when you say walk-ons are you actually talking about the transfers (and Onyekaba)?

Hurley's walk-ons are Plunkett, Youncofski, and Nazarko. They aren't taking a scholarship from anybody.

If you really do mean that the transfers (and Onyekaba) are not as good as whoever Baron would have been brought in this year, well ok. Generally, any player who is allowed to play is better than one who isn't.


The university took care of the Holton situation, neither coach would have been able to keep him.

[ramfan85]

Adam,
Zack Lewis.

[rodfromcranston]

This is something that's beginning to sink in to many, what a mess Baron left here:
Tom Penders‏@TomPenders

@thorrbjorn @GoRhodyRams @RhodyMBB @dhurley15 I don't think fans realize what a mess this was. All great coaches focus on everything.!

[Rhody72]

The problem is that it took administrators 11 years to recognize the problem and act. As long as they could placate fans with false platitudes about the man in order to keep revenue flowing, then there was no problem. Eventually, even RIers wake up; they are just a bit slow and take a decade for the light to go on. The same lack of foresight is about to play out with State gambling revenue. Any RIers on the ill-fated cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico were probably last in line to get P&B sandwiches.

[adam914]

Adam,
Zack Lewis.

Ah ok, I thought you meant someone who previously played at URI. Thanks for following up.