No Projo coverage in Orlando today?

RoadyJay · Unread post by **RoadyJay** » 9 years ago

So, looks like no Projo coverage today in Orlando. Please tell me I'm wrong and we can remove this thread.

From what I can tell, McNamara is at Rupp covering PC v Kentucky. Koch didn't make the trip down here, so unless he flew down yesterday or this morning, I'm assuming Koch will be watching URI v Georgia Tech on a television somewhere in RI. This is a major tournament, and today is one of our most important games to date early in the season.

I thought with the Koch hire at the Projo things would change... The more I see the more I realize nothing has changed. Continued weak coverage of URI basketball. When will we see the "big things planned" he promised? Is Projo holding him back?

Bill did good work at the Independent but I don't see that the move to the Journal has given us anything more. We get AP type recaps of the games and we have to pay for them? Ha!

We deserve better!

Iggy1979 · Unread post by **Iggy1979** » 9 years ago

I think Bill's coverage is s big improvement over PK. But if looks like Bill's first responsibility is high school.

bressler3south · Unread post by **bressler3south** » 9 years ago

And the ProJo's first responsibility is to PC Basketball and its second is PC Hockey, thanks to Ass-istant editor Mark Dribble…..

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 9 years ago

The more things change; the more they stay the same......the Providence Pamphlet continues to fail, will the new owners bring any significant change?.......doubtful....

RoadyJay · Unread post by **RoadyJay** » 9 years ago

This turkey season I am thankful for CoxHub... DiSano, Bakr, etc. The video production. The post-game analysis. That's coverage!

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 9 years ago

Why do you guys even spend so much time worrying about the projo? They are completely irrelevant in every possible way. I wouldn't waste your energy thinking or talking about it.

hrstrat57 · Unread post by **hrstrat57** » 9 years ago

adam914 wrote:Why do you guys even spend so much time worrying about the projo? They are completely irrelevant in every possible way. I wouldn't waste your energy thinking or talking about it.

This!

twisted3829 · Unread post by **twisted3829** » 9 years ago

it's a 5th place game in Orlando, not the championship, this whole Orlando tournament and travel was purchased well before Koch was hired.

I think having someone at #1 Kentucky when a team you cover is playing there is more important than a 5th place game

RoadyJay · Unread post by **RoadyJay** » 9 years ago

I get that the Projo is irrelevant. I was hopeful the hiring of Koch would change this. So far, it hasn't changed anything and probably won't change in the future.

I certainly get covering PC playing the #1 team in the country.

Don't buy the travel excuse.. Haha.. That's just silly.. Buy a plane ticket and fly to watch the game in person.

The thing that bothers me is that Koch hyped his move to the Projo... talking about jumping on board and big things were to come. Haven't seen it. Maybe his hands are tied, but so far it's been a false promise.

Time to go yell my head off at the game. Tchau!

Rhody74 · Unread post by **Rhody74** » 9 years ago

How on earth can you blame Koch if the ProJo won't pay to send him? He's a sportswriter, not a fan. Bitch if you don't like what he writes, but it's not his call on whether he covers a game or not.

Section104 · Unread post by **Section104** » 9 years ago

Bill is busy covering PC soccer tonight

RoadyJay · Unread post by **RoadyJay** » 9 years ago

Wow. PC soccer over URI basketball. Koch is the new Projo puppet.

twisted3829 · Unread post by **twisted3829** » 9 years ago

Jay give it a break, KMac covered the tournament because it was booked long before Koch was hired (he's only been there a month), KMac left to cover PC at #1 Kentucky (rightfully so) and they were going to waste money and send Koch down on the busiest travel day of the year to cover a 5th place game. With Koch available they had them cover PC soccer in the sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. It all makes sense to be honest

RoadyJay · Unread post by **RoadyJay** » 9 years ago

Not one tweet from either Twisted. Give ME a break.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

If URI was playing at Kentucky and PC was playing in Florida, and there was only one reporter to cover them, where do you think he would be? It's kind of a rhetorical question, at least in my mind.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 9 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:If URI was playing at Kentucky and PC was playing in Florida, and there was only one reporter to cover them, where do you think he would be? It's kind of a rhetorical question, at least in my mind.

Definitely in Kentucky

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 9 years ago

Seriously this is a ridiculous thing to be bitching about. I'm pretty sure Koch is given an assignment and he works it. You're making it sound like a month into his job he should have demanded to be flown to Florida at the last second to cover a 5th place game in a Thanksgiving tournament.

By the way he has tweeted about the game since your post if that helps.

BPR2010 · Unread post by **BPR2010** » 9 years ago

Not that I follow soccer at all, but isn't PC playing for an Elite 8 spot tonight? Pretty big deal, if URI was in the same spot I'm sure Bill would be covering that as well. How is the ProJo coverage of Rhody soccer vs. PC? Kidding of course, not a big deal though. I don't read ProJo for it's college basketball coverage. Quicker and better college basketball news is online now. Love rapid reactions on twitter anyways.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 9 years ago

BPR2010 wrote:Not that I follow soccer at all, but isn't PC playing for an Elite 8 spot tonight? Pretty big deal, if URI was in the same spot I'm sure Bill would be covering that as well. How is the ProJo coverage of Rhody soccer vs. PC? Kidding of course, not a big deal though. I don't read ProJo for it's college basketball coverage. Quicker and better college basketball news is online now. Love rapid reactions on twitter anyways.

You are exactly right. Elite Eight appearance vs. a 5th place nothing Thanksgiving tournament.

RoadyJay · Unread post by **RoadyJay** » 9 years ago

Adam, that's why I asked in my first post if the Projo is holding him back. I loved Bill's work at the Independent. His mistake, in my opinion, was pumping the move to the Projo as something great for URI basketball. I haven't seen it yet. Today is case in point. No coverage for URI basketball.

I'm very happy he has since posted a couple of tweets on the game. That's great.

He just tweeted a story about the game that is appearing in the Projo... Best part is it was written by Jesse Newell.. He is the beat writer for KU basketball..

Sorry, just doesn't add up for me.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 9 years ago

It is very bush league to send a reporter to cover the first two games of a three game tournament and then yank him so that he can travel to take in one game for another team elsewhere. It really shows you where their priority is.

Ramblinrose · Unread post by **Ramblinrose** » 9 years ago

PC is his beat. He's going to cover the KU game over two also rans in a so so tourney.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

So, projo doesn't want the extra expense, but is OK with the added expense of sending someone from Florida to Kentucky.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 9 years ago

I'm not gonna get mad at Bill for his employers not sending him to a 5th place game in a November tournament in Florida, scheduled before he was hired, for (honestly) the 2nd most cared about team in their readership, playing a shitty ACC team.

Their number one team, and the team most of their readers care about, was playing the number 1 team in the country. More people care about that game. That's a fact.

Bill is a phenominal Rhody cover guy, and I'm not going to bitch because his employers are PC fans.

Honestly, when we do something worth noting, we'll get coverage. I thought the Nebraska coverage was great from the Projo side. I wasn't expecting a huge pump up spread after we dismantled a really shitty team that no one cares about.

Rhody was playing Kansas. Of course they're sending coverage down.

If you owned a paper, and had money to send 1 guy somewhere...are you sending him to watch one team play #1, or watch a 5th place consolation game in a November tourney?

If the roles were reversed and PC was playing GT, and we were playing at Kentucky, the same thing would've happened. I really don't get the rage here.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 9 years ago

I came very close to dropping my subscription to the Projo with their last price increase. They talked me out of dropping them by freezing my cost at the old rate. Bush league moves like this will not help their cause with this longtime customer.

Ramblinrose · Unread post by **Ramblinrose** » 9 years ago

Why is this bush league? McNamara covers PC and PC is playing the country's glamor team. It would be idiotic to keep him in Orlando for URI-GT ... which most Rhode Islanders care nothing about.
It would have been nice to have Koch there. I assume he spent Thursday and Friday on high school football. Koch will do a fine job.
But he will not have the space he had in the South County weekly, where URI basketball is the biggest thing. Common sense.
I don't know if his editors are PC fans. But I can tell you this ... most Rhode Islanders are. If URI wants some of the pie it needs to win. URI got a lot of coverage with Harrick. It was exciting.
Jerry was a clown. Baron was mediocre and dull and lasted a decade. URI has been off the radar in this state since 1999. Whose fault? The people running the place.
I hope Hurley turns it around and stays. But you can't disappear for a decade and then whine about coverage.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 9 years ago

This is bitching just for bitching sake....it was a unique situation. PC played the #1 team in the country and that is where McNamara should have gone. This would have been valid if we made it to the title game, and they sent KMac out to UK instead of finishing coverage of the tourney where a local team had made the title game. Then it would be worth talking about.

Ramblinrose · Unread post by **Ramblinrose** » 9 years ago

Even then ... PC is his beat. He was just filling in at Orlando. Ideally Koch would have covered the tourney. But Thanksgiving about high school football.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 9 years ago

It is not bitching just for bitching sense.

It is symtomatic of a pattern at the Providence Journal whereby URI basketball is always given 2nd class treatment compared to PC hoops. I am a Providence Journal subscriber that helps to pay the bills at the paper. Part of the reason I puchase the paper is for Rhody hoops coverage. When they do things such as was done last weekend, I have every right to bitch.

The argument that McNamara should cover the Friars because that is his beat loses all traction when not equally applied to Koch and URI. For a paper with financial problems, the least expensive route would have been to keep the reporter where he already was and pay for a stringer in Lexington. They did not do that. The paper will very likely later this season use the travel budget excuse for not sending Koch to an away URI game(s). The same standards are not equally applied.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 9 years ago

RF1 wrote: Part of the reason I puchase the paper is for Rhody hoops coverage. When they do things such as was done last weekend, I have every right to bitch.

Why? That is literally the last thing on my mind when I look at the journal. They've been irrelevant for URI coverage, especially since we moved the board away from there.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 9 years ago

Blue Man wrote:
RF1 wrote: Part of the reason I puchase the paper is for Rhody hoops coverage. When they do things such as was done last weekend, I have every right to bitch.
Why? That is literally the last thing on my mind when I look at the journal. They've been irrelevant for URI coverage, especially since we moved the board away from there.

I am a paying customer of the paper and have every right to complain. It is still the number one print source for Rhode Islanders. If you don't care that it gives short shrift to URI hoops because you can get info elsewhere, that is your perogative. Most people in RI however are not going to go looking for information elsewhere. Casual fans will only see what is put in front of them. If there is no Rhody coverage in the Providence Journal or on the local tv news, many people will know nothing of Rhody hoops. It will then be even more difficult to get people interested to buy tickets and go to games, listen on the radio, or watch on tv. This in turn makes it harder to grow a fanbase and instead limits it mainly to the smaller number of hardcore followers.

Ramblinrose · Unread post by **Ramblinrose** » 9 years ago

RF1. I'm sure McNamara would have been thrilled to miss PC playing the top program in the country. His beat is PC hoops. Koch's is URI hoops and high school sports.
Does URI get second tier coverage? Yes, it does. The way to change that is to win big and fill the arena.uRI basketball has been largely irrelevant since 1999. That is fact.
A program can't disappear for a decade and then whine about coverage inequity. Especially when the other team has bounced back strongly and has its league on a Fox network.
PC doesn't have to be great every year to get attention. It has had a ton of success since winning the 1961 NIT. Two Final Fours, a bunch of NBA players, Hall of Fame coaches.
I am a URI alum and want URI to get some glory. But it's history is spotty. PC basketball is beloved in Rhode Island and it carries for generations. You want equal coverage? Put together an equal program.
The situation is a harsh reality but it's reality. I want URI to have a team that everyone talks about. But that isn't the case now.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 9 years ago

RF1 wrote: I am a paying customer of the paper and have every right to complain. It is still the number one print source for Rhode Islanders. If you don't care that it gives short shrift to URI hoops because you can get info elsewhere, that is your perogative. Most people in RI however are not going to go looking for information elsewhere. Casual fans will only see what is put in front of them. If there is no Rhody coverage in the Providence Journal or on the local tv news, many people will know nothing of Rhody hoops. It will then be even more difficult to get people interested to buy tickets and go to games, listen on the radio, or watch on tv. This in turn makes it harder to grow a fanbase and instead limits it mainly to the smaller number of hardcore followers.

I'm sorry but nobody reads newspapers anymore. What they do could not possibly be more irrelevant in the grand scheme of things like people buying tickets and being interested in the program or growing a fanbase.

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 9 years ago

Rose, exactly.....

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 9 years ago

Ramblinrose wrote:RF1. I'm sure McNamara would have been thrilled to miss PC playing the top program in the country. His beat is PC hoops. Koch's is URI hoops and high school sports.
Does URI get second tier coverage? Yes, it does. The way to change that is to win big and fill the arena.uRI basketball has been largely irrelevant since 1999. That is fact.
A program can't disappear for a decade and then whine about coverage inequity. Especially when the other team has bounced back strongly and has its league on a Fox network.
PC doesn't have to be great every year to get attention. It has had a ton of success since winning the 1961 NIT. Two Final Fours, a bunch of NBA players, Hall of Fame coaches.
I am a URI alum and want URI to get some glory. But it's history is spotty. PC basketball is beloved in Rhode Island and it carries for generations. You want equal coverage? Put together an equal program.
The situation is a harsh reality but it's reality. I want URI to have a team that everyone talks about. But that isn't the case now.

Exactly that. Dead on. You can't get mad at a mirror if it shows you as fat. If you're fat, it will show you as fat until you work out, eat well, and are skinny again.

No one cares because honestly for the last decade no one should've cared. I'm the biggest URI fan I know, but I'm not going to sit here and whine about how we're 2nd fiddle to PC when we literally did nothing noteworthy for 16 years.

In the time between winning meaningful games - PC has been to multiple NCAA tournaments. PC has put multiple players in the NBA. PC has won a Big East Championship - literally within this calendar year. PC has won a good amount of games against ranked teams, including the number 1 team in the country. Oh...and they've beaten us 4 years straight...

I'm psyched on this program and I believe we've turned a corner and are going in the right direction - but the reality is still, our biggest win in the last decade and a half is against a pre-season #21 team. Just because it's big for the program right now, and symbolic of things to come, doesn't mean it's big in the world of college basketball, and it makes everyone look dumb as URI fans when people don't understand the perspective of where we are.

Beat southern miss and beat PC, then we can complain about coverage this year. Win big games, win the A10, go to the dance and we can complain about coverage. But we all look stupid bitching about projo coverage when we don't even have our point guard position settled yet.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

We've been second fiddle to PC since the 1950s, and it's never going to change, no matter how good we get. There have been several occasions in the past 50 years when we were a better program than PC at the time. They always got preference in all of the local media.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 9 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:We've been second fiddle to PC since the 1950s, and it's never going to change, no matter how good we get. There have been several occasions in the past 50 years when we were a better program than PC at the time. They always got preference in all of the local media.

Then we can bitch about it when we have a case.

Right now we're like a kid who gets detention every day, who comes home asking for an allowance raise just because he had a day where detention was shorter than usual.

1 successful game after 16 years of misery isn't enough to justify the vitriol directed at projo, and especially bill. Makes it look even dumber when you look at all the surrounding circumstances to the game/coverage.

seanmc94 · Unread post by **seanmc94** » 9 years ago

There has never been a sustained period where uri has been more relevant on or off the floor.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 9 years ago

seanmc94 wrote:There has never been a sustained period where uri has been more relevant on or off the floor.

Are you kidding? The 90's without a doubt. '93 on > 4 times in 6 years, 3 in a row, 1 elite 8. 2 NBA stars. PC went twice. 94 and 97. Stop butting in and spewing dumb stuff when I'm making a larger rational point. Now you're being a PC homer with no perspective. Looks just as bad.

The other flip side to this - is that if we beat Kansas, and Tennessee - and were playing Michigan St in the Championship game, I guarantee they send coverage to both games. If they didn't then I could see a gripe. But really, this whole thread going at the projo is pointless, and coming at Bill Koch is just stupid.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 9 years ago

Many of you choose to accept 2nd class treatment. I don't. I have a right as a paying customer to complain about coverage. Many of you don't appear to pay for the paper and your opinion frankly doesn't matter as far as I am concerned.

As for no one reads newspapers anymore. The Projo's circulation ranges from weekdays in the 90k range to about 110k on Sundays. That means that roughly 10% of the RI population pays for it and many more read it (one paper is probably read by more thna one in multi family households) . I guess it is a lot like the restaurant that Yogi referred to - No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded.

Also Blueman - explain your "the vitriol directed at projo, and especially bill". Bill is doing what he is told. I haven't seen where he is being criticized by anyone here. It is Projo managment that is being critcized.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 9 years ago

So if your precious subscription is so valuable why don't you cancel it and start reading the Independent that covers URI basketball much more? Then you'll show the big bad Projo that you mean business and they'll have to find a way to move on without your $300 a year. Or is it because then you'd have nothing to bitch about?

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 9 years ago

I've said it before when criticism of the Projo surfaced.
Newspapers are dying - enjoy the Projo while you can, and if you don't like the Projo then drop it and go to something else
I get the Projo to my door every day and always have
I enjoy Bill Reynolds, Jim Donaldson, Kevin McNamara, Carolyn Thornton (unfortunately gone now after a nice career there but a victim of the Newspaper shrinking industry). I definitely do not believe Kevin Mac is anti URI - no way shape or form. I have talked to Bill, Kevin and Jim during my life
I really do not understand why these guys get regularly trashed here
As for PC I can't stand the school and I hope they lose every game in evey sport
BUT it is only reasonable that they get more coverage than URI............and they likely always will. Newspapers sell stories and PC is a much, much bigger story to the Rhode Island population than URI ever will be
Recruiting, Games, you name it PC will get more press and in my opinion they should get more press............and nobody is a bigger URI fan and PC hater than me.
I like the Projo, I like very much Bill Reynolds, Kevin Mac and most of the time Jim Donaldson and others............I can't stand PC but I wish the continuous comparing of which page the PC article is on and which page the URI article is on would die off - it's reality folks and will likely never, ever change.
And to think that the Projo should have had a guy in Orlando for the URI - Georgia Tech game versus covering the PC Kentucky game? That's insanity. I was AT the URI Georgia Tech Game - there were 200 total fans in the arena - what in God's name would ever make anyone think that the Projo should feel obligated to have a reporter on site to report that game?
In this age of the internet, message boards, sending photos, etc I guarantee you got more information from this board about the games in Orlando than you ever would have from any Reporters 5, 10 or 20 years ago, Twitter, facebook, message boards, snapchat, etc are all contributing to the diminished importance and value of newspapers. The information is virtually instantaneous. I told you Bill Murray was in the house Sunday night - how long would you have had to have waited for that tidbit to be reported by a newspaper 10 years ago.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 9 years ago

Well they showed Bill Murray on TV about 150 times

Spot on with your points there ramster!

seanmc94 · Unread post by **seanmc94** » 9 years ago

Blue Man wrote:
seanmc94 wrote:There has never been a sustained period where uri has been more relevant on or off the floor.
Are you kidding? The 90's without a doubt. '93 on > 4 times in 6 years, 3 in a row, 1 elite 8. 2 NBA stars. PC went twice. 94 and 97. Stop butting in and spewing dumb stuff when I'm making a larger rational point. Now you're being a PC homer with no perspective. Looks just as bad.

The other flip side to this - is that if we beat Kansas, and Tennessee - and were playing Michigan St in the Championship game, I guarantee they send coverage to both games. If they didn't then I could see a gripe. But really, this whole thread going at the projo is pointless, and coming at Bill Koch is just stupid.

The 90's? You mean the era when PC had the 2nd most nba players behind Carolina?
You mean when PC won the Big East tourney, went to the dance 5 times and went to the elite 8? Tally up the w/l record in the 90s. you won't like what you see.

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 9 years ago

Second most behind Carolina???? That's just wrong. Name your players.

seanmc94 · Unread post by **seanmc94** » 9 years ago

Eric Murdoch
Marty conlon
Michael smith
Dickey Simpkins
Eric Williams
Austin Croshere
God shamgod
Jamel Thomas

I'm missing 1-2 stragglers; but for a brief time, it was a factoid on an nba telecast

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 9 years ago

Kentucky/Kansas?
Top of my head

Antoine walker
Jamal mashburn
Tony delk
Walter McCarty
Rom mercer
Derek Anderson
Jamal magloire
Scott Padgett
Nazr Muhammad

I ended up checking a list, they have a few others I didn't recognize but prob 4 more.

I find that a dubious claim that PC put more guys in the nba than anybody not named North Carolina.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 9 years ago

adam914 wrote:Well they showed Bill Murray on TV about 150 times Spot on with your points there ramster!

oops,
I didn't even think about the games being on tv

Ramblinrose · Unread post by **Ramblinrose** » 9 years ago

It would have been great if URI remained the power it was in the 1940s. But it's had spurts of success with some extensive droughts. I thought the Hartick years migh lead to prolonged success even if he left. Then URI pissed away a decade. Fan interest in RI is marginal. Whose fault is that? The Projo?Channel 10? No, Bob Carothers and Ron Petro mainly. That is reality on a platter.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

Ramblinrose wrote:It would have been great if URI remained the power it was in the 1940s. But it's had spurts of success with some extensive droughts. I thought the Hartick years migh lead to prolonged success even if he left. Then URI pissed away a decade. Fan interest in RI is marginal. Whose fault is that? The Projo?Channel 10? No, Bob Carothers and Ron Petro mainly. That is reality on a platter.

We were also on our way in the late 70s. Dave Gavitt put an end to that.