Week #8 - Games of Interest

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 7 years ago

Today's release of both the AP Top 25 Poll and the USA Today Poll once again finds no A-10 teams in the rankings, nor are any getting other votes.

In the AP poll, Duke holds the #5 slot and Cincinnati gets the #23 slot
.
The USA Today Poll has the same ranking, Duke at #5 and Cincinnati at #23.

Other than Duke and Cincinnati, no other URI OOC opponent is getting any votes in either poll.

Villanova continues as the #1 ranked team in both polls.

The cumulative won-lost record of URI OOC opponents moves to 88-55, a winning percentage of .615, an increase from the previous week. Out of 12 OOC opponents, only three have records below .500 - Dartmouth, Marist and Holy Cross.

The Christmas holiday has curtailed action and there are no relevant games scheduled for Monday evening and only one game on Tuesday, when VCU hosts Howard. 7 PM.

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 7 years ago

Lots of action in this thread.

In the only A-10 game tonight, VCU put their foot to the pedal from the outset and never let up as they routed Howard, 85-51. Howard committed 21 TO's in the game

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 7 years ago

It would get more play if you changed the title to: Week #8 - Games of Interest 2.0

PlayMikeMotenMore · Unread post by **PlayMikeMotenMore** » 7 years ago

Ricky Pitino...Minnesota plays 1 road in non-conference (a loss), goes 11-1. First Big Ten home game against depleted MSU team and lose. Pitino in hot water. Took over a program under Tubby that had gone to the NCAA tourney in Tubby's last year. Pitino has taken it down the toilet. Minnesota's loss is URI's gain.

MSU will be helped by its strength of schedule in the eyes of the committee, despite "bad" home loss to Northeastern. Minnesota simply needs to win games it can win. Minnesota didn't do that tonight. Bad loss for the Gophers.

reef · Unread post by **reef** » 7 years ago

Yes they had a big 2h lead and blew it also

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 7 years ago

In Wednesday night action in the A-10:

UMass wraps up its OOC schedule with a visit to Atlanta to take on Georgia State. 2 PM. On ESPN3.

Hartford at Davidson. 7 PM.

In games involving URI OOC opponents:

Houston versus UConn at XL Center in Hartford. 3 PM. On ESPN2.

PC at Xavier. 7 PM.

Chicago State at Valparaiso. 8 PM. On ESPN3.

#23 Cincinnati at Temple. 9 PM. On ESPNU.

PlayMikeMotenMore · Unread post by **PlayMikeMotenMore** » 7 years ago

And for those who love to follow the bracket...URI is in!!! So says Stewart Mandel.
http://www.foxsports.com/college-basket ... del-122716

Rhody15 · Unread post by **Rhody15** » 7 years ago

Houston winning at UCONN 36-12 end of the first half....yikes

PeterRamTime · Unread post by **PeterRamTime** » 7 years ago

Good job Houston!
UMass beat GA ST. 74-65 to move to 10-3 overall.

PeterRamTime · Unread post by **PeterRamTime** » 7 years ago

PlayMikeMotenMore wrote:And for those who love to follow the bracket...URI is in!!! So says Stewart Mandel.
http://www.foxsports.com/college-basket ... del-122716

We seem to be in most brackets still. Lunardi still has us in, fox and others.
It appears that there aren't that many teams with better resume's as we've got. I think our strength of schedule has a lot to do with that. Now when some of these middle of the pack power conference teams start beating top teams in those power conferences we may see us drop off the right side of the bubble in these early brackets.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 7 years ago

PeterRamTime wrote:
PlayMikeMotenMore wrote:And for those who love to follow the bracket...URI is in!!! So says Stewart Mandel.
http://www.foxsports.com/college-basket ... del-122716
We seem to be in most brackets still. Lunardi still has us in, fox and others.
It appears that there aren't that many teams with better resume's as we've got. I think our strength of schedule has a lot to do with that. Now when some of these middle of the pack power conference teams start beating top teams in those power conferences we may see us drop off the right side of the bubble in these early brackets.

WHAT DO THOSE MORONS KNOW!? THEY DON'T HAVE THE BASKETBALL KNOWLEDGE THIS BOARD HAS. HOW WILL THEY ALLOW A TEAM WITH SUCH HISTORICALLY BAD LATE GAME PERFORMANCES OVER A PERIOD OF SEVERAL YEARS GET INTO THE TOURNAMENT!?!?!?

josephski · Unread post by **josephski** » 7 years ago

Blue Man wrote:
PeterRamTime wrote:
PlayMikeMotenMore wrote:And for those who love to follow the bracket...URI is in!!! So says Stewart Mandel.
http://www.foxsports.com/college-basket ... del-122716
We seem to be in most brackets still. Lunardi still has us in, fox and others.
It appears that there aren't that many teams with better resume's as we've got. I think our strength of schedule has a lot to do with that. Now when some of these middle of the pack power conference teams start beating top teams in those power conferences we may see us drop off the right side of the bubble in these early brackets.
WHAT DO THOSE MORONS KNOW!? THEY DON'T HAVE THE BASKETBALL KNOWLEDGE THIS BOARD HAS. HOW WILL THEY ALLOW A TEAM WITH SUCH HISTORICALLY BAD LATE GAME PERFORMANCES OVER A PERIOD OF SEVERAL YEARS GET INTO THE TOURNAMENT!?!?!?

I don't think the knowledge gap is as great as you think between users on this board and those in the press at least regarding our team. How many of our games do you think Stewart Mandel has actually watched? He's probably still going off the preseason hype and the win against Cincy. It's the same as how all the people who put us in the top 25 went off built up hype and our roster on paper, some of those who put us in the top 25 had probably never seen us play or less than a handful of times.

Users on this board at least watch the majority if not all of our games. Just because our professions are not college basketball analysts doesn't mean we don't have a clue about how good this team is. The fact we started as a five seed and are now projected as a last four in should give you an idea that maybe these analysts don't know everything.

And just to be clear I still think we'll make the tournament.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 7 years ago

ski I agree 100%. Just being facetious. Didn't someone have a sarcasm emoji a little while back? Would be good to have.

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 7 years ago

Blue Man wrote:ski I agree 100%. Just being facetious. Didn't someone have a sarcasm emoji a little while back? Would be good to have.

That one would be good to have, also, the face-palm and the vomiting emoji are ones that we have at work that are very useful....

josephski · Unread post by **josephski** » 7 years ago

Blue Man wrote:ski I agree 100%. Just being facetious. Didn't someone have a sarcasm emoji a little while back? Would be good to have.

Went right over my head, long day back at work.

I believe this is the symbol I used to see posted:

hrstrat57 · Unread post by **hrstrat57** » 7 years ago

I know everything there is to know about the greatest game ever invented.......

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 7 years ago

Besides UMass notching its 4th straight win as the Minutemen beat Georgia State, 74-65, Davidson won in a romp over Hartford, 105-75.

Houston beat up UConn, 62-46.

PC is soundly beaten By Xavier, 82-56 as the Friars couldn't contain X inside game and were badly out rebounded. PC now has played five games outside the friendly confines of the Dunk and has lost four of the five including all three true road games. Cooley complained bitterly that the Friars were the only BE team to open the conference with two straight road games, all of which which proves that even the "anointed ones" can whine.

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 7 years ago

Temple - Cincy tied at half...kinda cool to see on the "INFO" Cox channel guide: "Cincinnati stands at 10-2 with its only losses coming to Rhode Island and Butler.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 7 years ago

Obadiah wrote:Besides UMass notching its 4th straight win as the Minutemen beat Georgia State, 74-65, Davidson won in a romp over Hartford, 105-75.

Houston beat up UConn, 62-46.

PC is soundly beaten By Xavier, 82-56 as the Friars couldn't contain X inside game and were badly out rebounded. PC now has played five games outside the friendly confines of the Dunk and has lost four of the five including all three true road games. Cooley complained bitterly that the Friars were the only BE team to open the conference with two straight road games, all of which which proves that even the "anointed ones" can whine.

Obadiah,
Does that qualify as an "excuse"?
PC only played 2 road games losing at Ohio State and then at Conte to a dismal BC team. But that game was heavily attended by PC fans - maybe 75% were PC fans. Watching on TV it was hard to pick out the BC contingent. PC has lost 6 straight games to BC at Conte. Losing that game the way they did made me think that a blow out to Xavier on the road would be possible. They do not come home and go to play at Butler next. PC Board is not a happy place. They have a thread that Cooley was outcoached by Jim Christian (a URI Grad

....some posters were recommending dropping the BC series because they can't win at Conte.

Roz · Unread post by **Roz** » 7 years ago

Good cincy win away at temple

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 7 years ago

wild finish at oregon....

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 7 years ago

Cincinnati was impressive in winning by 6 against an always tough Temple Team at Temple.

Houston was favored by 1 point so not too surprising that they beat UCONN at UCONN but what was surprising was the way they won the game by 16 points and basically won the game easily in the first half. Houston only hit 5-20 on 3 pointers otherwise it would have been uglier.

#1 and Undefeated Villanova was favored by a whopping 25 1/2 over DePaul but struggled to a 3 point win on their home court

#2 and Undefeated UCLA (13-0) lost 89-87 on the road to #21 Oregon. Bryce Alford missed the front end of a 1 and 1 with 8 seconds to go and UCLA ahead 87-86. Former URI recruiting target Dillon Brooks grabbed the rebound for Oregon and hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer to win for Oregon. Brooks finished with a game high 23 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Lonzo Ball lost his first game since his Junior Year of High School.

PeterRamTime · Unread post by **PeterRamTime** » 7 years ago

Gotta love it when Cinci wins

Get sexy cinci! Get sexy for us!
Temple is a bubble team too so it's an especially good win for the bearcats.
Temples RPI is 26 as well.
Valpo won too.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 7 years ago

Um, to the uninformed, UConn lost Jalen Adams to concussion,
as well as 4 other rotation players.
They dressed SEVEN players!
So, it's no shock they got killed.
The guys they had out there couldn't hit the ocean
with a beach ball.

reef · Unread post by **reef** » 7 years ago

Say it ain't so Eddie Cooley and the PC Friars !!

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 7 years ago

Somebody forgot to tell Vegas since the betting public had Houston only a 1 point favorite.
The Boneyard, Uconn's Board, is not too happy with Ollie, and not accepting excuses right about now.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 7 years ago

Not accepting excuses? Some of this board, just like our coach, are VERY accepting of excuses.......

Hassan's out...according to some, when he comes back, everything will be OK....baloney.....there will be new excuses once he's back.....

Remember last season, ramster? How many here thought that EC coming back will solve all our problems?

How's that working out?

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 7 years ago

rambone 78 wrote:Not accepting excuses? Some of this board, just like our coach, are VERY accepting of excuses.......

Hassan's out...according to some, when he comes back, everything will be OK....baloney.....there will be new excuses once he's back.....

Remember last season, ramster? How many here thought that EC coming back will solve all our problems?

How's that working out?

I have not mentioned Martin being out as an excuse at all because it gets people so pissed off. So kind of ironic that injuries at UCONN can be brought up.
In fact, in the long run Martin's injury and Thompson's injury I have brought up as opportunities in the long run as Langevine, Robinson and Dowtin have been able to gain Playing Time, confidence in themselves and confidence from teammates and fans.

Remember Rambone when posters were saying Dan's last two recruiting classes have been failures? Had not even seen all of this years guys play but those statements have been made.

There are some glass half full people here and a lot so glass half empty people here and there are those who would want the season to play out before calling the HC equal to Jim Baron. Lot of season left.

As for your comment on EC, an ACL tear is a major injury to come back from. Sitting out a year in itself with no injury at all is major. Combine the injury with the year off and the injury and lets see how the A10 Conference play goes. I am in favor of starting line up changes.

Among the starters I'd give Martin an A leading the team in a performance in OOC, worthy of 1st team A10. His FT shooting has been an amazing improvement to his game at 84%. I'd give Terrell a B+ with the potential for an A10 All Conference spot. No other starters would be a B or higher at this point. This does not bode well for Conference play and must improve. Of course, the Conference has not yet started, but based on actual OOC results to date. If the 3 others can improve their level of consistency and overall play then this team can be NCAA caliber, if not we will struggle to be NCAA caliber. The bench has been an bright spot and some could compete for starting spots and at the least more minutes of play based on performance. 18 big games to go will tell the story - whether good, bad or in between.

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 7 years ago

There are lots of delusions about OOC scheduling. Look at Rutgers, they were a gaudy 11-1 at one point with the one loss coming on the road versus Miami, but they played mostly cream puffs and when they faced their second tough road test in Seton Hall, they lost miserably and then they opened Big Ten play at Wisconsin and lost again.

The bad feelings about URI and the OOC games center not only on the four losses, but the poor play and blown leads in the Rams' wins against the better teams.

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 7 years ago

On Thursday, there are no A-10 games.

Only two games involving URI OOC opponents:

Quinnipiac at Brown. 7 PM.

In an interesting match-up, William & Mary visits Old Dominion. 7 PM.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 7 years ago

Obadiah, you mean the poorer teams?

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 7 years ago

I was referring to ODU, Belmont, and William & Mary. But you could add the less stellar opponents, Holy Cross and Brown, to the list.

hrstrat57 · Unread post by **hrstrat57** » 7 years ago

Ongoing Thank You for doing this Obadiah !

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 7 years ago

Will be away for the New Year's holiday, so here in advance is Friday's action. Happy New Year to all!!

On Friday, A-10 action heats up as conference play begins:

St, Bonaventure at UMass. 4 PM.

La Salle at Dayton. 6 PM.

Duquesne at Fordham. 7 PM

GW at Saint Joseph's. 7 PM

URI at Saint Louis. 7 PM. On ESPNU.

VCU at George Mason. 8 PM

In games involving URI OOC opponents:

Valparaiso at UIC. 5 PM. On ESPNU.

Holy Cross at BU. 7 PM.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 7 years ago

Happy New Year to you and yours!
Love the sterling job you do here to keep us informed
on upcoming games.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 7 years ago

Obadiah,
The VCU at George Mason game should be very interesting. GMU lost 3 straight and now on a 9 game winning streak.
RPI insider has VCU favored by only 3 points
Big A10 game to start the Conference for both of these teams plus the in-state rivalry feature.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 7 years ago

Wait! So having only SEVEN players dress (FIVE scholarship players) and all the rest out,
isn't a legitimate excuse for UConn?
plus their fanbase is used to chasing and winning
NCAA Championships.
Pass me your bong.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 7 years ago

UCONN was underdog by 1 point and got beat by 16. If you want to give Ollie a pass that's up to you. The 1 point considered the 7 players.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 7 years ago

Cincinnati is a legit squad, and anyone who doubts that because they lost to us has gone loco. Kyle Washington is a dangerous stretch 4, they have a SR point guard in Caupain, Defensive POY at Center and a legit NBA prospect at 2 guard. That win will carry us for a long time bc my guess is they win the AAC and stay in the Top 25 for the rest of the season. Bottom line they are good and that W will be the gift that keeps on giving.

Also, yes UCONN has been crushed by injuries - Adams, Larrier and Gilbert all huge losses. But also don't forget they have Top 100 kids like Enoch, Vital, Kentan Facey to swap in. Not exactly the same as a school like URI who doesn't have a bench full of McDonalds AA's ready to go in when someone significant goes down. Not diminishing the effect of their injuries, but its not like they are playing a squad of walk-ons or marginally talented players as a result.

RoadyJay · Unread post by **RoadyJay** » 7 years ago

Now THIS is an excuse:

Umassfan · Unread post by **Umassfan** » 7 years ago

Obadiah- just wanted to say you do a great job with keeping track of all the A-10 teams.( I actually use the URI board for the games of interest threads quite often) if you are at the Umass-URI game on the 15th I'd love to get you a beer at the Ryan Center.
P.S. please kick the crap out of and run up the score on Travis Ford tomorrow.
thanks!

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 7 years ago

Umassfan wrote:Obadiah- just wanted to say you do a great job with keeping track of all the A-10 teams.( I actually use the URI board for the games of interest threads quite often) if you are at the Umass-URI game on the 15th I'd love to get you a beer at the Ryan Center.
P.S. please kick the crap out of and run up the score on Travis Ford tomorrow.
thanks!

I second all of the above and would add, for those old enough to remember, this "Games of Interest" thread pretty much serves as an online TV Guide.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 7 years ago

NYGFan_Section208 wrote:
Umassfan wrote:Obadiah- just wanted to say you do a great job with keeping track of all the A-10 teams.( I actually use the URI board for the games of interest threads quite often) if you are at the Umass-URI game on the 15th I'd love to get you a beer at the Ryan Center.
P.S. please kick the crap out of and run up the score on Travis Ford tomorrow.
thanks!
I second all of the above and would add, for those old enough to remember, this "Games of Interest" thread pretty much serves as an online TV Guide.

I third all of the above and what a heck of an honor to find this section of the URI Board useful to a UMASS fan, Maybe you can syndicate your wonderful creation.

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 7 years ago

ramster wrote:
NYGFan_Section208 wrote:
Umassfan wrote:Obadiah- just wanted to say you do a great job with keeping track of all the A-10 teams.( I actually use the URI board for the games of interest threads quite often) if you are at the Umass-URI game on the 15th I'd love to get you a beer at the Ryan Center.
P.S. please kick the crap out of and run up the score on Travis Ford tomorrow.
thanks!
I second all of the above and would add, for those old enough to remember, this "Games of Interest" thread pretty much serves as an online TV Guide.
I third all of the above and what a heck of an honor to find this section of the URI Board useful to a UMASS fan, Maybe you can syndicate your wonderful creation.

...but only if it doesn't detract from the awesome Rhody focus/bias

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 7 years ago

Obadiah wrote:On Thursday, there are no A-10 games.

Only two games involving URI OOC opponents:

Quinnipiac at Brown. 7 PM.

In an interesting match-up, William & Mary visits Old Dominion. 7 PM.

Great game as 10 point underdog St Johns upsets #13 ranked Butler.
Shamarie Ponds is some kind of freshman

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 7 years ago

Could we do that ramster? Sure.....ha

I guess the Johnnies don't need another coach......drat...double ha......

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 7 years ago

rambone 78 wrote:Could we do that ramster? Sure.....ha

I guess the Johnnies don't need another coach......drat...double ha......

Rambone,
The win certainly helps Mullin but St Johns is only 7-7. St Johns does have some good young players and promising recruiting.

Butler is going to be tough in their Fieldhouse when they play PC their next game on New Years Day after this loss.

Bill Koch will be at the URI-SLU game Friday night and then he is going to the PC-Butler game this weekend.

Conference action in full swing now

reef · Unread post by **reef** » 7 years ago

Uconn closed at +3.5 in the Houston game after the news came out

thatRamBand · Unread post by **thatRamBand** » 7 years ago

ramster wrote:
Obadiah wrote:On Thursday, there are no A-10 games.

Only two games involving URI OOC opponents:

Quinnipiac at Brown. 7 PM.

In an interesting match-up, William & Mary visits Old Dominion. 7 PM.
Great game as 10 point underdog St Johns upsets #13 ranked Butler.
Shamarie Ponds is some kind of freshman

Played in the Carnesecca Arena instead of MSG. Much more imposing place to play, seems like they should play a few more key games there.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 7 years ago

thatRamBand wrote:
ramster wrote:
Obadiah wrote:On Thursday, there are no A-10 games.

Only two games involving URI OOC opponents:

Quinnipiac at Brown. 7 PM.

In an interesting match-up, William & Mary visits Old Dominion. 7 PM.
Great game as 10 point underdog St Johns upsets #13 ranked Butler.
Shamarie Ponds is some kind of freshman
Played in the Carnesecca Arena instead of MSG. Much more imposing place to play, seems like they should play a few more key games there.

Agree, the fans were much more into the game much more than if it was at MSG. Closer to the court and a more intimate setting helps