Game #25: Fordham Wednesday Feb 15, 7:00PM Ryan Center

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

Victorino wrote:Hurley once again totally out coached and out classed. He makes it embarrassing to be a URI fan. I'm convinced his team totally blocks him out, especially after another big time loss like Dayton, he's even harder to take. In my opinion he'd be the perfect coach for Rutgers, where losing and mental abuse of their players is institutionalized.

i agree... i am embarassed

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 7 years ago

.....wanna chew on this thought?.....All this not ready to play, this point in the season, lethargy etc etc......we peaked? in November.......getting outed tuffed, no response from attempts to motivate.....sound like team is spent, burned out physically/mentally.....?? This results from unknowns as we do not see the day to day rigors of the current program both on and off the court.....??

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

Some late thoughts -
A very long hour and a half ride back home last night. Woke up at four and couldn't go back to sleep. Anyway...
I get to the games usually around 6:15 to watch the team warm up. From my view in 205, they appeared relaxed, maybe too relaxed.
With the clock hitting around 1:30 for the teams to go back to their benches, the Rams got together in their huddle. All but one... KI continued to shoot three point shots not caring about what the team was talking about. He finally stopped shooting and heard probably a second or two of what the captains were saying. There is a message there somewhere.?
Also, what about the captains? Couldn't they have told KI to get his ass in the huddle with everyone else. Is he a part of the team or not? Where is the leadership.
I can almost deal with poor shooting, but the rebounding was pathetic. Maybe Dan has to realize that when you take KI out, and play your four guards, something has got to give.
Can someone tell me, does the team practice fast break drills, especially EC. What is the point of driving to the basket going up in the air, and then trying to pass the ball off. For Seniors like me, don't you stop at the foul line and look for the cutters? It's only mid February.
I know there is no chance of this happening ever, but in my fantasy, it would be nice if Thorr, Dan and the team captains would have a press conference and apologize for the lack of effort last night, and then offer one free ticket on next year's season tickets.
I thought that finally this year, we would dance and the Friars would not. Wrong again!

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

Obadiah wrote:I have watched lots of URI basketball, but this team has the lowest basketball IQ I have ever seen. It is also the worst shooting team.

In my nearly 50 years of watching URI basketball, this team undoubtedly has the lowest basketball IQ as a team, I have seen. Jeff Dowtin looks like Larry Bird next to some of these guys. I would also say, this team is easily the most aggravating to watch I can remember. Some teams were just bad, some teams underachieved to a degree. This team has no excuse for not only the losses, but the type of efforts we as fans have been put through.

As far as the shooting goes, well Dan is going to have to begin to recruit some guards. After all, that is the way the game is going, Dan said so, right?

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

Who ARE the captains?
I honestly don't know.
Speaking of EC, I read on the PC board
where someone genius said he was
"a very, very, good defender"!!!!!!!
Wonder who he was watching?
EC gets taken out for lack of defense last night.
Not the first time, either.
Yup, some there are fantasizing about EC transferring to PC.
Like that would ever happen.
Maybe we could trade him for Rodney Bullock?

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 7 years ago

neil wrote:I get to the games usually around 6:15 to watch the team warm up. From my view in 205, they appeared relaxed, maybe too relaxed.

I was worried we were in for a long night watching them warm up. Missed shots all over the place, hell they were missing all kinds of straight ahead dunks. You can't always take things away from warm ups, unfortunately last night it was a microcosm for the whole game.

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 7 years ago

Blueman......any thoughts?

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

EC can't defend on the ball too far out. No foot speed. Problem is when his guy doesn't have the ball he tends to lose sight of him. We paid for it a lot against Dayton. And we paid for it tonight.

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

Now folks are breaking down warm-ups and layup lines? Classic.

This is not a good TEAM. They haven't been all year. They have good players (I do believe that) but this team does not gel. Part of it is on the players and part of it is on the coaches for not putting them in the best position to succeed. For example,

Look at the 1985-86 Rams under Brendan Malone.
Look at the 1986-87 Rams under Tom Penders. Penders and his staff took many of the same players and turned it into 20-wins (when 20-wins meant something) by putting the players into a system that they could ALL benefit from. That team gelled for 2 years.

Hurley and staff have failed miserably at this.

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

Kids like to run.
Penders took a half-court grind em out offense
and a zone defense team, and turned them loose.
They ran and played pressure defense.
It helped to have all time great Silk Owens, as
his PG and leader. He played with a bullet in his arm.
Guys like Tommy Garrick, John Evans and Kenny Green,
were mentally tough players.
Not sure this is the case of some of this team's guys.
I think Hassan, Terrell, and Garrett are, though.

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

rodfromcranston wrote:Kids like to run.
Penders took a half-court grind em out offense
and a zone defense team, and turned them loose.
They ran and played pressure defense.
It helped to have all time great Silk Owens, as
his PG and leader. He played with a bullet in his arm.
Guys like Tommy Garrick, John Evans and Kenny Green,
were mentally tough players.
Not sure this is the case of some of this team's guys.
I think Hassan, Terrell, and Garrett are, though.

agreed, Hass, Terrell and Garrett are tough, but the mentality doesnt spread throughout the team. They have no real snarl.

agreed, about letting them play. I just think its natural for a coach of a struggling to team to increase his control over the team and start to micromanage despite the opposite usually helping. Its only human nature.

I mean its no coincidence the best play from a Baron team was the 2010 NIT when they fully ignored him and just played street ball. They looked great.

Maybe it is time for Dan to just roll the ball out. Let them figure it out on the fly and have some fun playing ball. Because right now they are so afraid of and concentrating on not making mistakes that they cant get out of their own way

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 7 years ago

What happened to run, run, run!!!? Can anybody tell me how many fast break baskets we have this year. A team that struggles in the half court offense needs a few easy baskets every game. We never seem to get any.

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

Agree. Having a coach yelling all the time and micromanaging every
play, has to become white noise after awhile.
They begin to tune it out. Those who don't become tentative and afraid to
make mistakes.
Coaches whose teams run, accept a reasonable amount of turnovers as part of the risk
in running.
Do our guys ever look like they're having fun, during the games?
Sometimes Jared smiles, but that's it.
If your team plays tight, it's not a good sign.
After 43 points against Fordham, it's time to cut the coaching umbilical cord,
and let them play.
Can't be any worse than what we've seen.

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

They don't run because EC doesn't run. He often brings the ball up after getting it. He jogs jumps and waits until coming down to shoot. Blows my mind.

Him not sprinting is exposed in rebounding, defending, fast breaks. Either he is not healthy or incredibly arrogant because he doesn't seem to want to do anything physically difficult out there.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 7 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:What happened to run, run, run!!!? Can anybody tell me how many fast break baskets we have this year. A team that struggles in the half court offense needs a few easy baskets every game. We never seem to get any.

I agree, but would only add that we are as bad on the break as we are in the halfcourt. If obviously still like to do it more, but just wanted to point out that even when we do it we aren't good at that, either.

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 7 years ago

......bad in the half court, bad on the break.......geeze louise, supposed to be talented veteran team.....guess not

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

RIFan wrote:Just saw on caller ID URI calling...It took everything I had not to pick it up and tell the poor kind on the other end they are not getting a dime from me till Dan is gone after that embarrassment at the RC tonight!

The same thing happened to me,
URI on my caller ID talk about bad timing... No more $$$
Unacceptable!!!

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

If I'm DH, here's what I say to my players at practice.

"Last night was absolutely terrible, I won't sugarcoat it. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. Again, no sugarcoating here, but we won't be going to the tournament as an at large-bid, it's win in the A10 tournament or go home. So for the rest of the games this year, everyone needs to relax. We're going to play calm basketball and have some fun, and be ready to go in the postseason."

Saying something along these lines takes a load of pressure off of our guys. Maybe they start gelling together, and the team finally clicks?

Also, STOP WORKING ON DEFENSE AT PRACTICE!!!!!! OFFENSIVE ONLY

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 7 years ago

Joe wrote:If I'm DH, here's what I say to my players at practice.

"Last night was absolutely terrible, I won't sugarcoat it. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. Again, no sugarcoating here, but we won't be going to the tournament as an at large-bid, it's win in the A10 tournament or go home. So for the rest of the games this year, everyone needs to relax. We're going to play calm basketball and have some fun, and be ready to go in the postseason."

Saying something along these lines takes a load of pressure off of our guys. Maybe they start gelling together, and the team finally clicks?

Also, STOP WORKING ON DEFENSE AT PRACTICE!!!!!! OFFENSIVE ONLY

....."what have you got to loose...."

UCH21377 · Unread post by **UCH21377** » 7 years ago

rodfromcranston wrote:Who ARE the captains?
I honestly don't know.
Speaking of EC, I read on the PC board
where someone genius said he was
"a very, very, good defender"!!!!!!!
Wonder who he was watching?
EC gets taken out for lack of defense last night.
Not the first time, either.
Yup, some there are fantasizing about EC transferring to PC.
Like that would ever happen.
Maybe we could trade him for Rodney Bullock?

We might get Sandra Bullock for him.

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

On the bright side, if you forget about free throws, we beat Fordham 36-35.

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

I wouldn't mind that, 21377.

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

I really wonder what the mentality was coming into this game. Did our guys think after the Dayton loss an at large chance was dead? Have guys turned their back on Hurley? Are there issues among players in the locker room? Last year I said the problems ran deeper than only missing EC but I still would have never expected to lose a game like this one. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens the rest of the year...it's hard for me to imagine things getting worse but Fordham looked like the easiest game left on our schedule so who knows what will happen.

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

If we stink it up against GM I think we'll have our answer.

It does make me wonder just how much they care at this point however. Why would they decide to play hard again? Pride? If it was pride they would have played with urgency last night.

If they quit again this is just as bad or worse than the NC State situation. Of course this being URI there's no way they can let DH go.....but they will have a full blown crisis on their hands.

If they won't play for Hurley anymore than the school will have no choice, some kind of major change will have to be made.

The last thing everyone wants to see is this program going down the tubes again.

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

Da_Process_Survivor wrote:
rodfromcranston wrote:Kids like to run.
Penders took a half-court grind em out offense
and a zone defense team, and turned them loose.
They ran and played pressure defense.
It helped to have all time great Silk Owens, as
his PG and leader. He played with a bullet in his arm.
Guys like Tommy Garrick, John Evans and Kenny Green,
were mentally tough players.
Not sure this is the case of some of this team's guys.
I think Hassan, Terrell, and Garrett are, though.
agreed, Hass, Terrell and Garrett are tough, but the mentality doesnt spread throughout the team. They have no real snarl.

agreed, about letting them play. I just think its natural for a coach of a struggling to team to increase his control over the team and start to micromanage despite the opposite usually helping. Its only human nature.

I mean its no coincidence the best play from a Baron team was the 2010 NIT when they fully ignored him and just played street ball. They looked great.

Maybe it is time for Dan to just roll the ball out. Let them figure it out on the fly and have some fun playing ball. Because right now they are so afraid of and concentrating on not making mistakes that they cant get out of their own way

I am NOT for "street ball" nor to just the "roll ball out." That's not coaching. You can implement a system of running (when you have numbers advantage) and a half-court offense that encourages sharing the ball (not this constant hi ball screen, roll to the basket every time). Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw a URI 4 or 5 man rebound the ball...make a 2-handed outlet pass to the sideline (Jeff Kent was OUTSTANDING at that skill)...and then the ball pushed up the court with 2 guys running on the wing? Honestly think about it hard. Because I almost never see it. I see rebound and jog it up.

Tom Garrick, John Evans, and Kenny Green vs. EC, Jared Terrell, Kuran Iverson...which group of players had more "talent" when entering the program?

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

that was the worse offensive performance I've seen in 30 years....bar none.....

terrible half court offense, bad passing, no running, no rebounding......horrible shooting.....including FT's....

the only thing they did well was defend against Fordham's 3 ball shooting.....of course they dribble penetrated all night and got layups and putbacks......

Incredibly inept, uninspired la de da "effort".......and it's happening more and more often.

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

Our whole team is overrated both the players and coaching staff

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

OK, in the interest of fairness I just checked back on
the two years of the worst D-1 coach in history, Jerry D.
His team scored 37 vs. UMASS, 40 Vs. Temple, and 43 vs. Wisconsin.
His teams scored under 50 points, 8 times.
Some of these were 30-40 point losses, too.
15 games lost by over 20 points!
Now THAT'S the worst bunch of efforts, hands down.
So hideous, that Temple coach John Chaney felt he needed
to go into the URI locker room and give the team a pep
talk after the game!

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

Rod, I tend to block those 2 years out.....I know they were filthy.......and I remember that by Chaney......

UCH21377 · Unread post by **UCH21377** » 7 years ago

PlayMikeMotenMore wrote:
Da_Process_Survivor wrote:
rodfromcranston wrote:Kids like to run.
Penders took a half-court grind em out offense
and a zone defense team, and turned them loose.
They ran and played pressure defense.
It helped to have all time great Silk Owens, as
his PG and leader. He played with a bullet in his arm.
Guys like Tommy Garrick, John Evans and Kenny Green,
were mentally tough players.
Not sure this is the case of some of this team's guys.
I think Hassan, Terrell, and Garrett are, though.
agreed, Hass, Terrell and Garrett are tough, but the mentality doesnt spread throughout the team. They have no real snarl.

agreed, about letting them play. I just think its natural for a coach of a struggling to team to increase his control over the team and start to micromanage despite the opposite usually helping. Its only human nature.

I mean its no coincidence the best play from a Baron team was the 2010 NIT when they fully ignored him and just played street ball. They looked great.

Maybe it is time for Dan to just roll the ball out. Let them figure it out on the fly and have some fun playing ball. Because right now they are so afraid of and concentrating on not making mistakes that they cant get out of their own way
I am NOT for "street ball" nor to just the "roll ball out." That's not coaching. You can implement a system of running (when you have numbers advantage) and a half-court offense that encourages sharing the ball (not this constant hi ball screen, roll to the basket every time). Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw a URI 4 or 5 man rebound the ball...make a 2-handed outlet pass to the sideline (Jeff Kent was OUTSTANDING at that skill)...and then the ball pushed up the court with 2 guys running on the wing? Honestly think about it hard. Because I almost never see it. I see rebound and jog it up.

Tom Garrick, John Evans, and Kenny Green vs. EC, Jared Terrell, Kuran Iverson...which group of players had more "talent" when entering the program?

How about Cothran, Ulmer, and Baron? As far as I am concerned they were better than these 3 guys now.

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

This team is like a puzzle with pieces missing....and the pieces that are there don't fit.

Add in a coach who doesn't know how to fix it all....and we have a problem.

And yes the recruiting has left a lot to be desired.....and the future there looks even worse.

Other than that, everything's great!

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

RhodeIslandRams wrote:
rhodyrudder wrote:RhodeIslandRams wrote: (last year after the season ended)
Bad things can happen again next year. BUT, be honest, would any of you bet against me if I put down 10-grand and said they WILL make the Dance next year? Would any of you bet against that happening with real money? So we have hope. Waiting another year sucks. Some of us are OLD. Time is short. But next year we WILL dance.

You're KILLIN' me Rudder! lol

I really would have taken that bet for this year.

Nice. I would have won the 10-grand after all. But lost ten years of life from the stress......

Rhodymob05 · Unread post by **Rhodymob05** » 7 years ago

Destroy this

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

Keep this...it's great for perspective...this was the jumping off point...where they could have folded totally...where Dan actually showed up at the coaches show shortly after and said (what seemed to be) pretty much all the right things....

And, where I wrote after the game (and totally stand by):

Now I have to hose off my shoes and wash my jacket before I go in the house, because I think I might've actually got some of it on me...

Pretty cool to see how something could go from sucking so bad to being so freekn awesome....

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

The contrast between that thread, the Baron 2.0 thread, and a month later was amazing, wasn't it?

Let's not go back there....ever again.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

You promise ?!

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 7 years ago

LMAO. I don't even want to read this thread. I'm sure not many of us had any positive thoughts after this one.

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

ATP, Dan keeps his end of the bargain, and yes I do.

There's always a catch, but that's the best I can do.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

OK, let's give this thread a rest. I'm not a fan of all this digging up old threads. Many message boards don't allow reviving long dead threads for this reason.