1/13|George Mason Patriots|5:30PM (NBCSN)

[RhodyRam86]

CT brings nothing to the game. In addition to the poor shooting he had at least 3 bad turnovers in the first half. His defense is very much overrated. Like Blue Man mentioned...There really is no measurable future upside. I would go with any of the freshman over him. There will be games where they disappear, but the experience will be invaluable.

It was mentioned after the Harvard game that Fatts may have something on Coach Cox. I still think this is true. I feel like Coach is afraid to lose him and allows him to play as Fatts wants with no repercussion. How can the worse three point shooter in the country be allowed to keep going like this? The end of the 1st half was classic. 32 seconds left when we get the ball. Fatts dribble dribble dribble at half court then take a BAD three with 8 seconds left on the shot clock and we give up two at the buzzer on the other end. Fatts could have gotten that same bad three with 3 seconds left and not cost us 2 points on the other end.

As for Cox---You don't have to throw your clipboard, but give me some emotion. PLEASE! I don't understand the rotations at all. Granted, Omar looked lost until tonight. But tonight he comes in, hits two threes and coach says "thanks...now have a seat". Are you f'n kidding me? Was he tired? Also, he goes with the small lineup and we make a run with full court presses and traps. We turn them over, cut the lead to 7 and he calls off the full court press and traps. I'm confused. I wanted him here, and hope he will be successful, but he doesn't exude any confidence and I think it shows in the body language of the team.

[Rhodymob05]

Well said Ram86, Cox is much quieter then most coaches on the other bench. Also JH started off strong then foul trouble sends him to the pine for good...9 minutes played. I think it’s a huge factor that he can’t stay out of foul trouble.

[rambone 78]

Good post 86.....we used to get after Dan for seemingly not being aware of certain game situations....looks like DC isn't immune to the same....he's got a very experienced staff under him, hopefully they are in his ear about things like this...it will only help his development as a coach....in the meantime, he's taking his lumps.

I think the Fatts issue is due to not having many other options at the 1 and 2 positions. Didn't have that problem last year, we had multiple options.

And next year we only have one more SG coming in [Hammond] who I really hope is good enough to alleviate some of these issues. However we could really use a grad transfer or juco with experience....maybe Tertsea will leave.

[RhodyRam86]

Good post 86.....we used to get after Dan for seemingly not being aware of certain game situations....looks like DC isn't immune to the same....he's got a very experienced staff under him, hopefully they are in his ear about things like this...it will only help his development as a coach....in the meantime, he's taking his lumps.

I think the Fatts issue is due to not having many other options at the 1 and 2 positions. Didn't have that problem last year, we had multiple options.

And next year we only have one more SG coming in [Hammond] who I really hope is good enough to alleviate some of these issues. However we could really use a grad transfer or juco with experience....maybe Tertsea will leave.

Did the Greek kid leave? Don't we have another scholarship there?

[rambone 78]

That scholly is for Walker I believe.

Next season I think we are currently at a full complement of 13.

We really need another guard.....someone who can make a shot or 2 once in a while.


Dowtin when he plays the point, needs help. Can't do it all himself.

[hrstrat57]

Curious if any forum members who were at the game tonight have any comments on our team entrance in the gym as the game started and performance in the pre game “layup”line.

Really, really curious.....

[McRam]

Well said Ram86, Cox is much quieter then most coaches on the other bench. Also JH started off strong then foul trouble sends him to the pine for good...9 minutes played. I think it’s a huge factor that he can’t stay out of foul trouble.

Not quite sure I understand DC strategy with Harris- If you finish the game with 9 minutes and 3 foulds; sounds like you are making sure that he is available for the 3rd overtime period

Figure it out coaching staff; get Harris 8-10 shots a game and see how much better this team will be.

[The Dude]

What I saw:
- Team appeared slow and uninspired in first half
- Big guys were slow to help out at top of the arc, didn't wait long enough for guard to get back to his man, and was even slower to get back to their own man down low.
- Offensively they appeared to be slow with the passing. Many times there were only 1 or 2 guys moving to get open or trying to find a whole in the defense. There was no rhythm at all.
- The 3pt shooting was abysmal and yet Silverio didn't come off the bench till 3/4 of the way through the game?? Just crazy...and he went 3 for 3 from 3pt land. He won't always be the fix, but it would've been worth putting him in the game, to find out what he could do, much earlier in the game.
- Harris has a long way to go. As talented as he is, he needs a lot of work in the post on offense.
- I almost wonder if Tate should start over Harris until he develops a bit more. Tate can at least hit from 3pt or from inside and usually isn't committing silly fouls. Not sure about this, but been thinking about it...
- This team needs more of an edge and should be tenacious from the very start if they want to win games. Rhody actually started to play that way in the last 6 minutes of the game, but it was too little too late.
- Cox needs to tell those guys to stop chucking 3pt shots when they are behind after they've missed the first few. Sometimes solid defense & going strong to the paint is going to be how they are going to have to win games.
- Typically, on a young team it takes time to develop certain things, but I didn't see one thing that was solid during this game that would tell me they at least have one thing they're doing well as a team. Defense? Nope. 3pt shooting? A big hell no. Good post play? Nope. Free throws? Nope.
- They looked really undisciplined. I still see Cyril and others jumping out of the gym to try and get a block on a smaller guy, rather than standing straight up and not overcommitting on every up fake near the basket.

In my opinion, this team needs to start mastering at least one aspect of the game as a unit and then work from there because right not it doesn't look like they've mastered anything except how to run around like chickens with their heads cut off. I could tell during WARM UPS...during WARM UPS...that this team didn't have their heads in this game by just looking at their shooting and body language. I'm not surprised they got their butts whooped. Coaches need to seriously evaluate themselves right now. Coach needs to set the tone and keep these guys tenacious from the start.

[SmartyBarrett]

Curious if any forum members who were at the game tonight have any comments on our team entrance in the gym as the game started and performance in the pre game “layup”line.

Really, really curious.....

I think I know what you're getting at, and if so, I 100% agree. All they did was "work on" circus dunks. No threes, no jumpers, not much of anything else. Which would have been fine if they came out and won by 10. But seeing as they didn't, it's not a great look.

[urirx]

As I told the random person sitting next to me at the game, there is a reason my head pick a slightly above .500 season, even if my heart didn’t want to believe my head.
This was the second low energy home game (sbu) that started with the team and not the crowd. Minimal effort from the team for 50/50 balls, the bad pass in just signs of their head not in the game collectively
I yelled at one point that no more three point attempts should be allowed. I didn’t finish the thought with your open from 3 because everybody knows you can’t hit them.

I know I am used to more expressive coaches.. but cox kneeling on the sideline makes me feel low energy from him. I don’t need him looking for Ts.. just yelling for real when a freshman(or other college age male) needs direct influencing

I am trying hard to lay off the individual kids, but I have not seen a good argument made anywhere for Jeff to not always be the primary point guard. Fatts is who Fatts is, a combination of too high expectations from when he played well last year combine with self applied pressure to be the leader upperclassman.

As we have said before the best thing about the freshmen is that they will have (hopefully) a summer of growth and come back as better sophomores. I believe the talent is there

[ramster]

I’ve seen enough of Preston and Thompson. Maybe for the season. If we need them to eat minutes, fine. But no upside and no value add. Preston especially can just put the warm ups back on and never take them off.

.......he and a Mike T can get to know each other.....

I don't see any reason to criticize Mike T. From the decisions that are being made as to who starts and who gets the amounts of playing time, I would not trust the decision to play or not play Mike T. It is certainly not his fault what happened to night.

[JimSidd]

I agree with cRAM4 regarding the defense. I think the help and recover is used too much. Thie rotation then goes into scramble mode, which many times leads to a layup or at best a foul. When you’re trying to claw back from a double digit deficit, you can’t put the opponent in the bonus with 14 minutes left in the half. Some of those GM ball screens were weak. I’d like to see more fighting through them and more straight up defense. I don’t know if this is the case in every GM game, but I feel like they were well coached tonight.
As for the offense, I’ve posted this before and will continue to harp on the fact that there are too many possessions with little ball or player movement. Since there is no one to bail the team out with a three pointer, I feel cutting and screening is even more important.

[SmartyBarrett]

I’ve seen enough of Preston and Thompson. Maybe for the season. If we need them to eat minutes, fine. But no upside and no value add. Preston especially can just put the warm ups back on and never take them off.

Same. Although Preston plays sparingly as it is (and actually scored tonight!) so I wouldn't lump him in with Thompson, who is giving them NOTHING right now. I was content with giving him a long leash given he's coming back from injury and playing on a roster where he hasn't played college minutes with 90% of the guys. But I think there's enough sample size now to know what to expect.

[PeterRamTime]

I’ve seen enough of Preston and Thompson. Maybe for the season. If we need them to eat minutes, fine. But no upside and no value add. Preston especially can just put the warm ups back on and never take them off.

Same. Although Preston plays sparingly as it is (and actually scored tonight!) so I wouldn't lump him in with Thompson, who is giving them NOTHING right now. I was content with giving him a long leash given he's coming back from injury and playing on a roster where he hasn't played college minutes with 90% of the guys. But I think there's enough sample size now to know what to expect.

He gave us nothing this game but against Richmond he gave us a lot.

His performances sum up the way the season as a whole has gone.

Inconsistent. Head scratching.

[SmartyBarrett]

Against Richmond he hit two threes in the first minute, which was great. But he didn't do much else for the rest of the game. He has only been good in small bursts and those have been few and far between.

[ramster]

I know this is a young team, but they’re 15 games in. It’s a shame if they’re still looking for consistent effort and toughness.



Missing in action: David Cox focused most of his postgame comments not on poor shooting or shaky defense, but on an overarching problem. For the second time this year - Stony Brook being the other - the Rams did not play the brand of basketball that he wanted to see and the result was a second home loss. Cox said, “I need to find five guys who are going to be willing and committed to playing Rhode Island basketball with the toughness, the physicality that we always have played this game with. I had trouble finding that today. Trust me, beginning tomorrow, I will identify those guys, whether it’s five guys or seven or what have you. I will find those guys and we will right this ship come Wednesday.”

In May I said the starting 5 should be Langevine, Harris, Martin, Dowtin and Russell. Still feel Martin should start.
I have said repeatedly that Thompson should not be starting and as more and more games are played it becomes more and more obvious. Here is a guy in his 4th year (granted he sat out one):
18-70 on 3FG for 25.7% - not good at all for a shooting guard
20-30 on FT for 67% - not good at all for a shooting guard
I watch the defensive play more meticulously than I watch the offensive play at the games. Trust me that he moves slow, does not give 100% hustle all the time (and trust me Langevine does and players last year did or they heard it from Hurley). He jogs up the court in both directions more often than not. For a guy who should be demonstrating leadership and inspiring the freshmen and being a coach on the floor he is not fulfilling those roles.
Tonight 0-5 on 3FGs - most not close. 4 minutes into the game he threw an inbounds pass in front of the GMU Bench that was soft, lazy and GMU grabbed it and went the length of the floor for an easy layup. Terrible pass. The time to go with Martin in Thompson's place was in game 1 of the season IMHO, and certainly before A10 play started, but now it should be obvious to all - Cox needs to make this change now.

Harris must play until he fouls out. We cannot afford to have Harris sitting on the bench. He is too talented. He played only 10 minutes tonight. One foul he lowered his shoulder and pushed his defender. Just a simple 6-10 foot jump shot and Harris can hit those as well as Dowtin does. Harris has a nice shot. His 25-32 FTs for 78.1% lead the team. He is the best FT shooter on the team and it is not because of a low number of attempts. He has a nice rhythm, nice release, nice soft shot - a much better shooter than he is being allowed to show. Guards need to get him the ball and he needs to shoot more. Bad shooters need to shoot far less, good shooters need to shoot more - simple

Dowtin need to play PG. 4 assists tonight to lead the team with 0 turnovers. Fatts has only 1 assist and 4 turnovers.
Fatts should come off the bench, not start
Fatts Numbers:
17-96 on 3FG for 17.7% - not good at all for the player taking the most 3FGs on the team!
55-77 on FTs for 71.4% - not a good percent for someone who is going to take as many 3FGs as he is allowed to
Only 3.6 assists per game averaging 34 minutes per game. Not near enough assists. Too much shooting. Guys are standing around watching him dribble and shoot from outside and miss....... or dribble inside and get his shot blocked........ or miss. Too much dribbling and not enough passing

Langevine is phenomenal and having potentially a 1st team A10 type season. He is a warrior. 14 rebounds and 15 points tonight. 2 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal, 1 TO and only 1 foul. He played 100% every one of his 36 minutes.

Silverio should start after his performance tonight instead of Russell. Dowtin to PG. Silverio in 11 minutes hit 3-3 3FGs and had 3 assists. He had 3 assists in 11 minutes to Russell's 1 assist in 35 minutes. If Silverio falters then go with Tate on the wing.

Langevine
Harris
Martin
Dowtin
Silverio (or Tate)

Tate, Fatts, Thompson, Preston off the bench
Time to play the Freshmen a lot of minutes. Nothing to lose. See what the Freshmen can and cannot do. Will help to know where our strengths and weaknesses are for next year. Will also help the Freshmen to develop for the post season A10 Tournament which is our only hope this year for an NCAA Bid. Nothing to lose. Nothing to lose. Nothing to lose.

[ramster]

From the Projo

I’ll believe a starting line up change only when I see it

https://www.providencejournal.com/sport ... s-patriots

[ramster]

Tom Penders was at the game today - a penny for his thoughts. Along with the great Kenny Green. Would love for Kenny to spend some time working with Cyril but especially with Jermaine Harris.

[reef]

That was just a terrible effort

This 3 point shooting is really bad. Our team won't go anywhere unless we recruit some 3 point shooters

I agree Martin needs to start for CT

[cRAM4finals]

Tom Penders was at the game today - a penny for his thoughts. Along with the great Kenny Green. Would love for Kenny to spend some time working with Cyril but especially with Jermaine Harris.

Funny. I was thinking a similar thing. I think ARD had a positive instructional impact on the bigs when he was here; Hassan and Kuran benefited greatly I think, and Andre picked up plenty to make a leap to start the following year. I think someone on the staff like that could have accelerated JH transition to D1 play and help him reduce his silly fouls. And someone like him clearly would help CL to strengthen his post game and reduce turnovers.

[rhodylaw]

Against Richmond he hit two threes in the first minute, which was great. But he didn't do much else for the rest of the game. He has only been good in small bursts and those have been few and far between.

It’s why he would be better coming off the bench

[section(105)]

Curious if any forum members who were at the game tonight have any comments on our team entrance in the gym as the game started and performance in the pre game “layup”line.

Really, really curious.....

........why?......was it any different than any other home game entrance and warm ups?.......

[cRAM4finals]

Curious if any forum members who were at the game tonight have any comments on our team entrance in the gym as the game started and performance in the pre game “layup”line.

Really, really curious.....

........why?......was it any different than any other home game entrance and warm ups?.......

No different than any game this year but different from previous years. I hate it too. For a team that shoots so poorly, I would use every available second to get some rhythm before the game starts. It’s not a show. Dadika trying windmill slams in the layup line drives me insane.

[TruePoint]

ramster - I agree with all your points above, except that Silverio should start now after one good stretch of a couple of minutes. I’d agree with shortening the leash on Fatts, and redistributing some of his minutes to others including Omar. But to me saying suddenly Silverio should start is too reactionary. Can’t go only by the last thing that you’ve seen. Your other points are supported by a half-season’s worth of feedback.

[ramster]

It is too reactionary TP, but I think this team needs soon “too reactionary” type thinking now.
Start Silverio next game. Does not mean he starts the 2nd half even, or the next game, just reward effort and performance.
The team moves better when they think that might get a pass their way. Silverio dribbles less and passes more. 3 assists yesterday vs 1 assist for Fatts in 34 minutes tells a lot.

Fatts low assist numbers bother me as much as his woeful shooting.

And the shooting of this team is and has been woeful.

Many of these 3 point attemts are air balls, many are bricks, most you can tell when the ball leaves the hand it’s a bad miss, rarely are they the “in and out” type of miss that Jimmy Baron would experience. Every shot Jimmy put up looked like it was going in even if it didn’t.

Time for major changes, not just tweaking.

And Cox can always go back to his original line up anytime he wants. But I’ve seen enough of the current one.

Fans are going to start staying away in droves unfortunately.

I’d play Dowtin, Langevine and 3 freshmen with a freshman first off the bench.

[Rhodymob05]

As many have probably already stated, this team looked noticeably low in energy through the night. Walking to the bench, heads down, no emotion (except Cyril). The overall attitude was abysmal. The got within 7 points and Fatts was waving on the crowd which was nice, but that was it.

[ramster]

From A10 Site Statistics. Through all games to date including OOC games. List requires having played in 60% of games and at least 1 3pg attempt per game.

47 players.....
Fatts is 47th (last) at 17.7% in 14 games
Thompson 46th (2nd to last) 25.7% in 15 games
Dowtin is 32nd at 32.3% in 15 games

http://a10stats.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19 ... pos=sh&r=0

[Rhody15]

Dowtin still isn't the the full time starting PG huh?

I wonder how many other teams in the country have had a two time conference champion, two time NCAA game tournament winner, and then decide to change his position his junior year.

[RhodyRam86]

Curious if any forum members who were at the game tonight have any comments on our team entrance in the gym as the game started and performance in the pre game “layup”line.

Really, really curious.....

........why?......was it any different than any other home game entrance and warm ups?.......

No different than any game this year but different from previous years. I hate it too. For a team that shoots so poorly, I would use every available second to get some rhythm before the game starts. It’s not a show. Dadika trying windmill slams in the layup line drives me insane.

this drives me crazy too. the layup line you are talking about is the last drills before the start of the game. it's embarrassing. these kids are trying to make trick dunks and they are horrible at it. who are they trying to impress? I don't hear any oooohs and aaaahs from the crowd in the rare circumstance that the dunks are actually successful. and this is not just a home thing. they did the same thing at the Dunk and at the Mohegan Sun.

on top of that I noticed in the previous shoot around (about 30 minutes before the game) that they couldn't hit a three (or any other jump shot for that matter) even uncontested. so wouldn't you use the next warm up to practice shooting?

to me, this issue stems from a lack of leadership...

[neil]

Have not posted in awhile. The warm ups are an absolute embarrassment. We don't need a dunking contest. What happens if someone gets hurt. How does Coach explain that. It should stop now. I'm really old school. Get some more balls out there and practice the shots you would take during the game. Too boring???? CL at half time did go right to the foul line and took foul shots. It did help. JD often goes to the line during pregame. Fatts is having is own ego dunking routine. Is there a message there somewhere. When Fatts drives to the hoop and beats his man, fine, but when he can't he tries to make an interior pass to a crowd of people. It usually doesn't work. You want good interior passing, get a tape of John Evans and Mergin Sina during the Kenny Green era. They made it happen. I agree with the others that changes should be made. Martin must get the start over CT. He's not perfect out there but he moves without the ball, rebounds, dives on the floor. He deserves the chance. We were outplayed and certainly deserved to lose. My only consolation is to think back two years to the LaSalle and Fordham games. Can only hope that this team gets its effin act together. See you Wednesday! Forgot - Bred, was sitting right behind you (three seats to the right) when they announced the 50/50. Congrats!

[Billyboy78]

I've said it before but, you can't do heavy weight lifting DURING the season. I'm still seeing it on twitter and IG. Light workouts to maintain strength and endurance are fine. Even the slightest increase in strength affects your shot. No one seems to agree with me on that, but anyway...Someone mentioned lack of discipline, even in the layup line. I get into the arena right when the doors open. I like to observe everything. The team shows no passion. It looks like they are just going through the motions. To me, that means they aren't mentally ready to play. They should be excited right before a game. They clearly are not. Another part of pregame...Fatts is clearly struggling with his outside shot. So what is he doing in pregame? Trying all kinds of crazy dunks. He should start in one corner behind the 3 point line and work his way at all points behind the line to the other corner. How is attempting all kinds of crazy dunks being productive? You should be working on things that are going to happen in the game. And the thing that pissed me off the most? When coming out of the locker room after the half, all the players walked sluggishly back onto the court. Once again, no passion. RUN ONTO THE COURT!!! All of the above fall onto the coach and his staff. No passion, no discipline. Coach said in postgame that he's going to do something about it. Players will sit if they're not doing things his way. We'll see. Acting tough to the media is one thing. Now go and act like that with your team.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Curious if any forum members who were at the game tonight have any comments on our team entrance in the gym as the game started and performance in the pre game “layup”line.

Really, really curious.....

All I could see while they were in the pre-game layup line was a big, blue, cubicle wall.

[rambone 78]

Makes you wonder what they are doing in their practices.

They are probably nothing like the previous coach's practices that's for sure.


Poor practice habits equal poor game habits.

[section(105)]

......those that need/want to move onto a Bona, Team Rankings gives us a 74% to win......sounds high to me.....

[PeteRI]

Lots of great posts here. Some obvious mandatory changes for me:

1) NO MORE THOMPSON STARTS. Among his O-for 3's was a particularly egregious sequence where he bricked a 3, we got the offensive rebound, then he BRICKED ANOTHER 3. He shot a perfect 0% from the field with 2 turnovers in 24 minutes.

2) LIMIT FATTS 3-POINT ATTEMPTS. 17.7%. You can put in a Division III kid and he'd do better.

3) NO MORE CODDLING FROM COACH COX. He's their leader, not their friend. I've seen enough of Thompson jogging down the court, weakly throwing a pass right into the hands of an opponent, and throwing up bricks.

I've seen enough Iso plays from Fatts, like he's Kyrie's Kid Brother.

I've seen enough attempts by Cyril to put the ball on the floor instead of going to the basket. (And before you slam me, I LOVE Cyril's passion and determination.)

I've seen enough of Jermaine picking up a fould every 3 minutes. (He should be playing at least 20 minutes a game and scoring a minimum of 10 points.)

These are young men looking to you for guidance and discipline. Time to start providing it!

[PeteRI]

......those that need/want to move onto a Bona, Team Rankings gives us a 74% to win......sounds high to me.....

After I took URI -6 last night, I'm not making any more bets on this year's team.

[ramster]

Lots of great posts here. Some obvious mandatory changes for me:

1) NO MORE THOMPSON STARTS. Among his O-for 3's was a particularly egregious sequence where he bricked a 3, we got the offensive rebound, then he BRICKED ANOTHER 3. He shot a perfect 0% from the field with 2 turnovers in 24 minutes.

2) LIMIT FATTS 3-POINT ATTEMPTS. 17.7%. You can put in a Division III kid and he'd do better.

3) NO MORE CODDLING FROM COACH COX. He's their leader, not their friend. I've seen enough of Thompson jogging down the court, weakly throwing a pass right into the hands of an opponent, and throwing up bricks.

I've seen enough Iso plays from Fatts, like he's Kyrie's Kid Brother.

I've seen enough attempts by Cyril to put the ball on the floor instead of going to the basket. (And before you slam me, I LOVE Cyril's passion and determination.)

I've seen enough of Jermaine picking up a fould every 3 minutes. (He should be playing at least 20 minutes a game and scoring a minimum of 10 points.)

These are young men looking to you for guidance and discipline. Time to start providing it!

Pete,
Agree completely on Thompson jogging down the court - in both offense and defense. He also throws soft, lazy passes like the inbounds pass yesterday meant for Harris that was stolen for an easy 2 just 4 minutes into the game. Nothing new on Thompson. Play the Freshmen. Nothing to lose now. Cox gets a free pass his first year so there is no reason to be stoic and conservative. I have no problem with all 4 freshmen in the game at the same time.
and please stop with the fun-time pregame drills as others have mentioned.

[hrstrat57]

I am not going to go wildly negative on a public forum criticizing my school.

I’ll say this last night was a clinic on how a well coached less skilled team crushes a more highly skilled poorly prepared team. It started way before the opening tip.

It needs to change quick or this Staff is going to have a short run.

I could post a long list of specific plays in the game to demonstrate how poorly our team performed basic basketball fundamentals but I’ll leave that to others.

It’s my school so I’ll support whatever is rolled out there.

If I was AD, well I’d be spending my day at the RC today behind closed doors with several folks.

Fix it, let’s represent our school with pride.

Go Rhody.

[SmartyBarrett]

Curious if any forum members who were at the game tonight have any comments on our team entrance in the gym as the game started and performance in the pre game “layup”line.

Really, really curious.....

........why?......was it any different than any other home game entrance and warm ups?.......

No different than any game this year but different from previous years. I hate it too. For a team that shoots so poorly, I would use every available second to get some rhythm before the game starts. It’s not a show. Dadika trying windmill slams in the layup line drives me insane.

This was my fourth game this year and first time noticing it. I feel like yesterday was really egregious... it was like Midnight Madness out there.

[RhowdyRam02]

One thing to worry about, how many fans are being turned off by this product? We increased our season tickets year over year, and hopefully the freshmen flash enough that people still buy season tickets for next year when we should be better, but in 6 games at the Ryan Center the team has been flat for two of them. That's not going to get people to want to continue to invest. I know that people that sit with me have already started to say they go mostly to see each other and the games aren't exciting them this year. I wouldn't be shocked if I lose two of my group for next year.

[Rhody15]

What was attendance yesterday? Looked like a solid crowd.

Edit: just looked in attendance thread

[eli#10]

Not to pick on him but CT should have been yanked from the game right after the "soft" pass to Harris that was stolen for the easy lay up.

[RF1]

We are a very inconsistent mediocre team that loses to a lot of other mediocre teams. Blowout losses at home to the likes of Stony Brook and George Mason clearly illustrate this.

[Billyboy78]

One thing to worry about, how many fans are being turned off by this product? We increased our season tickets year over year, and hopefully the freshmen flash enough that people still buy season tickets for next year when we should be better, but in 6 games at the Ryan Center the team has been flat for two of them. That's not going to get people to want to continue to invest. I know that people that sit with me have already started to say they go mostly to see each other and the games aren't exciting them this year. I wouldn't be shocked if I lose two of my group for next year.

Also, don't forget that there was a promotion to sell tickets to last night's game. How many people that paid 10 dollars for a ticket are going to come back to a future game and pay 35-45 dollars for a ticket after what they watched?

[Iggy1979]

Not to pick on him but CT should have been yanked from the game right after the "soft" pass to Harris that was stolen for the easy lay up.

And then he blamed Harris to Cox. That's not the kind of leadership you want from a fourth-year player. A wasted 24 minutes. Agree with most of the posts, although it's much too early to turn on Cox.

[PeteRI]

One thing to worry about, how many fans are being turned off by this product? We increased our season tickets year over year, and hopefully the freshmen flash enough that people still buy season tickets for next year when we should be better, but in 6 games at the Ryan Center the team has been flat for two of them. That's not going to get people to want to continue to invest. I know that people that sit with me have already started to say they go mostly to see each other and the games aren't exciting them this year. I wouldn't be shocked if I lose two of my group for next year.

Also, don't forget that there was a promotion to sell tickets to last night's game. How many people that paid 10 dollars for a ticket are going to come back to a future game and pay 35-45 dollars for a ticket after what they watched?

I am one of those first-time season ticket holders. I don't have much disposable income, and I didn't shell out $500+ to see a team that apparently doesn't think it's important to play with intensity for every game.

[Rhodyram]

Last years seniors left a leadership vacuum and its evident on the court. Not as much talk/support between players as seen in previous years.

As for the warm ups.....I was not there last night but I am early for most games. The dunk a thon has been going on for a while and in my eyes serves little to no use. I believe it was Middle Tennesee had their players running organized shooting drills for a decent portion of the pregame. I know...they (Middle Tenn) suck but a change on our end couldn't hurt.

[TruePoint]

Makes you wonder what they are doing in their practices.

They are probably nothing like the previous coach's practices that's for sure.


Poor practice habits equal poor game habits.

I can almost guarantee that isn’t the case. I’d expect the practices are almost exactly the same.

I think at this point in the season we can all agree that there is a problem of some sort. The hard part is parsing out what the problem is from the outside. Is it that the new coaching staff and new players are too inexperienced, or just not good enough? Are there changes to the strength program that are causing an impact? Are there changes to approach and philosophy at the top that are having an impact down stream? Is this normal rebuilding/retooling stuff, or reason to panic?

The reality is that it is impossible for any of us on the outside to know for sure, and that even if you were on the inside you couldn’t know for sure. It is likely a little bit of an ‘all-of-the-above’ type of thing, where a bunch of different little changes or deficiencies are adding up to an overall subpar performance, on the whole. I don’t know that the coach yelling more on the sideline, or taking layup lines more seriously, or even changes to the lineup iare going to make a significant difference if the underlying problem is that we just are not good enough (at least at this point with the inexperience on this roster), but it can’t hurt to try to correct things that could be contributing.

[Rhodyram]

Makes you wonder what they are doing in their practices.

They are probably nothing like the previous coach's practices that's for sure.


Poor practice habits equal poor game habits.

I can almost guarantee that isn’t the case. I’d expect the practices are almost exactly the same.

I think at this point in the season we can all agree that there is a problem of some sort. The hard part is parsing out what the problem is from the outside. Is it that the new coaching staff and new players are too inexperienced, or just not good enough? Are there changes to the strength program that are causing an impact? Are there changes to approach and philosophy at the top that are having an impact down stream? Is this normal rebuilding/retooling stuff, or reason to panic?

The reality is that it is impossible for any of us on the outside to know for sure, and that even if you were on the inside you couldn’t know for sure. It is likely a little bit of an ‘all-of-the-above’ type of thing, where a bunch of different little changes or deficiencies are adding up to an overall subpar performance, on the whole. I don’t know that the coach yelling more on the sideline, or taking layup lines more seriously, or even changes to the lineup iare going to make a significant difference if the underlying problem is that we just are not good enough (at least at this point with the inexperience on this roster), but it can’t hurt to try to correct things that could be contributing.

Or maybe the players aren't on the same page and have been unable to mesh as teammates (ie "Personality differences")

[spookydog]

........why?......was it any different than any other home game entrance and warm ups?.......

No different than any game this year but different from previous years. I hate it too. For a team that shoots so poorly, I would use every available second to get some rhythm before the game starts. It’s not a show. Dadika trying windmill slams in the layup line drives me insane.

This was my fourth game this year and first time noticing it. I feel like yesterday was really egregious... it was like Midnight Madness out there.

What I noticed at the halftime warmup of the Middle Tennessee game, was either Leviton or Green rebounding for Fatts as he shot 3s. I was very happy to see them doing that. Fatts did hit 9 in a row at one point. it didn't carry over to the game as he only shot 1-8, but I liked the fact that they did that.