1/27 | UMass Minutemen | 2 PM (Stadium Network)

Rhody Guy · Unread post by **Rhody Guy** » 5 years ago

This fanbase is tiring.

Rhody83 · Unread post by **Rhody83** » 5 years ago

Rhody Guy wrote: ↑5 years ago This fanbase is tiring.

You should take a break and get some rest then

You know the KB Board is voluntary right. You don’t have to read it and you don’t have to post.

Rhody Guy · Unread post by **Rhody Guy** » 5 years ago

I usually don't read the game threads after losses lol. I am not sure what I was thinking.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 5 years ago

I agree on Harris, but I don’t think Omar is ready for prime time yet. I would give him minutes as a shooting specialist but more extended usage will expose warts. He can’t handle the ball nor defend at the level yet.

Ramulous · Unread post by **Ramulous** » 5 years ago

As they have done with Fatts.....the coaches need to rein in Cyril's dribble moves to the basket...they lead to offensive fouls and turnovers.....he has to stick to pick and rolls and putbacks...I believe Jermaine can be given some touches where he manuevers with the ball instead....

hrstrat57 · Unread post by **hrstrat57** » 5 years ago

Omar may be able to be effective vs. Davidson. Against most of the A10 teams he is not ready to defend. Cox is just not going to put a player on the floor for extended minutes if he can't defend.

Don't necessarily agree with it but that is the reality.

Overall I still think Rhode Island is going to be dangerous in Brooklyn. We have a lot of work to do as a team and staff on offense tho. Harris really needs to be set into a role as well. He's a very tall tweener at the moment, still adjusting to the pace and power of A10 play. Cox needs to be extremely patient with Harris.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 5 years ago

Can't we play a little zone if Omar is in the game? Cox has shown he's willing to use it occasionally. If you want to hide a player's defensive deficiencies and see if he can give the offense a little life, I think Omar could be used that way.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 5 years ago

57, like has been said, we can be dangerous if we decide to play defense.

On the road, 20 minutes of bad defense will get you beat, even by crap teams.

Only if we show the ability to string a few good efforts together, will we have any chance to go deep into the tourney.

And it looks right now like we will have to play on Thursday....top 4 chances very slim, 5th or 6th more likely. We need to go no worse than 2-2 in the next 4 games to even be in that conversation.

hrstrat57 · Unread post by **hrstrat57** » 5 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote: ↑5 years ago Can't we play a little zone if Omar is in the game? Cox has shown he's willing to use it occasionally. If you want to hide a player's defensive deficiencies and see if he can give the offense a little life, I think Omar could be used that way.

Agree completely. He certainly has demonstrated his scoring stroke is worthy of finding a way to get him minutes.

I hope Cox finds room in his playbook to experiment a bit.....

Martin is really stroking it tho, he's becoming a weapon who can also defend.

Rhody83 · Unread post by **Rhody83** » 5 years ago

They aren’t going to change their defense to get playing time for a Fr who might help with some outside shooting. Omar isn’t at the level Tyrese is offensively.

It’s defense that wins for this team.
When Rhody’s opponent scores more than 1.00 points per possession they are 1-5.
When their opponent scores less than 1.00 points per possession they are 10-3.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 5 years ago

Rhody83 wrote: ↑5 years ago They aren’t going to change their defense to get playing time for a Fr who might help with some outside shooting. Omar isn’t at the level Tyrese is offensively.

It’s defense that wins for this team.
When Rhody’s opponent scores more than 1.00 points per possession they are 1-5.
When their opponent scores less than 1.00 points per possession they are 10-3.

I don't have the time to do the math on the stats - but couldn't you also make the argument that in those 8 losses, particularly the 5 where the opponent scores > 1.00 ppp, that a few 3 pointers going down would win the game for us?

I get that it's defense that wins for us, but that's only because our shooting, specifically from deep, is so historically terrible that we don't have any other choice but to force the D to win.

I don't think it's absurd to just want to see your team hit even 40% of their WIDE OPEN SHOTS. It's not even that we take a ton of bad 3's - it's that we miss literally all of them. So many are good, open, set shots. We just inexplicably miss them at a clip that is actually impressive in its futility.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 5 years ago

I would have played zone a little in the second half against UMass whether Omar was on the court or not. We were getting killed off penetration and I would have liked to see us clog the lane and crash the boards a little bit. I’ll take my chances that Pierre can’t beat us by himself, but even if we did leave open a few threes, they were getting good looks off penetration kick outs as it was.

Rhody83 · Unread post by **Rhody83** » 5 years ago

Blue Man, I am sure you could for a few of those games early in the year. But the last two losses we shot well vs UMass (1.53 points/possession) and gave up 84 points vs Mason (1.22 points/possession). That was on defense. We also gave up 84 to Bucknell. I really think this team can win with improved defense and reducing turnovers. Rhody is averaging 13 turnovers per game. Last year they averaged 10. In the last 10 games Rhody have averaged 15 turnovers per game.

Rhody83 · Unread post by **Rhody83** » 5 years ago

In games where Rhody has shot 45.0% or lower they are 5-7.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 5 years ago

Completely agree with 83's assessment with our keys to winning with this current roster. Great D, limit turnovers, share the ball on O. We aren't going to outshoot anyone, especially not the Davidsons or Daytons of the world. We win on the defensive end, creating live ball turnovers to lead to run outs, and not throwing the ball away offensively.

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 5 years ago

.......and getting to this is where I see Fatts making positive contributions via aggressive on the ball defense, in passing lanes, disruptive force in chaos transition defense creating offense.....

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 5 years ago

bigappleram wrote: ↑5 years ago Completely agree with 83's assessment with our keys to winning with this current roster. Great D, limit turnovers, share the ball on O. We aren't going to outshoot anyone, especially not the Davidsons or Daytons of the world. We win on the defensive end, creating live ball turnovers to lead to run outs, and not throwing the ball away offensively.

Agree completely....unfortunately achieving this is proving to be a fits and starts proposition with this group.

We had taken a couple steps forward until UMass....now a step back.....we'll get there sometime hopefully.

Taylor Swift · Unread post by **Taylor Swift** » 5 years ago

RI_Bred wrote: ↑5 years ago The crowd is so small you can hear individual fans and coaches yelling stuff...pretty funny.

Oh,I don't even feel my voice is that boisterous but felt everyone could hear me at times. haha!

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 5 years ago

It's funny bc most people think great defense is just solid effort and hustle. So who cares if we have a new roster full of new roles, or we have a bunch of FR playing a lot of minutes, they just need to hustle more and give better effort. Wrong. Reality is it takes as much chemistry, communication and technical skill as a good offense takes. It's not shocking a team with a lot of FR have been inconsistent defensively, lack of communication or knowing where your teammate should be leads to bad closeouts, poor rotations and open shooters. As great as Tyrese played at UMass, 4 of Pierre's 6 threes were against Tyrese who got caught out of position and couldn't close out in time. He will learn to better read the game, understand his assignments and in the future he will prevent those open looks....until then, growing pains.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 5 years ago

That’s all true, but none of it applies to getting torched off the dribble.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 5 years ago

TruePoint wrote: ↑5 years ago That’s all true, but none of it applies to getting torched off the dribble.

Disagree, help side principles, court awareness, situational awareness are all part of effectively defending dribble penetration. One tiny step to help, when it might not have been necessary, is all a shooter like Pierre needs to get a look. How to play angles, positioning on the floor and a million other things that could result in "getting torched off the dribble" are part and parcel to good team defense and not just guys not hustling or losing focus.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 5 years ago

We are talking about different things. Head-up on-ball defense isn’t just effort, obviously, but it is almost impossible to do it effectively without effort. There is skill and technique and whatever else involved, but for the most part our guards have been good on-ball defenders and I don’t really think a skill deficit is to blame for that particular problem on Sunday. I don’t disagree with what you are saying, especially about team defense requiring more coordination than the average fan realizes, but that is a wholly separate point than the one I’m making.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 5 years ago

Well Cox said at the show that the intensity on D wasn't there.....to me that largely means effort or lack of it...like TP said we have played good on ball defense at times this season....so it's not like they can't do it.

If they weren't into it mentally it's going to look like they weren't into it physically or technique wise either.

EGram · Unread post by **EGram** » 5 years ago

bigappleram wrote: ↑5 years ago It's funny bc most people think great defense is just solid effort and hustle. So who cares if we have a new roster full of new roles, or we have a bunch of FR playing a lot of minutes, they just need to hustle more and give better effort. Wrong. Reality is it takes as much chemistry, communication and technical skill as a good offense takes. It's not shocking a team with a lot of FR have been inconsistent defensively, lack of communication or knowing where your teammate should be leads to bad closeouts, poor rotations and open shooters. As great as Tyrese played at UMass, 4 of Pierre's 6 threes were against Tyrese who got caught out of position and couldn't close out in time. He will learn to better read the game, understand his assignments and in the future he will prevent those open looks....until then, growing pains.

If Andre Berry could become a serviceable closeout defender last season I have no doubt Tyrese can if he puts in 30% of the effort Andre does.

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 5 years ago

.......wonder who the team defense coach/guru/teacher is......?

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 5 years ago

bigappleram wrote: ↑5 years ago
TruePoint wrote: ↑5 years ago That’s all true, but none of it applies to getting torched off the dribble.
Disagree, help side principles, court awareness, situational awareness are all part of effectively defending dribble penetration. One tiny step to help, when it might not have been necessary, is all a shooter like Pierre needs to get a look. How to play angles, positioning on the floor and a million other things that could result in "getting torched off the dribble" are part and parcel to good team defense and not just guys not hustling or losing focus.

Maybe so, but if they didn't improve on ANY of those other things mentioned...yet got torched off the dribble less...that would be better.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 5 years ago

You would think with the experience this staff has, that there are no issues with teaching either offensive or defensive principles.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 5 years ago

AngloRAM wrote: ↑5 years ago Also what is this requiring my posts to get admin approval before they get posted now?

I could understand the first one as a way to dissuade trolls , but my old account had several hundred posts and it should be clear I was never a troll.

It isn’t you. All newly registered users have to get mod approval before their posts are public. I can approve posts, but only ATP can make it so your posts no longer need approval, and he has to do that manually. So it’s just matter of him getting to it, and he has a job and stuff so he might not see it right away.

eli#10 · Unread post by **eli#10** » 5 years ago

Rambone: you would think that with all the experience the coaching staff has they would recognize that there is no way Cyril should be allowed to put the ball on the floor from 8-10 feet out and drive to the basket. 7 turnovers vs UMass is totally unacceptable........

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 5 years ago

True eli…..and our opponents' coaching staffs are very aware of his tendencies.....if Harris ever gets going that might help reduce that frequency...one would hope anyway.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 5 years ago

Blue Man wrote: ↑5 years ago
Rhody83 wrote: ↑5 years ago Coach happy with Thompson

My problem with this "this was there super bowl" comment is that it sort of excuses this loss/throws the hands up and says "well they played harder than us because they're having a tough year."

Two things - 1) the whole A10 is having a hard year - so does that mean when we play the other 8 teams that SUUUUUUUCK in the A10 that we just have this "it's their super bowl" excuse built in? How about just show up and play hard? Now we've lost 2 "super bowls" and I can't wait for the other ones!

2) If this keeps up, we will end up being in the sub-.500 column and will need our "super bowl" effort for games. Is that what it takes?

Again, I think Cox can figure it out and I get he and the players are inexperienced. My main concern and complaint is that there are too many common themes that aren't being addressed that are still costing us games -
1) CT's playing time - taking him out of the starting lineup doesn't mean anything if you play him 30 mins a night. As a "leader" his effort is noticeably disappointing at times, punctuated by good plays - just not frequently enough to warrant the minutes he gets over some of the freshmen who are showing real promise and more importantly real effort.
2) Harris' playing time. The kid is yet to foul out of a game because he sits the final 10 minutes with 3 or 4 fouls. That's not exactly going to help his experience. It also doesn't help the team when you're throwing CT in at the 4 or over-using Cyril.
3) Over-reliance on Langevine - I get this is a bit muddier because we're thin in the frontcourt - but why isn't Harris playing? Why not even Preston?? You can't tell me having a tired, stone-handed Cyril in for 30+ helps us win games no matter how many double-doubles he gets.
4) Omar's playing time - he's legitimately our 2nd best 3 point shooter at the moment behind Martin. Every time he's brought in he makes a 3. We're the worst team in the country at shooting 3's - AND WE STILL WANT TO TAKE THEM, so why isn't he getting more burn? His defense is bad? We allowed 1.20 PPP last game and he played a minute. Doesn't sound like his defense was a problem but he still didn't see the floor.

I get growing pains, but the point of them is to GROW from them. These issues have been here and apparent to everyone for months.

Arrrggghhhhhh

The "Super Bowl" comment reminded me immediately of Jim Baron. My head hurts.
So what made our game with UMASS their "Super Bowl" after they had lost 7 straight games? Yet, St Bonaventure beat UMASS 65-51 just a few days earlier at UMASS. Wasn't also Bonnaventures "Super Bowl"?
Just sounds like a made up excuse for a loss because he has no better reasons

As for Thompson, these comments are particularly frustrating. Thompson is averaging 27.2 mpg good for 4th highest on the team. Since FINALLY being removed from the starting line up he has played 25,22,24 and 32 minutes. So he came out as a Starter but is still playing too many minutes imho. He is 2-7 on 3FG and 6-9 on FTs in these 4 games - still not good.
Thompson for career on 3 FGs:
Year 1: 32.8% on 20-61
Year 2: 26.3% on 10-38
Year 3: Out
Year 4: 26.0% on 39-114
Bottom line he is a 26% Shooter on 3FGs. This is not good at all for a Shooting Guard. It's at the bottom of the A10. There is no reason to believe he will shoot better than 26%.
Thompson for career on FTs:
Year 1: 60% on 24-40
Year 2: 63.6% on 14-22
Year 3: Out
Year 4: 66.7% on 26-39

@ 4:48 left in the game Omar makes a very nice pass to Langevine for a layup to make the score 60-56 UMASS - easy striking distance
@ 4:24 Pipkins beats Dowtin for a layup, gets fouled by Dowtin for a 3 point play now 63-56 UMASS. Cox takes Omar out and puts Fatts in.
@ 4:19 ONLY 5 seconds later, Thompson takes a long 3 that clangs the rim. Why so quick? It was a bad shot, too far out and he was not even in balance to release. Even the announcers commented.
@ 3:48 ONLY 32 seconds later, Thompson fouls Curtis Cobb who was shooting a 3 pointer!!! Cobb goes to the line for 3 FTs and up 63-56

Thompson had two back to back low Basketball IQ Plays at a clutch time of the game. A rushed 3 point shot by arguably the worst or 2nd worst 3 point shooter on the team - why, why, why wouldn't Martin be the guy taking that shot? and then the cardinal sin of fouling the 3 point shooter Cobb for UMASS

To hear Cox saying what a good game Thompson had just tends to tell me Cox does not get it with Thompson.
Martin should have been starting for Thompson from Day 1. Martin is not just now developing and improving, Martin was far better than Thompson from the beginning. Either the Coaching staff did not see that from the beginning (which is scary) or they just wanted to ease Martin in and ease Thompson out of the starting line up - which was also the wrong decision. Cooley started 3 Freshmen from Day 1.

Blaming the UMASS loss on it being their Super Bowl and glorifying Thompson for his play both frustrate me. I am very concerned moving forward.

Also,
our last 3 games we had the fewest 3 point attempts of the season and we won all 3 games - 13, 8 and 9 attempts for 3FGs. In the UMASS game we went back to 21 attempts. Dowtin was 0-6 (some with shot clock expiring in his defense). Martin was 5-7 on 3FGs. Let Martin take them all day lone but not anyone else with the possible exception of Tate. Don't know why we went back to bombing 3's again after having had success in minimizing 3FGs

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 5 years ago

ramster, for some reason when UMass sees us at their place they play out of their heads......who would have thought they would shoot it like they did?

Hell, THEY probably didn't think they could shoot it that well....against Bonnies they couldn't hit the side of a barn and they had open shots all night too.

We helped with playing zero defense, offensively we played well enough to win in the 2nd half.....however we have to start games better on the road...when we get behind we tend to stay behind.

To your point about Thompson....he just isn't a good shooter, period. He will have flashes but that's not good enough considering the number of minutes he's playing.

Next season his minutes will go down, if he's still here that is. Of course his minutes should go down now, but Cox seems to be playing the loyalty game at the expense of the freshmen development.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 5 years ago

Rambone,
All shooters are going t0 have flashes of success. Thompson has had a whopping 114 attempts this year. He is a "shooting guard".
He shot 26% his Soph Year and he is a 26% now on 3FGs. This is not going to change.
I know many hoped and predicted big things from Thompson this year but it has not happened in the shooting department nor on the defensive end, nor in the basketball IQ/Leadership department.
Time is now to redistribute the Playing Time minutes
I also think we have missed Akele more than any of us would have imagined preseason, including the Coaching Staff

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 5 years ago

I like that point you made Ramster. the 3 wins were with the least 3 pointers. Probably an indication that URI took the ball to the basket and competed instead of floating around the perimeter and jacking up a 3 when the time expires.

If Rhody created 3 point shots and shot them well it would be a different story.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 5 years ago

Seawright,
When Thompson took that ill advised 3 at the 4:19 mark after URI having had the ball for only 5 SECONDS I would have put him right on the bench. There was no reason for him to take that shot other than greed, selfishness and not playing team basketball. Seniors should be leading - and that was not leading. On top of that he comes right back down the court and fouls Cobb taking a 3 point shot. Then Cox comments what a good game he had.
Look out below if we lose to Duquesne tonight and Saint Louis at home.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 5 years ago

It's really very obvious by now...our returning players can't shoot 3's to save their asses. Yet they continue to jack them up....and Cox sits there and lets them do it over and over again.....and there isn't any excuse for playing poor defense by the older players either.

We just didn't have much returning...3 players who have their issues.....it's been said over and over again here....let the freshmen play and learn the hard way...what do we have to lose at this point?

Those freshmen will turn out to be our best shooters...sure they have defensive issues but they are freshmen. Martin gives back some on defense but he is already our best offensive player, the sky's the limit for him. Tate and Harris MUST play more and play more this season, not wait for next season.

And Omar needs to play more than one minute...even if it's an offense/defense situation late in games where he can actually make a 3.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 5 years ago

ramster wrote: ↑5 years ago Seawright,
When Thompson took that ill advised 3 at the 4:19 mark after URI having had the ball for only 5 SECONDS I would have put him right on the bench. There was no reason for him to take that shot other than greed, selfishness and not playing team basketball. Seniors should be leading - and that was not leading. On top of that he comes right back down the court and fouls Cobb taking a 3 point shot. Then Cox comments what a good game he had.
Look out below if we lose to Duquesne tonight and Saint Louis at home.

That sequence was one of the worst sequences from an experienced player I’ve ever seen. I forget exactly what my response here was, but I guarantee that if someone went back and looked for it, it would be really easy to identify the exact moment it happened in this thread based on whatever I said at that time.

I am disappointed in what we’ve got from Thompson this year. Part of the problem is that he doesn’t have either a clearly defined role or a role for which he is well suited and wants to do. If he had a Stan Robinson approach of busting his ass, doing the little things, getting some dirt under his finger nails and taking the offensive crumbs when they come to him, I thought he’d be pretty good in that type of role. Unfortunately he either isn’t being asked to do, or isn’t interested in doing, that role. Whatever it is, I’m ready to pull the plug on the Christion Thompson experiment and use him only in short stints where other guys really need a rest. Ramster pointed out his minutes since being replaced in the starting five, and it is unconscionable that he is on floor so much.

As far as Akele, maybe nobody else predicted we would miss him, but I did think we could use his length and experience this year. He probably realized we weren’t going to need it enough to make it worth his while to stick around here for 10 minutes per night, but we definitely could use those 10 minutes.

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 5 years ago

TP my reaction to that sequence was Done. But yours was better, much better

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 5 years ago

.......if CT is getting the minutes he is, and as some have pointed out is from Coach being loyal to him, that for me is blind loyalty.......that his overall output does not warrant those actual minutes even with an occasional shot made or charge.......for Coach to say he just played a good game shows me he was blind to that sequence that was inexcusable for senior leadership......maybe the best for all at the end of year he decides to move on......

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 5 years ago

I know this is another thing that has been said here....but I wonder if certain players let what Cox says to them, go in one ear and out the other.

The same mistakes are being made by certain players who by now should know better.

PeterRamTime · Unread post by **PeterRamTime** » 5 years ago

I mean he played better than mostly anyone up until that point....

That was encouraging. I hope he can at least give us some more of that. It seemed like progress until he shit the bed at the end.

Has anyone really seen much evidence of Omar's poor defense??? I havent really seen how it's all that bad.
It's also obvious to me him making a couple threes outweighs CT and Fatts turnover and missed threes.

Nailing two threes makes a huge difference.

He must get minutes because he plays well. Doesnt force anything and makes shots. His D doesnt even look that bad.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 5 years ago

Anybody on this team who can make 3's at 30% or better needs to play more.

After the UMass debacle on defense.....Omar's D is no worse.

the_one_mike · Unread post by **the_one_mike** » 5 years ago

TruePoint wrote: ↑5 years ago
ramster wrote: ↑5 years ago Seawright,
When Thompson took that ill advised 3 at the 4:19 mark after URI having had the ball for only 5 SECONDS I would have put him right on the bench. There was no reason for him to take that shot other than greed, selfishness and not playing team basketball. Seniors should be leading - and that was not leading. On top of that he comes right back down the court and fouls Cobb taking a 3 point shot. Then Cox comments what a good game he had.
Look out below if we lose to Duquesne tonight and Saint Louis at home.
That sequence was one of the worst sequences from an experienced player I’ve ever seen. I forget exactly what my response here was, but I guarantee that if someone went back and looked for it, it would be really easy to identify the exact moment it happened in this thread based on whatever I said at that time.

I am disappointed in what we’ve got from Thompson this year. Part of the problem is that he doesn’t have either a clearly defined role or a role for which he is well suited and wants to do. If he had a Stan Robinson approach of busting his ass, doing the little things, getting some dirt under his finger nails and taking the offensive crumbs when they come to him, I thought he’d be pretty good in that type of role. Unfortunately he either isn’t being asked to do, or isn’t interested in doing, that role. Whatever it is, I’m ready to pull the plug on the Christion Thompson experiment and use him only in short stints where other guys really need a rest. Ramster pointed out his minutes since being replaced in the starting five, and it is unconscionable that he is on floor so much.

As far as Akele, maybe nobody else predicted we would miss him, but I did think we could use his length and experience this year. He probably realized we weren’t going to need it enough to make it worth his while to stick around here for 10 minutes per night, but we definitely could use those 10 minutes.

Being the guy who created the entire Christion Thompson thread... I’m going to have to agree totally with your take here. I don’t take back what I see in his talent, but I do take back what I see with his effort.

I think that his role has been defined quite clearly; he IS supposed to be playing that Stan role... this is entirely a hunch, but I am under the impression he thinks he’s better than that role. And he’s not. His numbers and decision making this season have proved that.

I’m going to restate a few things I posted earlier in this thread that I think are moves that can greatly improve the chemistry of this team.

1. Jeff needs to be primary ball handler and cut his FGA by at least 25%. He makes offenses better with his IQ and passing, not his scoring. Period. I’m not even going to entertain an argument that he “needs” to be a scorer for this team. It’s simply not true.

2. Fatts lost his starting job. He should be playing 25 mins a game max, off the bench, until he earns starter minutes back. He has been woefully inefficient and ineffective on offense and similar to my take on Christion... I think Fatts believes his talent outweighs making intelligent, team based decisions on the floor. I notice everyone on the team defers to him on offense and the results have been disastrous. One way to spell that is keep him off the floor for longer stretches and make the team develop options without him.

3. Omar deserves to be pulled at UMass. He made a shot, awesome. He then jacked up a contested three 2 possessions later early in the shot clock. Not awesome. The choice to bench him after that was correct. Should he have seen more minutes throughout? Sure, that’s an argument I’ll entertain. But pulling him late was the right move.

4. Harris needs to become the primary scorer underneath. He is much more skilled, has way better touch, and quite frankly an immense amount more offensive upside than Langevine. It will also make Cyril infinitely more efficient as he won’t be doubled underneath every time. Should also clear space for him to rebound, where he’s at his best. I love Cyril, but this decision will make him better. Big to big and inside out offense would be awesome to see.

Bill Koch · Unread post by **Bill Koch** » 5 years ago

section(105) wrote: ↑5 years ago .......if CT is getting the minutes he is, and as some have pointed out is from Coach being loyal to him, that for me is blind loyalty.......that his overall output does not warrant those actual minutes even with an occasional shot made or charge.......for Coach to say he just played a good game shows me he was blind to that sequence that was inexcusable for senior leadership......maybe the best for all at the end of year he decides to move on......

In the interest of fairness I'd like to clarify something here if I may.

The quote from David Cox that's generated some discussion was in response to a question about URI's production from the third guard position against UMass. Martin and Thompson combined for 35 of the team's 70 points. It was a scoring career high for Martin and Thompson's best all-around game since Charlotte or Richmond -- whichever you prefer. The response was along those lines.

Like any coach, I'm sure Cox didn't like the sequence where Thompson took a quick 3 and then fouled on a 3 at the other end. The shot was worse than the foul -- based on the reaction of the URI bench and fans at Mullins Center, they certainly felt it was a questionable call at best. At full speed I was inclined to agree. But regardless of what he thought at the time, I hardly could see Cox -- or any coach -- airing out a specific player in a postgame setting like that when there were other more pressing issues at hand.

As far as the starting five, Martin assumed his position at about the same time in his freshman season as players like Matthews and Hassan. Thompson has been cited for his leadership behind the scenes by both Cox and his teammates. He was sent to an A10 symposium for student-athletes as URI's representative. That would suggest to me he's a popular player, and roster management dictates allowing said player to lose his spot rather than taking it from him immediately for someone unproven. There have been a couple displays by Harris -- chirping at Cox when he's removed, arguing with Fatts toward the end of the VCU game after his own mistake -- that could be used as examples why this can sometimes be problematic.

I'd also submit that this team might very well need Thompson next season if it hopes to make a realistic NCAA push. Unless Hammond is far more advanced than the average freshman or a significant upgrade is available as a grad transfer, there will be key minutes off the bench against some tough nonconference opponents in the early going. It would help to have a fifth-year senior who by that point will be 18-20 months off knee surgery to give at least 12-15 minutes per game.

eli#10 · Unread post by **eli#10** » 5 years ago

Here's another way for Cyril to avoid double teaming--make a pass out of the double team to find the open man. As I have stated many other times when the ball goes to him down low it hardly ever comes out. It is either a shot, a charging call or a turnover. This has to get better.

Rhody83 · Unread post by **Rhody83** » 5 years ago

Thoughts on the recent posts:
URI has tried to establish some offense down low early in the game for years. I am sure the coaches feel it is needed as an option to open up other areas in the offense. Many teams do this. Last year they would go to Berry. The three years prior to that they would go to Hassan. Now they go to Cyril. They need to figure out Jermaine’s best offensive moves and incorporate them. He doesn’t have a lot of back to the basket experience.

URI had trouble penetrating and creating open shots vs UMass. That is what led to an increase in 3 point shots. Most of those threes came late in the possession. Several where last second desperation shots. Even some of the threes Martin hit were contested difficult shots. I agree the Thompson 3 with 4+ minutes left was a horrible shot.

Fyi, Fatts was sick during the UMass game (cold/flu). I am surprise he played that many minutes being sick.

Rhody83 · Unread post by **Rhody83** » 5 years ago

Bill, thanks for context around the interview question/response.
I agree with your comments. The only thing I question is allowing Thompson to lose his spot and not taking it from him.
It wasn’t his spot. He has never been a significant player at URI. We all know he redshirted last year. His Soph year he avg 10 minutes and 2.5 points.

hrstrat57 · Unread post by **hrstrat57** » 5 years ago

Good post Bill Koch

I think we are all missing the fact that we had wide open VCU Rams the whole game last week.

Same defense - bricks.

Pierre made em all.

Fine line between winning and losing in D1 hoops.

The process of figuring it out is ongoing and difficult.

Go Rhody.

Beachcomber · Unread post by **Beachcomber** » 5 years ago

The summary by others here of this debacle of a game is spot on. This team is young and will have its ups and downs. But in my opinion this game was a coaches loss. It may have been mentioned by others, but the 6 minute scoreless stretch in the first half (starting with just under 8 minutes left in the half, Rhody up 18-14, then down 31-18) was just a horrible job by Cox. During UMass's 17-0 run, URI was out of sorts, taking terrible shots, making unforced turnovers, getting beaten on defense. And, during this horrific stretch, Cox took no timeouts, didn't pull anyone after a bad shot or turnover, made no defensive changes. Worse, Cox didn't call one before the half and Rhody ended having timeouts on the board. I'm pretty sure they don't carry over to the next half.

Was he waiting for a rainy day to use them? How many times have we seen more experienced coaches immediately call a timeout after 2-3 bad possessions to make changes, stop the momentum, and stop the bleeding - in other words, to coach? I was shouting at my TV for him to make it stop, to do something before the game got out of hand. Cox waited for the next TV timeout - which took them well under 4 minutes - and by that point the damage had been done.

This is a young team with some promise and they will grow - but come on, Coach - be better. I hope he will end up being a good coach, but Sunday's game was not encouraging.

Bill Koch · Unread post by **Bill Koch** » 5 years ago

Rhody83 wrote: ↑5 years ago Bill, thanks for context around the interview question/response.
I agree with your comments. The only thing I question is allowing Thompson to lose his spot and not taking it from him.
It wasn’t his spot. He has never been a significant player at URI. We all know he redshirted last year. His Soph year he avg 10 minutes and 2.5 points.

If nothing else I think David Cox was attempting to be consistent here with regard to the program's recent philosophy on player management. Jared Terrell is the lone recent freshman who came in and started immediately, and I think we all know they weren't getting the player unless that guarantee (among others) was made. Jermaine Harris has also started every game and, to be generous, has shown mixed results to date both in production and maturity.

Thinking back to last season for a quick comparison to the Thompson-Martin situation, Andre Berry was on the floor for 8.5 percent of minutes as a sophomore and 4.9 percent of minutes as a junior. He was a starter from the beginning as a senior and retained his spot even after they went to four guards and Cyril Langevine returned from a sports hernia. Langevine had played 33 percent of minutes as a freshman in 2016-17 -- far more than Berry -- but the veteran (who was very well-liked by the roster) was given a somewhat extended chance to either keep or lose the spot to the younger player.

Berry's play kept him there. Thompson's did not. In terms of the locker room, you prevent unrest by providing opportunity to someone and then taking it away only when the results on the floor become obvious to everyone involved. Dan Hurley made similar decisions with Jeff Dowtin-Jarvis Garrett, E.C. Matthews-Jarelle Reischel and Hassan Martin-Ifeanyi Onyekaba, just to name a few.

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