11/9 | #7 Maryland | 9:00PM (FS1)

[adam914]

Yeah, so back to talking about basketball again, I am kind of curious to see how they continue to use Dowtin moving forward. I get why he plays off the ball more now, and I think thats the right move overall with this lineup and Fatts playing the 1 more, but I worry that Dowtin gets lost on offense without the ball too often. Good things tend to happen when the ball is in his hands, so I am hoping they can find ways to keep him involved so he doesn't get lost for periods of time off the ball. There have been times against the zone where they flashed him to the free throw line which I think was a good move.

[ElmCityRhody]

Come on people. Why are you bitching at each other? I think the key is knowing who we are. If you are not a good shooting team you need to consistently take it to the hole and get to the line and hit them. We looked great for 18 mins. I am trying to be positive.

Hear hear !

All my frustrations are directed to the team

We as fans are all on the same team

GO
RHODY
!

As for as the posting -too much - I did think about it and I do agree so I will work on that

It all stems from pouring my heart and soul over my love for RHODY and wanting them to succeed and compete

I am a sore loser - which I don’t apologize for - but I will get better

And I love you DC RAMS )

PEACE !

[Bill Koch]

Full coverage from Saturday at Maryland. Also, in print editions of the Journal, Don Kaull was kind enough to talk about the 1966 win over Providence. Quite the story from him about that night.

[Gonebarongone]

It's magnified against a team like MD but it's really hard to swallow in 2019 there isn't someone like Four on this roster that can't just stand in the corner against a 1-3-1 zone. Fatts tried to dribble through it all night which is insane. I suspect rhody will see some variant of that all year. There are really good players on this roster that will out talent a lot of the schedule but there is a definite ceiling when your opponents can essentially always have a free safety on the weak side of whatever defense they are in.

[NYGFan_Section208]

I said what I said.

I’m self aggrandizing, meanwhile, some of you self absorbed, children, pout, stomp, cry, bitch and moan whenever things don’t go your way. Fair weather, fickle ass fans, if I’ve ever seen them. Because I stand by, and defend a group of young men and coach (the mature thing to do ya know), I’m the bad guy?

Don’t worry, I’m sure my first class flight ticket is on the way.

I stand by every word I say.

All you talk about is how much this place sucks and how dumb we all are, yet you continue to spend a lot of time on here. Seems like everyone would be better off without your bullshit, and then throw in the offensive comments on top of that and you leaving the board really seems like it's a win/win for all involved.

Cool, f*** you too.

OK...time to take it outside?

[steveystuds06]

Did I really just read on here that Maryland isn’t a top 25 team? I understand that frustration after a loss but come on...

[JimSidd]

Totally agree with the “knowing who you are” comment. I would add that, besides taking it to the rim, don’t forget the mid range game. I know the current philosophy at all levels is either take it all the way to the rim or shoot the three, but I’ll take an upper 40s percentage from two over an upper 20s percentage from three all day (assuming we can shoot upper 40s from two of course, which I think Rhody can do).

[ATPTourFan]

[ramster]

It's magnified against a team like MD but it's really hard to swallow in 2019 there isn't someone like Four on this roster that can't just stand in the corner against a 1-3-1 zone. Fatts tried to dribble through it all night which is insane. I suspect rhody will see some variant of that all year. There are really good players on this roster that will out talent a lot of the schedule but there is a definite ceiling when your opponents can essentially always have a free safety on the weak side of whatever defense they are in.

I agree with you GBG but Fatts trying to dribble through it seemed to me to be much more prominent in the 2nd half than in the first half. Our guys were starting to stand around, moving without the ball more-so than In the first half and watched Fatts dribble-drive.

Dowtin shot 35% from 3PG last season. He can shoot and do can Martin on the wings. Between them they hit 5-10 for 50%. Problem is those two wings need to take more than 10 3P shots per game. They need passs from one another, from Fatts and from Langevine/Harris passing back out to set them up. Good teams like VCU, Davidson and Dayton have more than 1 3P capable shooter. One good 3P shooter is not enough in today’s game.

Dowtin with only - assist and he was one of the top PG’s in the A10 and Country his Freshman and Soph seasons.

[ramster]

Yeah, so back to talking about basketball again, I am kind of curious to see how they continue to use Dowtin moving forward. I get why he plays off the ball more now, and I think thats the right move overall with this lineup and Fatts playing the 1 more, but I worry that Dowtin gets lost on offense without the ball too often. Good things tend to happen when the ball is in his hands, so I am hoping they can find ways to keep him involved so he doesn't get lost for periods of time off the ball. There have been times against the zone where they flashed him to the free throw line which I think was a good move.

Yep

Jeff is a leader of this team, but it’s hard to lead when you don’t have the ball so much.

Jeff is one of the best passers I’ve seen at URI. That showed his first two years here on excellent teams and with Top 5 Assist/Turnover PGs in the Nation.

Jeff getting 1 assist vs Maryland is not in our teams best interest.

[steveystuds06]

Is Devale Johnson that bad that he can’t stand in the corner when they go zone and shoot an open 3? Did we not bring him in to help with our shooting? Everyone keeps bringing up Sheppard, but we have a guy who is eligible who can shoot.

[ace]

Did I really just read on here that Maryland isn’t a top 25 team? I understand that frustration after a loss but come on...

They probably are, but this is why the early season is so weird. Nobody knows who most teams really are yet. There are always games that look better or worse as the season goes on. I know that some basketball people aren’t completely sold on Turgeon as a developer of talent. They’re likely going to have to get something out of the Mitchell twins to reach expectations.

[RamStock]

Is Devale Johnson that bad that he can’t stand in the corner when they go zone and shoot an open 3? Did we not bring him in to help with our shooting? Everyone keeps bringing up Sheppard, but we have a guy who is eligible who can shoot.

Johnson is probably never going to contribute at URI. He is just an athletic player who went against low level competition which is even more obvious now as walk one get on the court before him. I think we have to worry about getting our core players better shots, setting more scripted plays and trying to do what fits this team which isn’t a high volume of three point shots. More 15 ft shots please.

[ramster]

Dowtin and Martin can shoot the three

Dowtin
Freshman 35.1%
Sophomore 38.7%
Junior 35.4%
Senior (5-12) 41.7%

Martin
Freshman 31.1%
Sophomore (6-11) 54.5%

Martin and Dowtin hit (5-10) 3Ps against Maryland. They need to shoot more similar to how Dowtin fed EC and Terrell the ball his first two years at URI

Fatts needs to take as much or more joy in getting assists as he does in scoring. He needs to pass more, dribble-drive less. Langevine and Harris need to get more passes inside as Dowtin used to feed Hassan Martin for easy buckets. In addition, Harris and Langevine need to pass the ball back out on occasion to Dowtin and Martin for open 3PGs.

Passing is contagious and it’s exciting to see good passing. Not passing leads to one on one, players not moving without the ball.

Johnson is not the issue.

[ramster]

Dowtin and Martin vs Maryland (5-10) on 3Ps
Rest of team (2-13) including Hammond (1-1)

Tate is (1-7) on 3Ps
Toppin in (0-5) on 3Ps

Rocket surgery says get Dowtin and Martin more 3P attempts vs Alabama. Toppin, Tate and Fatts minimal 3P attempts

[Dowtinsavestheworld]

Can we get Martin picture added to the top of the site. He is the future of our program and easily the next most talent player.

I was at the game (live in Maryland) and was so angry after we blew that lead. I re-watched the game and settled down. We just had poor shot selection and missed some bunnies. I thought we played outstanding D for about 28 minutes. Martin needs the ball in his hands more and fatts needs to just shoot the rock consistently. He’s too small to always drive and needs to let Jeff do his thing.

Tate also disappointed me. We need him and Martin to become our other scoring options this year. Hears to hoping and big game Friday! Go Rams!

[eli#10]

Good thing the complainers on this board are not also fans of the top ten ranked University of Florida who just got whacked at home by unranked Florida State 63-51. Florida was never in the game after the half and shot 4-22 on three pointers.

Imagine how much of a good time our complainers would have if they were fans of Florida?

[ramster]

Did I really just read on here that Maryland isn’t a top 25 team? I understand that frustration after a loss but come on...

Makes no sense to me why posters want to belittle a team that just beat us. Doesn’t that make us even worse then?

Michigan State, Kansas and Florida lost this week
Maryland will move up at least 1 slot to #6 this Monday.

[ramster]

I’d like David Cox to let the guys go ahead and foul out. Nothing wrong with fouling out. Hate to see minutes left on the table to key players.

Players with 4 fouls:
Langevine 32 minutes
Martin 21 minutes
Harris 21 minutes

We need these guys on the court - it’s ok to foul out

[Tjrams91]

I’d like David Cox to let the guys go ahead and foul out. Nothing wrong with fouling out. Hate to see minutes left on the table to key players.

Players with 4 fouls:
Langevine 32 minutes
Martin 21 minutes
Harris 21 minutes

We need these guys on the court - it’s ok to foul out

That theory makes no sense. In that case, at the clip they were fouling, we would’ve either lost them in the first half, or they slack off on Defense so they don’t foul. Both lead to unfavorable positions.

[ramster]

I’d like David Cox to let the guys go ahead and foul out. Nothing wrong with fouling out. Hate to see minutes left on the table to key players.

Players with 4 fouls:
Langevine 32 minutes
Martin 21 minutes
Harris 21 minutes

We need these guys on the court - it’s ok to foul out

That theory makes no sense. In that case, at the clip they were fouling, we would’ve either lost them in the first half, or they slack off on Defense so they don’t foul. Both lead to unfavorable positions.

Who said they slack off on defense? Certainly not me. They should be coached to continue to give all they have - or sit the bench.
In the first half Martin came out after 2 fouls, not 4.

We lack depth without Walker right now. Let Harris and Langevine play out the 5 fouls. They played well - could have played more.

Or I guess have a second half like we had with strength on the bench

[hrstrat57]

I suspect Martin was pulled subsequent to the clothes line after the whistle of an opponent debacle and told by coach Cox to sit. Can folks who were at the game confirm?

[Tjrams91]

I’d like David Cox to let the guys go ahead and foul out. Nothing wrong with fouling out. Hate to see minutes left on the table to key players.

Players with 4 fouls:
Langevine 32 minutes
Martin 21 minutes
Harris 21 minutes

We need these guys on the court - it’s ok to foul out

That theory makes no sense. In that case, at the clip they were fouling, we would’ve either lost them in the first half, or they slack off on Defense so they don’t foul. Both lead to unfavorable positions.

Who said they slack off on defense? Certainly not me. They should be coached to continue to give all they have - or sit the bench.
In the first half Martin came out after 2 fouls, not 4.

We lack depth without Walker right now. Let Harris and Langevine play out the 5 fouls. They played well - could have played more.

Or I guess have a second half like we had with strength on the bench

Ramster, you watch enough college ball to know that when a guy is in foul trouble, they avoiding playing hard or aggressive defense. They tend to let the guy go by on drives, or not attempt a block/steal, etc.

Cox needed Martin late in that game. Agree to disagree on your take.

[ramster]

That theory makes no sense. In that case, at the clip they were fouling, we would’ve either lost them in the first half, or they slack off on Defense so they don’t foul. Both lead to unfavorable positions.

Who said they slack off on defense? Certainly not me. They should be coached to continue to give all they have - or sit the bench.
In the first half Martin came out after 2 fouls, not 4.

We lack depth without Walker right now. Let Harris and Langevine play out the 5 fouls. They played well - could have played more.

Or I guess have a second half like we had with strength on the bench

Ramster, you watch enough college ball to know that when a guy is in foul trouble, they avoiding playing hard or aggressive defense. They tend to let the guy go by on drives, or not attempt a block/steal, etc.

Cox needed Martin late in that game. Agree to disagree on your take.

I’d agree that situations are different depending on the game and on the individual.
I just hate to see guys like Harris, who was having a solid game, play only 21 minutes. I know much, if not all, of the responsibility rests with Harris but just frustrating to see him on the bench so much of the 2nd half and we were getting beat inside.
Martin only 21 minutes was a killer. Even if he backs off the defense some, we really need his offense.

I could be wrong, it’s up to Cox and the players to manage. I didn’t think the calls were bad against us.

[Gonebarongone]

Dowtin and Martin can shoot the three

Dowtin
Freshman 35.1%
Sophomore 38.7%
Junior 35.4%
Senior (5-12) 41.7%

Martin
Freshman 31.1%
Sophomore (6-11) 54.5%

Martin and Dowtin hit (5-10) 3Ps against Maryland. They need to shoot more similar to how Dowtin fed EC and Terrell the ball his first two years at URI

Fatts needs to take as much or more joy in getting assists as he does in scoring. He needs to pass more, dribble-drive less. Langevine and Harris need to get more passes inside as Dowtin used to feed Hassan Martin for easy buckets. In addition, Harris and Langevine need to pass the ball back out on occasion to Dowtin and Martin for open 3PGs.

Passing is contagious and it’s exciting to see good passing. Not passing leads to one on one, players not moving without the ball.

Johnson is not the issue.

First of all, I think Martin shooting 31% is a little more indicative of his shot than two games, although I am optimistic. I did mangle my point about shooters before. Yes, Jeff can shoot, but he is too valuable to have sit in a corner against a zone like that. We need a role player that Cox can go to when teams pack a zone or play the half court 1-3-1. It is 2019. You should never have a roster without one. 7th or 8th guy in a rotation that situationally can thwart that because, well, we are going to see a lot of it. Giving up two years of a scholarship for one of Shepperd was probably an error when he could have scoured the lower level grad transfer market for a guy who could shoot and was looking to play on a team that would win a bunch of games.

[Tjrams91]

Who said they slack off on defense? Certainly not me. They should be coached to continue to give all they have - or sit the bench.
In the first half Martin came out after 2 fouls, not 4.

We lack depth without Walker right now. Let Harris and Langevine play out the 5 fouls. They played well - could have played more.

Or I guess have a second half like we had with strength on the bench

Ramster, you watch enough college ball to know that when a guy is in foul trouble, they avoiding playing hard or aggressive defense. They tend to let the guy go by on drives, or not attempt a block/steal, etc.

Cox needed Martin late in that game. Agree to disagree on your take.

I’d agree that situations are different depending on the game and on the individual.
I just hate to see guys like Harris, who was having a solid game, play only 21 minutes. I know much, if not all, of the responsibility rests with Harris but just frustrating to see him on the bench so much of the 2nd half and we were getting beat inside.
Martin only 21 minutes was a killer. Even if he backs off the defense some, we really need his offense.

I could be wrong, it’s up to Cox and the players to manage. I didn’t think the calls were bad against us.

Harris requests to be pulled at times. Same hamstring/ cramp issues continue.

[ace]

Watching the game now- that play where Jermaine lost his shoe and just came off the court (a power play for Maryland, as the announcers said) was just weird.

Jacob’s tough- he really slammed his elbow on the floor. You could see him flexing his hand and shaking it out throughout at least the first half, never flinched and stayed in the game.

Maryland is a young team (269 on KenPom), which bodes well for their chances of improvement over the season. Rhode Island’s moved up to the middle of the pack with regards to experience.

[ramster]

Why do you think it was weird Ace? Didn’t Harris lose his shoe twice?

Did you see when Fatts threw a floater Pass to Harris that he couldn’t get to? Harris had some comment to Fatts as they headed down the court.
Seems our guards have an opportunity to pass more to Langevine and Harris that they are doing, thoughts?

[ramster]

Ramster, you watch enough college ball to know that when a guy is in foul trouble, they avoiding playing hard or aggressive defense. They tend to let the guy go by on drives, or not attempt a block/steal, etc.

Cox needed Martin late in that game. Agree to disagree on your take.

I’d agree that situations are different depending on the game and on the individual.
I just hate to see guys like Harris, who was having a solid game, play only 21 minutes. I know much, if not all, of the responsibility rests with Harris but just frustrating to see him on the bench so much of the 2nd half and we were getting beat inside.
Martin only 21 minutes was a killer. Even if he backs off the defense some, we really need his offense.

I could be wrong, it’s up to Cox and the players to manage. I didn’t think the calls were bad against us.

Harris requests to be pulled at times. Same hamstring/ cramp issues continue.

Did that happen yesterday? I didn’t see that.

[Tjrams91]

I’d agree that situations are different depending on the game and on the individual.
I just hate to see guys like Harris, who was having a solid game, play only 21 minutes. I know much, if not all, of the responsibility rests with Harris but just frustrating to see him on the bench so much of the 2nd half and we were getting beat inside.
Martin only 21 minutes was a killer. Even if he backs off the defense some, we really need his offense.

I could be wrong, it’s up to Cox and the players to manage. I didn’t think the calls were bad against us.

Harris requests to be pulled at times. Same hamstring/ cramp issues continue.

Did that happen yesterday? I didn’t see that.

Yes, several times. Harris rode the bike every time he was pulled in the second half.

[ramster]

Dowtin and Martin can shoot the three

Dowtin
Freshman 35.1%
Sophomore 38.7%
Junior 35.4%
Senior (5-12) 41.7%

Martin
Freshman 31.1%
Sophomore (6-11) 54.5%

Martin and Dowtin hit (5-10) 3Ps against Maryland. They need to shoot more similar to how Dowtin fed EC and Terrell the ball his first two years at URI

Fatts needs to take as much or more joy in getting assists as he does in scoring. He needs to pass more, dribble-drive less. Langevine and Harris need to get more passes inside as Dowtin used to feed Hassan Martin for easy buckets. In addition, Harris and Langevine need to pass the ball back out on occasion to Dowtin and Martin for open 3PGs.

Passing is contagious and it’s exciting to see good passing. Not passing leads to one on one, players not moving without the ball.

Johnson is not the issue.

First of all, I think Martin shooting 31% is a little more indicative of his shot than two games, although I am optimistic. I did mangle my point about shooters before. Yes, Jeff can shoot, but he is too valuable to have sit in a corner against a zone like that. We need a role player that Cox can go to when teams pack a zone or play the half court 1-3-1. It is 2019. You should never have a roster without one. 7th or 8th guy in a rotation that situationally can thwart that because, well, we are going to see a lot of it. Giving up two years of a scholarship for one of Shepperd was probably an error when he could have scoured the lower level grad transfer market for a guy who could shoot and was looking to play on a team that would win a bunch of games.

GBG,
For sure Martin’s 54.5% is not likely to continue but he has had the hot hand so why not play it? I’d heavily bet Martin will exceed his 31.1% freshman year percent too. Dowtin too is a proven 35%+ three point shooter.

They should be shooting more 3Ps than they are. They need their teammates to look for them.

Thompson last year was 25%, Fatts was 22%. Play the percentages. Feed the best shooters.

So with no Sheppard, Johnson apparently not ready - both 43% shooters coming in.......now what? What would you do?

[ace]

Why do you think it was weird Ace? Didn’t Harris lose his shoe twice?

Because Harris moved off the court for at least 30 seconds during live action to try and put his shoe back on while his team got back on defense and then came back to run their offense for 17 of those seconds with only four guys.

I’ve seen it on a fast break where a guy has been slow to get up or recover, but this was a sustained play. Play in a sock, call timeout. Something. It was strange to watch it unfold so slowly.

[ramster]

GBG,
I went back to compare Martin before entering the starting line up for Thompson
Martin came off the bench in 15 games, started 18 games. Compared FT and 3P shooting to see how the overall 31.1% 3P looks

3P Shooting
Off bench (9-39) = 23%
Starting (18-49) = 36.7%

FT Shooting
Off Bench (7-15) = 46.7%
Starting (28-39) = 71.2%

My guess would be Martin will exceed both of those numbers this Soph Year

Point is we have two solid 3P shooters in our starting line up - need to use them better and get them more attempts. Don’t sweat Sheppard and Johnson which we can’t control anyway. If Johnson comes along it’s a plus. If Hammond, Long, Tate or Toppin come along in 3P shooting it’s a plus too.

[LoveThoseRams]

I’d agree that situations are different depending on the game and on the individual.
I just hate to see guys like Harris, who was having a solid game, play only 21 minutes. I know much, if not all, of the responsibility rests with Harris but just frustrating to see him on the bench so much of the 2nd half and we were getting beat inside.
Martin only 21 minutes was a killer. Even if he backs off the defense some, we really need his offense.

I could be wrong, it’s up to Cox and the players to manage. I didn’t think the calls were bad against us.

Harris requests to be pulled at times. Same hamstring/ cramp issues continue.

Did that happen yesterday? I didn’t see that.

Yes, we were right behind the bench. He kept grabbing at his calf and then rode the bike the entire time off the court. Seems to be having significant cramping.

[LoveThoseRams]

So now that I have disclosed that I am a dreaded “female” LOL...I will also disclose that I am not an AAU coach, and I am really on KB to learn from all of you.

That being said, why oh why did Fatts play all 40 minutes without sitting even one minute last night?

[theblueram]

Good thing the complainers on this board are not also fans of the top ten ranked University of Florida who just got whacked at home by unranked Florida State 63-51. Florida was never in the game after the half and shot 4-22 on three pointers.

Imagine how much of a good time our complainers would have if they were fans of Florida?

Seems you fail to see the irony of your post. If we sustained the whole game like we played the first 20 minutes, we would have beat Maryland.

[eli#10]

I see it believe me. For the second game of the season against a top ten team on the road the complaining and critiziing is off the charts. Oh by the way we were playing undermanned without Walker.
Martin's second foul about halfway through the first half really hurt us. Being at the game I could not see the double technical involving Martin but that needs to be avoided in the future. We need him playing 35 minutes a game.

[theblueram]

I don't think the complaining is off the chart. We were .500 last season for a good reason. We can't shoot. And the second half of the Maryland game said we have no improvement. Most think we should make the dance this year. Many thought we should last year. Walker, who played 1 year at Gtown avg 2 pts a game was a question mark to begin with. We were not undermanned. We just can't shoot the basketball.

[Rhody72]

URI started the game shooting OK, then UMD went into 1-3-1 zone and our offense ground to a halt. WHY? Ans: We stopped getting good shots. WHY? We failed to move the ball. We had speed advantage and let UMD take it away from us. The lack of crisp passing and stagnant movement allowed the zone to easily recover their position and left us with difficult shots.

[section(105)]

.....a recent trend, even sometimes during the Dan era, is that the zone offense lacks ball movement, players not moving to get the defense out of position, limited inside out game, lack of dependable spot up three point shooter, and overall poor three point shooting......unless this is corrected we will face more and more zones as we chuck our way around the upper mid pack of the the A-10......the absence of Sheppard, and late arrival of Walker probably are not for me the fixer that would make the zone offense take off.......teams that change up defenses and give us different looks are probably going to give us problems going forward......no?

[UCH21377]

Section 105 I have the same fear about zones

[ramster]

.....a recent trend, even sometimes during the Dan era, is that the zone offense lacks ball movement, players not moving to get the defense out of position, limited inside out game, lack of dependable spot up three point shooter, and overall poor three point shooting......unless this is corrected we will face more and more zones as we chuck our way around the upper mid pack of the the A-10......the absence of Sheppard, and late arrival of Walker probably are not for me the fixer that would make the zone offense take off.......teams that change up defenses and give us different looks are probably going to give us problems going forward......no?

Passing the ball is good when Jeff is the point guard, otherwise there is a lot of dribbling and driving and shooting wild shots.

[TruePoint]

For the most part, I don’t fear much when Rhody goes into these games against elite opponents as huge underdogs. I figure it’s a good opportunity to make the season with an upset win, and at worst it’s a measuring stick and learning opportunity. There’s basically no downside, to me. I guess if we started down 20-0 and got waxed by 45 points that would be pretty disappointing, but otherwise it’s a no-lose situation.

The one thing that I do dread about these games, though, is how some of our fans will react. I stopped checking in here right around the time I felt our grasp on the game slipping away and have avoided it all day today. I’m glad there have been a decent number of fans that have kept things in perspective, but unfortunately wasn’t shocked to see some others having lost their minds, posters going after other posters with personal attacks, longtime regular posters getting put in timeout. You hate to see it (I mean that unironically), but it’s never a big surprise.

I really do not mean this to be condescending, but I feel like a big part of the problem is that some of our fans don’t watch enough basketball to have any idea what they are talking about. It feels like they only watch Rhody games and so they see everything from a Rhody-centric point of view. Rhody did not play a great eight minutes and then give up. You can only think that if you can’t acknowledge anything that is happening outside of what is happening with URI. Maryland came out flat and we were ready and punched them in the mouth - that was awesome to see. But then Maryland got up and kicked our ass. It did suck to watch, especially after such a promising start, but it is a completely reasonable thing to have happened. It doesn’t mean we aren’t any good; the last 30 minutes of the game last night was about how good Maryland is and not how bad we are. Surely we could have made more shots and kept it a little closer. Surely we could have had a couple calls go our way rather than the other way and stayed in it a little longer. I’m not sure what happens to make fans expect that we will play a perfect game against the best team on our schedule - a big part of what went wrong for us last night is that Maryland made it pretty tough on us to do what we would like to do. That’s what good teams do, and insane comments here to the contrary aside, Maryland is really good. Elite teams have a way of making even good teams look bad. The weird thing is that everybody here knows that, or at least knew it until tip-off. Nobody here expected that we would win the game. I feel like I make this point several times every season, but you hardly ever look great in a loss and URI is going to lose some games every year. It’s pretty silly to overreact to every loss and assume that everything that went wrong in that one game is going to continue to go wrong every game for the rest of the year.

I don’t think I saw anything last night that would cause me to raise or lower my expectations for the season. It was more or less what I’d expected it to be, even if I held out some hope for a better result. It would have been awesome if Maryland had a clunker and we stole the game. Would have made my year as a fan, and it wasn’t totally outside the realm of possibility - we are talented enough to steal a game like that and not every team can say the same. But they showed up and were too much for us. That’s OK. Lot of basketball to be played still and who knows where we will be four months from now - maybe in that time we’ll be in a place where we can beat a team like that with our best game even if they do show up, too. But right now we aren’t there yet and at least now we know that.

We won’t play anyone else that good again this year unless we make it to mid-March. So everybody should relax. We will know even more about where we are at after next Friday, which will be a game that will tell us much more about who we are than the game last night.

[ramster]

The good thing about playing a tough OOC Schedule is that the teams strengths and it’s weaknesses get exposed. If you play a lot of easy 200 and 300 level ranked teams on your own home-court (like Big East teams have tended to do over the years as well as Jim Baron Coached Teams), then players don’t play under the same stress and pressure.
With Maryland we could see who played well, passed well, defended well, rebounded well, shot well, and we could see who didn’t.

Last season I pushed here for Martin to replace Thompson. There were many Thompson supporters here especially before the season started, but as we played a relatively tough OOC schedule it became apparent Thompson had shooting and defensive lapses. Martin took the starting role. An easy, home based schedule might not have surfaced that opportunity.

Most important is A10 Conference play. To the extent URI improves from this difficult OOC Schedule should help us in Conference Play and ultimately the A10 Conference Tournament.

[ramster]

So now that I have disclosed that I am a dreaded “female” LOL...I will also disclose that I am not an AAU coach, and I am really on KB to learn from all of you.

That being said, why oh why did Fatts play all 40 minutes without sitting even one minute last night?

I perfectly good question. Makes no sense to me.

[RamStock]

I don't think the complaining is off the chart. We were .500 last season for a good reason. We can't shoot. And the second half of the Maryland game said we have no improvement. Most think we should make the dance this year. Many thought we should last year. Walker, who played 1 year at Gtown avg 2 pts a game was a question mark to begin with. We were not undermanned. We just can't shoot the basketball.

I think we will come out and play a strong game against Alabama and think Martin and Dowtin will have big games. I agree with you completely on Walker. I think we tend to overate players that we have like Walker and Johnson just because they signed with URI. Walker has never done a thing at the D-1 level. Expecting him to come in and change things is shortsighted. I will be happy to get another body off the bench with some games where he is a factor. He would have meant zero in the Maryland game.

[Tjrams91]

So now that I have disclosed that I am a dreaded “female” LOL...I will also disclose that I am not an AAU coach, and I am really on KB to learn from all of you.

That being said, why oh why did Fatts play all 40 minutes without sitting even one minute last night?

I perfectly good question. Makes no sense to me.

My assumption would be that as soon as the freshman took the floor at the same time, MD went on their run. Turnovers, blown assignments, etc...we needed a steady guard in the game the whole game. Jeff had a 1 minute breather because he asked for one. Fatts will did on his sword out there.

Not really a good answer, but I too was at the game and watched a lot of the bench interactions. That was just my observation.

[josephski]

It would have been awesome if Maryland had a clunker and we stole the game.

They did have a bit of a clunker. I don't want to quote your whole post but I feel like those who don't watch much college basketball are the ones who think Maryland looks like a national championship contender. Yes they have size, depth and are clearly very athletic but they did not play a great game last night. From the little bit of reading I did, most Maryland fans would tell you the same thing. Also if you watch college basketball, you'd know this is the best time to play a young talented team like Maryland because they won't be playing anywhere close to where they hope to be at the end of the year.

Just look at the fact our upperclassmen all shot poorly and we shot 30% from the field and 50% from the free throw line. Then consider we also missed a number of easy baskets in the second half. If we shoot 40% from the field and 70% from the free throw lines, neither of which are crazy impressive numbers and were certainly realistic last night, that game likely comes down to the final 2 minutes.

So if you think Maryland's a title contender based on last night's performance then you must also think we're not far off because if Dowtin, Fatts and Langevine played well then that game would have been very close until the end.

Edit: And to add to this, for this current URI team to compete with a national title contender we'd need to play a perfect game and our opponent to not play their best. In the first half alone I can specifically remember 4 bad turnovers, one by Fatts, Dowtin, Long and Hammond. Add to the fact we missed a bunch of easy shots in the second half along with shooting 50% from the free throw line and I think it's pretty obvious we could have been competitive last night without our guys playing the best games of their lives.

Also I'm not upset we lost nor do I think any different of our team because of that game. I'm only a little disappointed because I do believe we had a pretty good opportunity to beat Maryland given they could have played much better.

[reef]

I definitely think we will see a lot of zone this year and teams may copy the 1-3-1 when they scout us

We need to get the ball at the free throw line and either shoot that shot or pass it out for an open 3

[rambone 78]

People wonder why Fatts plays the point so much instead of Dowtin who clearly is a better passer and the ball moves better against zones.

It's because Fatts can't play the 2 because he's 5'10".....and no one is available to spell him so he's playing the point more than he should.

This is where having Sheppard would have helped so much....not just for his shooting.

Hammond is a work in progress, clearly not ready yet to assume that role on a regular basis.

Anyway, in spite of all this we have to make shots.

Good teams make at least 50% of their open shots. We do not way too often.