Week #4- Games of Interest

[Rhody83]

Watched the end of FSU v Purdue since I had FSU -1 game went OT and FSU won 63-60

FSU now 8-0 in their last 8 games that went to OT

Another rock fight. I think the only points in the last 8 possessions where 3 FTs by FSU.

[Obadiah]

Belmont beats Middle Tennessee, 71-59. MT dug itself a 20 point hole in the early stages of the first half, then rallied to grab a six point lead in second half, but the MT effort collapsed in the last five minutes as Belmont won going away.

[Obadiah]

Lots of Sunday action in the A-10:

The highlight is URI at 7-0 West Virginia, 2 PM.

George Washington at South Carolina, 2 PM. On SECN,

Winless Maryland - Eastern Shore at Fordham, 2 PM. On ESPN+.

Southern Illinois at Saint Louis, 4 PM. On ESPN+.

Temple at Davidson, 4PM. On ESPN2.

La Salle at Villanova, 6:30 PM. A Big Five game.

St. Bonaventure versus San Diego, 9 PM. The Boca Raton Beach Classic.


In games involving URI OOC opponents:

Maryland versus Marquette, 1 PM. On ESPN. The Orlando Invitational Championship game.

Providence versus Pepperdine, 6 PM. On ESPNU. The seventh place game in the Wooden Legacy.

[ramster]

Pepperdine playing without two of their starters tonight. One broke his nose and the other is sick.
Hopefully they can take care of business vs the Fryuzzz anyway to get the prestigious 7th place in the Wooden Classic

[ramster]

Pipkins just came up the floor and threw a perfect no-look pass directly to a Pepperdine player who went in for a layup.
Next time down the floor he threw a pass to his left directly out of bounds with nobody near it.

Strange. I never thought Pipkins was Going to help PC and the UMASS message board was glad to see him go.

[Rhody83]

PC losing 22-18 with 8:30 left in 1st half.

[SmartyBarrett]

The only people surprised by Pipkins play so far are people that didn't watch him at UMass.

[rambone 78]

Davidson really sucking pond water right now.

Loses to Temple at home by 13.....can't make a shot.....

[Dino611]

All of us here at Uri are wondering what’s wrong with JD, Davidson fans must be loosing their fucking marbles with JAG, same situation an experienced guard who isn’t playing to thier highest potential, and btw where’s Pritchett? IMHO he is their third best player

[ace]

All of us here at Uri are wondering what’s wrong with JD, Davidson fans must be loosing their fucking marbles with JAG, same situation an experienced guard who isn’t playing to thier highest potential, and btw where’s Pritchett? IMHO he is their third best player

Kishawn Pritchett’s been out all season following knee surgery, and Luke Frampton left the team a couple days ago.

[Seawrightspostgame]

What! I was told by a guy close to Davidson's program that McKillop told him Frampton would be the best player the program ever had.

[ace]

What! I was told by a guy close to Davidson's program that McKillop told him Frampton would be the best player the program ever had.

Frampton’s taking what’s been described as a leave of absence for personal reasons. That could mean almost anything, hope everything’s ok with him.

[Rhody83]

PC was up by 13. Hold on and win by 3.

[rambone 78]

Against a team missing 2 of it's starters.

[bigappleram]

We have to beat them. They do not look good right now. Watson looks like he is at 50%, Duke is the only one playing consistently. This. Must. Be. A. Win.

[ace]

We have to beat them. They do not look good right now. Watson looks like he is at 50%, Duke is the only one playing consistently. This. Must. Be. A. Win.

I think it will be ugly. I also think the team with the best player on the court (Fatts) will win.

[Rhody83]

We have to beat them. They do not look good right now. Watson looks like he is at 50%, Duke is the only one playing consistently. This. Must. Be. A. Win.

I think it will be ugly. I also think the team with the best player on the court (Fatts) will win.

I am hoping the crowd raises Rhody’s confidence and makes the Friars tentative. Like 2 years ago.

[ace]

What did they do?

[LoveThoseRams]

We have to beat them. They do not look good right now. Watson looks like he is at 50%, Duke is the only one playing consistently. This. Must. Be. A. Win.

I think it will be ugly. I also think the team with the best player on the court (Fatts) will win.

I am hoping the crowd raises Rhody’s confidence and makes the Friars tentative. Like 2 years ago.

The crowd will need to be the 6th player all night. We have to get into the Fr#$@s heads all game. We can’t let this one slip out of our hands.

[NYGFan_Section208]

What did they do?

I'm not on the Twitter...but some digging shows it looks like they used some homophobic slurs against some Disney cast members...
From Kimmgiggs:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EKrTOJwUUAAf6wQ.jpg:large

[ace]

Yeah, that’s bad. Thanks for finding that.

[TruePoint]

That Disney staffer just f***ed those Wake players up with truth, in the words of Kenny Powers.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Yeah, that’s bad. Thanks for finding that.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... t-concerns

[Obadiah]

Continuing a disappointing start to season, Davidson lost to Temple, 66-53, in the fifth place game in the Orlando Invitational.

[RF1]

URI to date has beaten the teams it was supposed to. While it has no bad losses, it also has no real good wins yet. The combined record of all the opponent teams to date is 32-23 (.582) which is greatly impacted by the undefeated 15-0 of Maryland and WVU, two teams that may well be ranked by the end of today.

TEAM | W - L
=====================
LIU | 2 - 6
@ Maryland | 8 - 0
Alabama | 3 - 4
Nicholls St | 2 - 4
vs N Texas | 2 - 5
vs LSU | 5 - 2
Manhattan | 3 - 2
@ WVU | 7 - 0
COMBINED | 32 - 23

Only D1 games included

[DC_Rams]

The teams we lost to have a record of 20-2.

[RF1]

The teams we lost to have a record of 20-2.

And the teams URI has beaten have a record of 12-21.

[DC_Rams]

The teams we lost to have a record of 20-2.

And the teams URI has beaten have a record of 12-21.

The teams we should’ve beaten.

We lost to 1 Top 5 team, 1 Top 25 team, and one Top 30-35 team.

I’m ok with that. We aren’t too far off talent wise, arguably.

[bigappleram]

There is a chance this is like one of those old Chaney/Temple years for this team. Lose some in OOC against top flight opponents, and then kick the crap out of teams in conference bc you are extremely battle tested. If that's the case then these losses will not have been for nothing. We will not face 1 front line that looks anything close to LSU/UMD/WVU in our league. We will not face 1 PG that is anywhere as good as Cowan at UMD or Mays at LSU. Going into A10 play should be like going from navy seal training to a soul cycle class...or so I hope.

[rambone 78]

Yeah if we can avoid playing to the level of our opponents, which we have a tendency to do.

More so on the road, but you get the point.

Also, our conference opponents know us a lot better than one-offs.

We do what we should do in these next 4 games leading up to conference play, I'll feel a lot better about our chances.

[RF1]

Maryland moves up to #3 in the AP rankings released today (12-02-19). Dayton enters the polls for the first time at #19 while VCU drops out. West Virginia in the others receiving votes category.

[DC_Rams]

There is a chance this is like one of those old Chaney/Temple years for this team. Lose some in OOC against top flight opponents, and then kick the crap out of teams in conference bc you are extremely battle tested. If that's the case then these losses will not have been for nothing. We will not face 1 front line that looks anything close to LSU/UMD/WVU in our league. We will not face 1 PG that is anywhere as good as Cowan at UMD or Mays at LSU. Going into A10 play should be like going from navy seal training to a soul cycle class...or so I hope.

I’d argue that Dayton would beat all 3.

[bigappleram]

Tough to say DC. I think WVU yes, maybe on LSU and I'd say no on UMD. If you have a big that can contain Toppin you can beat Dayton. Those teams have multiple bigs to throw at him that have the athleticism and bulk to match up with him. I say this but also acknowledge that Dayton has looked very good and IMO should be ranked higher than 19. They look like a Top 10-12 team in the early stages. And Obi has looked downright unstoppable. He is going to destroy A10 front lines.

[TruePoint]

There is a chance this is like one of those old Chaney/Temple years for this team. Lose some in OOC against top flight opponents, and then kick the crap out of teams in conference bc you are extremely battle tested. If that's the case then these losses will not have been for nothing. We will not face 1 front line that looks anything close to LSU/UMD/WVU in our league. We will not face 1 PG that is anywhere as good as Cowan at UMD or Mays at LSU. Going into A10 play should be like going from navy seal training to a soul cycle class...or so I hope.

I like that you’re adopting this theory of the case. I’ve been on this since before the season started. Maybe we can convert some more people out of the group of pessimists on this board. I hope we are right.

[Rhody83]

Yeah if we can avoid playing to the level of our opponents, which we have a tendency to do.

More so on the road, but you get the point.

Also, our conference opponents know us a lot better than one-offs.

We do what we should do in these next 4 games leading up to conference play, I'll feel a lot better about our chances.

Rhody has played well in 2 out of 8 games - Alabama and WV. They lost by large margins to Maryland and LSU. They didn’t blow away their inferior opponents by large margins. It’s 8 games in and we really have no idea how this team will play in a majority of their remaining games. That is disappointing when you return your top three players that are all upperclassmen and you return your entire starting five.

I don’t believe there has been one game were the core of Jeff, Cyril, Fatts & Tyrese have all played well. I couldn’t find a game where Jeff, Cyril & Fatts all played well. Cyril was 1-5 FG with 5 Rebs vs Alabama. He did have 12 points because of 10-12 FT shooting.

[reef]

There is a chance this is like one of those old Chaney/Temple years for this team. Lose some in OOC against top flight opponents, and then kick the crap out of teams in conference bc you are extremely battle tested. If that's the case then these losses will not have been for nothing. We will not face 1 front line that looks anything close to LSU/UMD/WVU in our league. We will not face 1 PG that is anywhere as good as Cowan at UMD or Mays at LSU. Going into A10 play should be like going from navy seal training to a soul cycle class...or so I hope.

I agree by the end of the year where we have one of those resumes where we have a lot of quality losses and maybe very few quality wins

Assuming it’s Dayton and VCU are the top conference teams then we need to be that 3rd team that’s puts a good resume as A10 will most likely get 3 teams in with the improvement of the a10

[TruePoint]

Yeah if we can avoid playing to the level of our opponents, which we have a tendency to do.

More so on the road, but you get the point.

Also, our conference opponents know us a lot better than one-offs.

We do what we should do in these next 4 games leading up to conference play, I'll feel a lot better about our chances.

Rhody has played well in 2 out of 8 games - Alabama and WV. They lost by large margins to Maryland and LSU. They didn’t blow away their inferior opponents by large margins. It’s 8 games in and we really have no idea how this team will play in a majority of their remaining games. That is disappointing when you return your top three players that are all upperclassmen and you return your entire starting five.

I don’t believe there has been one game were the core of Jeff, Cyril, Fatts & Tyrese have all played well. I couldn’t find a game where Jeff, Cyril & Fatts all played well. Cyril was 1-5 FG with 5 Rebs vs Alabama. He did have 12 points because of 10-12 FT shooting.

That tells me that the team’s best basketball is out there somewhere, hopefully ahead of it. It certainly hasn’t reached its potential yet, I don’t think anyone would say differently. If it has peaked, that’s a huge problem. But if they’re still working towards a later peak, it could be much worse. All three losses away from home to likely tournament teams and no killer losses yet. I’d call the work done so far “holding serve” but they still need a breakthrough.

[Rhody83]

Yeah if we can avoid playing to the level of our opponents, which we have a tendency to do.

More so on the road, but you get the point.

Also, our conference opponents know us a lot better than one-offs.

We do what we should do in these next 4 games leading up to conference play, I'll feel a lot better about our chances.

Rhody has played well in 2 out of 8 games - Alabama and WV. They lost by large margins to Maryland and LSU. They didn’t blow away their inferior opponents by large margins. It’s 8 games in and we really have no idea how this team will play in a majority of their remaining games. That is disappointing when you return your top three players that are all upperclassmen and you return your entire starting five.

I don’t believe there has been one game were the core of Jeff, Cyril, Fatts & Tyrese have all played well. I couldn’t find a game where Jeff, Cyril & Fatts all played well. Cyril was 1-5 FG with 5 Rebs vs Alabama. He did have 12 points because of 10-12 FT shooting.

That tells me that the team’s best basketball is out there somewhere, hopefully ahead of it. It certainly hasn’t reached its potential yet, I don’t think anyone would say differently. If it has peaked, that’s a huge problem. But if they’re still working towards a later peak, it could be much worse. All three losses away from home to likely tournament teams and no killer losses yet. I’d call the work done so far “holding serve” but they still need a breakthrough.

I would feel better if they weren’t pressed to win some of the other games. 2 out of 8 may tell us they aren’t that good. Unless there is a big shift (which is possible with Jeff) this looks like a middle of the road A10 team that ends up in the NIT (19-11).

[TruePoint]

Eh. It’s a long season. The key is not shooting yourself in the foot during the period where you’re not locked in. Even our good teams have had periods during the season where they are not playing their best basketball. They could theoretically win their next six games in ways where you’d be sitting here saying they’ve only played 2 good games out of 14. That would start to be a little concerning for me, but yet they’d be 11-3. I just don’t think you have enough of a sample at this point to really say one way or the other. The three games they loss they were very unlikely to win, and the five games they won they were very unlikely to lose. I think that 4 of the next 6 will tell us a lot - Providence, WKU, Richmond and Davidson. I’d expect they handle Midd Tenn and Brown. But if they struggle and drop a couple of those other four, then I’ll be much closer to where you are now.

[rambone 78]

I tend to think the way 83 does at this point.

TP, you could be right but we'll have to see.

It's true the next 4-6 games will tell if we've got a chance to be something more than a possible NIT team.

We'll get a good start on that Friday night. If we gag that one, then this board will become a toxic wasteland, and will have 2 weeks to chew on it.

[bigappleram]

Yeah if we can avoid playing to the level of our opponents, which we have a tendency to do.

More so on the road, but you get the point.

Also, our conference opponents know us a lot better than one-offs.

We do what we should do in these next 4 games leading up to conference play, I'll feel a lot better about our chances.

Rhody has played well in 2 out of 8 games - Alabama and WV. They lost by large margins to Maryland and LSU. They didn’t blow away their inferior opponents by large margins. It’s 8 games in and we really have no idea how this team will play in a majority of their remaining games. That is disappointing when you return your top three players that are all upperclassmen and you return your entire starting five.

I don’t believe there has been one game were the core of Jeff, Cyril, Fatts & Tyrese have all played well. I couldn’t find a game where Jeff, Cyril & Fatts all played well. Cyril was 1-5 FG with 5 Rebs vs Alabama. He did have 12 points because of 10-12 FT shooting.

I don't disagree with your general take but I would counter that I think we played well in the first halves of UMD and LSU and the second half of WVU. I wouldn't even say we played a great complete game against WVU bc our effort and execution in the first half was not very good. We punched back in the 2nd half. But isn't that the case with a lot of teams right now, even some good teams. I'm sure LSU fans don't think they played well in losses to Utah State, VCU, and in barely scraping by Nicholls and Bowling Green. Outside of a very few teams there are plenty of teams who have not strung together 5,6,7 great complete games but by middle/end of year will be clicking on all cylinders. That is reason to feel optimistic that our best basketball is still in front of us, moreso then we aren't very good. Even in simplest terms, if our two senior stalwarts (Dowtin and Cyril) play to their potential we will get better. I'm betting on those 2 based on 3 years of sample size.

Did you watch Marquette vs Maryland? Maryland embarrassed them from the opening tip. It was never a game. Marquette is a team most pundits think will make NCAAs or be very close. The eye test thus far tells me Rhody is about a 50ish ranked team in terms of strength. I think our ceiling is in the 40s and our floor in the 70s. We will see how it plays out but I'm not discouraged by the fact that we haven't looked like a well oiled machine in the first month of season. As Jim Harrick always said "it's not how you drive, it's how you arrive." Let's hope our best ball is in front of us, starting with this Friday.

[DC_Rams]

Yeah if we can avoid playing to the level of our opponents, which we have a tendency to do.

More so on the road, but you get the point.

Also, our conference opponents know us a lot better than one-offs.

We do what we should do in these next 4 games leading up to conference play, I'll feel a lot better about our chances.

Rhody has played well in 2 out of 8 games - Alabama and WV. They lost by large margins to Maryland and LSU. They didn’t blow away their inferior opponents by large margins. It’s 8 games in and we really have no idea how this team will play in a majority of their remaining games. That is disappointing when you return your top three players that are all upperclassmen and you return your entire starting five.

I don’t believe there has been one game were the core of Jeff, Cyril, Fatts & Tyrese have all played well. I couldn’t find a game where Jeff, Cyril & Fatts all played well. Cyril was 1-5 FG with 5 Rebs vs Alabama. He did have 12 points because of 10-12 FT shooting.

I don't disagree with your general take but I would counter that I think we played well in the first halves of UMD and LSU and the second half of WVU. I wouldn't even say we played a great complete game against WVU bc our effort and execution in the first half was not very good. We punched back in the 2nd half. But isn't that the case with a lot of teams right now, even some good teams. I'm sure LSU fans don't think they played well in losses to Utah State, VCU, and in barely scraping by Nicholls and Bowling Green. Outside of a very few teams there are plenty of teams who have not strung together 5,6,7 great complete games but by middle/end of year will be clicking on all cylinders. That is reason to feel optimistic that our best basketball is still in front of us, moreso then we aren't very good. Even in simplest terms, if our two senior stalwarts (Dowtin and Cyril) play to their potential we will get better. I'm betting on those 2 based on 3 years of sample size.

Did you watch Marquette vs Maryland? Maryland embarrassed them from the opening tip. It was never a game. Marquette is a team most pundits think will make NCAAs or be very close. The eye test thus far tells me Rhody is about a 50ish ranked team in terms of strength. I think our ceiling is in the 40s and our floor in the 70s. We will see how it plays out but I'm not discouraged by the fact that we haven't looked like a well oiled machine in the first month of season. As Jim Harrick always said "it's not how you drive, it's how you arrive." Let's hope our best ball is in front of us, starting with this Friday.

Well said bar. I agree with you.

[Rhody83]

This subject is on a few threads. On the other thread my post stated they need someone to turn it around (Jeff). If Jeff and Cyril play like they did last year, the results will be very good for Rhody. So far they have both played below last year and below expectations.

My general comment on this thread was “we really have no idea how this team will play in a majority of their remaining games”.
I realize teams have a good half and bad half within the same game. I was rating the overall 40 minutes and would say URI played a good game vs Alabama and WVU. They didn’t play a good game vs Maryland and LSU. They did play a good first half against both but the second half was so bad it outweighed it for the overall 40 minutes.

If you want to break it into each half (I don’t), it looks worse. I would say they played 3-4 good segments out of 16.
So is 25% of their performance (good/total -2/8) what they are going to be or is 75% of their performance (not good/total) what they are going to be? Logic says the not good unless something significantly changes.
They have completed just over 25% of their season which is a fair sample size.

[rambone 78]

Just seems like they play to the level of their opponents more often than not.

That's good when the opponents are good, and not so good when they play weaker teams.

They have to snap out of it against teams they should beat.

[rambone 78]

Good games on TV tonight.

Duke Michigan St and Louisville Michigan

[TruePoint]

I don’t think they played to the level of Maryland or LSU. Playing to the level of the competition isn’t how I’d describe it. I think that things just haven’t clicked yet. There is obviously no guarantee that things will click at some point, either. I totally recognize that. But it is not a remotely uncommon thing in sports for results to not line up with perceived talent level up until a certain point, and then suddenly they do. We have plenty of examples to look at just with this program in the recent past - the best example is the 2016-17 team but even last year the team we saw down the stretch was significantly better than they’d been to that point. So yeah, I would agree with those of you who say that based on what we’ve seen so far, if we get exactly this level of performance thru the end of the year, then this is at best an NIT team. I just think there are all sorts of indicators that this team has the potential to come together and be really good when that happens, and I’m actually encouraged that they haven’t sustained any real damage to this point, record-wise.

I saw enough indicia of a team that would click into place later in the year even back in the preseason that I predicted they’d go 6-6/14-4 and sneak into the tournament after a deep A10 tournament run. And to this point they’re actually exceeding that prediction AND the middle A10 teams look like they’ll have much better computer numbers than I thought at the time, which in my mind only makes a tournament scenario more likely. So does the fact that much of what we are waiting on for this team to come together is for our two most experienced - and heretofore best and most dependable - players to put it together. So does the soon arriving big man reinforcement. So does Jacob Toppin being way ahead of where I expected him to be (I was going to say his season reminds me a little of Hassan’s freshman year, and maybe that is not fair to him - I went and looked at Hass’s game log for 2013-14, and he didn’t crack double digit scoring or rebounds until a double-double in mid-January and didn’t get back into double figures in either category until February, and then did one or both in 5 of the last 7 games. Hass became a stud almost overnight which isn’t a fair expectation for Toppin, but at this point at least Toppin is ahead of where Hass was).

It would be fair to call my perspective here optimistic, rosy and probably even hopeful. But so far things are playing out more or less like I expected (only slightly ahead of that), so I see no reason to abandon my prediction at this point.

[Blue Man]

I don’t think they played to the level of Maryland or LSU. Playing to the level of the competition isn’t how I’d describe it. I think that things just haven’t clicked yet. There is obviously no guarantee that things will click at some point, either. I totally recognize that. But it is not a remotely uncommon thing in sports for results to not line up with perceived talent level up until a certain point, and then suddenly they do. We have plenty of examples to look at just with this program in the recent past - the best example is the 2016-17 team but even last year the team we saw down the stretch was significantly better than they’d been to that point. So yeah, I would agree with those of you who say that based on what we’ve seen so far, if we get exactly this level of performance thru the end of the year, then this is at best an NIT team. I just think there are all sorts of indicators that this team has the potential to come together and be really good when that happens, and I’m actually encouraged that they haven’t sustained any real damage to this point, record-wise.

I saw enough indicia of a team that would click into place later in the year even back in the preseason that I predicted they’d go 6-6/14-4 and sneak into the tournament after a deep A10 tournament run. And to this point they’re actually exceeding that prediction AND the middle A10 teams look like they’ll have much better computer numbers than I thought at the time, which in my mind only makes a tournament scenario more likely. So does the fact that much of what we are waiting on for this team to come together is for our two most experienced - and heretofore best and most dependable - players to put it together. So does the soon arriving big man reinforcement. So does Jacob Toppin being way ahead of where I expected him to be (I was going to say his season reminds me a little of Hassan’s freshman year, and maybe that is not fair to him - I went and looked at Hass’s game log for 2013-14, and he didn’t crack double digit scoring or rebounds until a double-double in mid-January and didn’t get back into double figures in either category until February, and then did one or both in 5 of the last 7 games. Hass became a stud almost overnight which isn’t a fair expectation for Toppin, but at this point at least Toppin is ahead of where Hass was).

It would be fair to call my perspective here optimistic, rosy and probably even hopeful. But so far things are playing out more or less like I expected (only slightly ahead of that), so I see no reason to abandon my prediction at this point.

I think this is a great way to look at it. I think some of us (me) have been visibly frustrated with some errors we didn't expect from certain players (Dowtin, Martin, Harris). We've been so close in those 3 games - even MD before we went ice cold - and it just seems like unexpected problems pop up to cost us the game.

If/when those 3 fix their problems and get back to their last year production/expected growth at some point - I agree that we have a serious shot at 22 or more wins. Thankfully the A10 has been good in the OOC and won't give us a rankings dive by playing certain teams this year.

[Rhody83]

TP, a few thoughts on your post. The OOC performance of the A10 is an indication that Rhody going 14-4 is extremely difficult.
They have 11 tough games - Dayton (2), VCU (2), Richmond, @ Bonnies (healthy), @ Mason, SLU, Davidson (2), Duquesne.
They would need to go 7-4 and have zero slip ups in their other 7 games (with 4 on the road).
Let’s break it down more - assume they lose @ VCU and @ Dayton. Tell me who they beat - Dayton, VCU, Richmond, @ Davidson, @ Bonnies, @ Mason. My point is they weren’t going 6-6 and then 14-4 in a strong A10. URI is currently ranked 5th or 6th in the A10 behind Dayton, VCU, Richmond, SLU and some have Duquesne ahead of them.

Topin vs Hass Fr year. You have to consider defense, shot blocks & rebounding. Toppin has much more of a team around him. Hass played C and was a top starter for the A10 season.

[TruePoint]

TP, a few thoughts on your post. The OOC performance of the A10 is an indication that Rhody going 14-4 is extremely difficult.
They have 11 tough games - Dayton (2), VCU (2), Richmond, @ Bonnies (healthy), @ Mason, SLU, Davidson (2), Duquesne.
They would need to go 7-4 and have zero slip ups in their other 7 games (with 4 on the road).
Let’s break it down more - assume they lose @ VCU and @ Dayton. Tell me who they beat - Dayton, VCU, Richmond, @ Davidson, @ Bonnies, @ Mason. My point is they weren’t going 6-6 and then 14-4 in a strong A10. URI is currently ranked 5th or 6th in the A10 behind Dayton, VCU, Richmond, SLU and some have Duquesne ahead of them.

Topin vs Hass Fr year. You have to consider defense, shot blocks & rebounding. Toppin has much more of a team around him. Hass played C and was a top starter for the A10 season.

I think where you and I differ here is that while I think the performance of the mid-tier teams in the league in OOC has been a pleasant surprise that will help URI's computer numbers in the end, it has not changed much about how I think of the league. Duquesne, RIchmond, St. Louis and George Mason beating up on terrible schedules hasn't changed how I think about them, and neither has Davidson's struggles against a tough schedule changed where I expect them to finish in the league. Nobody in the league save for VCU's win against LSU has beaten a team as good as anyone we have lost to (Sagarin 5 Maryland, 18 WVU, 29 LSU). Nobody in the league save for Dayton has more than the one top-100 win that URI has - Duquesne has zero and only 1 top-200 win. To me, it is still Dayton, VCU, URI and Davidson and then everyone else.

I view the relative success of the A10 overall as only accruing to URI's benefit. Nothing anyone has done in OOC worries me too much - the only thing Richmond's win vs Wisconsin, St Louis's win against Belmont or Mason's win against New Mexico State do for me is wish we ended up with a game in that range rather than one against Manhattan or even Maryland. I'm optimistic that PC will end up as a consensus top-100 (currently they're 80 Kenpom but 111 Sagarin), and WKU will be a top-100 team. Lord willing, we win those games and finish OOC 9-3 with 3 top-100 wins, only top-25ish losses and come into conference play peaking and finally playing with a full roster.

[Rhody83]

Agree with most of that.
Richmond is a good team.
Davidson has lost to Charlotte and Wake (who sucks).
I don’t think Duquesne and Mason are that good but they are better than expected and those two games are away.