1/2 | Brown | 7:00PM (ESPN+)

[UCH21377]

Wow. I respect all your opinions but aren’t we overreacting a little bit? 14-4 was needed before this game and still is required. The question is can we get there? Don’t know but it starts with Richmond

[rambone 78]

Staff had no answers or adjustments worth a crap during Brown's game clinching run early 2nd half.

When Cyril is 20 ft. from the hoop all day it's hard to rebound.

Total brain freeze bonehead offensive sets.

Then Fatts goes ballistic at the end trying to come back.

Now the staff has a tape of what NOT to do going forward. Hope they learn from it.

Unlike TP I'm not giving up on the season yet...but after the next couple of games if there isn't a big turnaround then it's bye bye birdie.

After that, road games in this conference will be a huge struggle for this team.

[TruePoint]

Lol this is hilarious. We lose a game, and everything needs to be scrapped.

Last game “I really love this team, they are so fun to watch.”
Or “Coach is really good at...”

Now it’s “I always knew we weren’t that good”, “season’s over, we suck”...woah is me....

On game night, the better team, THAT night, will win. Brown had a night.

MOVE ON!

Next game!

Go Rhody!

If Brown “has a night” against you then you aren’t good. It’s a shitty way to find out that your team sucks when you had high expectations. I don’t think the expectations were unfair, I think the team is a disappointment. There’s no moving on. Might as well not be anymore games - have to play them but they’re basically exhibitions at this point. Season is over. If you don’t like that, don’t lose to fucking Brown.

No sense in talking to you. Shut down the forums for the year as well. Pitiful take. I’m moving the fuck on, good luck with your issues.

Shut the forums down? Haha this is not my house, man. People should come here whine, celebrate, commiserate, kill time, whatever they want to do.

Just to make clear where I’m coming from, during a rebuild where the point of the season is to see improvement, I could stomach a loss to a Brown or whatever. During a year where we’ve banked a bunch of Q1 wins, a slip up against Brown can be overcome. But we all expected that this team would contend for a bid (and I hope and assume that the team thought that as well), and what that meant for this year’s team was they had very little margin for error and couldn’t afford to just not show up to any game. That’s on them to know that. If they’d lost to St Louis or Duquesne or George Mason, that would have really hurt and jeopardized their chances at a bid but I could understand it. Losing your season because you decided it was beneath you to try against Brown is disgusting. It literally disgusts me as a fan. I don’t think there is any benefit to sugarcoating it or pretending like it will all be fine. It won’t. This season had promise and now it is wasted - and the worst part is that finding that out in January takes all the fun out of the best part of the season. We come into conference play knowing that the only games that will matter at all are the last (lord willing) three games in Brooklyn. That sucks.

[TruePoint]

BAR - Duke can lose to SFA and not have their entire season imploded. They have that luxury. URI doesn’t.

[bigappleram]

Crazy takes here, I'll sit this one out. If this team finishes in 2nd in the A10 they will go dancing, bottom line.
That has not changed in the last 24 hours. That is still possible. Until it isn't the sky is not falling.

[ramster]

Fatts’ percentages coming back down to earth, almost shooting under 40% from the field and under 30% from 3...

He was 1-9 on 3Ps last night and 2-20 on 3Ps for 10% over the last 3 games. Many of those misses were not close. When Jimmy Baron shot you thought every one was going in when he released it, and I’m guessing Jimmy thought the same. Not so with Russell. When he’s hot he is scorching hot as in the WVU and OC games, but when he is cold he is ice cold. Cox needs to manage Russell better through the cold spells.

[Billyboy78]

People who are saying Jeff has sucked all year have a short memory. In his last game against MTSU....21 POINTS, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block. Has he been great all year? No. He's also playing a much different role than he has in the past. In the 2 great years we had with A10 titles and NCAA wins, he was RUNNING those great teams. That's what he does so well. As reported, he was in the gym when he got back from the Brown game working on his shot late at night. There was a game earlier in his career when he missed a free throw (I can't remember the game) and when they got back to Kingston, Dan said Jeff was practicing free throws late at night.....and he was at his 8 o'clock class the next morning. Great player, great student and one of the best representatives of the university that this program has ever had. I will never critcize this kid.

[Billyboy78]

Fatts’ percentages coming back down to earth, almost shooting under 40% from the field and under 30% from 3...

He was 1-9 on 3Ps last night and 2-20 on 3Ps for 10% over the last 3 games. Many of those misses were not close. When Jimmy Baron shot you thought every one was going in when he released it, and I’m guessing Jimmy thought the same. Not so with Russell. When he’s hot he is scorching hot as in the WVU and OC games, but when he is cold he is ice cold. Cox needs to manage Russell better through the cold spells.

All the minutes add up and all the hits take a toll on that small body. I know they haven't played a lot of games lately, but his body is already beat up. Not only 20% from three for the last 3 games.....but 15-53 for the last three games from the field...28%. Unfortunately, Fatts and Jeff have to play tons of minutes because we have no depth. That's the way it's going to be. How can we realistically expect to play a full season and then play 3 or 4 days in a row and expect to win a tournament? The wear and tear on these 2 kids will be too much by then. It's already showing now, and we haven't even started league play yet.

[rambone 78]

bar, if this team finishes 2nd in the A10 it will be a miracle....that's unless the league other than Dayton really stinks.

If this was a one off flop, then I guess it's possible.

But based on what we've seen in the OOC, I seriously doubt it.

[Rhodymob05]

We beat Providence and Alabama, lost @WVU by 5 and finished 8-4 through arguably the most difficult OOC in recent history for URI. Not to mention beating multiple other tough teams. I see us doing quite well in conference. Oh yea and most of these games with out walker.

[ramster]

Fatts’ percentages coming back down to earth, almost shooting under 40% from the field and under 30% from 3...

He was 1-9 on 3Ps last night and 2-20 on 3Ps for 10% over the last 3 games. Many of those misses were not close. When Jimmy Baron shot you thought every one was going in when he released it, and I’m guessing Jimmy thought the same. Not so with Russell. When he’s hot he is scorching hot as in the WVU and OC games, but when he is cold he is ice cold. Cox needs to manage Russell better through the cold spells.

All the minutes add up and all the hits take a toll on that small body. I know they haven't played a lot of games lately, but his body is already beat up. Not only 20% from three for the last 3 games.....but 15-53 for the last three games from the field...28%. Unfortunately, Fatts and Jeff have to play tons of minutes because we have no depth. That's the way it's going to be. How can we realistically expect to play a full season and then play 3 or 4 days in a row and expect to win a tournament? The wear and tear on these 2 kids will be too much by then. It's already showing now, and we haven't even started league play yet.

As I mentioned, Cox took Dowtin out for the last minute of the 1st half and put Toppin in for him - so it’s not like we HAD to have Dowtin in. Dowtin had the entire halftime to rest, why give him an extra minute on the bench with halftime approaching? Why go into the halftime with 4 Timeouts remaining? Why not use them, if not for nothing more than for rest?

Fatts shows no sign of fatigue driving the lane and making layups, but his outside shooting has always been hot and cold.

NBA plays 82 games with big travel plus a long playoff season with 48 minute games. College 30 games of 40 minutes.

AAU plays a longer, tougher, travel loaded schedule.

I think Hammond should have played more minutes, maybe we could have held onto him, but his minutes dwindled to such an extent a walk on played in front of him.

It’s Russell’s Team now. We will go as far as he leads us.

[rambone 78]

Billyboy, they had 8 days since their last game....and 15 days off before that...Fatts should have been fully recovered from the beating and banging by last's night's game.

If what you say is true however, they are screwed because there are no breaks the rest of the way.

Even in games where we are safe late, there's no one to give our guards a break. No garbage time bench time for them.

Anyway, the main focus right now should be on our defense.

Anybody seen it?

[Billyboy78]

Billyboy, they had 8 days since their last game....and 15 days off before that...Fatts should have been fully recovered from the beating and banging by last's night's game.

If what you say is true however, they are screwed because there are no breaks the rest of the way.

Even in games where we are safe late, there's no one to give our guards a break. No garbage time bench time for them.

Anyway, the main focus right now should be on our defense.

Anybody seen it?

Exactly, even in blowouts. If we're up by 20 against Fordham with 15 minutes left, do we put Dadika and Green in to get our 2 guards some rest? I don't think so. Probably only at ends of games, the last 2 or 3 minutes, if we're blowing someone out or getting blown out. Fatts said he was dealing with 3 or 4 different things. As soon as he takes a hit and crashes to the floor (this happens often), it's possible that he aggravates something. And this is not an excuse. It's reality. I love our two guards.

[Blue Man]

I think beyond the bonfire of disaster here - both extremes can be true.

Fact - the season is "over" until we get 2 wins against VCU/Dayton, while simultaneously avoiding any home losses. I figure that a bad loss requires 2 Q1 wins to balance out. Or until the A10 tournament starts. Or unless PC, Alabama, and WKU decide to go undefeated in their conferences.

Fact - the OOC was a disappointment because of this 1 game. Since we couldn't secure a Q1 win against MD/LSU/WV, the Brown game blows up our resume of "no bad losses" - had we got 1 of those wins, this game would've been a throwaway ala Duke/SFA or Kentucky/Evansville. The lack of a marquee win hurts us. The fact that we did it in a home-game atmosphere made it even worse.

Fact - we can still get it together.

While I am always ready to jump of a cliff, balcony, or other high space after an embarrassing loss - one the the post-Baron Rams has taught me is that these losses do not write the season, but usually inspire a fantastic come-together moment for the team.

This team has "clicked" for 1 or 2 games. They have clearly not hit their stride yet. Hurley had a much more senior led team that had AWFUL losses, including the Fordham game in February before running the table. Dave has pushed the right buttons most of the time here so far, and now we get to see if he can challenge his leaders to get it going for conference play.

Not for nothing, with a significantly younger and thinner team last year - Dave got this team to make a run with some upsets in March before we ran out of gas.

Granted I still feel awful and like I want to die, but I don't feel as desperate as I did before the last couple of years.

However lose Sunday and my family will be very excited by my life insurance policy.

[adam914]

Lol this is hilarious. We lose a game, and everything needs to be scrapped.

Last game “I really love this team, they are so fun to watch.”
Or “Coach is really good at...”

Now it’s “I always knew we weren’t that good”, “season’s over, we suck”...woah is me....

On game night, the better team, THAT night, will win. Brown had a night.

MOVE ON!

Next game!

Go Rhody!

I'm going to try and help clear things up for you a little (which I am sure you are thrilled to hear! ). I think you just need to understand that you have different goals here then 99.9% of us. The large majority of us are Rhody fans first and David Cox fans second. Most of us either went to URI or have some other deeper connection to the school and/or basketball program. You are a David Cox fan first and a Rhody fan second (which is totally fine!). Once Cox moves on to his next job you will move on with him.

So while for most of us our goal is to have the basketball program continue to progress to be one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the conference on a regular basis, your goal is to make the coach look as good as possible in every situation and deflect blame off of him as much as possible. So we can all agree on wanting the team and coach to succeed and continue to get better, but overall the end goal is different. And again, all this is totally fine, everyone can and should root for whoever they want for whatever reason they want, but I think understanding those different perspectives might help.

[rhodyfan3000]

This is the not the most disappointing thing I have ever seen a Rhody team do. Not by a long shot.

This too, will pass. Sometimes it takes a very sobering loss to get back on track.

[RhodyFanNotAlum]

The absolute reality is that our OOC resume was not strong enough before this game for the loss to meaningfully hurt our NCAA chances — because those chances were minuscule to begin with entering last night. The team entered last night’s game knowing they needed to either win the A10 tournament or finish first or second in the conference to realistically expect to make the tournament. That hasn’t changed.

Think of how crushing this would have been had we actually beaten either Maryland, WVU or LSU. A loss to Brown would have completely negated the good win.

Sure, we all want to win every game, and no question losing to Brown is a setback that has exposed several problems, including an alarming lack of depth, but what we need to do the rest of the way is exactly the same as it would have been had we beaten them.

I’ve been reluctant to praise Cox too effusively after wins or criticize him too heavily after losses. The guy is midway through his second season as a D-1 head coach. But if nothing else I’d love to see a little more fire from him down the stretch.

[rhodyfan3000]

The path to the post season is through the A-10. It always has been, it always will be.

Do not underestimate the A-10. You have to bring it every night. There are a lot of teams in the bottom half of the Conference who will be trying to do exactly what Brown just did when we travel to their house. That was a good teaser of things to come.

Regroup, and come back ready to fight

[hrstrat57]

Didn’t see the game so don’t comment on game situations I don’t see.

I am concerned about the post halftime team demeanor comments tho as Cox lack of focus on coaching the team until the ball is in play(lack of control of layup line and pretip activity) has been a huge thumbs down criticism of his coaching from me. I strongly believe the game begins when the team departs the locker room. A focused, committed no nonsense pre game with a attentive coaching staff watching every activity sends a powerful message to an opponent. We are here to play and you damn well know it’s all business! Walk on players attempting circus dunks in the layup line is not all business in my old school book. Didn’t make it to the Pizz last light sadly but the comments are troubling.

No excuses for giving up 85 to a midpack Ivy League club.

Negative Nancie and Bummer Bob will be back strong on the forums apparently deservedly so...

[Rhode_Island_Red]

Gina here: must think the Governor’s Cup is on the line.

.....who is she cheering for?

Let's just say she needs that sweet, sweet East Side donor money in her coffers for the next campaign.

When the governor of a state is cheering for the opponent of said state's flagship university, that's a problem. To hell with her.

[NYGFan_Section208]

I think beyond the bonfire of disaster here - both extremes can be true.

Fact - the season is "over" until we get 2 wins against VCU/Dayton, while simultaneously avoiding any home losses. I figure that a bad loss requires 2 Q1 wins to balance out. Or until the A10 tournament starts. Or unless PC, Alabama, and WKU decide to go undefeated in their conferences.

Fact - the OOC was a disappointment because of this 1 game. Since we couldn't secure a Q1 win against MD/LSU/WV, the Brown game blows up our resume of "no bad losses" - had we got 1 of those wins, this game would've been a throwaway ala Duke/SFA or Kentucky/Evansville. The lack of a marquee win hurts us. The fact that we did it in a home-game atmosphere made it even worse.

Fact - we can still get it together.

While I am always ready to jump of a cliff, balcony, or other high space after an embarrassing loss - one the the post-Baron Rams has taught me is that these losses do not write the season, but usually inspire a fantastic come-together moment for the team.

This team has "clicked" for 1 or 2 games. They have clearly not hit their stride yet. Hurley had a much more senior led team that had AWFUL losses, including the Fordham game in February before running the table. Dave has pushed the right buttons most of the time here so far, and now we get to see if he can challenge his leaders to get it going for conference play.

Not for nothing, with a significantly younger and thinner team last year - Dave got this team to make a run with some upsets in March before we ran out of gas.

Granted I still feel awful and like I want to die, but I don't feel as desperate as I did before the last couple of years.

However lose Sunday and my family will be very excited by my life insurance policy.

I agree with all of this, including that it doesn't end the season. The thing that most concerns me though is the body language I saw being there last night. Set aside the already chatted halftime zombie-walk... There just didn't seem to be any positive energy with the team at all. From the before the game, through the end. Sitting on the baseline next to the bench, you could see it in the player as they came off the floor and 'high-fived' teammates all along the bench. The expressions on those guys faces every time they went up and down the line was totally negative and it was never more obvious that the ritual is a 'requirement.' Everyone just went through the basic motions. Two that stood out from that: Walker and Toppin. Walker just looked PISSED at everything and everyone and never made eye contact. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. And, Toppin..that guy 'gets it.' Kid just seems to be in a good mood all the time and I look forward to seeing more and more of him on the floor.

just my humble opinion...hoping someone can say that the body language was a result of circumstance and that it looked the same as post-Fordham and post-St Joe's disasters, from which the teams recovered nicely. I just don't recall demeanor like last night - just looked like so much negative energy, not just 'neutral' or 'meh'..but truly negative. Hopefully, it's much different Sunday.

[PeterRamTime]

I guess you had to think a big drop off in play would happen at some point.

I still think we played worse against Manhattan and LIU.

I dont think we respected just how good Brown is and they obviously played their best game of the year.

I wouldn't be surprised if they competed for an Ivy league title. Especially when they get hot from three.....

The weird thing is we seemed to completely abandon all of the strengths we had developed lately.

Harris was still playing well and so was Walker!

We have to run our offense through our three bigs.

Why did we not see Cyril missing multiple lay ups and getting his offensive rebound and drawing fouls? As dumb as that sounds, it's been a constant all his career and is very effective. Especially when you have two other big guys who can make shit happen.


Our defense is and has been a concern and a lot of it has to do with only having two guards on the roster. Martin ain't cutting it. Long is better at defending the perimeter than him, but that negates our potency on offense when he is out there.

If we can move on from this game and go back on the trajectory we had been on after we got Walker we can make this shit happen.

May Brown in all the rest of their games....


GO RHODY

[NYGFan_Section208]

.....who is she cheering for?

Let's just say she needs that sweet, sweet East Side donor money in her coffers for the next campaign.

When the governor of a state is cheering for the opponent of said state's flagship university, that's a problem. To hell with her.

Raise your hand if you voted for someone else.

[PeterRamTime]

I think beyond the bonfire of disaster here - both extremes can be true.

Fact - the season is "over" until we get 2 wins against VCU/Dayton, while simultaneously avoiding any home losses. I figure that a bad loss requires 2 Q1 wins to balance out. Or until the A10 tournament starts. Or unless PC, Alabama, and WKU decide to go undefeated in their conferences.

Fact - the OOC was a disappointment because of this 1 game. Since we couldn't secure a Q1 win against MD/LSU/WV, the Brown game blows up our resume of "no bad losses" - had we got 1 of those wins, this game would've been a throwaway ala Duke/SFA or Kentucky/Evansville. The lack of a marquee win hurts us. The fact that we did it in a home-game atmosphere made it even worse.

Fact - we can still get it together.

While I am always ready to jump of a cliff, balcony, or other high space after an embarrassing loss - one the the post-Baron Rams has taught me is that these losses do not write the season, but usually inspire a fantastic come-together moment for the team.

This team has "clicked" for 1 or 2 games. They have clearly not hit their stride yet. Hurley had a much more senior led team that had AWFUL losses, including the Fordham game in February before running the table. Dave has pushed the right buttons most of the time here so far, and now we get to see if he can challenge his leaders to get it going for conference play.

Not for nothing, with a significantly younger and thinner team last year - Dave got this team to make a run with some upsets in March before we ran out of gas.

Granted I still feel awful and like I want to die, but I don't feel as desperate as I did before the last couple of years.

However lose Sunday and my family will be very excited by my life insurance policy.

I agree with all of this, including that it doesn't end the season. The thing that most concerns me though is the body language I saw being there last night. Set aside the already chatted halftime zombie-walk... There just didn't seem to be any positive energy with the team at all. From the before the game, through the end. Sitting on the baseline next to the bench, you could see it in the player as they came off the floor and 'high-fived' teammates all along the bench. The expressions on those guys faces every time they went up and down the line was totally negative and it was never more obvious that the ritual is a 'requirement.' Everyone just went through the basic motions. Two that stood out from that: Walker and Toppin. Walker just looked PISSED at everything and everyone and never made eye contact. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. And, Toppin..that guy 'gets it.' Kid just seems to be in a good mood all the time and I look forward to seeing more and more of him on the floor.

just my humble opinion...hoping someone can say that the body language was a result of circumstance and that it looked the same as post-Fordham and post-St Joe's disasters, from which the teams recovered nicely. I just don't recall demeanor like last night - just looked like so much negative energy, not just 'neutral' or 'meh'..but truly negative. Hopefully, it's much different Sunday.

They were ready to go and engaged a few days ago at MTSU.

They guarded them extremely hard. Made them work for their shot big time.

This game just feels like a fluke.

[adam914]

[Rhodymob05]

I disagree. We lost to Fordham (at the time was 11-15) at home in 16-17' by 10. URI scored a dismal 43 points. Fortunately, they ripped off eight wins in a row leading to that magical win vs VCU in the A10 championship. But that loss nearly cost us a ticket to the dance. It was awful.

[RamStock]

People who are saying Jeff has sucked all year have a short memory. In his last game against MTSU....21 POINTS, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block. Has he been great all year? No. He's also playing a much different role than he has in the past. In the 2 great years we had with A10 titles and NCAA wins, he was RUNNING those great teams. That's what he does so well. As reported, he was in the gym when he got back from the Brown game working on his shot late at night. There was a game earlier in his career when he missed a free throw (I can't remember the game) and when they got back to Kingston, Dan said Jeff was practicing free throws late at night.....and he was at his 8 o'clock class the next morning. Great player, great student and one of the best representatives of the university that this program has ever had. I will never critcize this kid.

No question great career. They could have won the MTSU game without Dowtin. These are not the games we are talking about. I hope he gets better. He is not close to any A-10 teams at this point. The two point guards with Fatts has gotten to him

[Obadiah]

The URI NET rating fell from 65 to 90 with the Brown loss. It will take several big wins to bring us back into contention for a at large NCAA bid which is around 40. Otherwise we have to get the auto bid by winning the A-10 tourney. Apart from the Middle Tennessee win, this team is struggling and not good. The defensive effort was awful to give up 85 points to a low level Ivy team despite the fact that Brown committed 19 turnovers. Hunsacker hit threes all game yet his prior performance on this metric was a paltry .244. While Fatts was game's high scorer his 3 point shooting has deteriorated, 1 -9 is not good and it brings his last three games total to 2-20. If this keeps he will return to being one of the worst 3-point shooter in the country.

[Blue Man]

Didn’t see the game so don’t comment on game situations I don’t see.

I am concerned about the post halftime team demeanor comments tho as Cox lack of focus on coaching the team until the ball is in play(lack of control of layup line and pretip activity) has been a huge thumbs down criticism of his coaching from me. I strongly believe the game begins when the team departs the locker room. A focused, committed no nonsense pre game with a attentive coaching staff watching every activity sends a powerful message to an opponent. We are here to play and you damn well know it’s all business! Walk on players attempting circus dunks in the layup line is not all business in my old school book. Didn’t make it to the Pizz last light sadly but the comments are troubling.

No excuses for giving up 85 to a midpack Ivy League club.

Negative Nancie and Bummer Bob will be back strong on the forums apparently deservedly so...

To be fair the first 3 minutes after halftime were the best basketball we played all night. Not sure what was said but we made significant changes, upped the effort, defended Brown beyond the 3 point line, and went to the basket offensively. Immediately tied the game up and forced Brown to call timeout.

Not sure why it didn't continue but the effort out of the break was the only good part of the night. Odd that we couldn't keep it up the remaining 17 minutes.

[Billyboy78]

I think beyond the bonfire of disaster here - both extremes can be true.

Fact - the season is "over" until we get 2 wins against VCU/Dayton, while simultaneously avoiding any home losses. I figure that a bad loss requires 2 Q1 wins to balance out. Or until the A10 tournament starts. Or unless PC, Alabama, and WKU decide to go undefeated in their conferences.

Fact - the OOC was a disappointment because of this 1 game. Since we couldn't secure a Q1 win against MD/LSU/WV, the Brown game blows up our resume of "no bad losses" - had we got 1 of those wins, this game would've been a throwaway ala Duke/SFA or Kentucky/Evansville. The lack of a marquee win hurts us. The fact that we did it in a home-game atmosphere made it even worse.

Fact - we can still get it together.

While I am always ready to jump of a cliff, balcony, or other high space after an embarrassing loss - one the the post-Baron Rams has taught me is that these losses do not write the season, but usually inspire a fantastic come-together moment for the team.

This team has "clicked" for 1 or 2 games. They have clearly not hit their stride yet. Hurley had a much more senior led team that had AWFUL losses, including the Fordham game in February before running the table. Dave has pushed the right buttons most of the time here so far, and now we get to see if he can challenge his leaders to get it going for conference play.

Not for nothing, with a significantly younger and thinner team last year - Dave got this team to make a run with some upsets in March before we ran out of gas.

Granted I still feel awful and like I want to die, but I don't feel as desperate as I did before the last couple of years.

However lose Sunday and my family will be very excited by my life insurance policy.

I agree with all of this, including that it doesn't end the season. The thing that most concerns me though is the body language I saw being there last night. Set aside the already chatted halftime zombie-walk... There just didn't seem to be any positive energy with the team at all. From the before the game, through the end. Sitting on the baseline next to the bench, you could see it in the player as they came off the floor and 'high-fived' teammates all along the bench. The expressions on those guys faces every time they went up and down the line was totally negative and it was never more obvious that the ritual is a 'requirement.' Everyone just went through the basic motions. Two that stood out from that: Walker and Toppin. Walker just looked PISSED at everything and everyone and never made eye contact. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. And, Toppin..that guy 'gets it.' Kid just seems to be in a good mood all the time and I look forward to seeing more and more of him on the floor.

just my humble opinion...hoping someone can say that the body language was a result of circumstance and that it looked the same as post-Fordham and post-St Joe's disasters, from which the teams recovered nicely. I just don't recall demeanor like last night - just looked like so much negative energy, not just 'neutral' or 'meh'..but truly negative. Hopefully, it's much different Sunday.

Sounds like possibly a morale problem. The team has been described as a close knit 'family'. Two family members are suddenly gone in a very short period of time. I'm sure many of the guys on the team were close to the guys that are gone. Dana is a very friendly and engaging kid. I'm sure he was very close to some, if not all of the members of the team. Could that be a cause for negativity?

[ramster]

.....who is she cheering for?

Let's just say she needs that sweet, sweet East Side donor money in her coffers for the next campaign.

When the governor of a state is cheering for the opponent of said state's flagship university, that's a problem. To hell with her.

I did not see her favoring one team or the other.

[Micheal_Phelps_22]

I strongly believe the game begins when the team departs the locker room. A focused, committed no nonsense pre game with a attentive coaching staff watching every activity sends a powerful message to an opponent. We are here to play and you damn well know it’s all business! Walk on players attempting circus dunks in the layup line is not all business in my old school book. Didn’t make it to the Pizz last light sadly but the comments are troubling.

You would of seen more of the same last night. At one point during pre game warmups Fatts nearly killed himself attempting a 360° between the legs dunk.

Some amazing athletes on the team (even Dadka has some serious 'ups') but someone is going to get hurt at the rate they're going. Would hate to see it.

[Billyboy78]

I strongly believe the game begins when the team departs the locker room. A focused, committed no nonsense pre game with a attentive coaching staff watching every activity sends a powerful message to an opponent. We are here to play and you damn well know it’s all business! Walk on players attempting circus dunks in the layup line is not all business in my old school book. Didn’t make it to the Pizz last light sadly but the comments are troubling.

You would of seen more of the same last night. At one point during pre game warmups Fatts nearly killed himself attempting a 360° between the legs dunk.

Some amazing athletes on the team (even Dadka has some serious 'ups') but someone is going to get hurt at the rate they're going. Would hate to see it.

At least RUN out of the locker room and show some enthusiasm and togetherness.

[ramster]

I think beyond the bonfire of disaster here - both extremes can be true.

Fact - the season is "over" until we get 2 wins against VCU/Dayton, while simultaneously avoiding any home losses. I figure that a bad loss requires 2 Q1 wins to balance out. Or until the A10 tournament starts. Or unless PC, Alabama, and WKU decide to go undefeated in their conferences.

Fact - the OOC was a disappointment because of this 1 game. Since we couldn't secure a Q1 win against MD/LSU/WV, the Brown game blows up our resume of "no bad losses" - had we got 1 of those wins, this game would've been a throwaway ala Duke/SFA or Kentucky/Evansville. The lack of a marquee win hurts us. The fact that we did it in a home-game atmosphere made it even worse.

Fact - we can still get it together.

While I am always ready to jump of a cliff, balcony, or other high space after an embarrassing loss - one the the post-Baron Rams has taught me is that these losses do not write the season, but usually inspire a fantastic come-together moment for the team.

This team has "clicked" for 1 or 2 games. They have clearly not hit their stride yet. Hurley had a much more senior led team that had AWFUL losses, including the Fordham game in February before running the table. Dave has pushed the right buttons most of the time here so far, and now we get to see if he can challenge his leaders to get it going for conference play.

Not for nothing, with a significantly younger and thinner team last year - Dave got this team to make a run with some upsets in March before we ran out of gas.

Granted I still feel awful and like I want to die, but I don't feel as desperate as I did before the last couple of years.

However lose Sunday and my family will be very excited by my life insurance policy.

I agree with all of this, including that it doesn't end the season. The thing that most concerns me though is the body language I saw being there last night. Set aside the already chatted halftime zombie-walk... There just didn't seem to be any positive energy with the team at all. From the before the game, through the end. Sitting on the baseline next to the bench, you could see it in the player as they came off the floor and 'high-fived' teammates all along the bench. The expressions on those guys faces every time they went up and down the line was totally negative and it was never more obvious that the ritual is a 'requirement.' Everyone just went through the basic motions. Two that stood out from that: Walker and Toppin. Walker just looked PISSED at everything and everyone and never made eye contact. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. And, Toppin..that guy 'gets it.' Kid just seems to be in a good mood all the time and I look forward to seeing more and more of him on the floor.

just my humble opinion...hoping someone can say that the body language was a result of circumstance and that it looked the same as post-Fordham and post-St Joe's disasters, from which the teams recovered nicely. I just don't recall demeanor like last night - just looked like so much negative energy, not just 'neutral' or 'meh'..but truly negative. Hopefully, it's much different Sunday.

I saw the same. I also watched as players went down the line. I like to see the interaction and body language - something you can really only get when at the game and sitting close to the bench. Some players go down the line a lot because they come out more often such as Harris, Toppin, Long and Langevine.
Dowtin, Martin and Russell come out much less often.

We heard there were issues last year among the players. Winning takes care of a lot of team ills. I hope we get a winning streak going.

Passing the ball unselfishly was very evident in the last two games. Last night unselfish play was not so evident.

[SmartyBarrett]

To be fair the first 3 minutes after halftime were the best basketball we played all night. Not sure what was said but we made significant changes, upped the effort, defended Brown beyond the 3 point line, and went to the basket offensively. Immediately tied the game up and forced Brown to call timeout.

Not sure why it didn't continue but the effort out of the break was the only good part of the night. Odd that we couldn't keep it up the remaining 17 minutes.

Yep, I'm not sure where the "URI was lethargic coming out of halftime" narrative came from, but to me it was the only time they WEREN'T lethargic.

[Micheal_Phelps_22]

At least RUN out of the locker room and show some enthusiasm and togetherness.

I'm right there with you. Someone else mentioned it earlier, but it could of been the vantage point we had. I was across the gym from where they came out and the first thing I noticed was Jefe looking like he'd rather be anywhere else besides the game. Rest of the team followed suit.

Now, I'm not saying that is the thought process. None of us know, but we can only read the body language that we see.

Only other thing I can think of is maybe if they come out screaming and hollering it will just be a waste of energy or something along those lines.

Just an odd thing to see.

[DC_Rams]

Lol this is hilarious. We lose a game, and everything needs to be scrapped.

Last game “I really love this team, they are so fun to watch.”
Or “Coach is really good at...”

Now it’s “I always knew we weren’t that good”, “season’s over, we suck”...woah is me....

On game night, the better team, THAT night, will win. Brown had a night.

MOVE ON!

Next game!

Go Rhody!

I'm going to try and help clear things up for you a little (which I am sure you are thrilled to hear! ). I think you just need to understand that you have different goals here then 99.9% of us. The large majority of us are Rhody fans first and David Cox fans second. Most of us either went to URI or have some other deeper connection to the school and/or basketball program. You are a David Cox fan first and a Rhody fan second (which is totally fine!). Once Cox moves on to his next job you will move on with him.

So while for most of us our goal is to have the basketball program continue to progress to be one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the conference on a regular basis, your goal is to make the coach look as good as possible in every situation and deflect blame off of him as much as possible. So we can all agree on wanting the team and coach to succeed and continue to get better, but overall the end goal is different. And again, all this is totally fine, everyone can and should root for whoever they want for whatever reason they want, but I think understanding those different perspectives might help.

Adam, I know you’re not big on me, and my existence here, and that’s okay. Somehow, some way, I’ve pulled myself together and carried on with life. Tough, I know. (I say that in jest) However, you couldn’t be more far off. I just don’t like to criticize people in positions that can/could do things that I could not. That goes for David Cox all the way down to Jordan Green. That’s just the type of fan I am. I know their are theories about when I arrived here and when I started posting, but I was the same way when Hurley was HC. You will never find me criticizing anything he did while he was the HC. I was always a proponent of continuity of success. I am the same way with the football and baseball teams I root for. I’m not an armchair QB. Hindsight will always make one appear smarter.

I support G’town and Rhody hoops (where I hold my degrees from), Eagles football, and Braves baseball. That’s all, that’s it. I’m connected in the hoops realm more so because of my personal interests and connections.

I know, guys like me, are an anomaly for my always seemingly positive takes and stances, but I’ve never been a knee-jerk reactionary type of guy. Players are human, coaches are human. They fuck up. As we all do. I don’t have a crystal ball. I simply hate to over-react. All I want is for Coach, staff and team to succeed. That’s it.

I don’t want to bicker with fellow fans over HOW they root for a team, that’s dumb, and I’m guilty of it. I just don’t respond well to negativity. No one does.

[hrstrat57]

I just don’t respond well to negativity. No one does.

Get ready friend cause Negative Nancie and the rest of the trolls gonna be bringin it huge at least for the time being anyway...

[DC_Rams]

I just don’t respond well to negativity. No one does.

Get ready friend cause Negative Nancie and the rest of the trolls gonna be bringin it huge at least for the time being anyway...

I know, man. I just have to worry more about the things I can control. I try my best to stay away. Thought I learned my lesson from the hoyatalk forum during the Esherick and JT3 era.

[ramsman75]

When each season starts the head coach always addresses the team's goals for the season. In all of my many years of fandom, I have never heard a Rams coach mention RPI, NET, Sagarin, Pomeroy or the polls. What they have always emphasized is to win their conference, thereby rendering the other miscellany moot. As far as I can tell, we are just about to begin the journey on Sunday.

Our goal should be to finish in the top four regular season to earn a first round bye. From there, I will take our chances on making the finals of the A10 tournament.

[LoveThoseRams]

This may not be the right forum or thread to discuss this BUT, for the first time last night, we were in seats that gave us a very up close look at Coach Carroll Sr. I do not want to be disrespectful to the man, as I feel terrible for what he went through.

HOWEVER, he is not coaching at all...I can’t imagine that he adds anything at all in practices and he certainly cannot be recruiting. He walks Out to the floor at TOs and returns to his seat when he hears the whistle. Stares blankly all throughout the game without any interaction.

He is taking the place of a Bigs Coach that we should have. In essence we are down one Coach in all respects.

It’s honorable that the University felt inclined (or legally bound) to continue his contract, but has the team been shorted?

[ramster]

Brown shot better for sure but they shared the bell much better than we did. They passed well inside the paint but also passed back outside to find the open man for 3Ps.
We did not pass nearly as well as we did the past two games.

[DC_Rams]

This may not be the right forum or thread to discuss this BUT, for the first time last night, we were in seats that gave us a very up close look at Coach Carroll Sr. I do not want to be disrespectful to the man, as I feel terrible for what he went through.

HOWEVER, he is not coaching at all...I can’t imagine that he adds anything at all in practices and he certainly cannot be recruiting. He walks Out to the floor at TOs and returns to his seat when he hears the whistle. Stares blankly all throughout the game without any interaction.

He is taking the place of a Bigs Coach that we should have. In essence we are down one Coach in all respects.

It’s honorable that the University felt inclined (or legally bound) to continue his contract, but has the team been shorted?

In his position, I don’t think he is allowed to coach On the floor. Just like the DOBO isn’t.

[NYGFan_Section208]

This may not be the right forum or thread to discuss this BUT, for the first time last night, we were in seats that gave us a very up close look at Coach Carroll Sr. I do not want to be disrespectful to the man, as I feel terrible for what he went through.

HOWEVER, he is not coaching at all...I can’t imagine that he adds anything at all in practices and he certainly cannot be recruiting. He walks Out to the floor at TOs and returns to his seat when he hears the whistle. Stares blankly all throughout the game without any interaction.

He is taking the place of a Bigs Coach that we should have. In essence we are down one Coach in all respects.

It’s honorable that the University felt inclined (or legally bound) to continue his contract, but has the team been shorted?

In his position, I don’t think he is allowed to coach On the floor. Just like the DOBO isn’t.

It also seemed like he's maybe still battling some health issues? Hate to say it, he just did not look "well"...

[ramster]

When each season starts the head coach always addresses the team's goals for the season. In all of my many years of fandom, I have never heard a Rams coach mention RPI, NET, Sagarin, Pomeroy or the polls. What they have always emphasized is to win their conference, thereby rendering the other miscellany moot. As far as I can tell, we are just about to begin the journey on Sunday.

Our goal should be to finish in the top four regular season to earn a first round bye. From there, I will take our chances on making the finals of the A10 tournament.

From watching the previous two games I’d say A10 Championship Finals and SemiFinals are possible. From watching last night I’d say no.
But that’s why we play out the season

It could be this Brown game helps the Coaching Staff and the Players identify weakness and opportunities so they can make changes.

Maybe this loss is just what we needed.

We will see on Sunday and then next Wednesday home games with Richmond and Davidson.

[bigappleram]

WKU:
21 assists on 32 field goals; 65.6% of baskets were assisted

MTSU:
21 assists on 33 field goals; 63.6% of baskets were assisted

Brown:
12 assists on 29 field goals; 41.3% of baskets were assisted

[DC_Rams]

This may not be the right forum or thread to discuss this BUT, for the first time last night, we were in seats that gave us a very up close look at Coach Carroll Sr. I do not want to be disrespectful to the man, as I feel terrible for what he went through.

HOWEVER, he is not coaching at all...I can’t imagine that he adds anything at all in practices and he certainly cannot be recruiting. He walks Out to the floor at TOs and returns to his seat when he hears the whistle. Stares blankly all throughout the game without any interaction.

He is taking the place of a Bigs Coach that we should have. In essence we are down one Coach in all respects.

It’s honorable that the University felt inclined (or legally bound) to continue his contract, but has the team been shorted?

In his position, I don’t think he is allowed to coach On the floor. Just like the DOBO isn’t.

It also seemed like he's maybe still battling some health issues? Hate to say it, he just did not look "well"...

He will never be 100% again, but his basketball knowledge is still up there.

[LoveThoseRams]

This may not be the right forum or thread to discuss this BUT, for the first time last night, we were in seats that gave us a very up close look at Coach Carroll Sr. I do not want to be disrespectful to the man, as I feel terrible for what he went through.

HOWEVER, he is not coaching at all...I can’t imagine that he adds anything at all in practices and he certainly cannot be recruiting. He walks Out to the floor at TOs and returns to his seat when he hears the whistle. Stares blankly all throughout the game without any interaction.

He is taking the place of a Bigs Coach that we should have. In essence we are down one Coach in all respects.

It’s honorable that the University felt inclined (or legally bound) to continue his contract, but has the team been shorted?

In his position, I don’t think he is allowed to coach On the floor. Just like the DOBO isn’t.

It also seemed like he's maybe still battling some health issues? Hate to say it, he just did not look "well"...

Yes, sort of fragile.

[rhodylaw]

What’s BS is that none of those “A” games were home. I don’t know how many teams would do better then even 1-2 vs those three teams.

Its not BS its a scheduling error. The idea is to schedule mid pack away games you can win that qualify as Q1. Problem is WVU and Maryland are very good this year making the risk of losing all your solid games high. in an ideal world WVU or Maryland would only be mediocre this year allowing for actually winning one of those games.

MTSU in theory could have been a mid-pack team, and North Texas. I just think the quartiles are a little messed up still. Q1 should be too 50 home.

[RF1]

URI leads the all time series with Brown 108-54 and has won 29 of the last 33 meetings (starting 1986-87 season). The previous three losses in this span before last night were however is very down years for Rhody:

SEASON | OVERALL RECORD
2011-12 | 7-24
2001-02 | 8-20
1993-94 | 11-16

From what I can tell, the last time URI actually lost to Brown when it had an overall winning season was back in 1967-68. This season's URI team was supposed to be good making the loss last night that much more surprising given the historical context. That is why so many are disappointed. The defeat yesterday is totally inexcusable.