2/26 | Fordham | 7:00PM (ESPN+)

[section(105)]

.......is Sheppard currently enrolled at URI?

[Dino611]

Imho Jermaine needs to start next the next game because the size St.Louis brings to match up, I haven’t watched
St.Louis play yet but cox PLEASE have Cyril guard French
I don’t know whether their freshman big man Bell can stretch the floor but please don’t make it like UMASS where Jermaine got torn up, but for the Dayton game, Jermaine better be on a short leash for that game because he had all the trouble in the world trying to keep up with Obi because he isn’t as quick as the rest of them and he was a defensive liability

[RhowdyRam02]

I wouldnt go this far at all. You cant predict the Tate situation. Hammond, no offense, was a bitch and couldnt handle not getting playing time immediately. Thats 2 guys that could have played meaningful minutes. Those are not Cox's fault. The timeouts yes needs to learn how to use those better also needs to find a more consistent defensive set. But roster management dont be over critical there.

We're down to 8 scholarship players that can play if we're at perfect health, 1 scholarship player that was deemed not good enough to play so we're redshirting him and 1 that's not academically eligible. Even if you think there was no way the staff could have done anything about Tate or Hammond, which is a premise I disagree with, that means we still have one scholarship we decided to do nothing with. I'm sorry, this is horrible roster construction no matter which way you slice it.

Why are we bringing in a junior who can't contribute right away (Johnson) when our roster was so thin? Why did we bring in a guard (Sheppard) when we desperately needed a backup to Jeff and Fatts that could play right away, whose academics were so bad that even summer and fall semesters wouldn't be enough to allow him to play right now? Why have we wasted so many scholarships on guys that can't play so they just cycle out of the program like Aris?

Why do we have so many more transfers than the average school? Don't say that's how it is now, because having above average transfers by definition means things here aren't how things are now. And why is that an issue for URI now when it wasn't before Dan left?

Significantly more transfers? There are roughly 700 per year in D1. Past 2 years roughly 270 programs had 1,2,3 or 4 players transfer in said year. How do we have SO many more transfers then the average?
2018 2019
94 93 1 transfer
78 90 2 transfers
55 58 3 transfers
43 29 4 transfers

58 & 59 programs had zero transfers respectfully.

The Tate situation was unforseen and i for one hated to see him go. Feel how you want about the situation i believe a lot of it was out of DC's hands. You have 12 scholarships and no team plays 12 guys most have a 8-9 man rotation. Hammond shouldnt have left he should have stayed and worked on his game but that's the landscape of todays youth they want instant gratification. If Shepard can ball like some say then he was worth taking the chance he would have been deemed academically eligible since we had NINE guys who were ready for minutes, I'm counting Tate and Walker. The program thought they were going to get a waiver for Walker. Now you are down to spots 11 & 12 who never see the court for any program but you need guys to practice and thise spots typically become revolving doors. This is also where you take flyers on guys in a chance they were hidden gems, this is were DJ falls. This isnt extremely poor roster management on Cox's part like you claim.

Now if you want to be concerned about still having 3 open scholies for next year i will completely back that thought process 100%.

We've had 9 players out of 20 leave campus early in the almost two years Cox has been head coach (45% transfer rate), one of the 20 isn't academically eligible, one of the 20 apparently needs a redshirt year, and that 20 isn't counting the Cox recruit that never set foot on campus (Brendan Adams).

The average school loses roughly 4 players in two years, we lost 9, more than double the national average. If you think that's not significant, I don't know what to tell you, but Cox' roster management has been poor and needs to get better and that's a fact whether you want to admit it or not

[rhodyfan3000]

Idk, this entire Harris conversation reads like someone entering upsidedown world or the twilight zone.

The harassment some of these kids have to take is out of control. The big men almost always get it the worst. Shades of the hate Luther Clay received.

[rhodyfan3000]

When Hurley left, we begged this kid to stay, now we aren't going to have his back when he needs our support the most?

[RhowdyRam02]

.......is Sheppard currently enrolled at URI?

He's still on the roster, so I'd assume so

[Rhodymob05]

Its ok to be disappointing in a player, and to expect more, but theres a line you dont cross as a fan. We NEED Harris to at least have an average performance with his size.

[FDshoes]

Rhowdy, besides Tate, were any of the players who left in or projected to be in the top 8 or 9 players on the roster?

Adams left with Hurley Aris filled a last second roster spot. I can continue down the list. But futile.

That being said i am very concerned about still having 3 open scholies for next year.

[Billyboy78]

Rhowdy, besides Tate, were any of the players who left in or projected to be in the top 8 or 9 players on the roster?

Adams left with Hurley Aris filled a last second roster spot. I can continue down the list. But futile.

That being said i am very concerned about still having 3 open scholies for next year.

Omar Silverio could have given 12-15 minutes a game and it could have helped take the load off of Jeff and Fatts. I think both of our great guards are incredibly worn down. So, what happens in a couple of weeks when we have to play 3 days in a row?

[steviep123]

You can't count Adams - while Cox may have recruited him, he was recruited for Hurley. Then when he left, we quickly replaced that slot with Silverio, who left, which became Hammond. So that's 3 for one. If Adams remains here, then that's one guard spot that's stabilized. Plus Amir Harris was let out of his LOI when Adams signed. The Harris/Martin class was initially 5 (those two, plus Tate, Amir Harris and Adams), that went down to four with Tate/Harris/Silverio/Martin and is now 2. I'm not saying it's been perfect and we need to get better in this area, but some of the dire-ness can be explained and would have been mitigated if Amir Harris or Adams hadn't opted out of their LOI.

[FDshoes]

Rhowdy, besides Tate, were any of the players who left in or projected to be in the top 8 or 9 players on the roster?

Adams left with Hurley Aris filled a last second roster spot. I can continue down the list. But futile.

That being said i am very concerned about still having 3 open scholies for next year.

Omar Silverio could have given 12-15 minutes a game and it could have helped take the load off of Jeff and Fatts. I think both of our great guards are incredibly worn down. So, what happens in a couple of weeks when we have to play 3 days in a row?

Omar is playing 10 minutes a game at Hofstra currently dont see him playing 12-15 here at all.

[RhowdyRam02]

Rhowdy, besides Tate, were any of the players who left in or projected to be in the top 8 or 9 players on the roster?

Adams left with Hurley Aris filled a last second roster spot. I can continue down the list. But futile.

That being said i am very concerned about still having 3 open scholies for next year.

See I hate that whole train of thought where it doesn't matter if they left because they weren't projected to be in the top 8 or 9. If they weren't that good then why bring them in in the first place? Scholarships are a precious, limited commodity and need to be used wisely.

And I'm concerned about the 3 open scholarships as well, but I'm not going to get mad at that yet, because we don't know how things will shake out. I don't know how things will turn out, so I can't have an opinion. But I will look back and say we haven't done as well as we've needed to so far with our roster under Cox with the result being we played a must win game last night with 7 guys and one of those 7 had an injury that limited him

[FDshoes]

Rhowdy, besides Tate, were any of the players who left in or projected to be in the top 8 or 9 players on the roster?

Adams left with Hurley Aris filled a last second roster spot. I can continue down the list. But futile.

That being said i am very concerned about still having 3 open scholies for next year.

See I hate that whole train of thought where it doesn't matter if they left because they weren't projected to be in the top 8 or 9. If they weren't that good then why bring them in in the first place? Scholarships are a precious, limited commodity and need to be used wisely.

And I'm concerned about the 3 open scholarships as well, but I'm not going to get mad at that yet, because we don't know how things will shake out. I don't know how things will turn out, so I can't have an opinion. But I will look back and say we haven't done as well as we've needed to so far with our roster under Cox with the result being we played a must win game last night with 7 guys and one of those 7 had an injury that limited him

Because we arent a P6 school and cant sign 3 or 4 guys every year who will pan out and be able to make an impact. We need to find diamonds in the rough at times. Its not like we are losing guys to better programs. Even with Hurley and someone got hurt he wasnt plugging in, for example, a Tertsea type guy he would play that game short a guy in the rotation.

[DC_Rams]

.......is Sheppard currently enrolled at URI?

He was on the bench last night

[DC_Rams]

Rhowdy, besides Tate, were any of the players who left in or projected to be in the top 8 or 9 players on the roster?

Adams left with Hurley Aris filled a last second roster spot. I can continue down the list. But futile.

That being said i am very concerned about still having 3 open scholies for next year.

Omar Silverio could have given 12-15 minutes a game and it could have helped take the load off of Jeff and Fatts. I think both of our great guards are incredibly worn down. So, what happens in a couple of weeks when we have to play 3 days in a row?

Omar isn’t even playing at Hofstra. Their last 10 or so games he’s played a high of 4 minutes. Some games hasn’t even touched the floor.

He left due to death in family.

[Billyboy78]

Rhowdy, besides Tate, were any of the players who left in or projected to be in the top 8 or 9 players on the roster?

Adams left with Hurley Aris filled a last second roster spot. I can continue down the list. But futile.

That being said i am very concerned about still having 3 open scholies for next year.

Omar Silverio could have given 12-15 minutes a game and it could have helped take the load off of Jeff and Fatts. I think both of our great guards are incredibly worn down. So, what happens in a couple of weeks when we have to play 3 days in a row?

Omar isn’t even playing at Hofstra.

He's a body at guard. We have zero guard bodies on the bench. He would have seen minutes here this year. Unfortunately, I think because of this, Jeff and Fatts are toast.

[FDshoes]

Omar Silverio could have given 12-15 minutes a game and it could have helped take the load off of Jeff and Fatts. I think both of our great guards are incredibly worn down. So, what happens in a couple of weeks when we have to play 3 days in a row?

Omar isn’t even playing at Hofstra.

He's a body at guard. We have zero guard bodies on the bench. He would have seen minutes here this year. Unfortunately, I think because of this, Jeff and Fatts are toast.

The top 2 guards on just about every single team in the country play north of 30 minutes a game. Them being toast is a horrible argument.

[TruePoint]

Rhowdy, besides Tate, were any of the players who left in or projected to be in the top 8 or 9 players on the roster?

Adams left with Hurley Aris filled a last second roster spot. I can continue down the list. But futile.

That being said i am very concerned about still having 3 open scholies for next year.

See I hate that whole train of thought where it doesn't matter if they left because they weren't projected to be in the top 8 or 9. If they weren't that good then why bring them in in the first place? Scholarships are a precious, limited commodity and need to be used wisely.

And I'm concerned about the 3 open scholarships as well, but I'm not going to get mad at that yet, because we don't know how things will shake out. I don't know how things will turn out, so I can't have an opinion. But I will look back and say we haven't done as well as we've needed to so far with our roster under Cox with the result being we played a must win game last night with 7 guys and one of those 7 had an injury that limited him

The preciousness of the scholarship should make you appreciate the transfers from the end of the bench. I think you and I have a similar view on Tate, so let’s put that one aside. The rest of the transfers have been good for the program, not bad. You’re aren’t going to bat 1.000 in recruiting; if the player and program can come to an understanding about the lack of fit earlier than later, that’s good. It gives you that scholarship back 2-3 years early. It’s hard to have more than 9 or so guys on your roster that are really going to help you at any one time, because if you’re the 10th guy and good enough to help then you’re not sticking around waiting for the chance. So when a couple guys get hurt then you can find yourself with a short rotation pretty quickly. Again, Tate is a different thing for me, but nobody else that left the program since Cox got here would have helped you much last night. Maybe Thompson - maybe. Otherwise you’d probably have ended up playing the same seven guys whether you had seven available or 11.

[Billyboy78]

Omar isn’t even playing at Hofstra.

He's a body at guard. We have zero guard bodies on the bench. He would have seen minutes here this year. Unfortunately, I think because of this, Jeff and Fatts are toast.

The top 2 guards on just about every single team in the country play north of 30 minutes a game. Them being toast is a horrible argument.

North of 30 isn't quite the same as 36 or 37. I'd be thrilled if Jeff and Fatts averaged 32 per game.

[FDshoes]

Kansas & Novas top guards are 34ish min tre jones at duke 35 min. Fatts and Jeff are just shy of 36 a game. This shouldnt exhaust them to the level of being ineffective.

[RhodyRam86]

Rhowdy, besides Tate, were any of the players who left in or projected to be in the top 8 or 9 players on the roster?

Adams left with Hurley Aris filled a last second roster spot. I can continue down the list. But futile.

That being said i am very concerned about still having 3 open scholies for next year.

Omar Silverio could have given 12-15 minutes a game and it could have helped take the load off of Jeff and Fatts. I think both of our great guards are incredibly worn down. So, what happens in a couple of weeks when we have to play 3 days in a row?

Billyboy...having to play three days in a row in a couple weeks will be a nice problem to have!

[RhowdyRam02]

Rhowdy, besides Tate, were any of the players who left in or projected to be in the top 8 or 9 players on the roster?

Adams left with Hurley Aris filled a last second roster spot. I can continue down the list. But futile.

That being said i am very concerned about still having 3 open scholies for next year.

See I hate that whole train of thought where it doesn't matter if they left because they weren't projected to be in the top 8 or 9. If they weren't that good then why bring them in in the first place? Scholarships are a precious, limited commodity and need to be used wisely.

And I'm concerned about the 3 open scholarships as well, but I'm not going to get mad at that yet, because we don't know how things will shake out. I don't know how things will turn out, so I can't have an opinion. But I will look back and say we haven't done as well as we've needed to so far with our roster under Cox with the result being we played a must win game last night with 7 guys and one of those 7 had an injury that limited him

Because we arent a P6 school and cant sign 3 or 4 guys every year who will pan out and be able to make an impact. We need to find diamonds in the rough at times. Its not like we are losing guys to better programs. Even with Hurley and someone got hurt he wasnt plugging in, for example, a Tertsea type guy he would play that game short a guy in the rotation.

True, but if guys are transferring at a 45% rate like we've seen since Cox took over you lose the opportunity to develop guys who could eventually end up in your rotation and then you start taking more risks because you have more spots to fill and you're filling those spots at inopportune times when you weren't planning on adding more players.

Brendan Adams to Omar Silverio to open scholarship is a perfect example of that cycle even if the circumstances aren't a perfect illustration. You lose the first recruit, then you take a chance on the next guy when you weren't planning on adding a player. Maybe you hit, but maybe you take a guy over his head at this level. In Omar's case it appears he was over his head, so then you lose him and you're back to square one where you take a risk and maybe you hit or maybe you bust out again if you can even fill that scholarship at that time of year.

It's a spiral of unanticipated change that leads to more unanticipated changes, and we need to pull out of it. At best you end up going full Musselman Method and just have a roster of transfers and maybe you hit one year, though personally I prefer the way we've built things here since Hurley took over. At worst, you choke away a game against Fordham because you're very shorthanded and lose a season's worth of work and the chance to go to the tournament because of it.

In the end, this is an interesting conversation about roster construction, but I want to come back to what I said last night:
"David Cox is significantly below average in timeout and roster management and it almost cost us the season tonight. We live to fight another day but this team needs to play a lot smarter if they're going to have the ending we're hoping for and Cox needs to improve a lot if he's going to have the career a lot of people on here project him to have"

I don't feel like that's that spicy a take. It's certainly no Who Shot Ya? or Hit Em Up. If you're putting that on the Scoville Heat Scale it's not a Bell pepper but it's probably not even a Jalapeno. I'd be willing to bet that Cox himself would say his roster management needs to get better and he's unhappy with the turnover we've experienced

[RhowdyRam02]

Rhowdy, besides Tate, were any of the players who left in or projected to be in the top 8 or 9 players on the roster?

Adams left with Hurley Aris filled a last second roster spot. I can continue down the list. But futile.

That being said i am very concerned about still having 3 open scholies for next year.

See I hate that whole train of thought where it doesn't matter if they left because they weren't projected to be in the top 8 or 9. If they weren't that good then why bring them in in the first place? Scholarships are a precious, limited commodity and need to be used wisely.

And I'm concerned about the 3 open scholarships as well, but I'm not going to get mad at that yet, because we don't know how things will shake out. I don't know how things will turn out, so I can't have an opinion. But I will look back and say we haven't done as well as we've needed to so far with our roster under Cox with the result being we played a must win game last night with 7 guys and one of those 7 had an injury that limited him

The preciousness of the scholarship should make you appreciate the transfers from the end of the bench. I think you and I have a similar view on Tate, so let’s put that one aside. The rest of the transfers have been good for the program, not bad. You’re aren’t going to bat 1.000 in recruiting; if the player and program can come to an understanding about the lack of fit earlier than later, that’s good. It gives you that scholarship back 2-3 years early. It’s hard to have more than 9 or so guys on your roster that are really going to help you at any one time, because if you’re the 10th guy and good enough to help then you’re not sticking around waiting for the chance. So when a couple guys get hurt then you can find yourself with a short rotation pretty quickly. Again, Tate is a different thing for me, but nobody else that left the program since Cox got here would have helped you much last night. Maybe Thompson - maybe. Otherwise you’d probably have ended up playing the same seven guys whether you had seven available or 11.

I would have loved Thompson last night on the defensive end when Jeff was hobbled and Fordham made their run. I didn't want to call him out specifically in this thread because I feel the overall trend is more important than the specific players, but he's exactly who we could have used last night. I would have also been intrigued with Mading playing for us, and who knows how other guys that left could have developed. If you think Cox is an above average coach at worst you would have to think players would develop better here than at other programs like Hofstra, so you'd want Cox to have a chance at getting that done.

I just think last night was a jumping off point for an issue that could eventually come back to really hurt us. Pretty much all of our most successful teams, and you can probably extend that to the A10 as a whole, are veteran squads that have been through the wars together. It's hard to build that and have everything come together in the best of circumstances. It's a complete high wire act if you're constantly churning the back half instead of getting the opportunity to develop them and integrate them into the rotation. I don't mind some turnover at the end of the roster if it benefits the player and the school, but 45%, a little more than double the national average, doesn't feel sustainable. You can't bat 1.000, but you should have a better winning percentage than .550

[bkoeppen]

Cox is 38-22 in the 2 years he's been a head coach and has already beaten every A-10 team. Being critical of him because the transfer rate seems a bit high doesn't make sense given the results. And like has been stated, a lot of those transfers have been a domino effect from adams going with hurley and losing out on top recruits. I wish we had another guy or two on the bench that could play, but we are barking up the wrong tree that cox is at fault for only having 8 rotational players right now.

[RhowdyRam02]

Cox is 38-22 in the 2 years he's been a head coach and has already beaten every A-10 team. Being critical of him because the transfer rate seems a bit high doesn't make sense given the results. And like has been stated, a lot of those transfers have been a domino effect from adams going with hurley and losing out on top recruits. I wish we had another guy or two on the bench that could play, but we are barking up the wrong tree that cox is at fault for only having 8 rotational players right now.

If the head coach isn't at fault for having only 8 guys who can play when you can have a max of 13 than who on Earth is? Putting together a roster is one of the top 3 or 4 jobs a college head coach has. And I'm sorry, but 38-22 and beating every A10 team isn't how I judge the success or failure of a coach. Last year we underachieved, but if we played to our realistic ceiling we would have been an NIT team, so I'm not going to kill him on that. This year is 100% NCAA or Bust. If we miss the tournament this year he failed this year as a coach

[Rhody72]

As suggested in my previous post, I'm disappointed in Harris. But, we need a big body down low and Toppin is not the answer right now. Toppin is a great talent and after an off-season in the weight room and body maturation he will be a star. The coaches need to cut back in expecting Harris to be an active defender far from the basket. He needs to be taught to clog the lane, take charges and rebound while avoiding needless fouls.

[DC_Rams]

See I hate that whole train of thought where it doesn't matter if they left because they weren't projected to be in the top 8 or 9. If they weren't that good then why bring them in in the first place? Scholarships are a precious, limited commodity and need to be used wisely.

And I'm concerned about the 3 open scholarships as well, but I'm not going to get mad at that yet, because we don't know how things will shake out. I don't know how things will turn out, so I can't have an opinion. But I will look back and say we haven't done as well as we've needed to so far with our roster under Cox with the result being we played a must win game last night with 7 guys and one of those 7 had an injury that limited him

Because we arent a P6 school and cant sign 3 or 4 guys every year who will pan out and be able to make an impact. We need to find diamonds in the rough at times. Its not like we are losing guys to better programs. Even with Hurley and someone got hurt he wasnt plugging in, for example, a Tertsea type guy he would play that game short a guy in the rotation.

True, but if guys are transferring at a 45% rate like we've seen since Cox took over you lose the opportunity to develop guys who could eventually end up in your rotation and then you start taking more risks because you have more spots to fill and you're filling those spots at inopportune times when you weren't planning on adding more players.

Brendan Adams to Omar Silverio to open scholarship is a perfect example of that cycle even if the circumstances aren't a perfect illustration. You lose the first recruit, then you take a chance on the next guy when you weren't planning on adding a player. Maybe you hit, but maybe you take a guy over his head at this level. In Omar's case it appears he was over his head, so then you lose him and you're back to square one where you take a risk and maybe you hit or maybe you bust out again if you can even fill that scholarship at that time of year.

It's a spiral of unanticipated change that leads to more unanticipated changes, and we need to pull out of it. At best you end up going full Musselman Method and just have a roster of transfers and maybe you hit one year, though personally I prefer the way we've built things here since Hurley took over. At worst, you choke away a game against Fordham because you're very shorthanded and lose a season's worth of work and the chance to go to the tournament because of it.

In the end, this is an interesting conversation about roster construction, but I want to come back to what I said last night:
"David Cox is significantly below average in timeout and roster management and it almost cost us the season tonight. We live to fight another day but this team needs to play a lot smarter if they're going to have the ending we're hoping for and Cox needs to improve a lot if he's going to have the career a lot of people on here project him to have"

I don't feel like that's that spicy a take. It's certainly no Who Shot Ya? or Hit Em Up. If you're putting that on the Scoville Heat Scale it's not a Bell pepper but it's probably not even a Jalapeno. I'd be willing to bet that Cox himself would say his roster management needs to get better and he's unhappy with the turnover we've experienced

The reason most of these 9 guys left are anomaly’s, not the norm though. Coach Turnover, unfortunate circumstances, professional opportunity, a miss or two, and disciplinary.

[PeterRamTime]

Having the roster in flux after 5 seniors leave and you hire a new coach is normal.

I think Cox has been the victim of some strange circumstances, more so than moronic roster management issues.

The real reason Sheppard didnt play is because he his transcripts didnt transfer over right? How big of a risk Cox realized he was taking is something we dont know and if he didnt realize it then why?

He has said he came in confident about the Walker and Sheppard transfers so it seems like something weird happened.

Devale is a little disappointing. We know he can shoot. Who knows if he ever plays a second here though.

Hammond is unfortunate. If he just stuck it out a little longer he would have definitely played and we could have used him many times. The flip side is, no way he plays if Sheppard was eligible. So I guess he was gone no matter what.

The Tate situation is a crazy one. I mean it's rare to deal with something like that. Maybe we should have played him earlier. Maybe the administration wouldn't have been happy if he played earlier. Maybe he should have just stuck it out a little longer. Maybe they told him he wasnt allowed to play for the whole year. Really wish people didnt think it wasnt that big of a deal and they just let him play. Doubt he would've done what he did again. We really could have used him. Less Long, Harris and Walker. More Tate.

The biggest hurdle has been the fact we only have two primary ball handlers. Not having Sheppard has been the biggest disappointment. That's where I would be most upset with Cox. Maybe if he were more experienced he wouldn't have let the most important transfer we got slip and then somehow lose the only other ball handler on the team after that.

Hard to blame him entirely for all that.

Alas, Cox, up to this point, has made up for this in spite of all these roster issues.

Job isn't done. If we made it this far we better be in the dance in march. If we made it this far with 8 guys then we should be able to finish with 8 guys.

If the guys are healthy enough then we should beat SLU and UMass.

[phipsiGD'11]

Was at the game last night with the wife and I was ready to go into a deep depression that would have lasted until about October.
Cyril was in the handshake line after the game and was reaching across his body with his left hand rather than using his right. Idk what that means for his injury but I hope it is all good come Sunday.
I don't think it is fair to say that Fatts didn't play up to his normal last night. He had no Cyril and half a Jeff. Teams have realized to crash the paint when Fatts starts his drive, we need quick passing and Martin/Toppin/Long to hit open shots off of that. In order to get open passes people need to move their feet. Too much standing around.
If Soriano stays at Fordham, they may be able to build something that looks like a program instead of whatever they've had the previous 20+ years. Kid looks like he could develop into a very nice player. That being said, I've never been happier with a travel call in my life.

[Rhodyram]

Funny thing is when we lost to Davidson, some blamed the week off and said the players looked rusty. Now according to some they looked worn out last night. Gotta just grind through the schedule- no excuses

[wpbrown8267]

Was at the game last night with the wife and I was ready to go into a deep depression that would have lasted until about October.
Cyril was in the handshake line after the game and was reaching across his body with his left hand rather than using his right. Idk what that means for his injury but I hope it is all good come Sunday.
I don't think it is fair to say that Fatts didn't play up to his normal last night. He had no Cyril and half a Jeff. Teams have realized to crash the paint when Fatts starts his drive, we need quick passing and Martin/Toppin/Long to hit open shots off of that. In order to get open passes people need to move their feet. Too much standing around.
If Soriano stays at Fordham, they may be able to build something that looks like a program instead of whatever they've had the previous 20+ years. Kid looks like he could develop into a very nice player. That being said, I've never been happier with a travel call in my life.

IDK how healthy he'll be but Koch sent out a tweet earlier that he was practicing today and sounds like Cyril will be ready come sunday

[bkoeppen]

Cox is 38-22 in the 2 years he's been a head coach and has already beaten every A-10 team. Being critical of him because the transfer rate seems a bit high doesn't make sense given the results. And like has been stated, a lot of those transfers have been a domino effect from adams going with hurley and losing out on top recruits. I wish we had another guy or two on the bench that could play, but we are barking up the wrong tree that cox is at fault for only having 8 rotational players right now.

If the head coach isn't at fault for having only 8 guys who can play when you can have a max of 13 than who on Earth is? Putting together a roster is one of the top 3 or 4 jobs a college head coach has. And I'm sorry, but 38-22 and beating every A10 team isn't how I judge the success or failure of a coach. Last year we underachieved, but if we played to our realistic ceiling we would have been an NIT team, so I'm not going to kill him on that. This year is 100% NCAA or Bust. If we miss the tournament this year he failed this year as a coach

weren't we expected to finish 4 or 5th in the league this year, with most people who aren't a rhody fan not expecting us to make the tournament. that is a big part of how I would judge the success of a coach - if you don't think Cox has exceeded expectations to date I don't know what to tell you. the scholarship situation is not ideal, but I don't blame Cox for it - if anything we should be looking at it even more impressively that we are 20-7, well positioned to make the tournament, with only 8 scholarships.

[giovanni]

Cox is 38-22 in the 2 years he's been a head coach and has already beaten every A-10 team. Being critical of him because the transfer rate seems a bit high doesn't make sense given the results. And like has been stated, a lot of those transfers have been a domino effect from adams going with hurley and losing out on top recruits. I wish we had another guy or two on the bench that could play, but we are barking up the wrong tree that cox is at fault for only having 8 rotational players right now.

It doesn't look like URI's program are the only ones that may be afflicted by transfers

https://watchstadium.com/comprehensive- ... 2-29-2018/

[UCH21377]

Imagine this thread if we actually lost the game? We won for crying out loud. I know it wasn't pretty; I get it. But now we're blowing up the starting lineup, criticizing the coach left and right, still insisting on railing against one kid who plays 16 minutes a game. We had our main defensive cog out, and our best man-to-man defender was playing hurt, why be surprised that the defense suffered?

Leave the starting lineup alone. Yes I wouldn't mind seeing Toppin get some more minutes.

The roster construction is far from optimal; and we have to live with that this year.

Hope Jeff and Cyril get better fast!

[steviep123]

Imagine this thread if we actually lost the game? We won for crying out loud. I know it wasn't pretty; I get it. But now we're blowing up the starting lineup, criticizing the coach left and right, still insisting on railing against one kid who plays 16 minutes a game. We had our main defensive cog out, and our best man-to-man defender was playing hurt, why be surprised that the defense suffered?

Leave the starting lineup alone. Yes I wouldn't mind seeing Toppin get some more minutes.

The roster construction is far from optimal; and we have to live with that this year.

Hope Jeff and Cyril get better fast!

Agreed...I know we do have some concerns and maybe it's not this simple, but no matter how good a team is, they always have a game like this over the course of a season.

[rambone 78]

All right...still not home yet but I had to post.
..all this talk about other bubble teams doesn't mean zippity do dah..
We have to take care of OUR business or none it matters...we went 1-1 the last 2.
.what if we had beaten Davidson and lost to Fordham instead?..
We would be toast for an at large.

Were hanging on by the hair of our chinny chin chin!
Will be back for st louis

[reef]

I say keep the starting lineup the same and do what CFL did with Jon Clark start Jermaine but only play him 4 minutes each half unless he is having a good game then give him more minutes

In crunch time make sure Toppin is on the court

[FDshoes]

I say keep the starting lineup the same and do what CFL did with Jon Clark start Jermaine but only play him 4 minutes each half unless he is having a good game then give him more minutes

In crunch time make sure Toppin is on the court

I like Toppin as much as everybody else. But if we need size he isnt the answer. He doesnt have the strength or size to battle down low. He gets pushed out of the way to easily. Keep rolling with jermaine and Walker at the 4. Toppin can sub for just about anyone and be in the lineup when we go "small" but he is not the answer when we need to play a true 4.

[PeterRamTime]

I say keep the starting lineup the same and do what CFL did with Jon Clark start Jermaine but only play him 4 minutes each half unless he is having a good game then give him more minutes

In crunch time make sure Toppin is on the court

I say run a play for ol JH to get him the ball down low early. Attempt to get his confidence up.

[reef]

I say keep the starting lineup the same and do what CFL did with Jon Clark start Jermaine but only play him 4 minutes each half unless he is having a good game then give him more minutes

In crunch time make sure Toppin is on the court

I say run a play for ol JH to get him the ball down low early. Attempt to get his confidence up.

True we may get to see that rolling jump hook that looks awkward but sometimes goes in

[FDshoes]

I say keep the starting lineup the same and do what CFL did with Jon Clark start Jermaine but only play him 4 minutes each half unless he is having a good game then give him more minutes

In crunch time make sure Toppin is on the court

I say run a play for ol JH to get him the ball down low early. Attempt to get his confidence up.

Was certainly working earlier in the year but for whatever reason we have gone away from that. Even in the games that we got him the ball down low early it stopped after a few minutes.

[Taylor Swift]

I say keep the starting lineup the same and do what CFL did with Jon Clark start Jermaine but only play him 4 minutes each half unless he is having a good game then give him more minutes

In crunch time make sure Toppin is on the court

Jon Clark! Blast from the past. I totally remember CFL doing this.

[McRam]

I say keep the starting lineup the same and do what CFL did with Jon Clark start Jermaine but only play him 4 minutes each half unless he is having a good game then give him more minutes

In crunch time make sure Toppin is on the court

I say run a play for ol JH to get him the ball down low early. Attempt to get his confidence up.

Was certainly working earlier in the year but for whatever reason we have gone away from that. Even in the games that we got him the ball down low early it stopped after a few minutes.
[/]

Agree, we do not run any plays for him, however, regardless of his contributions so far, why do we think that Grant Golden ismore productive. Is he a better athlete, a better defensive player etc. yet he is more productive!! so, what is the reason??
Is it the way we use him?

[RI_Bred]

I say don't do anything CFL did.

[Brian Forster]

I agree with Rhowdy,waaay tooo much attrition.
Turnover always looks like somebody does not know what they are doing.
Same thing with football.

[section(105)]

......have a Toppin start, get the tip our way, lull the defense for monster alley-op for Toppin slam to open the game......draw that up coach.....think bigger coach.....

[jaywin86]

I say keep the starting lineup the same and do what CFL did with Jon Clark start Jermaine but only play him 4 minutes each half unless he is having a good game then give him more minutes

In crunch time make sure Toppin is on the court

Jon Clark! Blast from the past. I totally remember CFL doing this.

i think jason francis too. though his knees were shot

[Rhody_NYCT]

I was there last night. Not much to add...everything has been said. Thank God we escaped with the win. It was scary.

Props to Toppin and Long for stepping up big as freshman.

Time to beat St. Louis.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Had to wait an hour and a half before posting so my nerves could calm down enough that my hands would stop shaking. Tonight was gut- wrenching .Two of these in a row . Can't take a third one. Will be there on Sunday hoping for a better game and at least the same result . St. Louis usually is like most
of the teams in the league , much tougher at home. They have to have Langevine play against that football team The Billikens put on the floor. French
and Goodwin both average a double double and Goodwin is only 6-3 " . They are by far the most physical team in the league. If Langevine can play up
to his normal level Rhody can win but it is by no means a sure thing .The Billikens have usually struggled at The Ryan Center . Hope they do Sunday.
Rhody must be focused and shoot with confidence and avoid silly turnovers .

French and Goodwin are the only two players on the same team averaging a double double in rebounds and points - amazing

Goodwin leads the entire D1 in rebounding for players 6’3” and under. It’s amazing he averages more than 10 rebounds per game as a guard and with French also getting 10+

They just force the ball into the paint and get a lot of Cyril rebounds.

It is going to be a fight Sunday.

Please gGod I hope we are healthy enough to handle it.

FIFY, no charge

[SandorClegane]

Does anyone have the video or clips of the end of the game?? Basically everything under 10 seconds..