12/13 | Western Kentucky University | 12:00 PM (CBSSN)

[rhodyfan3000]

I understand the argument, but at the same time, Baron was given nearly 20 years to get that roster in order, and look what he left the next coach...

Old Mother Hubbard.

If DC were to leave after this year for another job, most of these guys on the current roster were transfers, he's leaving the cupboard chock full.

[Jersey77]

With how bad the Atlantic 10 was Cox' first season, a roster of junior Jeff Dowtin, junior Cyril Langevine, sophomore Fatts Russell, and the best recruiting class in the A10, top 50 nationally absolutely should have made the NIT. That they didn't is an underachievement. And I supported Dan because he was a more well known commodity and he didn't have any underachieving seasons. If he had missed the tournament the first year we went he'd be where Cox is now. The idea we should give Cox a pass because of turmoil in his program is nonsensical. People can say new norm all they want it doesn't make it so. We've had two times the players leaving as an average program. Cox wanted this job because it was a reload, well it's time for him to shoot and hit the target. He's already 0-2

This conversation probably needs to move to a different thread. I usually tend to be critical and I believe that head coaches need to be accountable, but this is to early in Cox's tenure to make judgement. Especially with Covid causing all the disruptions this season, and all the rule changes taking place this year. Look after 2 full seasons he is 39-24 and DH who we all now admire was 22-39. Please stop with the #1 recruiting class, that is so subjective, and one of the top recruits on that list never made it to campus. Also when DH came here, he actually inherited more scoring than Cox did from the previous team, but I don't want to go that that route. There was constant complaining early on about DH's offensive schemes, strategies, and emotional outbursts but he eventually won the fans over. Let's just see how this plays out with Cox and if we do see a program that stagnates or spirals downward, I am sure changes will be made.

"After 2 full seasons Cox is 39-24 and DH was 22-39." "DH inherited more scoring than Cox" These are ridiculous arguments. This is who Hurley inherited:
T.J. Buchanan
Alwayne Bigby
Mike Powell
Jarelle Reischel
Jordan Hare
Nikola Malesvic
Andre Malone
Ryan Brooks

This is what Cox inherited:
Jeff Dowtin
Fatts Russell
Cyril Langevine
Ryan Preston
Michael Tertsea
All due respect to TJ, there isn't a single guy Hurley inherited that are better than the top 3 Cox inherited. So yeah, great, Hurley inherited TJ and a lot of extra fungible players. Anybody that knows basketball and knows this program knows what Cox faced in his first two years isn't close to what Hurley faced.

And you want to dismiss the recruiting class now, but that was the whole point of hiring him then

First of all, I said I didn't want to make the argument about roster comparisons. I just pointed out that DH inherited more points from the previous team than Cox did, that is a fact. The cupboard certainly wasn't full when Cox took over like you may think, and I didn't have expectations about going to the post-season that year. They hired him for continuity in the program , his ability to recruit, he was well respected in the basketball community, and had a good relationship with his players. I certainly don't dismiss recruiting but many times those rankings can be very subjective. Enough already, time to move on.

[RhowdyRam02]

I just think you’re (and others here) wildly over exaggerating how much Cox has disappointed. Year 1 he was left with a shell of a roster (expected outcome). Year 2 he had a borderline tournament team and we’ll never know what would have happened considered COVID. And here we are in Year 3 with a lot of fresh faces and probably in line with where we should be

What part of the performance so far is the big issue? I’d say he’s done what’s been asked. He hasn’t per say WOWed me. But you’re coming for the guys throat after 2.25 years.

Realistically this team should be on the bubble this year. And then next year they should be in the tournament. That’s my take. Agree or disagree it’s the barometer I’m holding Cox too

The barometer I'm holding him to is we were supposed to make the tournament last year and we were outside of the field when the season ended because he presided over an epic choke job. I admitted that he's been great at bringing talent in, but if he can't keep the players on campus then that talent is mitigated. You say I'm coming for his throat, but what has he done to earn a contract extension at this time? Why should he be given one before he makes an NCAA tournament?

You and anyone else here who thinks how last year ended was an “epic choke job” needs to refresh your memory on what even happened. We lost 2 games to debatably the best team in the country and another to St Louis who was arguably outright better than us, and then a game in OT to a top 6 A10 team in Davidson. There were no bad losses there. The timing of all of them and how recency bias works was unfortunate more than anything.

And I don’t know how many times I have to say this but just because you had “the best recruiting class” and they ended up being over recruited doesn’t mean we should be blindly loyal to that stat. You HAVE BETTER PLAYERS NOW, who cares they left.

We didn't just lose, we got curb stomped (14 point loss their place, 27 point loss our place) to a top 5 team (outstanding but certainly not debatably the best team in the country), we got dominated at home by St. Louis, lost in OT to Davidson, only beat a bad UMass team by 6 and 1, and only beat a shit Fordham team by 1. It was an epic choke job because we went from solid at large to no chance of getting anything other than the auto-bid in 35 days

[DC_Rams]

Dan Hurley walked into a shitshow.. David Cox walked into a championship-level program with many strong pieces to build upon. I don't care if Phil Jackson took over for Hurley. Going 3 years without a bid isn't good enough... If Cox lands us a bid this year, then I agree. Let's give him an extension.

What?! He did not have the roster Hurley did...stop it.

Cox started with Jeff, Cyril and Fatts. That is better than what Hurley had at the start, but he also did a better job with those early teams than Hurley did. Hurley left after Jared, EC, Stan, Hassan, Jarvis and Iverson were all gone. It was a rebuild year. I think last year was a bubble team, probably on the outside but could have made up for it in the A10 championships which is where Hurley was in year 5.

Id take Biruta over Cyril anyday.

[KingstonLane]

The barometer I'm holding him to is we were supposed to make the tournament last year and we were outside of the field when the season ended because he presided over an epic choke job. I admitted that he's been great at bringing talent in, but if he can't keep the players on campus then that talent is mitigated. You say I'm coming for his throat, but what has he done to earn a contract extension at this time? Why should he be given one before he makes an NCAA tournament?

You and anyone else here who thinks how last year ended was an “epic choke job” needs to refresh your memory on what even happened. We lost 2 games to debatably the best team in the country and another to St Louis who was arguably outright better than us, and then a game in OT to a top 6 A10 team in Davidson. There were no bad losses there. The timing of all of them and how recency bias works was unfortunate more than anything.

And I don’t know how many times I have to say this but just because you had “the best recruiting class” and they ended up being over recruited doesn’t mean we should be blindly loyal to that stat. You HAVE BETTER PLAYERS NOW, who cares they left.

We didn't just lose, we got curb stomped (14 point loss their place, 27 point loss our place) to a top 5 team (outstanding but certainly not debatably the best team in the country), we got dominated at home by St. Louis, lost in OT to Davidson, only beat a bad UMass team by 6 and 1, and only beat a shit Fordham team by 1. It was an epic choke job because we went from solid at large to no chance of getting anything other than the auto-bid in 35 days

#3 Dayton in the COUNTRY is somehow not arguably the best team? Do you even believe what you’re saying? Rankings change week to week, they were the definition of arguably the best team and HAD the best player

It’s a long season and your 3 best players essentially never came off the floor. Can’t say I’m shocked after 25 games they were tired

[DC_Rams]

You and anyone else here who thinks how last year ended was an “epic choke job” needs to refresh your memory on what even happened. We lost 2 games to debatably the best team in the country and another to St Louis who was arguably outright better than us, and then a game in OT to a top 6 A10 team in Davidson. There were no bad losses there. The timing of all of them and how recency bias works was unfortunate more than anything.

And I don’t know how many times I have to say this but just because you had “the best recruiting class” and they ended up being over recruited doesn’t mean we should be blindly loyal to that stat. You HAVE BETTER PLAYERS NOW, who cares they left.

We didn't just lose, we got curb stomped (14 point loss their place, 27 point loss our place) to a top 5 team (outstanding but certainly not debatably the best team in the country), we got dominated at home by St. Louis, lost in OT to Davidson, only beat a bad UMass team by 6 and 1, and only beat a shit Fordham team by 1. It was an epic choke job because we went from solid at large to no chance of getting anything other than the auto-bid in 35 days

#3 Dayton in the COUNTRY is somehow not arguably the best team? Do you even believe what you’re saying? Rankings change week to week, they were the definition of arguably the best team and HAD the best player

It’s a long season and your 3 best players essentially never came off the floor. Can’t say I’m shocked after 25 games they were tired

Also had a team with ZERO depth. Now we have that, just have to continue to gel.

[Blue Man]

With how bad the Atlantic 10 was Cox' first season, a roster of junior Jeff Dowtin, junior Cyril Langevine, sophomore Fatts Russell, and the best recruiting class in the A10, top 50 nationally absolutely should have made the NIT. That they didn't is an underachievement. And I supported Dan because he was a more well known commodity and he didn't have any underachieving seasons. If he had missed the tournament the first year we went he'd be where Cox is now. The idea we should give Cox a pass because of turmoil in his program is nonsensical. People can say new norm all they want it doesn't make it so. We've had two times the players leaving as an average program. Cox wanted this job because it was a reload, well it's time for him to shoot and hit the target. He's already 0-2

This conversation probably needs to move to a different thread. I usually tend to be critical and I believe that head coaches need to be accountable, but this is to early in Cox's tenure to make judgement. Especially with Covid causing all the disruptions this season, and all the rule changes taking place this year. Look after 2 full seasons he is 39-24 and DH who we all now admire was 22-39. Please stop with the #1 recruiting class, that is so subjective, and one of the top recruits on that list never made it to campus. Also when DH came here, he actually inherited more scoring than Cox did from the previous team, but I don't want to go that that route. There was constant complaining early on about DH's offensive schemes, strategies, and emotional outbursts but he eventually won the fans over. Let's just see how this plays out with Cox and if we do see a program that stagnates or spirals downward, I am sure changes will be made.

"After 2 full seasons Cox is 39-24 and DH was 22-39." "DH inherited more scoring than Cox" These are ridiculous arguments. This is who Hurley inherited:
T.J. Buchanan
Alwayne Bigby
Mike Powell
Jarelle Reischel
Jordan Hare
Nikola Malesvic
Andre Malone
Ryan Brooks

This is what Cox inherited:
Jeff Dowtin
Fatts Russell
Cyril Langevine
Ryan Preston
Michael Tertsea
All due respect to TJ, there isn't a single guy Hurley inherited that are better than the top 3 Cox inherited. So yeah, great, Hurley inherited TJ and a lot of extra fungible players. Anybody that knows basketball and knows this program knows what Cox faced in his first two years isn't close to what Hurley faced.

And you want to dismiss the recruiting class now, but that was the whole point of hiring him then

I trust the mods will move all these to the Dave Cox thread so allow me to jump in here:

Rhowdy's take is dead on accurate here.

Now, anyone saying that you can't have a lame duck coach out there recruiting is absolutely correct, and we will probably have to extend Dave because that's how college basketball works.

The extension should be closer to the "end of Baron" rather than the "lifetime of Baron" contract - and I mean that with no negative connotation towards Dave. What I mean is that we've been down this road before and just because someone seems "stable" a few years in doesn't mean you go and lock them up for a lifetime contract. Dave needs to have 4 years left at any point in time otherwise you hamstring him recruiting.

Based on our history, the contract needs an attainable buyout should the university choose to go in a different direction, which will cost more money in the contract up front - which is typically how these deals work out.

While again - since there are some on this board who require a pharmaceutical company's list of fine print and positive words before you are allowed to be the least bit honest or offer a minor critique of someone's basketball acumen - I love Dave Cox. He's a great ambassador for the University. He is a brilliant basketball mind. He has shown he is a tremendous recruiter. All of those are facts.

There is also the fact that his in-game coaching (time outs, substitutions, minutes distribution, adjustments) is still in it's infancy and has yet to show any consistent progress worthy of a CFL type contract. RR02 also points out that retaining talent is a big part of the coaching equation. Yes he can recruit, but the only "recruit" who has made it through 3 years of a Cox tenure at this point is probably the most polarizing player in the last decade here. Rhowdy's point is completely valid that the entire reason David Cox was brought in after Hurley was to "keep the momentum" that Hurley built, namely the recruiting class.

Well, it's fair to say that hasn't been up to snuff. The class has gone elsewhere before their "big jump' junior year. So of those recruits, you never really got the full benefit of them as upper-classmen.

Any "momentum" from Hurley is clearly gone, as the "bar" was A10 championships and NCAA appearances. It is an absolute joke to even compare what Hurley had in year 1 and what Cox had in year 1.

Most importantly, you had a team of winners. You had a team full of players who had only known how to win, on the back of consecutive championship and NCAA appearance seasons, complete with 2 A10 final appearances. You had 2 years of probably the best pure point guard to come through here since Tyson Wheeler, the most important position on the floor. You had one of the best 2 forwards to be here in the past 15 years. You had senior leadership, a spark plug scorer, and arguably the best recruiting class URI had ever had (at the time).

There was no excuse to have a 1-7 stretch from Jan-February that included losses to UMass, Duquesne, and FORDHAM AT HOME. Not to mention probably the worst 2nd half meltdown in an A-10 tournament game where you go into the U12 with a lead and then get outscored by 19 points in the final 11 minutes. This after you took down the top team the day before and could've waltzed to another NCAA birth even with your colossal melt down during the regular season.

Year 2 was better - but just full of missed opportunities, eerily like a Baron year...just minus the famous swoon.

Unprepared for Maryland early in the year - understandable. Lost an LSU game that would've helped. Lost a West Virginia game you could've won.

The inexcusable happened in January when you got EMBARRASSED by BROWN and then followed that up with another shitty loss to an underwhelming Richmond team at the time.

Down the stretch we didn't win 1 game we needed to that could've pushed us over the hump. Dayton embarrassed us, but they were a national championship contender so you can understand. Davidson was a game we shouldn't have lost, same with St Louis.

Granted none of those were easy games, but if you want to go to a tournament those are the games you need to win. 2 and a half years in and we still aren't winning those games.

This wasn't a rebuild. It's understandable that Cox is also learning on the job, but as RJ said in another post - what has given certain people the blind faith to just say "he's going to do it." Nothing in his history or our recent history says he's going to break through this glass ceiling we constantly find ourselves under.

You could clearly see it with Hurley - the culture changed, the recruits changed, and eventually the wins followed.

In Dan's year 3 (which was really like a year 2 based on the total overhaul Dan needed to perform) he knocked off the first ranked team in 15 years. His team never gave up and they made an NIT - a huge milestone in the team's progression.

It is completely fair to want to see SOMETHING from a Dave Cox team - like a ranked win, or avoiding a dumb loss, or a tournament appearance in year 3 of a non-rebuild. To be honest, it was a fair expectation for year 1 as well. He said so himself.

Cox is a work in progress, which is a reasonable expectation. But to say that this team is just going to get there, without a shred of evidence displayed in the last 2 years , is ridiculous.

[RhowdyRam02]

What?! He did not have the roster Hurley did...stop it.

Cox started with Jeff, Cyril and Fatts. That is better than what Hurley had at the start, but he also did a better job with those early teams than Hurley did. Hurley left after Jared, EC, Stan, Hassan, Jarvis and Iverson were all gone. It was a rebuild year. I think last year was a bubble team, probably on the outside but could have made up for it in the A10 championships which is where Hurley was in year 5.

Id take Biruta over Cyril anyday.

Biruta was brought in by Hurley, he wasn't inherited, and he sat out Hurley's first season as a transfer

[steveystuds06]

What?! He did not have the roster Hurley did...stop it.

Cox started with Jeff, Cyril and Fatts. That is better than what Hurley had at the start, but he also did a better job with those early teams than Hurley did. Hurley left after Jared, EC, Stan, Hassan, Jarvis and Iverson were all gone. It was a rebuild year. I think last year was a bubble team, probably on the outside but could have made up for it in the A10 championships which is where Hurley was in year 5.

Id take Biruta over Cyril anyday.

Gill was a transfer that Hurley brought in..

Anyways, If you need someone to battle, defend, and rebound, I'd take Cyril. If you need an offensive weapon, I guess I will go with Gil. Both were great players in their own ways but come on...

[RhowdyRam02]

You and anyone else here who thinks how last year ended was an “epic choke job” needs to refresh your memory on what even happened. We lost 2 games to debatably the best team in the country and another to St Louis who was arguably outright better than us, and then a game in OT to a top 6 A10 team in Davidson. There were no bad losses there. The timing of all of them and how recency bias works was unfortunate more than anything.

And I don’t know how many times I have to say this but just because you had “the best recruiting class” and they ended up being over recruited doesn’t mean we should be blindly loyal to that stat. You HAVE BETTER PLAYERS NOW, who cares they left.

We didn't just lose, we got curb stomped (14 point loss their place, 27 point loss our place) to a top 5 team (outstanding but certainly not debatably the best team in the country), we got dominated at home by St. Louis, lost in OT to Davidson, only beat a bad UMass team by 6 and 1, and only beat a shit Fordham team by 1. It was an epic choke job because we went from solid at large to no chance of getting anything other than the auto-bid in 35 days

#3 Dayton in the COUNTRY is somehow not arguably the best team? Do you even believe what you’re saying? Rankings change week to week, they were the definition of arguably the best team and HAD the best player

It’s a long season and your 3 best players essentially never came off the floor. Can’t say I’m shocked after 25 games they were tired

Honest question, were they ever ranked number 1 in the country at any point last year?

[Blue Man]

Cox started with Jeff, Cyril and Fatts. That is better than what Hurley had at the start, but he also did a better job with those early teams than Hurley did. Hurley left after Jared, EC, Stan, Hassan, Jarvis and Iverson were all gone. It was a rebuild year. I think last year was a bubble team, probably on the outside but could have made up for it in the A10 championships which is where Hurley was in year 5.

Id take Biruta over Cyril anyday.

Biruta was brought in by Hurley, he wasn't inherited, and he sat out Hurley's first season as a transfer

Are we REALLY going to re-write history like this?

Holy crap did you just block all of us so you could write absolute filth like this and pretend it was fact?

Gil Biruta. 6'8, former Big East forward who came to the A-10...a guard-dominated league to have a URI career that averaged 9 points, 5 rebounds, and .6 blocks per game? Who made no all conference teams. Who had really zero pressure on him with Hass already averaging 11 and 8 per game his senior season and he averaged the same amount of rebounds as EC.

You are seriously saying that you would take THAT guy over the guy who AVERAGED a double/double his senior season? 2nd team all A-10? First team all defense? All-tournament team?

Are we on Punk'd?

I'll take your blind optimistic fanboy takes all day over you rewriting history to spew this garbage.

[section(105)]

.......I am trying to square the “brilliant basketball mind”, with apparent in game coaching deficiencies......is Coach Cox a good or not so good teacher of basketball......?

[steveystuds06]

Id take Biruta over Cyril anyday.

Biruta was brought in by Hurley, he wasn't inherited, and he sat out Hurley's first season as a transfer

Are we REALLY going to re-write history like this?

Holy crap did you just block all of us so you could write absolute filth like this and pretend it was fact?

Gil Biruta. 6'8, former Big East forward who came to the A-10...a guard-dominated league to have a URI career that averaged 9 points, 5 rebounds, and .6 blocks per game? Who made no all conference teams. Who had really zero pressure on him with Hass already averaging 11 and 8 per game his senior season and he averaged the same amount of rebounds as EC.

You are seriously saying that you would take THAT guy over the guy who AVERAGED a double/double his senior season? 2nd team all A-10? First team all defense? All-tournament team?

Are we on Punk'd?

I'll take your blind optimistic fanboy takes all day over you rewriting history to spew this garbage.

Ya, I mean, Gil was a nice player, but Cyril was an absolute monster. Next, we are going to hear how Mike Powell was a better point guard than Jeff Dowtin

[RhowdyRam02]

We didn't just lose, we got curb stomped (14 point loss their place, 27 point loss our place) to a top 5 team (outstanding but certainly not debatably the best team in the country), we got dominated at home by St. Louis, lost in OT to Davidson, only beat a bad UMass team by 6 and 1, and only beat a shit Fordham team by 1. It was an epic choke job because we went from solid at large to no chance of getting anything other than the auto-bid in 35 days

#3 Dayton in the COUNTRY is somehow not arguably the best team? Do you even believe what you’re saying? Rankings change week to week, they were the definition of arguably the best team and HAD the best player

It’s a long season and your 3 best players essentially never came off the floor. Can’t say I’m shocked after 25 games they were tired

Also had a team with ZERO depth. Now we have that, just have to continue to gel.

Why did they have zero depth? That was a coaching issue

[theblueram]

What?! He did not have the roster Hurley did...stop it.

Cox started with Jeff, Cyril and Fatts. That is better than what Hurley had at the start, but he also did a better job with those early teams than Hurley did. Hurley left after Jared, EC, Stan, Hassan, Jarvis and Iverson were all gone. It was a rebuild year. I think last year was a bubble team, probably on the outside but could have made up for it in the A10 championships which is where Hurley was in year 5.

Id take Biruta over Cyril anyday.

Yikes!

[DC_Rams]

I knew that would wake some of you up. I’m sure blue man’s panties are in a bunch.

Let’s revisit history. Cyril’s senior season, everyone cried that he was a bull in a China shop, had ZERO post moves, no finesse, could not shoot free throws, garnered many of his rebounds off his own misses, could not dribble, etc...

The kid was all motor and heart. Me saying my preference is Biruta is not a knock, I just prefer that type of 6’8 player over Cyril. Period. And I love Cyril to death.

[Blue Man]

I knew that would wake some of you up. I’m sure blue man’s panties are in a bunch.

Let’s revisit history. Cyril’s senior season, everyone cried that he was a bull in a China shop, had ZERO post moves, no finesse, could not shoot free throws, garnered many of his rebounds off his own misses, could not dribble, etc...

The kid was all motor and heart. Me saying my preference is Biruta is not a knock, I just prefer that type of 6’8 player over Cyril. Period. And I love Cyril to death.

Wow I knew you were just a blind fanboy hell-bent on rooting your friends on with zero context of what rooting for this program was...but like...wut?

Are you trying to de-legitimize one of the best defensive forwards in this program's history to try to make some point that your boy also had a "bare cupboard" like Hurley?

So...you prefer a "finesse" player who has to be "finesse" because he's too much of a pussy to bang - and really as a finesse player, he didn't give you any advantages of being a finesse player...like scoring or passing. So you want a forward who doesn't play like a traditional forward, but doesn't give you the scoring advantages, passing advantages, or ball-handling advantages of a guard/forward, point/forward, or wing.

Cyril wasn't an offensive presence - and you didn't need him to be. You had Jeff, Fatts, and Tyrese to score. You needed an aggressive, bull-in-the-china-shop type defender. He gave this team a heartbeat and an identity.

Gil Biruta, and I mean this, is the 2nd or 3rd most disappointing player in the last 20-30 years of this program. He is in the conversation with Scott Hazelton, Jermaine Harris, and Zach Marbury.

This kid was billed as a "first team A-10" type forward because he was on the Big East all-rookie team when the Big East was legit. I don't know if the Mike Rice situation permanently messed him up, but he was an absolute train-wreck here compared to his expectations. If you subbed Cyril for Gil, the 2014-15 team goes to the NCAA tournament and makes noise.

[Rhody72]

I feared that as soon as opined that URI give DC a mega contract that the Board would attack him.

[rhodyfan3000]

Yep.

I really don't care about the history so much. In the words of Pitino: "Dan Hurley ain't walking through that door"

Dan was great while it lasted, but he left the wife and kids for the chick down the street with the new boob job and the Mercedes coupe two seater . And it's likely that's not his last stop either.

This current roster has potential galore. It's just a matter of team chemistry and finding it before it's too late in the season.

[DC_Rams]

I’m a glutton for punishment, what can I say...

My remarks about Biruta were more tongue in cheek than anything. The point I’m making is, if you read this board last season, and read comments from many “fans”, many of the game threads attacked the play of Cyril. Again, I don’t recall Biruta’s career at Rutgers, but I definitely don’t see him as a dud.

80% of this board discredits any success, due to short-lived or recent failures, I.e. recency bias. You attack what you believe my allegiances and alliances to be as fact because they don’t align with your most recent gripes or whines. The only thing I’ll admit to being is an eternal optimist. It’s how I was raised, and it keep my hairline in tact. Shrug.

We can agree to disagree. We can also agree to never speak again, it won’t change my loyalty to this team, staff or whoever else you believe my loyalties are too. It’s that simple.

[BlackDogRants]

This conversation probably needs to move to a different thread. I usually tend to be critical and I believe that head coaches need to be accountable, but this is to early in Cox's tenure to make judgement. Especially with Covid causing all the disruptions this season, and all the rule changes taking place this year. Look after 2 full seasons he is 39-24 and DH who we all now admire was 22-39. Please stop with the #1 recruiting class, that is so subjective, and one of the top recruits on that list never made it to campus. Also when DH came here, he actually inherited more scoring than Cox did from the previous team, but I don't want to go that that route. There was constant complaining early on about DH's offensive schemes, strategies, and emotional outbursts but he eventually won the fans over. Let's just see how this plays out with Cox and if we do see a program that stagnates or spirals downward, I am sure changes will be made.

"After 2 full seasons Cox is 39-24 and DH was 22-39." "DH inherited more scoring than Cox" These are ridiculous arguments. This is who Hurley inherited:
T.J. Buchanan
Alwayne Bigby
Mike Powell
Jarelle Reischel
Jordan Hare
Nikola Malesvic
Andre Malone
Ryan Brooks

This is what Cox inherited:
Jeff Dowtin
Fatts Russell
Cyril Langevine
Ryan Preston
Michael Tertsea
All due respect to TJ, there isn't a single guy Hurley inherited that are better than the top 3 Cox inherited. So yeah, great, Hurley inherited TJ and a lot of extra fungible players. Anybody that knows basketball and knows this program knows what Cox faced in his first two years isn't close to what Hurley faced.

And you want to dismiss the recruiting class now, but that was the whole point of hiring him then

I trust the mods will move all these to the Dave Cox thread so allow me to jump in here:

Rhowdy's take is dead on accurate here.

Now, anyone saying that you can't have a lame duck coach out there recruiting is absolutely correct, and we will probably have to extend Dave because that's how college basketball works.

The extension should be closer to the "end of Baron" rather than the "lifetime of Baron" contract - and I mean that with no negative connotation towards Dave. What I mean is that we've been down this road before and just because someone seems "stable" a few years in doesn't mean you go and lock them up for a lifetime contract. Dave needs to have 4 years left at any point in time otherwise you hamstring him recruiting.

Based on our history, the contract needs an attainable buyout should the university choose to go in a different direction, which will cost more money in the contract up front - which is typically how these deals work out.

While again - since there are some on this board who require a pharmaceutical company's list of fine print and positive words before you are allowed to be the least bit honest or offer a minor critique of someone's basketball acumen - I love Dave Cox. He's a great ambassador for the University. He is a brilliant basketball mind. He has shown he is a tremendous recruiter. All of those are facts.

There is also the fact that his in-game coaching (time outs, substitutions, minutes distribution, adjustments) is still in it's infancy and has yet to show any consistent progress worthy of a CFL type contract. RR02 also points out that retaining talent is a big part of the coaching equation. Yes he can recruit, but the only "recruit" who has made it through 3 years of a Cox tenure at this point is probably the most polarizing player in the last decade here. Rhowdy's point is completely valid that the entire reason David Cox was brought in after Hurley was to "keep the momentum" that Hurley built, namely the recruiting class.

Well, it's fair to say that hasn't been up to snuff. The class has gone elsewhere before their "big jump' junior year. So of those recruits, you never really got the full benefit of them as upper-classmen.

Any "momentum" from Hurley is clearly gone, as the "bar" was A10 championships and NCAA appearances. It is an absolute joke to even compare what Hurley had in year 1 and what Cox had in year 1.

Most importantly, you had a team of winners. You had a team full of players who had only known how to win, on the back of consecutive championship and NCAA appearance seasons, complete with 2 A10 final appearances. You had 2 years of probably the best pure point guard to come through here since Tyson Wheeler, the most important position on the floor. You had one of the best 2 forwards to be here in the past 15 years. You had senior leadership, a spark plug scorer, and arguably the best recruiting class URI had ever had (at the time).

There was no excuse to have a 1-7 stretch from Jan-February that included losses to UMass, Duquesne, and FORDHAM AT HOME. Not to mention probably the worst 2nd half meltdown in an A-10 tournament game where you go into the U12 with a lead and then get outscored by 19 points in the final 11 minutes. This after you took down the top team the day before and could've waltzed to another NCAA birth even with your colossal melt down during the regular season.

Year 2 was better - but just full of missed opportunities, eerily like a Baron year...just minus the famous swoon.

Unprepared for Maryland early in the year - understandable. Lost an LSU game that would've helped. Lost a West Virginia game you could've won.

The inexcusable happened in January when you got EMBARRASSED by BROWN and then followed that up with another shitty loss to an underwhelming Richmond team at the time.

Down the stretch we didn't win 1 game we needed to that could've pushed us over the hump. Dayton embarrassed us, but they were a national championship contender so you can understand. Davidson was a game we shouldn't have lost, same with St Louis.

Granted none of those were easy games, but if you want to go to a tournament those are the games you need to win. 2 and a half years in and we still aren't winning those games.

This wasn't a rebuild. It's understandable that Cox is also learning on the job, but as RJ said in another post - what has given certain people the blind faith to just say "he's going to do it." Nothing in his history or our recent history says he's going to break through this glass ceiling we constantly find ourselves under.

You could clearly see it with Hurley - the culture changed, the recruits changed, and eventually the wins followed.

In Dan's year 3 (which was really like a year 2 based on the total overhaul Dan needed to perform) he knocked off the first ranked team in 15 years. His team never gave up and they made an NIT - a huge milestone in the team's progression.

It is completely fair to want to see SOMETHING from a Dave Cox team - like a ranked win, or avoiding a dumb loss, or a tournament appearance in year 3 of a non-rebuild. To be honest, it was a fair expectation for year 1 as well. He said so himself.

Cox is a work in progress, which is a reasonable expectation. But to say that this team is just going to get there, without a shred of evidence displayed in the last 2 years , is ridiculous.

This is it. This must be read. Well put. I will put my sword away and be content for now.

[theblueram]

I’m a glutton for punishment, what can I say...

My remarks about Biruta were more tongue in cheek than anything. The point I’m making is, if you read this board last season, and read comments from many “fans”, many of the game threads attacked the play of Cyril. Again, I don’t recall Biruta’s career at Rutgers, but I definitely don’t see him as a dud.

80% of this board discredits any success, due to short-lived or recent failures, I.e. recency bias. You attack what you believe my allegiances and alliances to be as fact because they don’t align with your most recent gripes or whines. The only thing I’ll admit to being is an eternal optimist. It’s how I was raised, and it keep my hairline in tact. Shrug.

We can agree to disagree. We can also agree to never speak again, it won’t change my loyalty to this team, staff or whoever else you believe my loyalties are too. It’s that simple.

My suggestion to you is stay off game threads. These are play by play discussions of what a player did on a particular play or in game in general. You should stop by the Rhody pub at halftime during a home game shit show and you can hear it in person.

[DC_Rams]

I’m a glutton for punishment, what can I say...

My remarks about Biruta were more tongue in cheek than anything. The point I’m making is, if you read this board last season, and read comments from many “fans”, many of the game threads attacked the play of Cyril. Again, I don’t recall Biruta’s career at Rutgers, but I definitely don’t see him as a dud.

80% of this board discredits any success, due to short-lived or recent failures, I.e. recency bias. You attack what you believe my allegiances and alliances to be as fact because they don’t align with your most recent gripes or whines. The only thing I’ll admit to being is an eternal optimist. It’s how I was raised, and it keep my hairline in tact. Shrug.

We can agree to disagree. We can also agree to never speak again, it won’t change my loyalty to this team, staff or whoever else you believe my loyalties are too. It’s that simple.

My suggestion to you is stay off game threads. These are play by play discussions of what a player did on a particular play or in game in general. You should stop by the Rhody pub at halftime during a home game shit show and you can hear it in person.

I’ve been in there once. Never again will I make that mistake.

Game threads go on for days, even weeks after said game.

[theblueram]

I’m a glutton for punishment, what can I say...

My remarks about Biruta were more tongue in cheek than anything. The point I’m making is, if you read this board last season, and read comments from many “fans”, many of the game threads attacked the play of Cyril. Again, I don’t recall Biruta’s career at Rutgers, but I definitely don’t see him as a dud.

80% of this board discredits any success, due to short-lived or recent failures, I.e. recency bias. You attack what you believe my allegiances and alliances to be as fact because they don’t align with your most recent gripes or whines. The only thing I’ll admit to being is an eternal optimist. It’s how I was raised, and it keep my hairline in tact. Shrug.

We can agree to disagree. We can also agree to never speak again, it won’t change my loyalty to this team, staff or whoever else you believe my loyalties are too. It’s that simple.

My suggestion to you is stay off game threads. These are play by play discussions of what a player did on a particular play or in game in general. You should stop by the Rhody pub at halftime during a home game shit show and you can hear it in person.

I’ve been in there once. Never again will I make that mistake.

Game threads go on for days, even weeks after said game.

Game threads are awesome. You get to read people's instant reactions to in game action. If you never swore at a game you are watching, you are not a sports fan. This is a sports fan's forum for URI Basketball. People will bitch a player on one play and call him an animal on the next. Are you new to sports?

[rambone 78]

Cox in year 3, now has more talent here than his 1st 2 years.

He should be, and will be, judged on what he does with this talent.

If the issues we are seeing continue with this talent, then we should be concerned about this coach's future here.

Too early to pass judgement I agree, but the trend lines are concerning.

If he doesn't get this team to the dance by next season, he needs to go. Bottom line.

If Thorr really is serious about his expectations for the program, that is.

I think this is a reasonable take on the subject.

[SmartyBarrett]

Not sure why the gaslighting re: Dayton last year. They were #2 in the country in offensive efficiency, #1 in effective field goal percentage and #1 in shooting percentage from two. And they were absolutely going to be a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a legitimate National Championship contender (as all 1 seeds have been since the dawn of the tournament). Definitely could debate that they were the best team in the country.

[theblueram]

Cox in year 3, now has more talent here than his 1st 2 years.

He should be, and will be, judged on what he does with this talent.

If the issues we are seeing continue with this talent, then we should be concerned about this coach's future here.

Too early to pass judgement I agree, but the trend lines are concerning.

If he doesn't get this team to the dance by next season, he needs to go. Bottom line.

If Thorr really is serious about his expectations for the program, that is.

I think this is a reasonable take on the subject.

Totally agree Bone. Cause we all know, as soon as a coach has success here, he's gone. So no need to placate a coach to succeed. They either do or don't. Give a 4 year timeline and cut bait with no success.

[section(105)]

.........maybe, the troubling part of all this for me, if today’s college hoops climate the revolving door of players and touted transfer talents, maybe the Thorr expectations are not reasonable......for the URI program?.......then the revolving door of coaches will continue.......fund the program to a level that will sustain both team identity and coaches that are not looking toward the door.....

[theblueram]

.........maybe, the troubling part of all this for me, if today’s college hoops climate the revolving door of players and touted transfer talents, maybe the Thorr expectations are not reasonable......for the URI program?.......then the revolving door of coaches will continue.......fund the program to a level that will sustain both team identity and coaches that are not looking toward the door.....

105, the only way you do that is pay a coach $2M at the start of the contract with the expectations of a dance. Plus, have the money to buy out said contract if it doesn't work out and repeat. Pay for expectations, not pay after. Has a CEO ever been paid like $400k at the start of their contract and then paid $12M when the stock price rises? No.

[section(105)]

........Think Big.......Fund Small (the basketball program)........We Do.........the beat goes on......

[UCH21377]

I think we need to extend Cox. Nothing massive but whatever is proper for ongoing recruiting and so forth. He has proven he can bring in good players. That is the biggest part of the job, IMO. He'll work thru the rest. Next year he'll be working with all his recruits, in year 4. We need patience thru then IMO.

As for Hurley, there is no comparison to what Cox inherited. Hurley inherited a mess; not the players per se, but the program was in shambles with discipline lacking, APR problems, off court issues, etc. Cox inherited a good core IMO but it was a tough transition. Thought they would be better than they turned out. But that's ancient history.

[rambone 78]

Last season's collapse was troubling.

Expecting this year's team to get better as the season goes along.

If not, well you know what my opinion will be.

[Ramball]

The old adage in college basketball is that it is not about the X's and O's but more about the Jimmy's and Joe's. Dave Cox is getting the Jimmy's and Joe's and we will become a successful program under his leadership.

[ramster]

Cox started with Jeff, Cyril and Fatts. That is better than what Hurley had at the start, but he also did a better job with those early teams than Hurley did. Hurley left after Jared, EC, Stan, Hassan, Jarvis and Iverson were all gone. It was a rebuild year. I think last year was a bubble team, probably on the outside but could have made up for it in the A10 championships which is where Hurley was in year 5.

Id take Biruta over Cyril anyday.

Yikes!

Not even close. Langevine vs Biruta is just not close.
Langevine was a monster on both the offensive and defensive boards. He worked his butt off to improve his game over 4 years at URI.
A warrior and a leader by example. Langevine was a blue collar worker, carried his lunchbox to work each day.
Rarely did I see Cyril question a Referee’s call unlike many in the team, then and now, who give that bewildered look on most every call. Cyril just accepted the foul call and moved on - no crying, no whining - just moved forward instead of looking back.
In a Coaches call with David Cox and Kevin Sutton back in November 4, Steve asked them both to rank a number of areas 1-10. The two numbers are Cox / Sutton on November 4
Intensity level - 8/8
Veterans players performance returnees and transfers - 7/7.5
Rebounding - 2/2, bad/bad both said. Cox even said 1 or 3. Relying on athleticism and not boxing out. Need to work on. It’s just bad right now.
Perimeter shooting 6/6. Cox said ability to shoot the ball. Right now relying on too much dribble penetration. Will improve. Very important.
Team defense - 7.5/7. Cox said 2 weeks ago this number would have been a 3 or 4. Has improved, showing some good signs.
Fast break going from defense to offense - 8.5/8.5
FT Shooting - 6/6 unfortunately
David Cox’ Jump Shot - 10


My comments - not from the show but back to Langevine - Biruta comparison:
Rebounding easily the biggest opportunity. Losing Cyril clearly a loss. Tyrese Martin was an excellent rebounder and Toppin could sky and rebound as well.
Improving rebounding is very important

[ramster]

For KFUM Jamtland Cyril now through 9 games:
15.2 ppg
13.6 rpg
27.9 mpg

He is amazing.

[reef]

Id take Biruta over Cyril anyday.

Yikes!

Not even close. Langevine vs Biruta is just not close.
Langevine was a monster on both the offensive and defensive boards. He worked his butt off to improve his game over 4 years at URI.
A warrior and a leader by example. Langevine was a blue collar worker, carried his lunchbox to work each day.
Rarely did I see Cyril question a Referee’s call unlike many in the team, then and now, who give that bewildered look on most every call. Cyril just accepted the foul call and moved on - no crying, no whining - just moved forward instead of looking back.
In a Coaches call with David Cox and Kevin Sutton back in November 4, Steve asked them both to rank a number of areas 1-10. The two numbers are Cox / Sutton on November 4
Intensity level - 8/8
Veterans players performance returnees and transfers - 7/7.5
Rebounding - 2/2, bad/bad both said. Cox even said 1 or 3. Relying on athleticism and not boxing out. Need to work on. It’s just bad right now.
Perimeter shooting 6/6. Cox said ability to shoot the ball. Right now relying on too much dribble penetration. Will improve. Very important.
Team defense - 7.5/7. Cox said 2 weeks ago this number would have been a 3 or 4. Has improved, showing some good signs.
Fast break going from defense to offense - 8.5/8.5
FT Shooting - 6/6 unfortunately
David Cox’ Jump Shot - 10


My comments - not from the show but back to Langevine - Biruta comparison:
Rebounding easily the biggest opportunity. Losing Cyril clearly a loss. Tyrese Martin was an excellent rebounder and Toppin could sky and rebound as well.
Improving rebounding is very important

Agree with this also , Cyril was a certifiable beast not even compareable to Gil B

[SandorClegane]

Dan Hurley walked into a shitshow.. David Cox walked into a championship-level program with many strong pieces to build upon. I don't care if Phil Jackson took over for Hurley. Going 3 years without a bid isn't good enough... If Cox lands us a bid this year, then I agree. Let's give him an extension.

This is got to be one of the dumbest statement I’ve heard on this board. Cox inherited a team that had five seniors graduate. Basically five of the six best players on the team. This statement was utterly ridiculous. The only senior that played on the 2018 team was Ryan Preston. Ryan freaking Preston. Not Championship level by any means.

[SandorClegane]

For all the people that say the problem isn’t coaching, it’s because we foul too often, or miss free throws, or can’t score inside... it’s the individual player effort not staffs problem. Well, that’s been your same story for 7 games now. What exactly are we doing in practice? How are those specific things not related to coaching if we are seeing the same issues game in and game out?

For the ones saying it’s a new team... let’s not forget WHY it’s such a new team! I’ll help if your a bit foggy - It’s because a good chunk of our roster walked out the door the last two seasons. I’ll let you figure out who I think is to blame for that.

So you’d prefer Mehki Long, Dana Tate, or Jacob Toppin over what we have right now? I’m good thanks. You can complain about ticky tacky stuff and Xs and Os but pretending we’re worse off because we lost players for better players is where you’ve gone off the deep end.

Tyrese Martin is the only one of the recent transfers we’ve lost who would play minutes on this team

Toppin would be starting. That's a for sure thing.

First, Toppin was a good player. He probably would’ve started this year. He had a lot of upside, but let’s not talk about him as the second coming. He’s averaging 2.4 points this year. Maybe he’d average high single digits on URI if he blossomed this year. Tyrese was a huge loss. Toppin was a potential opportunity that got away.

[DC_Rams]

Dan Hurley walked into a shitshow.. David Cox walked into a championship-level program with many strong pieces to build upon. I don't care if Phil Jackson took over for Hurley. Going 3 years without a bid isn't good enough... If Cox lands us a bid this year, then I agree. Let's give him an extension.

This is got to be one of the dumbest statement I’ve heard on this board. Cox inherited a team that had five seniors graduate. Basically five of the six best players on the team. This statement was utterly ridiculous. The only senior that played on the 2018 team was Ryan Preston. Ryan freaking Preston. Not Championship level by any means.

This place can be like the Twilight Zone at times. It’s mind boggling.

[section(105)]

.......playing the Twilight Zone music.......

[Blue Man]

Dan Hurley walked into a shitshow.. David Cox walked into a championship-level program with many strong pieces to build upon. I don't care if Phil Jackson took over for Hurley. Going 3 years without a bid isn't good enough... If Cox lands us a bid this year, then I agree. Let's give him an extension.

This is got to be one of the dumbest statement I’ve heard on this board. Cox inherited a team that had five seniors graduate. Basically five of the six best players on the team. This statement was utterly ridiculous. The only senior that played on the 2018 team was Ryan Preston. Ryan freaking Preston. Not Championship level by any means.

You returned your junior point guard who had started for 2 years, which is the most important piece on any basketball court.

You returned a junior forward who had played almost 1100 minutes (just like Jermaine Harris who started every game he played in for 2 years).

You returned a sophomore who had played over 800 minutes in 34 games as a freshman, who played major minutes and contributed in big spots in the regular season and post season.

You also brought in the highest ranked recruiting class ever.

Most teams do not need more than that to compete. Especially in a lack-luster A-10 that sent 2 teams to the tournament.

Also - in that first season the team was 11-7, 4-2 in conference before losing 7 of 8 and finishing 16-14, 9-9 in conference.

If you don't have that collapse and go 5-3 instead of 1-7, you finish 20-10, 13-5. You are a top 4 seed, you don't need to play Thursday, you don't have tired legs and collapse against St Bonnies, you probably go to the tournament.

It's clear that team wasn't "bad" or lacking anything. Typically you would figure a younger team would "gel" under good coaching by February, and instead they fell apart.

Do you think that if Hurley is the coach of the '18-19 Rams that they finish barely above .500 and miss the tournament? The only difference on either team was Brendan Adams/Omar Silverio.

The team lost only the players it graduated. You kept the recruiting class you wanted and the team together because of Cox.

Trying to say that he had a "bare cupboard" by talking about a senior who played 8 minutes is an absolute fallacy. The kid was the 8th player in a 7 man rotation. How is he relevant?

[PeterRamTime]

Dan Hurley walked into a shitshow.. David Cox walked into a championship-level program with many strong pieces to build upon. I don't care if Phil Jackson took over for Hurley. Going 3 years without a bid isn't good enough... If Cox lands us a bid this year, then I agree. Let's give him an extension.

This is got to be one of the dumbest statement I’ve heard on this board. Cox inherited a team that had five seniors graduate. Basically five of the six best players on the team. This statement was utterly ridiculous. The only senior that played on the 2018 team was Ryan Preston. Ryan freaking Preston. Not Championship level by any means.

You returned your junior point guard who had started for 2 years, which is the most important piece on any basketball court.

You returned a junior forward who had played almost 1100 minutes (just like Jermaine Harris who started every game he played in for 2 years).

You returned a sophomore who had played over 800 minutes in 34 games as a freshman, who played major minutes and contributed in big spots in the regular season and post season.

You also brought in the highest ranked recruiting class ever.

Most teams do not need more than that to compete. Especially in a lack-luster A-10 that sent 2 teams to the tournament.

Also - in that first season the team was 11-7, 4-2 in conference before losing 7 of 8 and finishing 16-14, 9-9 in conference.

If you don't have that collapse and go 5-3 instead of 1-7, you finish 20-10, 13-5. You are a top 4 seed, you don't need to play Thursday, you don't have tired legs and collapse against St Bonnies, you probably go to the tournament.

It's clear that team wasn't "bad" or lacking anything. Typically you would figure a younger team would "gel" under good coaching by February, and instead they fell apart.

Do you think that if Hurley is the coach of the '18-19 Rams that they finish barely above .500 and miss the tournament? The only difference on either team was Brendan Adams/Omar Silverio.

The team lost only the players it graduated. You kept the recruiting class you wanted and the team together because of Cox.

Trying to say that he had a "bare cupboard" by talking about a senior who played 8 minutes is an absolute fallacy. The kid was the 8th player in a 7 man rotation. How is he relevant?

That team did gel. Just took til the very end of February into March. They gelled when it mattered most actually.

We did beat SLU, but I dont think it was a given we would beat them again in the A-10 championship because they're good defensively. or if we played VCU in the semifinals it may have been tougher and we were lucky to win that one anyway. We probably only won that because Marcus Evans went down.

Us falling apart against St Bonaventure was unfathomable. I dont care how tired the legs were that was insane. Made no sense. Tyrese hit that three to put us up 15 and then we forgot that we were playing basketball. Kinda like the beginning of the WISC and WKU games.

However, I'm not so sure Hurley would have done much better. He didn't with the 2015-16 group. Those teams were almost identical and he had JT and Hass.

Hurley would have made them better and more consistent defensively, but I would imagine they would be just as if not worse offensively. Perhaps the defense alone would have gotten us a couple more wins, but Hurleys track record offensively doesn't give me much optimism on that front.

[steveystuds06]

Dan Hurley walked into a shitshow. David Cox walked into a championship-level program with many strong pieces to build upon. I don't care if Phil Jackson took over for Hurley. Going 3 years without a bid isn't good enough... If Cox lands us a bid this year, then I agree. Let's give him an extension.

This is got to be one of the dumbest statement I’ve heard on this board. Cox inherited a team that had five seniors graduate. Basically five of the six best players on the team. This statement was utterly ridiculous. The only senior that played on the 2018 team was Ryan Preston. Ryan freaking Preston. Not Championship level by any means.

Jesus, I didn't realize how clueless some of you are. I wasn't saying that David Cox walked into a roster that should win a championship year 1. I'm talking about the program and culture that Dan Hurley left compared to Jim Baron. Clearly, you don't understand what happens to a program when you win your conference and win games in the NCAA tournament back to back years..

[steveystuds06]

Dan Hurley walked into a shitshow. David Cox walked into a championship-level program with many strong pieces to build upon. I don't care if Phil Jackson took over for Hurley. Going 3 years without a bid isn't good enough... If Cox lands us a bid this year, then I agree. Let's give him an extension.

This is got to be one of the dumbest statement I’ve heard on this board. Cox inherited a team that had five seniors graduate. Basically five of the six best players on the team. This statement was utterly ridiculous. The only senior that played on the 2018 team was Ryan Preston. Ryan freaking Preston. Not Championship level by any means.

This place can be like the Twilight Zone at times. It’s mind boggling.

Kind of like when someone says they would take Gil over Cyril.

[DC_Rams]

This is got to be one of the dumbest statement I’ve heard on this board. Cox inherited a team that had five seniors graduate. Basically five of the six best players on the team. This statement was utterly ridiculous. The only senior that played on the 2018 team was Ryan Preston. Ryan freaking Preston. Not Championship level by any means.

This place can be like the Twilight Zone at times. It’s mind boggling.

Kind of like when someone says they would take Gil over Cyril.

You read what you want to read, huh Stevey?

[steveystuds06]

This place can be like the Twilight Zone at times. It’s mind boggling.

Kind of like when someone says they would take Gil over Cyril.

You read what you want to read, huh Stevey?

I'm just an asshole.

I guess saying he had a championship-level program was an exaggeration with the roster he walked into, but I meant our program had tons of momentum going into Cox's first year. I'm not giving up on Cox. We have played some amazing basketball under his watch.

[theblueram]

Kind of like when someone says they would take Gil over Cyril.

You read what you want to read, huh Stevey?

I'm just an asshole.

I guess saying he had a championship-level program was an exaggeration with the roster he walked into, but I meant our program had tons of momentum going into Cox's first year. I'm not giving up on Cox. We have played some amazing basketball under his watch.

We have also played some uninspiring slop as well.

[DC_Rams]

Kind of like when someone says they would take Gil over Cyril.

You read what you want to read, huh Stevey?

I'm just an asshole.

I guess saying he had a championship-level program was an exaggeration with the roster he walked into, but I meant our program had tons of momentum going into Cox's first year. I'm not giving up on Cox. We have played some amazing basketball under his watch.

I can respect the honesty

We all want the same thing, I’ve punched through plenty of drywall over the years.

[Blue Man]

Kind of like when someone says they would take Gil over Cyril.

You read what you want to read, huh Stevey?

I'm just an asshole.

I guess saying he had a championship-level program was an exaggeration with the roster he walked into, but I meant our program had tons of momentum going into Cox's first year. I'm not giving up on Cox. We have played some amazing basketball under his watch.

Do not back down from your take, it was the correct one.

You want to talk twilight zone - people here are literally trying to say that what Dave was given is somehow comparable to what Dan had to dig out of.

The recency bias is INSANE.

The entire point of hiring Dave Cox, the associate head coach under Dan Hurley for 2 years, and assistant for 2 years before that, was to keep the team together and keep the championship momentum. Period.

Dave's press conference was about keeping "the bar" that we set at championships and NCAA births. It wasn't like Hurley's where we had to talk about "changing the culture" and "competing" - that's rebuild talk. Our talk was about building off the momentum of our championship-caliber program, keeping our ridiculously talented freshman and junior leadership core, and keeping the highest ranked recruiting class URI had ever brought in.

That's not a rebuild. Period. End of story.

Anyone even making the argument that Dave Cox walked into some type of rebuild is either being intentionally obtuse because they have a personal interest in the coach, or has absolutely zero idea what they are talking about.

Only 3 coaches in URI history have a better winning percentage than DC in their first 2 seasons.

Keaney, Penders, and Harrick.

Penders walked into a rebuild post-Malone (LOL, get it!?), and turned a 9-19 team into a 20-10 team, and went to the sweet 16 the following year. That was a rebuild and a remarkable job, but that's the exception.

Baron had a rebuild, and his first team went 8-20 with a returning cast of Brian Woodward, Dinno Daniels, and Lazare Adigono.

Hurley had a rebuild, and his first team went 8-21 with a returning cast of Nik Malesevic, Mike Powell, Ryan Brooks, and Alwayne Bigby.

Losing a coach doesn't automatically mean a "rebuild" - look at VCU, look at Dayton, look at Xavier.

Just because Cox lost a ton of scoring from the year before with a graduation, doesn't mean he was rebuilding a program. He had more than enough talent to compete. He had "his guys" as he had recruited Jeff Dowtin his first year, recruited Harris, recruited Tyrese, recruited Fatts.

Ignore the culture and brand that Cox inherited that makes it easier to get into pre-season tourneys, get TV exposure, and recruiting help. Do you think if Hurley was given a junior, battle hardened PG in Jeff Dowtin, a big bruising all-conference forward in Cyril Langevine, and Fatts Russell in 2012, that he only wins 8 games???

If Dan Hurley was still the head coach would ANYONE have excused a 2-3 year absence from the NCAA tournament? This team was exactly the same as if Hurley were here, minus a bench freshman.

Please don't construe this as some "anti-Cox" post as a few of you love to do. This is a reality check post about what constitutes a rebuilding program.

The 2018-19 Rams were not a rebuild. They fell short of expectations, period. As did the 2019-20 Rams.

This fact does not mean that Cox is not "the guy" or will not get over the hump. But it was not a rebuild, and if we could stop pretending it was that would be great.

[Jersey77]

It wasn't a total rebuild because we did have a winning mentality and some up and coming players but more of a retool, losing all the senior star power and leadership.

Again the main point is that for us to be a consistent contender in the A10 and regular appearances and success in the "DANCE", there needs to be a larger commitment and investment in the program by the University and some outside sources. This includes practice facilities (already in planning stages), charter flights, and especially a larger salary pool for the assistants, which I think you also pointed out in a previous post Blue Man.