1/14 | UMass | 4:30PM (NESN+/ESPN+)

[Rhody72]

Did anyone else notice Bray joking or laughing in the last minute with a dead ball?

Talented but not the type of player I want on my team. We are not the Washington Generals, or are we?

[section(105)]

The morning after report. Wife looks the same, coffee tastes week, 40ish degrees in Marco Island, not optimistic about the GMen today, the A-10 standings are what they are. Looking forward to Tuesday? Nope. The bloom is off the rose for me. I guess Rhody hoops will scrape along the bottom tier of the conference until Archie figures it out. For me simply put, we need to land, via the portal or recruitment trail an immediate high level impact offense player to build around. Yes, these players don’t grow on trees for easy picking, and this level player wanting to be in Kingston is a challenge. Wake me when the signing ceremony is scheduled.

[Jersey77]

The morning after report. Wife looks the same, coffee tastes week, 40ish degrees in Marco Island, not optimistic about the GMen today, the A-10 standings are what they are. Looking forward to Tuesday? Nope. The bloom is off the rose for me. I guess Rhody hoops will scrape along the bottom tier of the conference until Archie figures it out. For me simply put, we need to land, via the portal or recruitment trail an immediate high level impact offense player to build around. Yes, these players don’t grow on trees for easy picking, and this level player wanting to be in Kingston is a challenge. Wake me when the signing ceremony is scheduled.

I wouldn't mind having a ho-hum day in Marco.

[RI_Bred]

Yes, these players don’t grow on trees for easy picking, and this level player wanting to be in Kingston is a challenge.

This is what worries me the most these days. Could be a long-term cancer on our program.

[McRam]

The morning after report. Wife looks the same, coffee tastes week, 40ish degrees in Marco Island, not optimistic about the GMen today, the A-10 standings are what they are. Looking forward to Tuesday? Nope. The bloom is off the rose for me. I guess Rhody hoops will scrape along the bottom tier of the conference until Archie figures it out. For me simply put, we need to land, via the portal or recruitment trail an immediate high level impact offense player to build around. Yes, these players don’t grow on trees for easy picking, and this level player wanting to be in Kingston is a challenge. Wake me when the signing ceremony is scheduled.

Just checking to see if your wife knows you are giving her such gracious compliments?

[section(105)]

The morning after report. Wife looks the same, coffee tastes week, 40ish degrees in Marco Island, not optimistic about the GMen today, the A-10 standings are what they are. Looking forward to Tuesday? Nope. The bloom is off the rose for me. I guess Rhody hoops will scrape along the bottom tier of the conference until Archie figures it out. For me simply put, we need to land, via the portal or recruitment trail an immediate high level impact offense player to build around. Yes, these players don’t grow on trees for easy picking, and this level player wanting to be in Kingston is a challenge. Wake me when the signing ceremony is scheduled.

Just checking to see if your wife knows you are giving her such gracious compliments?

Just keeping it real, I made the coffee.

[RamStock]

This team is horrendous! I never expected Archie to put together such an abysmal roster. Boneheaded plays. Putrid shooting. Not sure how to describe the non-existent defense. How many times did we get beat down the court defensively? We need about 7 new players next year and at least 3 of them have to be starter quality. If not, it’s not gonna be much better than this year.

They have the worst basketball IQ in the country. I’m not sure how people keep saying how Thomas, Rory, Samb and others are getting better and we will be winning soon. They aren’t winning with this group. Harris is coming back to save us and Lou Hutchinson isn’t going to come back and be a star next year. Archie needs the two freshman and at least 4 new players. I’m getting the feeling Freeman is going to be a big disappointment. He just wants to do his own thing and has some Fatts Russell in him. Archie himself has not done a great job this year.

[RIFan]

I get it, I’m guilty too…this rebuild doesn’t seem to have the feel as the last one. Maybe it’s Archie’s stealth style vs Dan’s in your face or maybe it’s not being able to see who in this group is going to become the star or stars we need. As many have said those stars many not be here yet. Either way, we cannot afford a recruiting class without at least 2 high impact players in it this time around.

And as I stated yesterday, we have fallen even farther than we had believed, considering how horrible the A10 is now compared to the last rebuild. Will that fact have an impact too?

[UCH21377]

It's pretty apparent at this point there are no quick fixes. I think he is going to need the next two off seasons to build a roster that can compete down the road. And that roster will need time to develop. Thinking 2 more seasons to build the program, then maybe we'll have something 3 years down the road.

[section(105)]

This team is horrendous! I never expected Archie to put together such an abysmal roster. Boneheaded plays. Putrid shooting. Not sure how to describe the non-existent defense. How many times did we get beat down the court defensively? We need about 7 new players next year and at least 3 of them have to be starter quality. If not, it’s not gonna be much better than this year.

They have the worst basketball IQ in the country. I’m not sure how people keep saying how Thomas, Rory, Samb and others are getting better and we will be winning soon. They aren’t winning with this group. Harris is coming back to save us and Lou Hutchinson isn’t going to come back and be a star next year. Archie needs the two freshman and at least 4 new players. I’m getting the feeling Freeman is going to be a big disappointment. He just wants to do his own thing and has some Fatts Russell in him. Archie himself has not done a great job this year.

And supposedly we have played the weakest part of our conference schedule.

[rambone 78]

Dan and Cooley have done a great job recruiting high level transfers. That is what Archie will have to do here. Of course it's a lot harder sell bringing that kind of talent at the A10 level versus the BE. Lot more TV money to spend on players. Wasn't that long ago that the talent gap between the BE and the top half of the A10 was fairly narrow. Not anymore. The gap has widened big time, and the future doesn't look that encouraging either.

[NYGFan_Section208]

The morning after report. Wife looks the same, coffee tastes week, 40ish degrees in Marco Island, not optimistic about the GMen today, the A-10 standings are what they are. Looking forward to Tuesday? Nope. The bloom is off the rose for me. I guess Rhody hoops will scrape along the bottom tier of the conference until Archie figures it out. For me simply put, we need to land, via the portal or recruitment trail an immediate high level impact offense player to build around. Yes, these players don’t grow on trees for easy picking, and this level player wanting to be in Kingston is a challenge. Wake me when the signing ceremony is scheduled.

Dude, if coffee is as critical for you as it is for me...that really sucks that it tasted weak. Bad way to start the day, sorry to hear.
Hopefully, you were able to get a second cup that was better. No good morning ever starts off with a subpar cup of joe...

ETA: GMen are a 50/50 proposition today, I think. Pats playin' today?

[bigappleram]

We are not a good team yet. But the space between where we are and where we need to be isnt nearly as wide as some make it out to be every time we lose. Talent development plus an infusion of new blood can go a long way.

[rhodyblue12]

Not a huge Thomas fan, but he really did not hurt us that badly yesterday. Only one turnover and one ill-advised drive into traffic. The minutes were a bit high – he should probably be a 10 min/game type just to sub in and give other guards a break before the media timeouts. Weston (like Ish) was forced to guard a much bigger player and had some foul issues. UMass found the mismatch and kept exploiting it. Good job by Frank.

Our problem is lack of talent. We have some good pieces, but you cannot play a guard-oriented offense with undersized players that can’t shoot, AND have zero low post presence. How many times a game does the ball even get thrown into the low block? Almost zero now that Bilau is out. That’s because our guys are not a threat and instead of opening up the outside, other defenders can float to their man because they don’t need to help down.

You can play four guards if you have one really good post player. We don’t. To compensate for this Archie is trying to open up driving lanes by having our center continuously run to the top of the key to set picks. It is the only tool he has at his disposal now. I am surprised teams are still having their post defender follow. If they just leave their center in the middle of the lane and force our guards to shoot off the pick, our offense will get even worse.

On top of that all, our defense in the second half was awful yesterday. Even on a good shooting day, it will be tough to win giving up 48 points in a half

[Rhody15]

Freeman seemed to force shots and dribble into nowhere more than he has the last month.

He was out of control for the majority of the game and was just chucking shots that had no chance of going in.

Did not expect to see that after how well he’s played lately.

[RI_Bred]

Dan and Cooley have done a great job recruiting high level transfers. That is what Archie will have to do here. Of course it's a lot harder sell bringing that kind of talent at the A10 level versus the BE. Lot more TV money to spend on players. Wasn't that long ago that the talent gap between the BE and the top half of the A10 was fairly narrow. Not anymore. The gap has widened big time, and the future doesn't look that encouraging either.

I think this is very true. A10 getting left behind. I know there are plenty of people that like the NIL and the ease of transfer these days. To me it's really going to hurt mid-tier D1 conferences - we're seeing it now.

[Bos8]

We are not a good team yet. But the space between where we are and where we need to be isnt nearly as wide as some make it out to be every time we lose. Talent development plus an infusion of new blood can go a long way.

There is a saying... Your never are actually as bad as you think you are when you lose, and you are never actually as good as you think when you win.

[RF1]

This game continues URI's road woes as they have lost every road game played in the last calendar year. The Mullins was the site of the last true road win for Rhody back on January 15th, 2022, now a year ago. Have lost ten straight true road games since then.

It is not out of the question that Rhody's last road game at Loyola on Wednesday March 1st might decide whether our Rams get a road victory this season. That is probably the best opportunity odds wise for a road win from here on out. St Joe's on Wednesday February 1st would be next best opportunity. However given the Hawks won by 31 points at home yesterday, my hope for a win there is now lowered.

[Jersey77]

We are not a good team yet. But the space between where we are and where we need to be isnt nearly as wide as some make it out to be every time we lose. Talent development plus an infusion of new blood can go a long way.

I tend to agree with this BAR.

Let's remember that Archie was out of coaching last season and KJ for 2 years.
Not that they forgot how or lost contact but still not the same as actively recruiting.
I certainly wasn't expecting a bevy of 4* and blue-chip recruits.
Archie also said he was looking at long-term players with 3- and 4-years eligibility left.
So immediate impact upper classmen in the portal weren't in the cards at the time.

So he took under the radar recruits that were still available and several portal players that were still raw but had the potential for plenty of upside. Bray was the proven exception and Bilau was Juco but a Wichita State transfer.

Samb is still only a RS freshman, and missed plenty of time early on with previous injury issues.
He is definitely not a center and playing out of position by necessity, along with Alex.
Time will tell if he does stay and develops into an impact player here.
We don't know what to expect health wise from Bilau and the story with Foumena.
Rory and Hutch seem to be totally out of the current rotation, burned their RS, so maybe they move on.
So yes, there is a need for a couple of bigs that can immediately come in and contribute.

I do like Dubs and Cam and both can shoot, but again with freshman recruits you never know how they work out.

Maybe Archie decides to change his approach this off-season in using the portal, nothing is set in stone.

None the less, most of us were very well aware this wasn't going to be an overnight fix.

[NarraRamFan]

improvement certainly won't be linear. The thought Archie said he was not a portal guy? He may need to re-think that and get us some temporary help.

[Rhody15]

improvement certainly won't be linear. The thought Archie said he was not a portal guy? He may need to re-think that and get us some temporary help.

He was definitely a portal guy.

Yes I know he needed to fill out the roster.

He missed/didn’t take NGussean, Durugordon, Femi, Diggins, and Toussaint.

Wonder if Archie would still claim he wasn’t a portal guy if he had landed the majority of those kids.

With the exception of Freeman, I’d think all of them would be more productive than the transfers we did get, except for maybe Diggins. He isn’t doing much at UMass.

[bigappleram]

Pretty sure he took Bray over Diggins. We would I.
Not sure how many of those guys chose other places vs us not wanting them.

[Jersey77]

Pretty sure he took Bray over Diggins. We would I.
Not sure how many of those guys chose other places vs us not wanting them.

Archie definitely would have taken Femi and N'Guessan.
They both are impact players at P6 schools.

Joe Toussaint we never had a chance for, can't really call that a miss.

[Rhody15]

Pretty sure he took Bray over Diggins. We would I.
Not sure how many of those guys chose other places vs us not wanting them.

Yea I should have specified the only one who Archie supposedly didn’t take was Durogordon.

[RhodyRams916]

Archie made a mistake not bringing in more transfers. We’re now relying on Ish, Bray and Carey to win games for us, and that’s not going to work.

[RhodyRams916]

I also think Foumena shouldn’t have redshirted. He looked pretty good in that scrimmage.

[SGreenwell]

Archie made a mistake not bringing in more transfers. We’re now relying on Ish, Bray and Carey to win games for us, and that’s not going to work.

He brought in four, five if you count Ant Harris. But our top five in PER are Leggett, Carey, Martin, then Freeman and Bilau. (Not that it's the be-all, end-all of player evaluation, but it's something I can use a quick shorthand here.) So, it's not like the transfers have been way more productive than the retained players. And it's not surprising to me that both the incoming freshman and the transfers aren't as productive as the holdovers. At the time Miller was recruiting from the player market, so to speak, he probably just had to grab whatever he could that was left on the shelves. It'll be more disappointing and concerning if both Dubsky and Estevez (and TBD, since I doubt no one transfers from the back of the roster) are both bad next year, since Miller has had more time to sign them.

[RhodyRams916]

Archie made a mistake not bringing in more transfers. We’re now relying on Ish, Bray and Carey to win games for us, and that’s not going to work.

He brought in four, five if you count Ant Harris. But our top five in PER are Leggett, Carey, Martin, then Freeman and Bilau. (Not that it's the be-all, end-all of player evaluation, but it's something I can use a quick shorthand here.) So, it's not like the transfers have been way more productive than the retained players. And it's not surprising to me that both the incoming freshman and the transfers aren't as productive as the holdovers. At the time Miller was recruiting from the player market, so to speak, he probably just had to grab whatever he could that was left on the shelves. It'll be more disappointing and concerning if both Dubsky and Estevez (and TBD, since I doubt no one transfers from the back of the roster) are both bad next year, since Miller has had more time to sign them.

Lemme reiterate. “Good transfers”. Tchikou and Weston have not done enough this late in the season.

[eli#10]

Take it easy on Weston. He is a red shirt freshman who played in only one game for Seton Hall last year. In other words he was beyond rusty when our season started and his playing time recently has been on the upswing.

[Rhodymob05]

Weston is basically a recruit.

[bigappleram]

I’d suggest patience with Tchikou and Weston.
12 months no organized ball due to Covid.
Another year out due to injury. That’s a lot of missed reps.
I see promise in both.

[steveystuds06]

Archie made a mistake not bringing in more transfers. We’re now relying on Ish, Bray and Carey to win games for us, and that’s not going to work.

He brought in four, five if you count Ant Harris. But our top five in PER are Leggett, Carey, Martin, then Freeman and Bilau. (Not that it's the be-all, end-all of player evaluation, but it's something I can use a quick shorthand here.) So, it's not like the transfers have been way more productive than the retained players. And it's not surprising to me that both the incoming freshman and the transfers aren't as productive as the holdovers. At the time Miller was recruiting from the player market, so to speak, he probably just had to grab whatever he could that was left on the shelves. It'll be more disappointing and concerning if both Dubsky and Estevez (and TBD, since I doubt no one transfers from the back of the roster) are both bad next year, since Miller has had more time to sign them.

Lemme reiterate. “Good transfers”. Tchikou and Weston have not done enough this late in the season.

I agree we need upgrades.

However, you can still land a good transfer that isn't ready to contribute immediately. Weston wasn't ready at the start of the season. Archie said this countless times. He's finally starting to get more minutes, and I think he's shown flashes of why he was such a highly-rated recruit. It's too early to say he's not a good transfer.

Tchikou just had his best game. It's not saying much, but maybe this helps him gain more confidence. He's been bad in most games, but he might start to take a turn. I get why you take on someone with his upside.

What I don't get is why we brought on Rory, but passed on Duru. I guess we don't know the full story, but that was a big mistake.

I think we need a few older immediate-impact transfers. Someone like a Cross...They have more experience playing at this level and are ready to contribute the second they come on campus. Sometimes they are what they are and won't improve much, but we can't have a roster full of projects.

I'm very excited for Cam Esteves and I expect him to be better than Bassy by conference play next year. I like Connors's ability to shoot. We really need to land one of those juco bigs. Archie has a lot of work to do.

[RhodyRams916]

He brought in four, five if you count Ant Harris. But our top five in PER are Leggett, Carey, Martin, then Freeman and Bilau. (Not that it's the be-all, end-all of player evaluation, but it's something I can use a quick shorthand here.) So, it's not like the transfers have been way more productive than the retained players. And it's not surprising to me that both the incoming freshman and the transfers aren't as productive as the holdovers. At the time Miller was recruiting from the player market, so to speak, he probably just had to grab whatever he could that was left on the shelves. It'll be more disappointing and concerning if both Dubsky and Estevez (and TBD, since I doubt no one transfers from the back of the roster) are both bad next year, since Miller has had more time to sign them.

Lemme reiterate. “Good transfers”. Tchikou and Weston have not done enough this late in the season.

I agree we need upgrades.

However, you can still land a good transfer that isn't ready to contribute immediately. Weston wasn't ready at the start of the season. Archie said this countless times. He's finally starting to get more minutes, and I think he's shown flashes of why he was such a highly-rated recruit. It's too early to say he's not a good transfer.

Tchikou just had his best game. It's not saying much, but maybe this helps him gain more confidence. He's been bad in most games, but he might start to take a turn. I get why you take on someone with his upside.

What I don't get is why we brought on Rory, but passed on Duru. I guess we don't know the full story, but that was a big mistake.

I think we need a few older immediate-impact transfers. Someone like a Cross...They have more experience playing at this level and are ready to contribute the second they come on campus. Sometimes they are what they are and won't improve much, but we can't have a roster full of projects.

I'm very excited for Cam Esteves and I expect him to be better than Bassy by conference play next year. I like Connors's ability to shoot. We really need to land one of those juco bigs. Archie has a lot of work to do.

Yeah my bad. Maybe I'm being too harsh on those 2 guys. I like Weston and hope he is a different player come March. I wish Tchikou attempted/made more FGs, maybe that'll come later in the season too. Idk what Archie was thinking by passing on Duru.

[RhodyRams916]

I’d suggest patience with Tchikou and Weston.
12 months no organized ball due to Covid.
Another year out due to injury. That’s a lot of missed reps.
I see promise in both.

I will take your word for it. I want to see both of them scoring more pts in March.

[PeterRamTime]

I just don't think anybody is winning with our three bigs.

I mean even the 17/18 team has serious struggles and probably misses the tournament if their only bigs are redshirt freshmen Samb and Tchikou with a sprinkling of Rory. (God if only Dan could have brought in a high level big on that team)

When you have three bigs that pose zero threat you just become extremely easy to guard.

That's why losing Bilau really hurt. He was our only threat offensively and was a generally smart player in general. Would've helped our guards get in a much better rhythm in conference play.

Alex FINALLY did something late in the game yesterday and it helped keep us in it. Hopefully he builds on that.

[Rhody15]

In Stewart and Hutchinson, people here said Rory was “really good” and Hutchinson was going to be a “cornerstone” player for us.

Players described as such rarely collect multiple DNP-CD’s.

And now they both are not playing and most posters here think one or both of them will move on.

Just another reason why I will not get overly hyped about every single player brought into the program.

[RhowdyRam02]

I think Archie's approach was the right one in off-season one, even if it hasn't been quite what we hoped for yet. He was coming into a complete rebuild situation, so he took as many younger guys as possible to try and build a young core that could be supplemented around going forward. When you do that, especially getting started late in the process like he did with a year out of coaching it's going to be a rougher process though

[RhodyRams916]

In Stewart and Hutchinson, people here said Rory was “really good” and Hutchinson was going to be a “cornerstone” player for us.

Players described as such rarely collect multiple DNP-CD’s.

And now they both are not playing and most posters here think one or both of them will move on.

Just another reason why I will not get overly hyped about every single player brought into the program.

Yeah I'm with you on that. Not a good idea to judge a player until they play at the college level. Rory has looked awful, even as a freshman.

[DeanDome88]

I just don't think anybody is winning with our three bigs.

I mean even the 17/18 team has serious struggles and probably misses the tournament if their only bigs are redshirt freshmen Samb and Tchikou with a sprinkling of Rory. (God if only Dan could have brought in a high level big on that team)

When you have three bigs that pose zero threat you just become extremely easy to guard.

That's why losing Bilau really hurt. He was our only threat offensively and was a generally smart player in general. Would've helped our guards get in a much better rhythm in conference play.

Alex FINALLY did something late in the game yesterday and it helped keep us in it. Hopefully he builds on that.

The best thing I can say about Samb is that he runs the court hard. I hope Alex improves by the end of the season and expect that he will. He did not see the court much last season.
Freeman is too much of a ball hog for my taste. If you want to take as many shots as he does you need to make a higher percentage. He needs to tone it down.

[Jdrums#3]

With the liberalized transfer rules, if a player isn’t getting time then I don’t see how anyone can be 100% sure a player is staying if they are eligible to transfer for the first time.

That said, it’s worth discussing the possibilities to pass time.

Fwiw, It would not shock me if both Rory and Hutch stay one more year or leave. I am sure they will hash that out with Archie at the end of the season.

Right now, I would like to see both stay one more season as I think both have potential to be impact players down the road. I don’t know the extent of the impact because I am not clairvoyant. But how fast they improve is largely in their hands, if they are patient and if they can accept their roles here - however Arch decides they fit.

If not, they go to a program where they are promised a larger role. And, if that happens, we will move on without taking a step back.

At this time, I see no parts on this team (active roster) that are not replaceable . But I am not with the team as much as Archie nor see what he sees day in and day out.

[RhodyRams916]

I just don't think anybody is winning with our three bigs.

I mean even the 17/18 team has serious struggles and probably misses the tournament if their only bigs are redshirt freshmen Samb and Tchikou with a sprinkling of Rory. (God if only Dan could have brought in a high level big on that team)

When you have three bigs that pose zero threat you just become extremely easy to guard.

That's why losing Bilau really hurt. He was our only threat offensively and was a generally smart player in general. Would've helped our guards get in a much better rhythm in conference play.

Alex FINALLY did something late in the game yesterday and it helped keep us in it. Hopefully he builds on that.

The best thing I can say about Samb is that he runs the court hard. I hope Alex improves by the end of the season and expect that he will. He did not see the court much last season.
Freeman is too much of a ball hog for my taste. If you want to take as many shots as he does you need to make a higher percentage. He needs to tone it down.

That's on the coaches to talk to Bray, right?? He's obviously a talented player but he's starting to look like Fatts, throwing up ridiculous low % shots. He needs to get others involved.

[PeterRamTime]

With the liberalized transfer rules, if a player isn’t getting time then I don’t see how anyone can be 100% sure a player is staying if they are eligible to transfer for the first time.

That said, it’s worth discussing the possibilities to pass time.

It would not shock me if both stay one more year or leave. I am sure they will hash that out with Archie at the end of the season.

Right now, I would like to see both stay one more season. I think both have potential to be impact players down the road. I don’t know the extent of the impact because I am not clairvoyant. But how fast they improve is largely in their hands, if they are patient and if they can accept their roles here.

If not, they go to a program where they will have a larger role. And, if that happens, we will move on without taking a step back.

I dont think Alex will transfer. He has already used his free transfer and the NCAA recently announced they're going to start cracking down on waivers.

Best case scenario Samb and Rory transfer, we keep Alex, Bilau and Foumena and add one or two impact transfer bigs with at least two years of eligibility.

Win more games

Get better players.

[SGreenwell]

It's hard to judge Freeman and to a lesser extent Martin because they're probably pressing out there. If Ish isn't shooting, or Carey isn't driving to the hoop, they're the next options up. Martin has played more efficiently in the past with better offensive options around him, for example. I think it's more of an issue next year, if Freeman is still taking circus shots with competent 3-point shooters on the wings or a big man in the post, for example.

[Iggy1979]

Kenny Johnson's job is to bring in players. Hopefully that happens.

[PeterRamTime]

It's hard to judge Freeman and to a lesser extent Martin because they're probably pressing out there. If Ish isn't shooting, or Carey isn't driving to the hoop, they're the next options up. Martin has played more efficiently in the past with better offensive options around him, for example. I think it's more of an issue next year, if Freeman is still taking circus shots with competent 3-point shooters on the wings or a big man in the post, for example.

Great point

It feels less ball hoggish to me and more "I'm our only chance at scoring the ball right now"

Yesterday was much worse than normal. Freeman just needs to pick his spots better and he'll be more efficient.

[section(105)]

In Stewart and Hutchinson, people here said Rory was “really good” and Hutchinson was going to be a “cornerstone” player for us.

Players described as such rarely collect multiple DNP-CD’s.

And now they both are not playing and most posters here think one or both of them will move on.

Just another reason why I will not get overly hyped about every single player brought into the program.

This is what we here seem to do. That is over hype players cause the want us. We collectively seem to get desperate buy in with a few encouraging positive words on each player. I too get caught up in this, because I do not follow much of the recruiting section, and blindly just go with “really good” and cornerstone” as must be so. Then my eyeball test upon early viewing doesn’t match up. This is not exactly a combine score of skill sets and hoops IQ. For me Rory is the perfect example. I fear this is already happening with the committed recruits coming next year. The jump from prep programs to speed and size of D1 is a big one.

[Jdrums#3]

Speed, size and strength adjustment is huge. Not every player makes the adjustment easily, if at all.

I get excited with some recruits - excited with their potential against high school and prep competition. But, in the back of my mind, the question is always there: Can they adjust to the speed and size of major cbb and how fast?

I can’t know that until they play in real games on the major college level.

Watching Rory, for instance, he is at a disadvantage from a foot speed and overall athleticism standpoint. I don’t know if he can fix that enough (nor how long it could take) to be a solid rotation player here.

That said, I am sure Archie confers with the training staff periodically and already knows the answer or will know the answer by the end of the season regarding Rory’s chances of improving his foot speed and athleticism enough to be a rotation player at the A10 level.

[steveystuds06]

In Stewart and Hutchinson, people here said Rory was “really good” and Hutchinson was going to be a “cornerstone” player for us.

Players described as such rarely collect multiple DNP-CD’s.

And now they both are not playing and most posters here think one or both of them will move on.

Just another reason why I will not get overly hyped about every single player brought into the program.

This is what we here seem to do. That is over hype players cause the want us. We collectively seem to get desperate buy in with a few encouraging positive words on each player. I too get caught up in this, because I do not follow much of the recruiting section, and blindly just go with “really good” and cornerstone” as must be so. Then my eyeball test upon early viewing doesn’t match up. This is not exactly a combine score of skill sets and hoops IQ. For me Rory is the perfect example. I fear this is already happening with the committed recruits coming next year. The jump from prep programs to speed and size of D1 is a big one.

There are a few people that think every recruit is a superstar. Others assume that every recruit will suck, and then they pat themselves on the back when they do. But I think most on here are in the middle. Do people get excited when we land someone? Yup. Are they typically positive about the recruits we land? Yes. This is a message board for die-hard Rhody fans, after all... But I think we have many knowledgeable people on here, and they know that every coach will have recruiting misses. I don't think anyone here thinks every recruit will be a star. That's ridiculous.

I personally like to discuss what I think are the player's strengths and weaknesses and have a positive outlook on their potential impact. Sometimes I can overhype someone. For example, I was incredibly high on Weston. I said I think he could be a 1st team A10 type player before he's gone. I still do. I also do my best to watch recruits play real games. It's still tough to know how good they will be, but it's much better than a highlight tape.

I think most of us felt Hutch was a project with an upside based on Archie's comments. Smart kid great work ethic, but very raw..This was discussed here many times.

People on here were excited about one thing about Rory. Shooting. I certainly thought he could hit an open 3 and had a nice skill for a big. I didn't have him in my starting 5 or getting many minutes this year, but I thought he would have a specific role with his ability to hit the 3. My worry with Rory was how slow he looked and he would have issues with the speed/strength of D1 players..Most of us had Bilau Tchikou and Foumena as the best bigs. I said countless times I thought Foumena was our best big. I still believe that. We need him to be!

As for the incoming recruits, it depends on what your expectations are. I think it's unreasonable to expect two incoming freshmen to make a big impact immediately. They will need time to adjust. I think Cam Estevez will be a good starter for this team. However, that may not happen until his second year.

[jcru]

Well said, Stevey.

[jcru]

Some people like to complain that Alex Tchikou needs to play major minutes and everyone else needs to ride the bench, and then when Archie does exactly that over the last two games and Alex fails miserably, that same person likes to pretend they never said it, because that person can never own up to being wrong, ever.

The need to be RIGHT every single waking minute of the day, and never admit being wrong, is the ultimate sign of immaturity. Particularly in someone who isn't a spring chicken anymore on this site.