KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

Let's keep this on the topic of Rams 2013-14 Schedule.

Should URI play Bryant this season? They would presumably not be an RPI anchor as in the past. Would URI ever do rotating home and homes with Bryant like it does with long time state rivals Brown and PC?

I like the idea that someone else mentioned before...That URI, Bryant, PC, and Brown all play in a round robin tournament and the host site rotates between the Ryan Center and the Dunk every year

gorhody89 wrote:I like the idea that someone else mentioned before...That URI, Bryant, PC, and Brown all play in a round robin tournament and the host site rotates between the Ryan Center and the Dunk every year

I don't think PC will go for it .... though I kind of like the idea.

Rhody74 wrote:

gorhody89 wrote:I like the idea that someone else mentioned before...That URI, Bryant, PC, and Brown all play in a round robin tournament and the host site rotates between the Ryan Center and the Dunk every year

I don't think PC will go for it .... though I kind of like the idea.

Cooley probably has night sweats about the brown loss as it is.

I like the idea. Nice way to promote the states Division 1 teams. Some of the teams play each other already so why not?

gorhody89 wrote:I like the idea that someone else mentioned before...That URI, Bryant, PC, and Brown all play in a round robin tournament and the host site rotates between the Ryan Center and the Dunk every year

I have no problem with this. I also have no problem with adding Bryant on a regular basis, especially if Bryant becomes a decent team year in/out.

PC played in one of these round robin events back in 2009 at the Dunk, however it was PC, Bryant, Bucknell, and Mercer.

I think most of the problems with these events come with scheduling and finding one common weekend where 4 teams don't have any games. Also, playing 3 games in 3 days basically means you want most of the next week off, so you really need a serious block of time.

However, if you play the teams anyway, just block off the time. Also, if it's a fear of seats (especially at the Ryan which is roughly 5,000 seats smaller), just offer separate admission to each game.

I think the tournament idea is neat, but I think there are probably two logistical hurdles:

1) You're taking away the guaranteed yearly URI-PC game from those two teams, which is normally a guaranteed near-sellout for both schools.

2) I think there is a limit on the number of tournaments you can play in. If you're playing in the RI Open every year, it limits your options.

That being said, I think it makes sense for URI to play Bryant each year instead of, say, Vermont or Maine or New Hampshire. To me, those schools are roughly equivalent, depending on the particular year, but I imagine you get more of a home or away gate by playing Bryant than the others. (For similar reasons, I think it makes more sense to have Rhode Island College in for exhibition games than traveling Canada teams.)

SGreenwell wrote:I think it makes sense for URI to play Bryant each year instead of, say, Vermont or Maine or New Hampshire. To me, those schools are roughly equivalent, depending on the particular year, but I imagine you get more of a home or away gate by playing Bryant than the others. (For similar reasons, I think it makes more sense to have Rhode Island College in for exhibition games than traveling Canada teams.)

Actually, I think Bryant's upside is greater than our former Yankee Conference rivals. I think it would enhance the local interest in college basketball. Lots of Bryant grads out there ....

Another posting 04-29-13 on the scheduling board looking for two opponents for home and homes.

http://www.basketballtravelers.com/game ... /?e_type=1

Disagree.
How can anyone lump in Vermont with UNH or even Maine?
I wish we went to as many NCAAs as Vermont in the last decade.

RF1 wrote:Another posting 04-29-13 on the scheduling board looking for two opponents for home and homes.

http://www.basketballtravelers.com/game ... /?e_type=1

Gonzaga is looking for opponents! I'd love to see a home and home with them. Or even just a road game, but preferably a home and home.

Also, Arizona, Missouri, NC State, and Miami (Fl) are looking for games.

None of those would be home and home.
Why go on the road with a new team and get killed?

I would take a 2 for 1 with big name teams.

Try and get the 1 at home first. Worth a shot anyway.

bigappleram wrote:RJ, a bit of an overstatement dont you think? I guess the superiority complex went along with you to the mid major Big East. Did you forget that all your no brainer powerhouse programs are gone. The gem program of your new league (Gtown) lost to a school that was in a trailer a few years ago. Why would any of the BCS conferences want to match up with the likes of Depaul, Seton Hall, Providence, St Johns and Xavier. Not exactly a murderers row. You are closer to what we will be than what those conferences are....you are like the richest kid in the projects. Congrats, but chest thumping not necessary.

and further along those lines, you are likely to see Big East schools having to schedules games with the likes of Kentucky and other schools from major conferences since there will be far fewer opportunities for quality wins in conference play.

rodfromcranston wrote:None of those would be home and home.
Why go on the road with a new team and get killed?

You might need to take a road game you don't like to pay the staff. If they had a buy game at NC State for $400K, for example, that's the entire salary pool for the assistant coaches for one year. This program still isn't in a position where it's generating positive cash flow.

Also, just playing that game instead of at Northeastern, for example, helps SOS exponentially. And if URI makes a mistake and actually wins the game, you'd have a signature victory to start the season.

Whenever Temple goes on their barnstorming tour in OOC and plays on ESPN four or five times, this board froths at the mouth about how great it is that they aren't afraid to play anyone and how it helps them prepare for conference play. Then when the subject of playing a couple good teams on the road pops up we are indignant about it and all up in arms about how the mighty Rhody should never lower itself to playing a road game. Gimme a break.

Arizona, Missouri, NC State, Gonzaga and Miami (Fl)? Hell, I'd play all of them on the road next season if they will pay me.

A well established Temple program, rated as one of the top 20 of the last two decades,
and you want to compare our 8 win, just getting off the ground program to that?
You're kidding, right.
Sure, let's take a team with 8 new players to Kansas and Duke, and get the shit kicked out of it,
just to be macho!
Just silly.
When this program becomes more established, then go out and play anyone.
It becomes a more realistic situation, like Temple's.

You get better faster by challenging yourself. In a metaphorical sense, ass kickings make you tougher. In a practical sense, seeing a few good teams early will make get you better prepared to beat mediocre A10 teams in February. Not to mention, the cash could certainly help as we move forward. What is the downside, exactly? Psychological damage?

With respect to the season and possible postseason play, losing to those programs on the road is more helpful than beating lousy teams at home.

In Hurley We Trust.

You put it under every post, Rod, but you obviously don't really believe it. Wagner played at Connecticut and at Pittsburgh in Hurley's second year at Wagner -- he was 13-17 in his first season. They lost to the Huskies by 12 and beat the Panthers in one of the biggest upsets of the past decade in college basketball.

If URI -- and, by extension, Dan Hurley and his staff -- scheduled any of the teams being discussed here I have no doubt they would battle tooth and nail. They were undermanned in every game last season and still played tough. They stand to be more talented this season and I don't expect them to play with any less effort. Thank God it's not In Rod We Trust. URI would be playing a schedule you criticized during the Baron years, Rod. You know -- when URI played Duke, Kansas, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, etc. on the road over the course of 11 seasons.

You're always telling us how great the players are URI has recruited. You're always telling us how the three transfers and Ifeanyi Onyekaba are killing the returning players in practice and how they're going to be ready right away. You're always telling us how the two incoming freshmen are destined to be great four-year players in this program. But now we talk about the schedule and you call URI "our 8 win, just getting off the ground program." Which is it? Are the 11 current players on the 2013-14 roster ready now or not even close?

I would rather play the really tough teams on the road especially next yr

If you want to run with the big dogs; get ready to pee in the tall grass

In the immortal words of Mariano Duncan: "We play, we win." In the words of any ballplayer who has any belief in his game and his teammates anywhere in the world, especially the City: "We take on all comers. Winners. Losers sit." (No wonder Rhode Island is the second mentally sickest state in the country….."I'll cower anywhere, anytime. Boo-hoo…. ) Grow-up.

While it pains me to say it, I agree with Rod. No matter how good these incoming player are, they are just that, incoming players. It takes a while for a team to gel and building confidence in each other is certainly a part of that. Getting ripped by a serious contender on the road can only hinder the process and you risk losing the season before it really has a chance to come together. You want these kids comfortable and confident for the start of conference play. That being said, you have to figure Hurley knows these kids a lot better than we do. If he thinks they are ready, then he'll do it. Hopefully they never have to schedule a game they don't want to play, but do it just because of the money.

I don't think the guarantees in college basketball run into the $400 thousands......I think it is a quarter of that.....

I think we will be good enough this coming season, to play some of these teams on the road. We might not win them yet, but we'll give a good account of ourselves.

Dan will do what he thinks is right. If he thinks we're ready, he'll take on a few of these teams next season. If not, then he'll ease us into a tougher OOC schedule the following season.

Dan said on the Rhody Insider show that he wants the team to get off to a quick start this year to build confidence. He's not against having some difficult opponents, but I think this season's OOC will be on the whole less difficult than last season.

Ramulous wrote:I don't think the guarantees in college basketball run into the $400 thousands......I think it is a quarter of that.....

I think the going rate is probably in the 50-100k range for most guarantee D1 basketball games. I believe that only the high profile big name programs pay in the 100k neighborhood.

Some of the big name BCS football teams pay in the hundreds of thousands for guarantee football games. This however does not carry over to hoops.

Like the 500K URI was going to get for playing Penn St. That would have been a blowout, but a good paying one at that.

Dan told me that he wants some cupcakes on the schedule, to balance
things, and not have a repeat of this year's OOC.
GOT THAT?
Yeah, I trust Dan Hurley. He's no fool, like some who want to go out and
get the shit kicked out of them, just to say,"We played them".
With a new team, the psyche in fragile, and he's trying to build a culture of WINNING,
not playing Leonidas and The 300.
There's no glory in losing with a young, untested team.

Oh, and Wiseclown, we played a HOME AND HOME with Pitt.
Stick to posting on the PC board under multiple names.
Maybe try the Canisius board, and tell them how great your hero
Jim Baron is.
You know, the guy who played a tough schedule.
Wow! Three frigging games in 11 years! BFD, pal.

Getting fat on low tier teams early in the season is fine. I can see the merit to that approach. I just wish people would be consistent. If Baron did the same thing, certain people here would be having an aneurysm. My strong preference is to play as many good teams as we can handle. Nobody wants to go 0-15 in OOC, but you can sprinkle in some games against good teams and still win 10 or 11 games in what is essentially the preseason unless you are legitimately chasing an at-large bid. In any event, playing at least some good teams is better for the team's development, and the cash is always useful.

TP, there will be good teams in the mix, but not wall to wall.
Hurley said he wanted BALANCE. That means some good, some
middling and some bad.
Yes, cash is always useful, and I can see one buy game a year.
I trust Thorr and Hurley, because they know the plan, where they want to go, and how they
intend to get there.

First, Rod, I'll ignore your usual bluster and personal insults just on principal. We're adults here. Your assertions about me are patently false, waste time and deflect attention from the topic at hand -- which is obviously your intention, since you are completely incapable of making a point based on facts.
URI played a home-and-home with Pittsburgh during Jim Baron's first two seasons (lost by 8 away, lost by 16 home) and then played the Panthers in another solo road game in 2010-11 as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer (lost by 8). They played at Syracuse in 2003-04 (lost by 4) and 2007-08 (won by 2). They played at Kansas in 2006-07 (lost by 11). They played at Duke in 2008-09 (lost by 3).
Based on those scores, I would say URI only "got the shit kicked out of them" one time -- and that was in a home game. That was also with Jim Baron at the helm, who you regard as a coach inferior to Dan Hurley (which, for the record, I agree with). Who's to say this 2013-14 team -- which was undermanned last season at Butler, against VCU, at Temple, against Ohio State and figures to be vastly improved this season -- can't produce a quality effort against a good opponent?
That's where we get back to trusting Hurley, Rod. He willed this team to be competitive with very little talent. To suggest he couldn't do so and shouldn't even attempt to do so with improved players at his disposal is folly. It worked at Wagner -- he split road games with Connecticut and Pittsburgh in his second season.
This doesn't mean you have to play the Long Beach State nonconference schedule from the past two or three seasons. It also doesn't mean you play a schedule that will have an opponent's RPI of 150-plus.

TruePoint wrote:Getting fat on low tier teams early in the season is fine. I can see the merit to that approach. I just wish people would be consistent. If Baron did the same thing, certain people here would be having an aneurysm. My strong preference is to play as many good teams as we can handle. Nobody wants to go 0-15 in OOC, but you can sprinkle in some games against good teams and still win 10 or 11 games in what is essentially the preseason unless you are legitimately chasing an at-large bid. In any event, playing at least some good teams is better for the team's development, and the cash is always useful.

I agree ....

+100 to Iggy and TruePoint.

Home and home with Central Michigan or Detroit would make sense ...

Wiseman, you're the one following me around and
making bitchy snide comments, and calling me a hypocrite.
Something you've done several times.
Who's the hypocrite?
Nice that you can point to five whole games in 11 years, as some sort of benchmark.
Whatever.
Iggy, since we're becoming a presence in Detroit, and surrounding areas, it makes good
business to play schools in that area on a regular basis.

Balance is good, a few cupcakes and a few tough road tilts and then the middle of the road teams at home

Dan wants a mix of easier games and a few quality top-100 RPI type games in home-and-home scenarios.

Watch on Rhody Insider Online extra here:
http://coxsportsonline.com/2013/03/rhod ... -online-5/

I'm thinking that a tournament involving the 4 RI D1 teams is the thing to do. Hosting the tournament would be rotated among all 4 teams, but all games would be at the Dunk and consist of 2 double-headers with first round games to determined by a blind draw. Each team's fans would be guaranteed seating in one-quarter of the arena with unused tickets available to other fans. Tickets would be for all 4 games. Yea, I'm giving in on URI playing PC and the RC every 2 years, but taking away PC's control of games at the Dunk every year. The host team for each year would get referees from their conference to officiate all 4 games. Play the games on back-to-back nights in Nov or early Dec.

The BE is not the same BE any longer. Bryant is on the rise and Brown recruits a different type of player and have been able to upset other teams. Since it only amounts to 2 games in the schedule which replaces games already played, it shouldn't be a problem for any school. Revenue and expenses would be split evenly.

Rhody72 wrote:I'm thinking that a tournament involving the 4 RI D1 teams is the thing to do. Hosting the tournament would be rotated among all 4 teams, but all games would be at the Dunk and consist of 2 double-headers with first round games to determined by a blind draw. Each team's fans would be guaranteed seating in one-quarter of the arena with unused tickets available to other fans. Tickets would be for all 4 games. Yea, I'm giving in on URI playing PC and the RC every 2 years, but taking away PC's control of games at the Dunk every year. The host team for each year would get referees from their conference to officiate all 4 games. Play the games on back-to-back nights in Nov or early Dec.

The BE is not the same BE any longer. Bryant is on the rise and Brown recruits a different type of player and have been able to upset other teams. Since it only amounts to 2 games in the schedule which replaces games already played, it shouldn't be a problem for any school. Revenue and expenses would be split evenly.

Makes too much sense to get done.

Rhody72 wrote:I'm thinking that a tournament involving the 4 RI D1 teams is the thing to do. Hosting the tournament would be rotated among all 4 teams, but all games would be at the Dunk and consist of 2 double-headers with first round games to determined by a blind draw. Each team's fans would be guaranteed seating in one-quarter of the arena with unused tickets available to other fans. Tickets would be for all 4 games. Yea, I'm giving in on URI playing PC and the RC every 2 years, but taking away PC's control of games at the Dunk every year. The host team for each year would get referees from their conference to officiate all 4 games. Play the games on back-to-back nights in Nov or early Dec.

The BE is not the same BE any longer. Bryant is on the rise and Brown recruits a different type of player and have been able to upset other teams. Since it only amounts to 2 games in the schedule which replaces games already played, it shouldn't be a problem for any school. Revenue and expenses would be split evenly.

There's no way we give up on playing PC at the Ryan Center.

I would do that tournament, but in addition to the URI/PC game in years where the game should be played at the RC. I see no harm in playing them twice, and sometimes they may not actually meet in the tournament if one of them is upset in the first round by Brown or Bryant.

Don't see it ever happening. Brown and Bryant might want it, we might also, but PC would never do it.

Hey, have the tournament rotate between the RC and the Dunk. Would PC do it, if that meant the annual game between us ended?

Seriously doubt it.

There is reportedly going to be an all Mass D1 college hoops triple-header next year at the Boston Garden early in the season. Harvard, BC, BU, Northeastern, Holy Cross, and UMass-Amherst will participate. Provisional D1 member UMass-Lowell will be left out. In Connecticut, there is the annual Ct-6 Tournament triple header that includes all CT D1 schools except for UConn. It has been played for several years now with its location being rotated (Mohegan Sun, W Hartford, Bridgeport).

I don't want to play Bryant or Brown ever in basketball.
We need to Think Big.
Will need to stick with Brown for tradition sake but no need to do this Rhode Island Tournament thing in my opinion.

I agree. It makes little sense, and other than PC, doesn't do
squat for RPI, which will become a concern for a change at URI.
All you'd be adding is Bryant. We always have played Brown, and should.
Thorr would never buy into this type of tournament and neither would PC.

I disagree.

"Thinking Big" doesn't have to include playing only Top 50 teams in the OOC. We're always going to schedule some easier games to offset the difficulties of playing higher ranked teams (Rod, you mentioned how Hurley stressed "balance" in schedule-making), and I'd love to see them play all the local teams. That's actually one thing that I appreciate that PC does and we do not: they play Bryant.