2022-2023 Women's Basketball Season

[rjv]

Based on the fact that over the past two years the GR students have started every game except for one or two I would say they are not filling a need. They are joining players from other schools who they have never played a game together with to make the team better for one year. Its about winning now, period. The recruits are the support, the transfers are the starters. If you can find 5 GR students to start and make you team better then you currently have you are going to take them. We all know that and understand that.
Its the NEW NCAA.
IMO

[jcru]

Every coach has to do what they feel is best for their team. Tammi seems to favor grad transfers. If this season is any indication, the quality of her grad transfers was high.

She got Squires from Richmond, who was the A10 "6th man" award winner last year. She got Hattix-Covington from VCU, who had some outstanding games, particularly the one in VCU's arena. I'd say Tammi raided her neighbors of some quality talent with good efficiency.

Would not surprise if she found another grad transfer or two for next season. Covid or no Covid, she seems to have an eye set on players in this category that can help her team. There were always grad transfers prior to Covid, just not the sheer amt of them due to Covid.

[ramster]

Every coach has to do what they feel is best for their team. Tammi seems to favor grad transfers. If this season is any indication, the quality of her grad transfers was high.

She got Squires from Richmond, who was the A10 "6th man" award winner last year. She got Hattix-Covington from VCU, who had some outstanding games, particularly the one in VCU's arena. I'd say Tammi raided her neighbors of some quality talent with good efficiency.

Would not surprise if she found another grad transfer or two for next season. Covid or no Covid, she seems to have an eye set on players in this category that can help her team. There were always grad transfers prior to Covid, just not the sheer amt of them due to Covid.

Squires also got A10 6th man award as did Magassa and Haddix-Covington. That's an amazing 3 transfers from with the A10 Conference who all received this prestigious award. Amazing!!
This is strengthening a team, making URI an NCAA Bid Candidate. It's not like filling holes with loaners. It's strength building on strength by a high probability A10 Coach of the Year.

For Squires, she killed URI last season hitting 7-8 3Ps in a game against us. She went to nearby Tabor Academy to finishing up at Richmond for her undergrad then doing a 5th year (thanks to Covid) for D1 basketball and Grad School playing close to home and for Tammi and potential NCAA bid is awesome - win/win!!!!

Expect more building on strength with the 3 promising incoming freshmen plus Transfers to come.

[PeteRI]

The Ladies picked the last game of the season to have the most dominant performance of the year. Up 29 at the half to Dayton 53-24. Stats are ridiculous: 61.3% field goals, 57.1% from 3, 100% from the line.

[PeteRI]

And I agree with everyone that the future looks blindingly bright for the Lady Rams - unlike the men.

[rhodysurf]

Can they hit 100??

[Jersey77]

Unless this team loses some additional players for next season, I just don't see Tammi using the portal like she did the previous seasons. This isn't to say she doesn't bring in any transfers.

We look to be pretty loaded for 23-24 with starters and nice bench depth.

Upfront you have: Toure', Magassa, Dutat, Komara, Sene, and Adler.
Backcourt/wing: Cairns, Debroise, Phillips, Rinat.

Plus RS Blagrove and the 3 recruits.
That is already 14 players (out of 15), of course a few may leave because of playing time.

This roster as it sits now is capable of winning the A10 next year.

[RhowdyRam02]

Congratulations to our regular season conference champions or co-champions. UMass however controls their own destiny for the one seed.

[Rhody72]

Tammi told the team that she would donate $100 to Cancer Research for each trey they made today. The team cost here $1000. Good way to end a shooting slump!

[jcru]

So, hopefully it's not too early to write this, but it looks like the top four seeds will be:

1. UMass
2. URI
3. Fordham
4. St. Louis

And the 6th seed is St. Joes.

So, Rhody has drawn the tougher semi final scenario in the sense that the semi final game to reach the finals will be the winner of Fordham/St Joes, but at least they aren't playing them back-to-back. The first game will be a completely different team from the lower seeds, best bet might be Richmond.

UMass has a bit more of a direct path in that they play the 8/9 game winner first, and then their tougher opponents for the semi finals will include the likes of St Louis and George Washington.

[Billyboy78]

I'd disagree that bringing in 3 Grad Starter Transfers is even "to fill a need"
Ed Cooley does not necessarily bringing in Transfers to fill needs - more along the lines of getting the best possible team he can by all means possible.
Don't need to go all freshmen and plan only hit the long term. Use every Avenue at one's disposal.

Portapalooza!

I'd expect Tammi will bring in Transfers for 2023-24 as well.

Well, the 3 that she brought in all started, so that was an upgrade and probably filled a need.
They did more than just provide depth.

Like I said earlier, with all the quality players coming back, not sure that will be the case for 23-24.
Yeah some players may move on and she could bring in some transfers to fill the roster.

But as it stands now, even with those 3 moving on, we already have enough skilled players on the roster to contend for the A10 title again.

Yep
3 Grad Student transfers this year, 2 Grads last year and 1 the year before. All 6 started from Game 1 to end of season

Every team could be argued if the Grad Transfers filled needs or bolstered the starting line up. Chicken meet egg.

Gone from 1 to 2 to 3 Grad Transfer Starters in 3 past years under Tammi. Players see what she is building here and want to be part of it. I expect more Grad Transfers for next year. Portal announcement coming over next 2 months.

[Billyboy78]

I don't see a big need for the portal this year. I love what we have coming back and what's coming in. Toure and Magassa both back as bigs with developmental bigs like Adler, Sene and Komara. Three very good shooters coming back in Cairns, Phillips and Rinat and adding 2 more in DeChent and Ledden. I think Debroise makes the frosh to soph jump and is a very good PG and she will start. Add Vital and Blagrove and the PG position looks good. And there's Dutat who is an athletic defender and rebounder at the 4. Who looks to transfer? We know Tammy plays 10, and even sometimes 11 players. If you're good you're going to see minutes. Maybe we could use a 4 that can shoot like Squires? Maybe a stud is interested in transferring here? Other than that, I think we look good.

[jcru]

I think the big stat with the grad transfers who were honored on senior day today, are that they were all former A10 6th men award winners, as someone pointed out. That's big.

Because people who are 6th men understand that the needs of the team come first. And you bring in experienced players like that, and they are great for your younger incoming players to model after.

So, if there is someone like that out there in A10 land who wants to be a part of this, I'm sure Tammi has been all over it the entire year.

[jcru]

Spoke too soon.

Looks like Rhody catches a break, St. Joes finishes 5th, and is going to UMass's bracket, likely to face St. Louis with the winner facing UMass in the semi final game.

Rhody instead gets George Washington. and they will likely face Fordham in the quarterfinals.

[SmartyBarrett]

Spoke too soon.

Looks like Rhody catches a break, St. Joes finishes 5th, and is going to UMass's bracket, likely to face St. Louis with the winner facing UMass in the semi final game.

Rhody instead gets George Washington. and they will likely face Fordham in the quarterfinals.

Like that a whole lot more. Fordham is tough but Rhody turned the ball over way too much in their match-up. Clean that up, and the fact that the game will be at a neutral site instead of on the road and I like URI's chances.

[jcru]

I agree. Still a tough out, but as you said before, they were never going to skate to the finals without facing at least one nemesis.

[RhodyMadness072]

St Louis is the #3 seed. They beat Fordham head to head

[jcru]

interesting.

So, that would mean UMass getting the winner of Fordham/St Joes in the semifinals. URI having to contend with St. Louis/GWU.

In that case, that is complete flip flop of what the #1 and #2 seeds had to face just less than a week ago.

[Billyboy78]

[SmartyBarrett]

Bracket:

[Jersey77]

No way did I think they would finish 25-3 (19-2 A10) this season.
Masterful job by Tammi, the staff, and of course the players.
Congrats for tying 1st place A10 regular season.
This program is really trending in a great direction.

[jcru]

They finished 23-5, 14-2 in the A-10.

Both 23 and 14 program records.

[jcru]

If they had gone 25-3, say with one more non conference win (Princeton) and one more conference win (Fordham), that would have made them:

25-3, 15-1 A-10. I really think so long as they made it to the A10 finals, even if they lost that would make them 27-4, they would probably have had enough for an at large bid to fall back on, squeak on in.

Something to work on for next year, both of those games were lost at the buzzer and were winnable.

[Jersey77]

A little disappointed Tammi didn't win A10 COY, after losing 4 starters and finishing tied for 1st.
The coaching award went to Rebecca Tillett from SLU.

Maye' Toure' wins Most Improved Player and 1st Team All-A10 honors.

No surprise Breen wins A10 POY for the 2nd consecutive year.

https://www.a10talk.com/a10talks-2022-23-wbb-awards/

[ramster]

A little disappointed Tammi didn't win A10 COY, after losing 4 starters and finishing tied for 1st.
The coaching award went to Rebecca Tillett from SLU.

Maye' Toure' wins Most Improved Player and 1st Team All-A10 honors.

No surprise Breen wins A10 POY for the 2nd consecutive year.

https://www.a10talk.com/a10talks-2022-23-wbb-awards/

Actually 77, Tammi did win A10 Coach of the year Award

https://atlantic10.com/news/2023/2/28/w ... wards.aspx

[Jersey77]

A little disappointed Tammi didn't win A10 COY, after losing 4 starters and finishing tied for 1st.
The coaching award went to Rebecca Tillett from SLU.

Maye' Toure' wins Most Improved Player and 1st Team All-A10 honors.

No surprise Breen wins A10 POY for the 2nd consecutive year.

https://www.a10talk.com/a10talks-2022-23-wbb-awards/

Actually 77, Tammi did win A10 Coach of the year Award

https://atlantic10.com/news/2023/2/28/w ... wards.aspx

Yes Ramster, I went by A10 Talk, should have known better.

[steviep123]

Yeah A10 talk is a site, but not official A10. Note they undervalued Rhody who was co-champion and essentially led the conference all year. Only 1 first team selection and nothing else.

https://atlantic10.com/documents/2023/2 ... Awards.pdf

[Rhody72]

Yeah A10 talk is a site, but not official A10. Note they undervalued Rhody who was co-champion and essentially led the conference all year. Only 1 first team selection and nothing else.

https://atlantic10.com/documents/2023/2 ... Awards.pdf

The awards do not surprise me. URI wins as a TEAM using 10-11 players per game. Maye being first team and Tammi coach-of-the-year makes sense. Had Tenin been healthy all year Maye's minutes would have been down and she may not have made first team. The more players you use, the more stats will be be distributed and the less chance you have making first team. I love being a fan of players who are team first.

[jcru]

URI brings in a freshman backcourt that is likely second to none in the A-10. Reminds of the days Al Skinner was recruiting Wheeler, Mobley, Murphy, and Sean Colson to the Men's team.

Tammi will likely bring in at least two high impact transfers as well.

The only thing left really, is to improve the strength of the non Conference schedule. It doesn't have to be a 0-60 difference, but at least two additional games against teams that are in the post season conversation this year and hopefully next year, would go a great length to improving this team's NET and at large possibilities. And also help improve the NET of the Conference.

Maybe at least one game against a P6 team that is actually going to be ranked and a shoo in for the dance, would be a great get. Unlikely to beat them, but would produce so many other dividends besides another W in the column.

[ramster]

Before this season started Tammi said she tried to get a good OOC schedule, or at least better than what she got.

She said she called people she knew who would normally be receptive to a game but to Tammi's surprise they were not willing.

And by the way Archie Miller said similar things.

Both indicated they wanted stronger OOC schedules than they were able to produce.

[jcru]

It's the same thing we've seen for 2 decades, the P6 teams are told to stone wall teams from Conferences like the A10.

We basically have to go the on the road route like John Cheney's Temple and play anyone, anywhere, anytime. Just take whatever P6 game from any team that will give you the time of day, no matter where it is.

Go to Oregon or Oklahoma if you have to.

[jcru]

It doesn't have to be P6 either. Look at the other 11, 12, 13 teams on those bubble/bracket links that they product every week. Contact South Dakota State University, projected to get a auto-12 bid all season long and see if they want to play.

[SmartyBarrett]

Would love to see Tammi try to go the MTE route to get some better opponents (or at least potential opponents). The men had that this year and will have it next year as well. The MTE the women played this year was pretty weak.

[RhowdyRam02]

Tammi specifically mentioned improving the MTE back in October. She said the funds generated by the Day of Giving would be going towards travel expenses for that purpose next year

[Rhody72]

I'm unaware of any mid-major program that is not trying to improve its OOC schedule. The good news is that there are many other good mid-majors who would consider playing URI an upgrade to their schedule. Our best bet is to get into a tournament with some better programs. We need to replace games against projected weaker OOC opponents with better ones. The bad news is that there are only small opportunities to improve unless we move to a stronger conference. This is why ambitious coaches leave for programs in better conferences.

[jcru]

It's not exactly easy, but it is doable.

Take URI's schedule: https://gorhody.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule

3 Ivy League games. That's probably one too many. Princeton is a great matchup. Harvard mesa mesa. Dartmouth serves no purpose. Just a blow out game that weakens your NET. And as for Harvard, they didn't win their Conference Tourney, so that hurt URI.

Keep Princeton, reach out to Columbia, who did with the Conference Tourney, and go fish.

Now, look at the rest of the updated bracket:

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story ... rojections

Of all the teams "On the bubble" every single one is P6, except for UMass who we already play twice. Still, take the last three columns, that's 11 teams minus UMass, and reach out to all of them. Maybe you'll get stone walled 11 times, maybe one will bite. If one does bite, expect to play on their home floor. That's the price you have to pay these days.

Did you notice that St. Louis only got a 15 seed for their auto bid? Ouch. Still, it might help them, if they can pick off #2.

Do a quick survey of all the teams in the 11, 12, 13 seed slots.

UNLV
Florida Gulf Coast
Columbia
Illinois State
Long Beach State
South Dakota State
Toledo
Middle Tennessee
Green Bay
James Madison

If that doesn't work, go to seed #14...

Iona
Boston University
Gardner-Webb
Towson

There are actually, a lot of teams out there that would upgrade the schedule from the likes of Samford, Buffalo, Maine, Quinnipiac, and Hartford.

Swap them out for these teams. That's 7 games that can be upgraded:

Harvard
Dartmouth
Samford
Buffalo
Maine
Quinnipiac
Hartford

to

Columbia
Towson
JMU
BU
Florida Gulf Coast
South Dakota State
UNLV

Towson and JMU in particular would likely do it for our CAA football affiliation alone.

If you can manage to hook up one of those P6 teams from the Bubble List and replace one of the teams on that last list I just made, even better.

[jcru]

If you get SDSU, go there early in the season. Before their weather turns into a sh -t show.

[RIrugger01]

It's not exactly easy, but it is doable.

Take URI's schedule: https://gorhody.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule

3 Ivy League games. That's probably one too many. Princeton is a great matchup. Harvard mesa mesa. Dartmouth serves no purpose. Just a blow out game that weakens your NET. And as for Harvard, they didn't win their Conference Tourney, so that hurt URI.

Keep Princeton, reach out to Columbia, who did with the Conference Tourney, and go fish.

Now, look at the rest of the updated bracket:

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story ... rojections

Of all the teams "On the bubble" every single one is P6, except for UMass who we already play twice. Still, take the last three columns, that's 11 teams minus UMass, and reach out to all of them. Maybe you'll get stone walled 11 times, maybe one will bite. If one does bite, expect to play on their home floor. That's the price you have to pay these days.

Did you notice that St. Louis only got a 15 seed for their auto bid? Ouch. Still, it might help them, if they can pick off #2.

Do a quick survey of all the teams in the 11, 12, 13 seed slots.

UNLV
Florida Gulf Coast
Columbia
Illinois State
Long Beach State
South Dakota State
Toledo
Middle Tennessee
Green Bay
James Madison

If that doesn't work, go to seed #14...

Iona
Boston University
Gardner-Webb
Towson

There are actually, a lot of teams out there that would upgrade the schedule from the likes of Samford, Buffalo, Maine, Quinnipiac, and Hartford.

Swap them out for these teams. That's 7 games that can be upgraded:

Harvard
Dartmouth
Samford
Buffalo
Maine
Quinnipiac
Hartford

to

Columbia
Towson
JMU
BU
Florida Gulf Coast
South Dakota State
UNLV

Towson and JMU in particular would likely do it for our CAA football affiliation alone.

If you can manage to hook up one of those P6 teams from the Bubble List and replace one of the teams on that last list I just made, even better.

I agree. Dartmouth (net 313) and Hartford (net 361) killed our net ranking this year. Replace those two with teams in the 150-200 range and maybe we’re considered a bubble team?

[jcru]

It really wouldn't take much. I mean, I get it, we wanted to break last season's record.

Mission accomplished. but let's not make that the goal going forward. That was Jim Baron's thing: 20 win seasons that go no where.

Make the adjustments that will make your team into a contender. Too many cupcakes on this schedule.

I keep harping about SDSU, because that is a program in BOTH Women's BBall and Football, that is parallel to our program. You want to start making noise on the national stage, go out there and promote the team. Go play a game in SD, so they at least know what our team looks like, get people talking.

[RhowdyRam02]

Dartmouth, Princeton, Harvard, Buffalo, and Maine are all series that are probably done after this. We've played Hartford and Coppin State each of the last two years at the Ryan Center, but Hartford is in the process of dropping down to D3. All of this is to say, expect our schedule to look a lot different next year, one way or the other

[RIrugger01]

With next year being Dolly’s senior year I could see Tammi scheduling an away game at Siena or Albany so she can play close to home. Both have decent teams this year

[ramster]

With next year being Dolly’s senior year I could see Tammi scheduling an away game at Siena or Albany so she can play close to home. Both have decent teams this year

Sophie Phillips' twin sister, Lily, plays for Albany.

[jcru]

I didn't even notice Coppin State. So, that's eight games that can be upgraded.

So, swap Coppin State for Albany. Home and Away. Let them have the home game first

[Rhody72]

With next year being Dolly’s senior year I could see Tammi scheduling an away game at Siena or Albany so she can play close to home. Both have decent teams this year

Sophie Phillips' twin sister, Lily, plays for Albany.

Also, Sophie's hometown is just north of Albany.

[Rhody72]

Will PC make a run at Tammi?

[Rhody72]

Albany lost to Vermont last night. Lily didn't score in 10 minutes off the bench.

[jcru]

Watching Toledo beating Bowling Green for the MAC Tourney Championship.

That is a game I think we could get for our schedule, they have to be in the same boat as us. Granted, they probably win their autobid more years than not, but if they want to hedge their bets by trying to get an at large bid as insurance, they are going to have to play the game, just like us.

That would be a really good game.

[PeteRI]

Will PC make a run at Tammi?

Douchebag says what?

[Rhody72]

Will PC make a run at Tammi?

Douchebag says what?

What?

[Billyboy78]

We learn late tonight who, when and where we play.