Games of Interest - Week #13

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 10 years ago

Arizona with its gaudy 20-0 record remains the #1 team in the nation in both the AP and USA Today polls. Syracuse is a distant second in both polls. In the AP Poll, UMass falls to #21 while Saint Louis stays at #19. GW also gets some votes as does SMU and Southern Miss.

In the USA Today poll, the two A-10 schools switch positions as UMass falls to #19 and Saint Louis drops one spot to #21. GW gets some votes as does SMU and Southern Miss.

Once again PC did not get any votes in either poll.

In the major ratings systems, the URI position improves: RPI – 134, Sagarin – 150, and KenPom – 116. Over the past week the A-10 strengthened its #6 ranking and continues positioned between the ACC and the SEC. The SEC lost ground in that same period.

The cumulative win-loss record of all URI OOC opponents improves slightly to 142-130, .518. Despite the dismal records of several D1 schools on the URI OOC schedule, a bright spot continues to be the Rams' two D2 opponents who each added two wins this past week: the Southern Connecticut record is 16-2 and Metro State has 16-1 mark. In the D2 poll, Metro State is ranked #3 and SCSU is #26.

No games in the A-10 tonight.

Only game is Coppin State at North Carolina A&T. Not much to care about here considering they are two middling teams in a mediocre conference, but the edge goes to the home team.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

Wait. Southern CT. was an exhibition game. Metro State counted as a win.

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 10 years ago

rod, I mentioned that SCSU was an exhibition foe in last week's Games of Interest thread and did not repeat it this time around to avoid repetition. A mistake, I guess. Metro State win is the only one that counts, but only in the overall record because it is not included in the RPI or Sagarin ratings. It is also not considered when discussing post-season play.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 10 years ago

Great recap, OB! 6 More wins and RPI forecast says we should achieve a top 100 RPI for the end of the regular season.

RoadyJay · Unread post by **RoadyJay** » 10 years ago

I really think we have 5-7 wins left in us the rest of the way. Fordham twice. Duquense. Also we are no pushover at home. Possible we can then win 1 or 2 in A10s. 17-19 wins is not completely out of the question. My guess is closer to 17. Who would bitch about that?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ELeslie's 1st assist · Unread post by **ELeslie's 1st assist** » 10 years ago

Don't mean to be a downer but I'm thinking that Fordham and Duquesne (both improved) are looking at the URI games as winnable games on their schedules.

Not saying URI can't or won't beat those guys. What I am saying is that the margin for loss with Rhody is slim. I don't think URI beats anybody with less than their "A" game. So as we've seen, URI can beat LSU, Dayton, and play with St. Louis...but this is also a team than can stink it up vs. GW and others (i.e. Duquesne, Fordham).

The season will be a grind with highs and lows. And the A-10 is deeper than it's been.

rjsuperfly66 · Unread post by **rjsuperfly66** » 10 years ago

KenPom has URI winning 4 more: Fordham x2, Duquesne, St. Joseph's. He also has Richmond as a 47% chance to win, so nearly 50/50. That's 5. The only other somewhat winnable game he has is UMASS at 32%, but there is your 6.

The highest percentage on any other game is 23%. All URI has to do is defend the home court.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

Bonnies at Bonnies? No chance to win that one?

It's possible, just not likely.

I'd like to see us win at least 5, and at least 1 in NY.

That would give us a winning season, at 17-16.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

17 wins pre Brooklyn would be really nice.
I'll take it.
We're not winning in Olean. That team is very tough at home, and
they're pretty good anyway. Big front line.
Points in the paint have been our main problem all year.

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 10 years ago

Not much action tonight. No A-10 games.

In OOC:

VMI at UNC-Asheville.

Kentucky at LSU.

SMU at South Florida. SMU is 16-4, 5-2 in the new AAC. In many ways, SMU has developed as many here thought URI would develop, especially since both teams were starting the season with similar profiles - second year coach, lots of attractive new players, and a group of transfers thought to have some potential. SMU is closing in on a 20 win season, while URI is still trying to find some identifiable cohesion. There is still hope the remaining ten games will see that spark.

CTRamfan · Unread post by **CTRamfan** » 10 years ago

The only year Larry Brown did not make the NCAA tournament was last year. He made it in each of his other six years as a NCAA coach.....I like Hurley and the direction we are headed, but Brown's experience and connections had to yield quicker results.

twisted3829 · Unread post by **twisted3829** » 10 years ago

higher conference with football money

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 10 years ago

amongst other things how about at least 1 McD's AA and a Hall of Fame coach. C'mon, not a fair comparison at all. Many of us love DH but Larry Brown is a legend, only thing similar at this point is we both play basketball.

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 10 years ago

In a defensive struggle, VMI edged UNC-Asheville, 109-105. It was a foul fest with a combined 74 trips to the free throw line.

Roz · Unread post by **Roz** » 10 years ago

Kentucky at LSU on espn

twisted3829 · Unread post by **twisted3829** » 10 years ago

SMU gets caught in the trap game on the road at USF

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

If we played SMU here, at this point in the season, I think we'd see a different game than we saw in November.

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 10 years ago

Agree on that one, rambone.

In a tight game in Baton Rouge, LSU leads Kentucky at the half, 42-36. LSU had an early lead that peaked at 14 points before Calipari revved up his troops to cut the lead to two, but LSU turned back the Wildcats to keep the lead going into the locker room.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

So far, LSU's frontline is manhandling Kentucky's.
Go Tigers!

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 10 years ago

During game play, Calipari just pushed one of his players (a Harrison, I think) into the right position on the court. I'm not sure I knew you were allowed to do that.

NJ03 · Unread post by **NJ03** » 10 years ago

So weird seeing a Calipari team play such lazy and uninspired defense. These kids are just going through the motions til draft day.

Mittenman · Unread post by **Mittenman** » 10 years ago

LSU looked impressive tonight. What a great win URI had against them.

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 10 years ago

What was impressive about LSU's 87-82 win was the 11 blocked shots and the 11 steals they got.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

Final score not indicative of how the game played.
KY got a load of 3's in the last minute or so.
Creighton beat St. John's, which made a wild comeback after being down 18 to tie,
on the great Doug McDermott's 3 pointer with 3 seconds left.
McDermott had 39 points.

SmartyBarrett · Unread post by **SmartyBarrett** » 10 years ago

Kentucky's inability to foul a player in the last 25-ish seconds made me LOL. Solid win for LSU. Kentucky doesn't look like they're gonna do much in the dance this season.

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 10 years ago

Action resumes tonight in the A-10 tonight with this line-up of games:

UMass at St. Bonaventure. A road challenge for UMass as the Bonnies will certainly be up for this game after their close loss at Amherst and the upset loss to Duquesne.

St. Joseph’s at Dayton. With their NCAA aspirations apparently gone, can the Flyers resurrect their season?

Fordham at VCU. Will Fordham regroup after their rout by UMass?

La Salle at GW. A rematch of a game won earlier by GW.

Richmond at Saint Louis. A road win here will propel the Spiders into a bona fide NCAA contender.

In an OOC game, Duquesne at NJIT. Talk about a weak OOC schedule.

Among URI OOC opponents:

#1 Arizona visits Stanford.

Maine at UNH. A battle for last place in America East.

UIC at Detroit. Detroit has been on a downward trend of late, so winning on their home court is a must.

sf2010 · Unread post by **sf2010** » 10 years ago

Others referenced the Transitive Property of Winning to come to the obvious conclusion that we are better than Kentucky, but due to the Transitive Property of Statistics and Prospects we can safely assume that Gilvydas Biruta is a better player than Julius Randle and Willie Cauley-Stein. Their numbers against the formidable front line of LSU:

GB: 36min, 19pts, 14reb, 2ast, 1blk, 8-13fg, 1-3ft
JR: 27min, 6pts, 5reb, 1ast, 1blk, 3-11fg, 0-1ft
WCS: 17min, 3pts, 6reb, 1ast, 0blk, 1-5fg, 1-2ft

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

The only completely high level game I've ever seen Cauley-Stein play
was against PC.
Supposedly he's not the most coachable player around.
Randle is pretty raw, considering his ranking coming into this season.
Truth is, most of these one and done guys should stay in school for
at least another year.
They won't, though. Most will stop attending classes after the final game of
the season.
I think Aaron Gordon of Arizona has the best skills of the freshmen, but his team
relies on him less than Randle, Parker and Wiggins team rely on them. Gordon is, however, a horrid free throw shooter.
Wiggins has been surpassed by fellow freshman Joel Embiid, as a top NBA draft pick.
You look at the ups and downs of these "super" freshman, and imagine the three star
guys must have it even tougher to have a real impact on their teams.
We're fortunate to have two freshmen who are living up to their hype,
and making big contributions to the team.

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 10 years ago

[quote="Obadiah"]Action resumes tonight in the A-10 tonight with this line-up of games:

UMass at St. Bonaventure. A road challenge for UMass as the Bonnies will certainly be up for this game after their close loss at Amherst and the upset loss to Duquesne.

St. Joseph’s at Dayton. With their NCAA aspirations apparently gone, can the Flyers resurrect their season?

Fordham at VCU. Will Fordham regroup after their rout by UMass?

La Salle at GW. A rematch of a game won earlier by GW.

Richmond at Saint Louis. A road win here will propel the Spiders into a bona fide NCAA contender.

In an OOC game, Duquesne at NJIT. Talk about a weak OOC schedule.[quote]

What are the outcomes everyone's looking for? To me, UMass and VCU seem to be locks for teams we should be pulling for with GW pretty close to a lock for our rooting interest. In the other two games I'm pulling for Dayton and Richmond but I can see the argument going the other way.

sf2010 · Unread post by **sf2010** » 10 years ago

RhowdyRam02 wrote:
What are the outcomes everyone's looking for? To me, UMass and VCU seem to be locks for teams we should be pulling for with GW pretty close to a lock for our rooting interest. In the other two games I'm pulling for Dayton and Richmond but I can see the argument going the other way.

I'll be rooting for UMass and VCU, otherwise I don't care too much. I just want them to be ranked when we play them to have a shot at breaking our embarrassing streak. While things like LSU beating UK and Dayton winning games are nice to "make our wins look better," they really won't have much of an impact as we are far from competing for an at-large berth this year.

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 10 years ago

I agree. My rooting interest is directed toward the most tournament bids and best possible seeds for our conference along with what gets us the best seed in Brooklyn. I really want to get one win there.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 10 years ago

sf2010 wrote:Others referenced the Transitive Property of Winning to come to the obvious conclusion that we are better than Kentucky, but due to the Transitive Property of Statistics and Prospects we can safely assume that Gilvydas Biruta is a better player than Julius Randle and Willie Cauley-Stein. Their numbers against the formidable front line of LSU:

GB: 36min, 19pts, 14reb, 2ast, 1blk, 8-13fg, 1-3ft
JR: 27min, 6pts, 5reb, 1ast, 1blk, 3-11fg, 0-1ft
WCS: 17min, 3pts, 6reb, 1ast, 0blk, 1-5fg, 1-2ft

SF,
It was a strong performance by Biruta with a strong double-double of 19 pts and 14 rebounds. He was also 2-2 on 3 points and stayed out of foul trouble ending with 3 fouls in 36 minutes (enabling the 36 minutes)
Besides being at the game against Dayton I also watched the TV Replay twice. The announcers were high on Biruta and showed his stats through the first 6 games and then all games after the first 6. Marked improvement was shown.
Keys to Biruta:
1. He was injured early in the season just as Munford was with his toe injury so we did not see him at full strength
2. He was coming off a year of not playing in live game situations
3. He has played out of his expected position going into the season. Hare was to have been the starting center and Iffy has not taken over the position either so Biruta has had to carry that load.
4. He had trouble staying out of foul trouble earlier on - now seems to have adapted to the new rules and is staying eligible more.
This kid is a workhorse and is improving every game.
I look forward to watching him the rest of this year and next.

sf2010 · Unread post by **sf2010** » 10 years ago

Oh no doubt, extremely pleased with his performance. Just having a little fun with the stats

I think he's clearly our second best player *right now* (behind X). EC and HM clearly have loads of potential going forward and the ability to exceed GB's contributions, but on a game-by-game basis at this point in the season he has been our second best player.

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 10 years ago

In the last 15 games, so taking out the first 6 like the Dayton broadcast did, he's averaged 27 minutes, 12.5 points, and 7.6 rebounds per game.

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 10 years ago

Interesting that UMass is +2 point dogs at Reilly versus St. Bona.

twisted3829 · Unread post by **twisted3829** » 10 years ago

they were +3.5 at richmond a couple weeks ago

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 10 years ago

A 2-4 URI team improving on the up swing has a whole week to get ready for a Fordham team that is not winning many games. Put us at 3-4 going to VCU? VCU and UMass back to back seems a tall task.

Bout time we had some magic around here. Guys getting healthy, getting better. The rotations taking shape and executing much better.

The a10 tourney is our NCAAs this year and why can't we get into it and win it? (believing we continue to get better and finish 5-7 place)

Many throwing in the towel, I think Bledsoe's Patriots were 5-3 and made it to that Super Bowl in Nawlins. IT happens, teams surprise and teams make it to the tourney. I like our team going forward if they continue to tighten up.

I think the injuries and surprises have worn off and there is good stuff happening.

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 10 years ago

just looking at the a10 standings and the upcoming schedule. Lots of things can happen here in the next week or two for the league. Richmond is in the thick of it, weve played 2 of the top 4. SLU to a final possession.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

I'd feel better if we have Biggie back for the VCU and UMass games.
We're going to need someone besides TJ at the point.
Also, is Aaman going to play this year? He tweeted he was,
but no sign of it, so far.
We need all hands on deck, from here on, if only for depth reasons.

Ramulous · Unread post by **Ramulous** » 10 years ago

Aaman will redshirt according to my sources...

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 10 years ago

I think the confusion is that he was cleared to do some physical work but that doesn't necessarily mean game play.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

There's only 6 weeks left in the regular season. Aaman's unlikely to play by then.

Even if he was ready within a few weeks, I would think an extra year would be better than a few games.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

I hope they don't redshirt him.
Extends his scholarship an extra year.
We should be able to bring in a better talent by
Hurley's fifth year.

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 10 years ago

Maybe I'm missing it, but I don't see 1 A10 game being televised tonight. Is this correct? If so, we have one shitty media deal.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 10 years ago

Check out this thread on the A10 message board with online and regular TV video links for tonight's games:
http://www.basketballforum.com/atlantic ... links.html

Speaking of our A10 Media deal, there was a Digital Rights component which CampusInsiders.com won the bid and streams very high quality video for live games such as tonight.

Their streaming player has pause capability and rewind just like using a DVR! ALL FREE
http://campusinsiders.com/network/a10/live

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 10 years ago

ATPTourFan wrote:Check out this thread on the A10 message board with online and regular TV video links for tonight's games:
http://www.basketballforum.com/atlantic ... links.html

So we have 2 top 25 teams playing tonight and neither is on tv. Nice.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 10 years ago

If ESPN's boxscore is correct, Severe came off the bench tonight for Fordham. I remember seeing the same thing in an earlier game, again if the boxscore was accurate. Anyone know what that's about?

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 10 years ago

ace wrote:If ESPN's boxscore is correct, Severe came off the bench tonight for Fordham. I remember seeing the same thing in an earlier game, again if the boxscore was accurate. Anyone know what that's about?

Ace,
this is the second game he has not started
His last 5 games have been terrible for shooting percentage - only 27%
FGM FGA
2- 14
7- 17
9- 25
3- 13
4- 22
25- 91 27%

He was only 3-13 tonight with 1-3 on 3 pointers for a total of only 9 points. Worse yet, Pecora started 4 guards tonight and Severe was on the Bench
Seems that some of the Fordham fandom are pretty disenchanted with Severe.
The VCU TV Announcers tonight were commenting on Severe's attitude when he was on the bench tonight citing his pouting.
Fordham fans are critical of his lack of defense, poor shooting, forcing shots and not finishing strong when taking it to the hoop.
Some saying that Fordham players are even intentionally not passing the ball to him. Questions about his gunning and not playing teamball.

Ram Stampede!!! · Unread post by **Ram Stampede!!!** » 10 years ago

St. Bona looks like they might pull off the W vs UMass up by 10 with 4:30 left

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 10 years ago

St. Bona is killing UMass on the boards.

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