KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

Now that the bracket is set, figured there could be a thread solely talking about the tournament.

For me, I'm a bit worried playing against GW, with their size and experience. Garino and Larsen will be tough to handle, in my opinion. However, I like our draw, as I would much rather play Dayton in the semis than Davidson (if we beat GW.)

I feel like Terrell could be our X-Factor throughout the tourney, if he gets hot I think we have a real chance.

Other X-Factors for me that could lead their team on a run: Posey from SB, Anthony for Richmond, Smith for Dayton.

Also would be very surprised if VCU makes it far, as they have looked very pedestrian since they lost Weber. I would have loved to play them before the finals.

Should be a hell of a weekend! Go Rhody!

VCU has lost 3 of 4, and got embarrassed by Davidson.

They just don't look the same to me at all.

We'll be facing a GW team that will be playing its second game
in 24 hours or so, or the team that beats GW, who will be playing
their third game in three days.
Kind of like our chances, on rested legs.
VCU is clearly not the same team that we faced in January.

I do love that we have a long break, and even the last game of the night. Our D hasn't looked as dominant as it once was, which IMO and many others, is due to flat out fatigue.

ramster wrote:

Rhody15 wrote:Now that the bracket is set, figured there could be a thread solely talking about the tournament.

For me, I'm a bit worried playing against GW, with their size and experience. Garino and Larsen will be tough to handle, in my opinion. However, I like our draw, as I would much rather play Dayton in the semis than Davidson (if we beat GW.)

I feel like Terrell could be our X-Factor throughout the tourney, if he gets hot I think we have a real chance.

Other X-Factors for me that could lead their team on a run: Posey from SB, Anthony for Richmond, Smith for Dayton.

Also would be very surprised if VCU makes it far, as they have looked very pedestrian since they lost Weber. I would have loved to play them before the finals.

Should be a hell of a weekend! Go Rhody!

You are worried about GW and you don't think VCU will get very far but just this weekend VCU beat GW by 13 on GW's home court!
I would always be in fear of VCU. They could win the tournament.
http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-local-men-hoops-20150214-story.html?track=rss#page=1

This article was from February.

Oops sorry

Watanabe just won A-10 Rookie of the Week; he hit seven threes against UMass. Just a hunch - he won't hit seven threes against us.

As a team GW hit 13 of 17 threes against UMASS.

SmartyBarrett wrote:Watanabe just won A-10 Rookie of the Week; he hit seven threes against UMass. Just a hunch - he won't hit seven threes against us.

Let's hope GW doesn't hit 7 as a TEAM against us.

Also, UMASS went from a top 50 RPI team to nosediving at the end of the reg season.

Kellogg is the new CFL.

Imagine if we ever had a game where we shot 70% + from 3?

Have we had ONE game this year where we shot even 50% from deep?

Rod, Kellogg does have that rep. Even last season, they staggered to the finish and then bowed out of the NCAA quickly.

rodfromcranston wrote:Kellogg is the new CFL.

At least Kellogg went to a tourney game LOL.

SmartyBarrett wrote:Watanabe just won A-10 Rookie of the Week; he hit seven threes against UMass. Just a hunch - he won't hit seven threes against us.

Still actively hate this guy from our earlier game against them. Wouldn't be shocked to see Hassan swat one about 10 rows deep and Watanabe just breaks down in tears on the court.

Yeah, he had a PG who bailed him out in close games [Chaz].

Even Baron MIGHT have gotten us to an NCAA tourney, if he had a PG like that.

In other words, win close games in spite of the coaching.

But he didn't, and we didn't.

rodfromcranston wrote:Kellogg is the new CFL.

LOL

For those who care, here is our NIT status:

The win Saturday locks us in.

We might need to win Friday to get a home game. Lose, and it's 50-50 imo.

If we win Saturday, we get 2 home games. 2 seed.

I don't think we'll get a 1 seed even if we make the final and lose. The NIT automatically takes the 1st 4 out from the NCAA committee, and makes them the 1 seeds.

Chalk me up in the don't care column

rodfromcranston wrote:Kellogg is the new CFL.

This is why, for me, our recent record against UmAss is so, well just hurtful. I can't wait until we own this league like we should. Modern basketball wouldn't be what it is if not for our guy Frank Keaney!!! Not saying it wouldn't have progressed into a high paced sport, but that we will never know what would have happened when. Anyway, I'm thinking UmAss's days of spoiling our fun is coming to a rapid close.

rambone 78 wrote:For those who care, here is our NIT status:

The win Saturday locks us in.

We might need to win Friday to get a home game. Lose, and it's 50-50 imo.

If we win Saturday, we get 2 home games. 2 seed.

I don't think we'll get a 1 seed even if we make the final and lose. The NIT automatically takes the 1st 4 out from the NCAA committee, and makes them the 1 seeds.

I care, if we can make the NCAA's that would be most preferable, but if not I'd love to see this team at home again this season if possible. Just one man's opinion.

ramster wrote:Chalk me up in the don't care column

To be clear I would care about the NIT after the A10 tournament and after the selection Sunday in 6 days, until then all I care about is NCAA or BUST

Seems like a tough road for us. We barely beat GW at home and if I remember correctly that was our best FT shooting game of the season where we went 20-22 and still only won by 4. Then if we win we most likely have to play Dayton and that was our only game in the A10 this season where we were flat out embarrassed. I am optimistic that playing on a neutral court should help us greatly against if we do end up playing Dayton.

ramster wrote:

ramster wrote:Chalk me up in the don't care column

To be clear I would care about the NIT after the A10 tournament and after the selection Sunday in 6 days, until then all I care about is NCAA or BUST

+50!

Tournament odds are out. Sportsbook.Com has the following:

Davidson +220
Dayton +350
VCU +350
URI +650
GW +900
Richmond +1000
Field +1000

I did a little Q&A with former Duke star Alaa Abdelnaby to preview the A-10 Tournament - he'll be on the call for CBS Sports. Also talked a little 1988 Sweet 16 game.

http://rhodyrampage.com/2015/03/10/talk ... bs-sports/

Not a fan of Alaa.
The game with GW (if it's GW) will come with GW having
played the night before.
That's the beauty of the bye.

Would be better if GW gets upset by a weaker team that will be playing 3 games in a row.

In my years observing these conference tournaments (which I hate), the team with the BYE is actually at a disadvantage in their first game. The team coming into the game off of a win the day before had an advantage as they've already:

1) Gotten their nerves out the night before.
2) Gotten back into the flow of game speed after an extended layoff.
3) Has adjusted to whatever the tightness of the rims are, depth perception of the arena, dead spots on floor, if the officiating is different than the regular season, etc.
4) The latest game of the quadrouple header is the worst time slot. The game times gets pushed even later, due to overtimes, fouls from the first game, etc. pushing the preceding game into the start time of the late game. It's a lot of sitting around all day waiting, getting stale and tight. College kids are used to do a lot of things between 10pm and midnight...playing basketball is usually not one of them. Plus, their warmup routine gets all screwed up.

The advantage for the team with the BYE, in my estimation, comes the next day...ESPECIALLY when they're playing a team that has advanced via the upset and is now playing their 3rd game in a row (now against a quality opponent). That's when the BYE team has more legs, more jump, and more energy than their opponent.

Winning 2 games in 2 days...that's pretty common. Winning 3 games in 3 days...awfully tough. Winning 4 games and 4 days...nearly impossible.

Those are my thoughts and observations.

Probably a very good point on the "rust" factor for most teams.

Considering that our offense has been consistently "rusty" and we depend on high pressure/high intensity defense to have any chance, I like the advantages of us having fresh legs in Friday night's contest.

I totally agree that the team that plays Thursday will be at an advantage against the team playing its first game on Friday, at least at the beginning. Maybe fatigue would swing that the other way down the stretch, but these athletes aren't going to start the game fatigued just because they played the day before.

I think the disadvantage for the team starting the tourney on Thursday (other than the obvious of just having to win more games and presumably not being as good in the first place) won't really start being a factor until maybe the end of the game Saturday or until Sunday.

PlayMikeMotenMore wrote:In my years observing these conference tournaments (which I hate), the team with the BYE is actually at a disadvantage in their first game. The team coming into the game off of a win the day before had an advantage as they've already:

1) Gotten their nerves out the night before.
2) Gotten back into the flow of game speed after an extended layoff.
3) Has adjusted to whatever the tightness of the rims are, depth perception of the arena, dead spots on floor, if the officiating is different than the regular season, etc.
4) The latest game of the quadrouple header is the worst time slot. The game times gets pushed even later, due to overtimes, fouls from the first game, etc. pushing the preceding game into the start time of the late game. It's a lot of sitting around all day waiting, getting stale and tight. College kids are used to do a lot of things between 10pm and midnight...playing basketball is usually not one of them. Plus, their warmup routine gets all screwed up.

The advantage for the team with the BYE, in my estimation, comes the next day...ESPECIALLY when they're playing a team that has advanced via the upset and is now playing their 3rd game in a row (now against a quality opponent). That's when the BYE team has more legs, more jump, and more energy than their opponent.

Winning 2 games in 2 days...that's pretty common. Winning 3 games in 3 days...awfully tough. Winning 4 games and 4 days...nearly impossible.

Those are my thoughts and observations.

Yeah I think this is a pretty fair assessment of the situation.

Look at Furman who had less than 10 wins coming into their conference tourney, won 3 games in 3 days, and almost beat Wofford, the number 1 seed. I don't see fatigue as that big a factor for GW. I'm legit worried about this game.

If we have a real chance to win it all, beating GW should be a non-issue. GW fell apart the second half of league play.

I am surprised VCU has the same odds as Dayton.
The probability stats that I saw (not betting odds) had Rhody with the 3rd best chance and VCU 5th.

Remember not too long ago, when UConn with Kemba Walker won 5 games in 5 days, and won the BE tourney on their way to the national title?

Not only that, but they had very little bench, and Walker played almost [or all] 40 minutes in every game.

It can be done. Fatigue can be used as an excuse. I'm sure they were tired by the end of that run, but they got it done, and against teams that had played less games.

GW will only be playing their 2nd game in 2 days. They won't be tired.

I think in our case, nagging injuries have played as much of a role than just being tired.

Fortunately for us, we don't have to play 5 or even 4 games. The way we play defense, 3 games in 3 days would be the max.

83, GW will not be easy. We have to shut down their outside shooters. We did that against them at home, but this is a neutral court game, and they have been shooting it well lately. And Gil has to show up. He played well against them last time. Larson is a load. Same for Terrell, he has to break out of his slump and play the way he did then too.

Kemba Walker is/was kind of good..

PC and Bryce Cotton, last year, to a lesser degree than UConn's
Walker run.
Short roster, and the team carried by a little guard with a big heart.
Gotta admire that.

The last 10 years, here are the winners and their seed number:

#4 St. Joe’s def. #2 VCU (2014)
#1 St. Louis def. #2 VCU
#4 St. Bonaventure def. #3 Xavier
#3 Richmond def. #9 Dayton
#1 Temple def. #3 Richmond
#4 Temple def. #7 Duquesne
#2 Temple def. #5 St. Joe’s
#3 George Washington def. #4 Rhode Island
#10 Xavier def. #5 St. Joe’s (Brian Thorton, Xavier’s leading scorer, missed 11 games, although I’m unsure when in the season they were)
#1W George Washington def. #1E St. Joe’s (2005)

The “average” seed number for a finalist is 3.7. The average winner is a 3.3 seed, and the average loser is seeded 4.1. In the past 10 years, only one seed lower than #4 won – Xavier in 2005-06, which as I note, had their leading scorer missing for (presumably) some early season or conference games. (I did this quick, so I didn’t look up individual game logs.)

While people remember things like Kemba Walker going insane, that’s probably because they’re rare. Obviously, it’s WAY more important to get the bye, since it removes a game from the equation. Most of the teams in the Atlantic 10, and especially the A-10 tournament, are at least competent, so it’s much tougher to win without the byes. The bye benefit overrides any “rust” disadvantage, at least, when you look at the past 10 years.

Our legs being fresh is the most important thing for us.
Last time we played GW we played with all the energy in the world and we dominated for much of the game. Our offense being shitty let them back in the game.
If we are able to play the kind of defense we know we can play we will have control over the opponent. Just gotta pray we can make some jump shots and not turn it over too much. Make free throws. Same deal all year.
Good thing defense wins championships.

Anyone know if the early games are televised?

Yes, NBCSN, 6:30 and 9:00.

The Wednesday games are not televised, but the Thursday games
are on NBC Sports. (channel 93 on your Cox Cable)

Thanks

Mason-Fordham should be an epic battle.

Hewitt vs. Pecora.

The loser gets fired. The winner gets fired. Just a day later.

Have to work nights this weekend which is making me unhappy. My actual point being would love a rematch with Dayton to see what this team is really made of when its no excuses time.

Fordham picked it up the second half of the season. They have some nice pieces. Could be a tough team the next few years with a quality coach.

rodfromcranston wrote:The Wednesday games are not televised, but the Thursday games
are on NBC Sports. (channel 93 on your Cox Cable)

According to the Projo, tonight's games are on NBCSN too. Although it wouldn't surprise me if they're wrong.

Tonight's game is on A-10 Network/SNY.

Thursday and Friday games are on NBC Sports Network.

Saturday Sunday are on CBS Sports Network.

Just so we don't get too carried away about how hot GW is. They are 3-5 in their last 8 games with wins against a collapsing Umass, Mason & SBU. They are 4-7 in their last 11 with a quality win in OT at home vs Dayton.

rambone 78 wrote:For those who care, here is our NIT status:

The win Saturday locks us in.

We might need to win Friday to get a home game. Lose, and it's 50-50 imo.

If we win Saturday, we get 2 home games. 2 seed.

I don't think we'll get a 1 seed even if we make the final and lose. The NIT automatically takes the 1st 4 out from the NCAA committee, and makes them the 1 seeds.

While an NIT bid is looking good, it is not guaranteed. There are only 32 NIT bids and all league regular season champions that fail to make the NCAA Tournament get an automatic invite. By my review, there are already seven NIT bids locked up for conference champions. Two of these are teams that would likely have been invited as NIT at larges (Iona and Murray State) as their RPI numbers are better than Rhody. There are up to ten more league champs that could snag NIT bids should they not secure their conference NCAA auto bid. If there are a lot of auto bids in the NIT, the at large pool will be much smaller and URI could be squeezed out.

Even if Rhody were to lose to GW in its first game (assuming the opponent is GW), URI's RPI would not likely change much as the Colonials are just a few spots behind them. URI would be 21-9 with an RPI of about #73 should it lose to GW. The Rams would have finished #3 in the 7th rated conference. One would think this should be safe NIT territory but nothing is definite. I think a win over GW would probably lock up an NIT bid. Otherwise, Rhody may need many regular season league champions to win their tournaments and go to the NCAA. The only way to increase the odds of playing in the postseason (be it NCAA or NIT) is to just keep winning.

URI was a lock for the NIT before the St. Joe's game. When it comes to the NIT we're playing for seeding at this point.