KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

Especially since a replacement has already been decided on, just not announced yet.....

I expect things to pick up on the recruiting front soon.....as in more visits.....

I know coaching moves which happen every day, that
come as a shock to all involved.
As most of us know, these things can happen almost overnight.
Even Dan was surprised when Bobby left.
Maybe Murray's leaving wasn't a surprise, since they already
have his replacement picked, supposedly.

Or maybe they (allegedly) had his replacement picked already for a spot on the staff but no place to put him, and Luke leaving provided them with a solution that they weren't expecting. You can't ever really be sure, I guess.

You seem to be right on this.
The rumors about Boswell have been around for the better part of a year.
Supposedly he was to replace Carr (moving Carr to an administrative
job at URI).
This makes it easier to replace Murray with Boswell, without the need to
juggle Carr.
I get what he could bring to the table, but is he better for us where he is
at Expressions?
It is what it is. I have ambivalent feelings about Boswell.

Well there was talk of Carr being booted upstairs, which still could happen at some point.

It was also known that Boswell has wanted a job on this staff for a while.

If Carr were to leave, I'd love to have Preston back, but with his pay rate at BC, not likely.

Imagine having both Boswell and Preston on staff. That would be some pretty good recruiting power.

Rod, what has Boswell done for us so far when it comes to 2016's?

Let's see if he brings a couple 4 stars with him.

No clue. I know he helped with Iverson and Terrell.
Pretty good.
You have all the Expressions kids at Vermont Academy and elsewhere, that he could be
a factor in trying to bring here.
Gotta be better than Murray.
Preston's not coming back, and Dan has no interest in ARD.
Besides, those are our guys, so they must suck.

No one said that Preston and ARD "suck" because they are "our guys." Preston was one of the best assistants we've ever had, IMO. However, the fact that they are "our guys" should NOT be one of the considerations when determining whom to hire.

"However, the fact that they are "our guys" should NOT be one of the considerations when determining whom to hire."
Seems to be a top priority with Dan. Only familiars seem to be in favor.

rodfromcranston wrote:No clue. I know he helped with Iverson and Terrell.
Pretty good.
You have all the Expressions kids at Vermont Academy and elsewhere, that he could be
a factor in trying to bring here.
Gotta be better than Murray.
Preston's not coming back, and Dan has no interest in ARD.
Besides, those are our guys, so they must suck.

Why to you keep putting words in people's mouth? Not one person said our people suck, or that we are better off with Cox than Preston.

rodfromcranston wrote:"However, the fact that they are "our guys" should NOT be one of the considerations when determining whom to hire."
Seems to be a top priority with Dan. Only familiars seem to be in favor.

And that's fine with me. Having a good working relationship with the Head Coach is much higher up on the "desired qualifications" list than having a place in the history of the school for which you are working. Dan can and should hire assistants that he knows, is comfortable with, and will add considerable value to the team.

Lets give the kid a chance, hes a big body. Whether his post moves are against toddlers or nba players, he still has the mind set, skill set and ability to know how to make post moves in the first place which we haven't seen much from anyone on this roster or last seasons roster.

On the plus side, Berry has three years left. I am pretty sure Watson will se more time if he can stop giving our opponents points at the foul line. If there is such a category Watson and Iffy probably lead the nation in fouls/minute......That number is probably influenced by our defensive schemes.....I don't see coach changing what works, so maybe the long lean types with good footwork like Iverson will get it done...................BUT, you still need a "banger". Hassan took a beating in the St. Louis game, that probably had some residual effect the rest of the season. I hate that coach for his ILLEGAL, physical tactics th.at the refs missed most of the game.

Most CEOs stack the deck with lieutenants they are familiar with -- this is not a foreign concept in business, politics, coaching, etc.

sf2010 wrote:

rodfromcranston wrote:"However, the fact that they are "our guys" should NOT be one of the considerations when determining whom to hire."
Seems to be a top priority with Dan. Only familiars seem to be in favor.

And that's fine with me. Having a good working relationship with the Head Coach is much higher up on the "desired qualifications" list than having a place in the history of the school for which you are working. Dan can and should hire assistants that he knows, is comfortable with, and will add considerable value to the team.

Having a good working relationship with the head coach is way more important than how good a coach was as a player or where they graduated from. But, what is being mentioned on this board vs. what Dan does is not the same. The suggestions that keep coming across are ARD, Preston and Tyson - alumni of the university. What the board seems to be clamoring for would be akin to Dan only looking to hire Seton Hall alumni to his staff.

To be clear, I'm not against hiring any of the guys I mentioned, but I'd rather it be after an all-out search where Dan decides they are the best fit for the staff, not handing them the job because they were great players during a successful time in our history or because they really like the university.

Last I heard, Preston was a proven commodity.
Besides, there's not going to be any search.
This all has been decided.

CTRamfan wrote:On the plus side, Berry has three years left. I am pretty sure Watson will se more time if he can stop giving our opponents points at the foul line. If there is such a category Watson and Iffy probably lead the nation in fouls/minute......That number is probably influenced by our defensive schemes.....I don't see coach changing what works, so maybe the long lean types with good footwork like Iverson will get it done...................BUT, you still need a "banger". Hassan took a beating in the St. Louis game, that probably had some residual effect the rest of the season. I hate that coach for his ILLEGAL, physical tactics th.at the refs missed most of the game.

Watson had .179 fouls per minute played. Iffy had an astounding .342 with 13 fouls in 38 minutes played this year. Jared Terrell had the most fouls this year with 105, which was third in the A10, good for .118 fouls per minute. Kendall Pollard had the most fouls in the A10, and was tied for 17th nationally with 116, .114 per minute. And Stefan Nastic of Stanford had the most fouls in the nation this year with 137, which came out to .125 per minute.

For those that are wondering how the A10 and national leader did in our games against them and how it compares to their average, Pollard had 7 fouls in 70 minutes over 2 games for .1 fouls per minute. Nastic had 4 fouls in 37 minutes for .108 fouls per minute.

Since we're having fun. I'll bet Terrell's numbers become very acceptable if there was a stat of fouls per defensive step.
....Coach said he was generally on the opponents top 2G or SF who was the facilitator, and told to be infront of his every step, or lead him into a secondary defender. I would have had to foul to catch my breath at the pace he plays.

rodfromcranston wrote:Last I heard, Preston was a proven commodity.
Besides, there's not going to be any search.
This all has been decided.

Agreed that Preston is a proven commodity. Would love to have him back on staff.

Personally I would have played iffy more and let him foul. Put him in there and get him to foul a guy that can't shoot free throws. He's strong as an ox so rebounding against him is taxing.

Don't have to be good with the ball to have a positive effect on the game.

I don't mean this for what our front court is or a starting center. But last year that strategy could have helped. If you gain an inch that way it's good.

Seawrightspostgame wrote:Personally I would have played iffy more and let him foul. Put him in there and get him to foul a guy that can't shoot free throws. He's strong as an ox so rebounding against him is taxing.

Don't have to be good with the ball to have a positive effect on the game.

I don't mean this for what our front court is or a starting center. But last year that strategy could have helped. If you gain an inch that way it's good.

Don't totally disagree with employing this kind of strategy on occasion, but with a team as offensively limited as ours was last year you can't afford to play 4-on-5 for long stretches on that end of the floor.

If Marshall can't get him into shape, no one can. I imagine he'll be gasping for air for awhile.

Nice bit thx for the linky adam914

I wonder if he's related to Marvin or Chuck?

Rhody74 wrote:I wonder if he's related to Marvin or Chuck?

I was hoping it was Walter.

interesting he took an official visit to Virginia Tech. I don't recall seeing that mentioned before.

I'm personally intrigued by this kid. I wonder how he does practicing against our front court that isn't necessarily advanced in basketball terms but they are all chiseled.

Should be interesting when he plays against Iffy and Watson. Of course Hassan too.

The level of physical play will be a lot higher then he's used to, I would think.

How he deals with that, will go a long way in determining how he'll do against the competition in the A10.

If he could contribute 8 and 6 a game, which was basically Biruta's numbers, he'll help a lot.

Great article.
Love that his "dream school" is Rhody. That's always an extra plus!

Judging by who was recruiting him, should we now also consider him an ACC level talent because of the VT visit???

Rhody15 wrote:Judging by who was recruiting him, should we now also consider him an ACC level talent because of the VT visit???

Time will tell….It appears leagues A-to-Z were "interested."
The proof will be in the conditioning efforts, earning playing time at practice and production during games.
Let's hope that he's an A-10 level talent when all is said and done.

bressler3south wrote:

Rhody15 wrote:Judging by who was recruiting him, should we now also consider him an ACC level talent because of the VT visit???

Time will tell….It appears leagues A-to-Z were "interested."
The proof will be in the conditioning efforts, earning playing time at practice and production during games.
Let's hope that he's an A-10 level talent when all is said and done.

I was being sarcastic.

I'm not one who believes in that method of evaluating players' talents.

Rhody15 wrote:

bressler3south wrote:

Rhody15 wrote:Judging by who was recruiting him, should we now also consider him an ACC level talent because of the VT visit???

Time will tell….It appears leagues A-to-Z were "interested."
The proof will be in the conditioning efforts, earning playing time at practice and production during games.
Let's hope that he's an A-10 level talent when all is said and done.

I was being sarcastic.

I'm not one who believes in that method of evaluating players' talents.

http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-620/h--/q- ... rk-002.jpg
Ah-haaaaaaaa……….

Seawrightspostgame wrote:Personally I would have played iffy more and let him foul. Put him in there and get him to foul a guy that can't shoot free throws. He's strong as an ox so rebounding against him is taxing.

Don't have to be good with the ball to have a positive effect on the game.

I don't mean this for what our front court is or a starting center. But last year that strategy could have helped. If you gain an inch that way it's good.

100% agree on Iffy.

The kid shows soft hands and a bunch of low post moves. Also seems to be a big kid but with some finesse around the rim. None of our current bigs have that so maybe he can teach them something.

I have no idea what Berry will become with a URI uniform. With only the video clips of his offensive game, I would say:

1) He knows where his bread is buttered...5-feet and in. Offensively, he has a soft touch with both hands around the basket. Best case, those clips remind me a little of the late Robert Traylor from Michigan. Big, wide bodies with soft hands who know how to use their body to play below the rim and have great pivoting ability with tremendous footwork.

2) Without any team/individual defense or rebounding video clips, my hope is maybe he can play like DeJuan Blair did at Pitt or Dametri (Da Meat Hook) Hill who helped Florida to the Final Four under Lon Kruger in the early 1990's.

http://articles.philly.com/1994-03-31/s ... es-barkley

3) Worst case scenario...he can't play a lick, has bad grades and can't last more than 5 minutes without getting winded. "Best" worst case...he's a bruiser, can set screens, create space for offensive rebounds for himself, and can use his 5 fouls.

Tractor Traylor was a great analogy -- or even a very poor man's Josh Smith (UCLA/Gtown). He also struggled with weight and conditioning which hampered his stats, but for a guy who could barely elevate he was very effective when on the court. Soft hands and good feet and good ball skills. This kid can be an added piece if he can translate his JUCO performance to the A10.

Let's bring this closer to home.
Big Ed Brown was a skilled fat man, who could
do it all in short bursts of playing time.
Good hands and good post moves solid rebounder.
A true space eater.
Brown also liked contact, which is key to rebounding.

Good one

Ghost of Jason Francis?

Soft hands, good feet and good ball skills were never used to describe Jason Francis to my knowledge. Lets hope he brings more than just a big body. Hard to tell from video but he did seem to have some of those qualities.

I hope at least he could back somebody down and make some hook shots

PeterRamTime wrote:I hope at least he could back somebody down and make some hook shots

An awesome weapon which was a common commodity for most centers and many forwards years ago -- and we're not not talking about the unbalanced ":jump hook," which is probably a statistical nightmare that's never mentioned, on a par with most three-point shots. Useful for the skilled, a nightmare for the vast majority.

Dave Cowens really introduced the "jump hook," which became a useful weapon that worked for him and the late Roy Tarpley became pretty adept at it.
But even smaller players used the classic hook shot, a common sense weapon that added a beautiful aspect to basketball…..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMtZGfs ... freload=10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n1-KIc ... freload=10
THIS IS WHAT I'M SHOUTIN' ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4zHAYh ... freload=10

No offense to anyone, but this is what good BIG MAN instruction is all about, which could fit into any offense, utilizes the so-called pick-and-roll, and is so fundamentally sound even undersized URI frontcourters could take advantage of it…...

Bos8 wrote:Ghost of Jason Francis?

Francis is more of the "worst case scenario" when it comes to the "oversized" big man. Ed Brown is probably around the middle when it comes to value, with Tractor Traylor and Michael Sweetney the ceiling.

Actually, Jimmy Walker used to post up his man and jump hook on him.
Heinsohn used to shoot hooks from the corner!
It IS a great weapon and almost impossible to block.

rodfromcranston wrote:Actually, Jimmy Walker used to post up his man and jump hook on him.
Heinsohn used to shoot hooks from the corner!
It IS a great weapon and almost impossible to block.

Thank you, Rod…Even Cousy used to drive across the lane and float in a few in his day.

And No, general audience, it's not that "Back in the day, etc., blah, blah, blah, blah…."

It's that sometimes the old way makes more sense and can be put to better use today.

And no, I wouldn't trade in the microwave or the HD TV or this stupid laptop.

Then again…..


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ooooooooooops.

This will be a good test of the team's conditioning program. If Marshall Can get him into shape the will be a great start

Dametri Hill's jump hook was known as the "Da Meat Hook." A great offensive move for wide body, vertically changed big men...(and for us YMCA has-beens who can no longer get off the floor.)

I would add Danya Abrams from BC to the Robert Traylor/Dametri Hill/DuJuan Blair/Mike Sweetney/Big Baby Davis list of "stocky" (I'm being kind) big men with great feet, soft hands, and strong presence. All, depending on the media guide, were probably 6'8" on their best day but probably closer to 6'6" to 6'7" in real life.

"Hot Rod" Huntley took a hook shot as a free throw once.

There were cases of weight-struggling guys who got their bodies fit and toned...and became beasts:

Chuck Barkley
Craig Smith
Lonnie Baxter (before he got busted for guns)
Marcus Fizer (college)
Byron Houston

I love watching the undersized big man succeed. They have to work harder and play smarter than the guys who have "length" and can jump out of the gym. As Raff would say, "Use the derriere to get position, great footwork with the puppies, a little lingerie on the deck with the head fake, and finish with the kiss."