Week #14 – Games of Interest/A-10

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 8 years ago

Week #14 of the season begins and this thread will make a transition to concentrate on the A-10 race and the Brooklyn tournament.

Before the home loss to Saint Joseph's URI already was on shaky ground as to getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The short-handed Rams road loss at UMass was simply a ceremonial confirmation of that fact.

While an at-large is out of the question, there is still the possibility of URI plucking the automatic bid by winning the A-10 tournament. The hope is slim, more akin to the "Dumb and Dumber" concept of there's still hope??!!

The first URI objective is to get a first and second round bye by finishing in the top four, but the Saint Joe's and UMass losses have eliminated that likelihood. While we are just past the halfway mark in the conference schedule and still a bit early to guess at the pairings, it looks like VCU and Dayton are shoo-ins for two of the bye slots with the remaining two slots to be fought over by Saint Joe's, GW and the Bonnies.

URI is currently tied for sixth place in the standings and the second URI goal is more doable and that is avoid becoming one of the bottom four seeds since that route requires a team to win five consecutive games to nab the automatic bid, a daunting task. So what we root for is for URI to get the highest seed possible which realistically at this time looks to be either sixth or seventh and play one of the first round winners, probably UMass or Saint Louis. Getting past this round possibly puts the Rams on a course quite similar to last year - GW, Dayton, and VCU have to be overcome to get the auto bid. Of course, this is my current guess at the pairings and some of you may have other views. No question it will constantly change as the remainder of the schedule plays and that will be the prime focus of this thread going forward.

In the polls published today, Dayton moves up to the #19 position in the AP poll and #17 in the USA Today poll. In the other votes category, VCU and Saint Joseph's got votes in both the AP and USA Today polls. GW also garnered some votes in the AP poll.

No games in the A-10 on Monday evening.

On the national scene, no longer ranked Duke hosts #13 Louisville and #24 Texas invades the territory of #3 Oklahoma. Both games are on ESPN at 7 PM and 9 PM respectively.

twisted3829 · Unread post by **twisted3829** » 8 years ago

This is probably a good spot to put his too. I run this thread on the A10 board (I know some people can't stand the board) but it's the A10 tournament if it started today. I update after each set of games (mainly Thursday nights and Monday mornings)

http://www.basketballforum.com/atlantic ... ition.html

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 8 years ago

^I like both of these, nice job, guys.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 8 years ago

Didn't take Shaka Smart long. Texas moves into Top 25 today with a #24 Ranking. Shaka could really open some eyes by beating Oklahoma tonight at Oklahoma.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

Definitely going to be watching that game ramster. Should be a good one.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 8 years ago

The gift of playing in a power conference-> Texas was 8-10 in conference play last year and made the tournament. There's such a wide margin of error for those coaches. Real pressure is coaching a fairly clear favorite in a one-bid conference.

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 8 years ago

ace wrote:The gift of playing in a power conference-> Texas was 8-10 in conference play last year and made the tournament. There's such a wide margin of error for those coaches. Real pressure is coaching a fairly clear favorite in a one-bid conference.

Power conference....same goes for the A10. Although the pressure is from the fans. Since most fans expect to make the tournament.

Rhody15 · Unread post by **Rhody15** » 8 years ago

theblueram wrote:
ace wrote:The gift of playing in a power conference-> Texas was 8-10 in conference play last year and made the tournament. There's such a wide margin of error for those coaches. Real pressure is coaching a fairly clear favorite in a one-bid conference.
Power conference....same goes for the A10. Although the pressure is from the fans. Since most fans expect to make the tournament.

No 8-10 Atlantic 10 team will EVER get an at large bid.

Don't know where that post is going...

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 8 years ago

theblueram wrote:
ace wrote:The gift of playing in a power conference-> Texas was 8-10 in conference play last year and made the tournament. There's such a wide margin of error for those coaches. Real pressure is coaching a fairly clear favorite in a one-bid conference.
Power conference....same goes for the A10. Although the pressure is from the fans. Since most fans expect to make the tournament.

What?

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 8 years ago

Rhody15 wrote:
theblueram wrote:
ace wrote:The gift of playing in a power conference-> Texas was 8-10 in conference play last year and made the tournament. There's such a wide margin of error for those coaches. Real pressure is coaching a fairly clear favorite in a one-bid conference.
Power conference....same goes for the A10. Although the pressure is from the fans. Since most fans expect to make the tournament.
No 8-10 Atlantic 10 team will EVER get an at large bid.

Don't know where that post is going...

Did I say an 8-10 team from the A10 gets an at large bid. Try not to jump to your own conclusions.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 8 years ago

Interesting Texas fact. Not likely to stay that way once he gets more of his recruits in, but slow is working for them right now.

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 8 years ago

Wow...nice effort out of Texas....they just said that "Shaka Smart has a lot of the same qualities as Brad Stevens." I've been thinking Stevens might be one of the top tier coaches in the NBA (to do what he has with that team)...but thought, as a Celtics fan, I might be biased.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 8 years ago

Great game by Texas but Buddy Heild scores the last 12 points for Oklahoma including a 3 with 1.4 seconds left to win. Another notch in the belt for Heild in his quest for POY.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

Excited to have a top 20 team in Dayton coming to town Friday night!

http://www.collegepolltracker.com/basketball/

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 8 years ago

Two Tuesday night games in the A-10:

* George Mason at URI. 7 PM.

* Duquesne at #19 Dayton. 7 PM. Duquesne is shaping up as a contender for sixth place in the conference versus URI. The Dukes had been on a nice three game win streak before being derailed at Davidson in their last game. That game was only close in the opening 10 minutes and then Gibbs went to work on hitting threes and Davidson built a big double digit lead. The Dukes were badly out rebounded in the game, especially on the offensive boards. We have to root for Dayton to win this one!

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 8 years ago

Projo today has:
Dayton favored over Duquesne at home by 13.5
URI favored over George Mason at home by 14

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

Duquesne beating Dayton right now. I really don't want Dayton to lose tonight before we get a shot at them Friday. Want us to be the ones to knock them out of the Top 25.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 8 years ago

Dayton has tied the game with 1:00 to go.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

Dayton hangs on to win 76-74. Phew, let's get it done on Friday now.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 8 years ago

Dayton was down at home 12 (69-57) to Duquense with 5:50 left. Flyers go on big run to end game and win 76-74. Dayton had 28 fta to just 12 for the Dukes. Flyers shot bad from the line 15-28 which made it close.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 8 years ago

Dukes are no joke. They are playing well. Mason is a load.

Will not be any cupcake for us.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 8 years ago

Boston college up by 6 against UNC at home. BC is 20.5 point underdog

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 8 years ago

ramster wrote:Boston college up by 6 against UNC at home. BC is 20.5 point underdog

UNC wins at Chestnut Hill 68-65.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 8 years ago

Williams fell ill during the game, maybe watching his team lay an egg for most of it.

They came back and won it though.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 8 years ago

rambone 78 wrote:Williams fell ill during the game, maybe watching his team lay an egg for most of it.

They came back and won it though.

I am surprised Foghorn Leghorn is still coaching, honestly.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 8 years ago

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 8 years ago

TP, I've never been that impressed with RW's coaching ability.

But the talent they get, man it's tough to screw that up, but he does it sometimes......

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 8 years ago

Looking over the standings and throwing out most of the season, that Umass loss is a dagger.

Beat Umass and URI is firmly in that second tier of teams battling for the 4th spot. Tough breaks.

Joes beat us twice but the harm to our players made it 3 losses. I hate Joes.

URI is due for an upset.

Still Rhody is right there and beating a Dayton team that needed a late push to knock off Duq would do great things for us in the standings.

Eventually URI if it wants to be better must defeat the cream of the conference. Just once??? Please?

GW is staring down Joes and then a trip to Olean.

Lots of season left. The 4th seed is within reach.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

ESPN Bubblewatch updated yesterday:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bubblewatch

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 8 years ago

Four games make up the Wednesday night A-10 schedule:

* La Salle at Davidson. 7 PM. Davidson is favored by 14 points, but we root for La Salle to pull an upset

* St. Bonaventure at Fordham. 7 PM. SBU favored by 4.5 points and Fordham chances for an upset are much better than La Salle's. Go Metro Rams!

* Saint Joseph's at GW. 7 PM. Toss-up game but I want to see GW take this one since I now hate St. Joe's.

* Richmond at Saint Louis. 8 PM. More separation between URI and Richmond is desirable, so we root for the Billikens to make the upset and get a home court win.

URIGONZO · Unread post by **URIGONZO** » 8 years ago

I think Bonnies cruises in Rose Hill tonight.

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 8 years ago

First results of the night are in. Hot shooting Saint Joseph's breezed by GW, 84-66. Not many fouls in this game as the teams had a combined 15 FT attempts.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 8 years ago

I think not. They [Bonnies] almost lost at the end of regulation.

Bad loss for them if they don't pull this one out.

GW gets hammered at home by St. Joes. Hurts their at large chances, big boost for Joe's.

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 8 years ago

Fordham leads the Bonnies by 1 in OT?

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 8 years ago

Davidson easily handled La Salle, 79-66. Both teams shot the ball well, Davidson was a bit better and also controlled the boards. The win moves Davidson into a tie with URI for sixth place.

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 8 years ago

Hurt GW's tournament chances? More importantly it put the rams a game behind the GW choke artists.

URI is in a race right now.

That double bye isn't extremely out of reach.

Obadiah · Unread post by **Obadiah** » 8 years ago

Not exactly true Seawright, the obstacle to the double bye is not GW, but SBU. The Bonnies have a favorable remaining schedule whereas GW does not. Also, we have to overcome Davidson which also has favorable remaining schedule. URI has some tough games left on its schedule.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 8 years ago

The double bye would likely require a 12-6 record.

Not happening. The UMass loss could be a killer, if we were to be in the mix.

Even if we go 5-2 [best case scenario, and that requires a win Friday] that's 11-7, not good enough.

There are no more "easy" games left, well maybe one, UMass.

An 11-7 league mark, imo would be a good finish, as shorthanded as we are. That would mean a win Friday, and 1 win among the 3 tough road games [Dayton, VCU, Davidson]. Even the other road game is no pushover. The Bonnies found that out tonight.

I think Davidson is our best shot among those 3 I mentioned.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 8 years ago

Whoa. It's not A10, but PC drops one at their favorite place, Marquette, in 2 OT.

Dunn fouled out.

But Bentil. Unbelievable. 42 and 12, and 6-13 on 3's.

Will HE go NBA with Dunn? Pro scouts have to be drooling over this guy.

I'm all for it!

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

Bentil was great, watched the whole second half and OT. But PC totally got bailed out by a non-call at the end of the first OT. Game should have never even gone that far.

Don't look now, but Providence now sits at 6th in the 10 team Big East. As you can likely tell, I'm real broken up about it!

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 8 years ago

That lofty seed they would have had a couple of weeks ago, is slip sliding fast.

They could end up as an 8-9 if they don't rally in the conference tourney.

BPR2010 · Unread post by **BPR2010** » 8 years ago

Also, you have to take into account that we are in reality 3 games behind the Bonnies. 2 games in the standings, but they own the tiebreaker over us which means we would have to finish a game AHEAD of them to get the double bye. I just don't see us making up 3 games on them with the schedule we have left. Doesn't matter either way to me, when you get hot, you get hot. We had a double bye last year and it didn't help us that much. Need Jarvis to go Kemba in Brooklyn!

Ramulous · Unread post by **Ramulous** » 8 years ago

I don't watch pc games......I don't watch big east games.....go ahead....say that I am dumb....

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 8 years ago

Even the 5 seed could be good if that runs through the 4 seed part of the bracket. Bye. Play a bottom feeder. Blitz the Bonnies. Then we are back where we were last year.

I said we are in a race for the 4th. Looks like you guys are describing a race to me.

Bonnies are good. IDK at least there are more games to be played.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 8 years ago

We have 4 games left against top 50 teams. Although Davidson imo is a stretch.

What are we, 0-8 against the top 100?

How can we be in any race, with those stats?

Yeah, we seem to be improving, at least some of our players are.

But where's the beef? [Yeah that's old, but so am I]

WIN a couple against somebody good, or NY is a land of make believe.

We are in almost every game we play against good teams. But we haven't won ANY of them.

That's actually very unusual. Most teams that do that, find a way to win at least one here and there.

Until we do that, how can anybody think we could win several close games in a row against good teams in NY?

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 8 years ago

rambone 78 wrote:We have 4 games left against top 50 teams. Although Davidson imo is a stretch.

What are we, 0-8 against the top 100?

How can we be in any race, with those stats?

Yeah, we seem to be improving, at least some of our players are.

But where's the beef? [Yeah that's old, but so am I]

WIN a couple against somebody good, or NY is a land of make believe.

We are in almost every game we play against good teams. But we haven't won ANY of them.

That's actually very unusual. Most teams that do that, find a way to win at least one here and there.

Until we do that, how can anybody think we could win several close games in a row against good teams in NY?

Perhaps it starts Friday?

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 8 years ago

208, it might. For a game.

But without a healthy KI, how do you think we'll do against teams with a good frontcourt?

We need his rebounding and scoring. And 5 fouls to give.

Hassan has little help, and he gets in foul trouble usually pretty quickly, and then what?

JG and JT can play great, and Four can make 3's, and it won't be good enough against better teams, especially a string of good teams.

Just being real. Nothing against the boys, or Dan. We just need more. Even more than KI, really.

One thing I would really like to see before this season is put to bed, though. And that's JG and or JT make plays at the end of close games and win them.

Follow up their good play with some clutch play. Would be a good time to start, yes?

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 8 years ago

I just watched the end of Michigan-Minnesota.

Boston College, Minnesota, St. John's, and Rutgers are now a combined 0-46 in their conference games.

PeterRamTime · Unread post by **PeterRamTime** » 8 years ago

We'd have to do it on the backs of Jared and Jarvis. Maybe they have the balls to win one close now.

NYGFan_Section208 · Unread post by **NYGFan_Section208** » 8 years ago

PeterRamTime wrote:We'd have to do it on the backs of Jared and Jarvis. Maybe they have the balls to win one close now.

I think they do...those two guys have never played better together at the same time than they are now...
Takin' it one game at a time, starting Friday...

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