KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

URI fell two spots in the AP Top 25 poll with its loss to then #1 Duke. In the USA Today poll, URI stands at #25. Dayton and VCU are the only other A-10 teams getting votes in either poll. On the strength of its loss to Kansas, Duke fell to the #6 position in the AP poll and #3 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll. Kentucky takes over as #1 in both polls.

Monday night action in the A-10:

Little Rock plays St. Bonaventure in the Lone Star Showcase in Cedar Park, TX. 6 PM.

In the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, St. Joseph's plays NC State. 6 PM. On CBSSN.

GW versus Georgia in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City. 7 PM.

George Mason versus Houston in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Esterio, FL. 7:30 PM.

BYU plays Saint Louis in the MGM Grand Main Event in Las Vegas, 9:30 PM.


In games involving URI OOC opponents:

St. Francis at PC. 6:30 PM. A campus game in the Emerald Coast Classic. FS1.

Belmont vs. Florida in the Advocare Invitational in Tampa. 7 PM. On SECN.

Valparaiso versus Alabama in the MGM Grand Main Event in Las Vegas, 11:59 PM.

See how Belmont fares at Florida getting 12 points

All Belmont does is chuck threes, and they only hit 33% of them. They only take extremely close range 2s and score 63.6% of them. So it's a dunk or a 3 or they don't score. They're 350th in points from the free throw line. Very unique kind of team.

ATPTourFan wrote:All Belmont does is chuck threes, and they only hit 33% of them. They only take extremely close range 2s and score 63.6% of them. So it's a dunk or a 3 or they don't score. They're 350th in points from the free throw line. Very unique kind of team.

sounds like the Jim O'Brien Celtics teams...just keep chucking it

I would expect we beat them by double digits

Can we get a Belmont thread going?

A10 is good this year. Headed for 0-5 tonight.

Seriously - bottom of the league is awful. Middle will be better later in season but not 1 unexpected win in OOC. And Dayton and VCU haven't exactly looked too great yet either.

Valpo-Alabama is worth a look. Dayton beat Alabama by 5, let's see how that game plays out.

If Valpo wins or plays them close, then we've got our hands full......especially at their place.

Houston absolutely clocks George Mason on a neutral court by 37. Are the Cougars that good, or is GM that bad?

Wow, the bottom of the A10 reeks......

Side note: UConn just lost their best player [Larrier-ex VCU] to a leg injury....sucks to be the Leg Humpers right now, eh?

The A-10 will be an anchor on URI's RPI.

Yeah future opponents not looking good tonight....
Hopefully Valpo beats Bama.

We really are looking like the cream of the crop in the A-10 this year.

Makes it even more important to win the games we are favored to win, and win at least a couple against the top of the league including on the road....all this sucking means little margin for error....

PRT...Houston looks like a tough game.....Valpo we'll know more after tonight.....

No question our three road games will be tough.
Especially Houston I feel.
All it takes is for us to not come in fired up and somebody like valpo could knock us off.
Since we saw how Brown gave us all we could handle.

If you're still awake and bored you can watch Valpo play Alabama right now on YouTube.

GM and STL are very bad , we will have a lot of cakewalks in conf

Valpo beat Bama 68-60.
Pretty bad video quality, but Valpo is definitely a team to be reckoned with.
They have good size and they are methodical.
Good D.
Much like last years team.
Alec Peters is seriously good. He can do it all.
He's good at like everything. Made a three and then made a three point play at the end to ensure the win.
They will be tough at home.

Monday night action was bad for the A-10, as the conference went 0-5 on the evening (0-2 versus P5 teams) and two teams, George Mason and Saint Louis suffered large double digit losses.

Little Rock edges St. Bonaventure, 68-65.

St. Joseph's led in the early going, then lost its way as the Hawks lost to NC State, 73-63.

Georgia held off GW most of game to win, 81-73.

George Mason routed by Houston, 93-56. GMU was down by 22 at the half.

BYU routs Saint Louis in Las Vegas, 92-62.

In games involving URI OOC opponents:

St. Francis of the NEC lost to PC, 64-48 before a sparse crowd which once again proves that the combination of an unattractive opponent played on a Monday night is an attendance killer.

Leading from the start, Florida easily defeats Belmont, 78-61.

Valparaiso beats Alabama, 68-60, on the strength of some better outside shooting.

St. Joes and GW might be mid pack in the A10 this year, ugh.....

Of course it's never easy during conference season, everybody knows everybody, so early season scores can be deceiving sometimes...plus some of these teams will get better...as should we

That expected rpi of 27 could go downhill fast with a couple of losses to mid pack or worse teams, can't let that happen.....

That PC game proved everyones point about the Marist game haha

I don't buy St. Joe's as being too good. Every review says "they lost a lot, but it's hard to imagine a Martelli team being bad." That's funny because that's exactly how I imagine them, I think they're bottom half of the A10.

GW I'm willing to give time to due to their coaching problems.

To me the big problem yesterday is St. Bonaventure. If they're supposed to push the top level teams in the conference they can't lose to Little Rock on a neutral court, that's a bad loss.

These teams need to start doing well, its going to be hard to consider half of the conference wins as good wins if a majority of these teams leave the OCC at .500

Not sure how everyone else feels, but I think Umass is going to be better than anticipated.

Rhody Guy wrote:Not sure how everyone else feels, but I think Umass is going to be better than anticipated.

They've got talent, but it's young. And I think their coaching is suspect.

If I'm doing the math correctly, A10 suck factor is in full effect early on this season. Conference w-l record stands at 34-21 (.618). The A10 boards have a historical comparison of conf OOC record and # of NCAA bids. I need to find that because it definitely has strong correlation.

I think there are 3 teams that have a chance to make the NCAA tournament and it will only occur if there is separation at top of the league. Those 3, in order (opinion), are Rhode Island, Dayton, and VCU. I think the most likely scenario is it's a down year and the Atlantic 10 sends 2 teams to the tournament. It's not ideal for URI, but if we're able to take 2 of 3 from @Houston, @Valpo, and @Providence we should have a resume worthy of inclusion assuming we finish top 3 in a down A10. Dayton is without Pollard and Cunningham for now and are dealing with an already thin front court due to the unexpected passing of Big Steve. VCU has some athletic weapons and experience, but hasn't shown consistency in the early season. I'm hopeful we can see UMass, GW, LaSalle, and St Bonaventure pickup an unexpected win or two to make up for the historically weak bottom of the conference. That may be wishful thinking.

I completely forgot Davidson- I think they also have an outside shot. Gibbs is special.

Good win for Valpo last night. P5 team on a neutral court.

Section104 wrote:I completely forgot Davidson- I think they also have an outside shot. Gibbs is special.

Not to mention great coaching. If Dayton stumbles due to injuries like we did last year, they may step up.

Rhody Guy wrote:Not sure how everyone else feels, but I think Umass is going to be better than anticipated.

Thought the same thing, but their game against Holy Cross added some doubt. One game may not be indicative though.

Tuesday action in the A-10:

In a game now underway in the Barclay's Center Classic - Campus game at Richmond, the Spiders lead Hampton, 25-19 at the half.

St. Bonaventure versus Central Michigan in the Lone Star Showcase in Cedar Park, TX. 6 PM.

GW versus UAB in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City. 7:30 PM. On ESPN3.

George Mason plays Kent State in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Esterio, FL. 1:30 PM.

In games involving URI OOC opponents:

Holy Cross at Harvard. 7 PM.

Houston versus South Dakota in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Esterio, FL. 7:30 PM.

Other games:

In the Maui, after losing to Oklahoma State last night, UConn gets to play Chaminade rather than UNC. 3:30 PM. On ESPN2. Some comedown for the Huskies.

Love that last one. Leg humpers are strugg-a-ling.

ATPTourFan wrote:If I'm doing the math correctly, A10 suck factor is in full effect early on this season. Conference w-l record stands at 34-21 (.618). The A10 boards have a historical comparison of conf OOC record and # of NCAA bids. I need to find that because it definitely has strong correlation.

Not surprised by this. Definitely a down year for conference.

The worrisome scenario are teams like St Bonaventure, UMASS, GW, RIchmond (forecasted mid-tier teams) completely shitting the bed in OOC and then improving over Dec/Jan and knocking off the big dogs in conference to drag down everyone's RPI. I think all of the above teams have some potential to play above their head, while they have their flaws, and knocking off teams from top tier (URI, Dayton, VCU) is not beyond the realm of possibility.

OK, I don't have time to update this, but someone else can. I stole it from the A10 boards.

OOC % | Year | Bids |
--------+-------------------+---------|
.708 2014 Atlantic 10 6 bids
.654 2013 Atlantic 10 5 bids
.643 2008 Atlantic 10 3 bids
.643 2008 Atlantic 10 3 bids
.624 2012 Atlantic 10 4 bids
.624 2010 Atlantic 10 3 bids

.xxx 2016 Atlantic 10 3 bids
.607 2015 Atlantic 10 3 bids

.593 2009 Atlantic 10 3 bids
.587 2004 Atlantic 10 4 bids
.587 2011 Atlantic 10 3 bids
.559 2000 Atlantic 10 3 bids
.556 2001 Atlantic 10 3 bids
.555 2006 Atlantic 10 2 bids
.541 2007 Atlantic 10 2 bids
.536 2003 Atlantic 10 3 bids
.522 2002 Atlantic 10 1 bid
.406 2005 Atlantic 10 1 bid

Better start for the A10 today, both Richmond(vs Hampton) and George Mason(vs Kent State) get the W

Tennessee just took Oregon to OT. Go Vols!
Oregon might lose its 3rd game. They're being a UConn

I don't care if the A10 only gets one bid....so long as it is us.....am I being selfish?

It better be us. I don't want to see what this place looks like if it's not...

With today's loss to Colorado, #22 Texas has now lost two in a row and most certainly will drop out of next week's ranking.

Unless they sneak in a game against us and lose....then they will jump two spots...

UConn. and Chaminade. are tied at halftime.

UConn ended up winning by 11, but man they are bad.

John Rothstein has Holy Cross beating Harvard by 11 as his mid major shocker of the night. That's a nice result for us.

A10 with a bit better night tonight, going 3-1 with wins by Richmond, Mason and Bonnies. GW dropped their game with UAB.

Shocker of the night is coming from the state of Indiana. The Mastodons of Fort Wayne take down Crean and IU. Talk about a huge in-state upset.

That was a shocker indeed. I hope Indiana falls out of the top 10

Game was played in Ft Wayne. Rare time a P5 team played a true road game.

BPR2010 wrote:Shocker of the night is coming from the state of Indiana. The Mastodons of Fort Wayne take down Crean and IU. Talk about a huge in-state upset.

Best nickname in college hoops.

At the half...VCU with an 8 point lead over Baylor. Bring it home other Rams.

Baylor is such a despicable athletic department and university that I can only hope they lose all of their games in every sport they play.