KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

URI coach Dan Hurley said. "This looked like just another game. This is a conference road game. These are hard to get."

http://www.providencejournal.com/sports ... -their-web

"Hard" again is the operative word. I sense a theme developing. Somebody should do a movie about this.

What some don't understand is being "part of da process" , "is indeed very hard".
It may be comparing apples to oranges, but imagine if he played in a good conference how hard a road game would be?

I want to say congratulations to Ben who was smart enough many years ago ,to make the decision not to put himself through this type of misery anymore.

RI also suffered its first defeat of the season to a team ranked outside the RPI top-100, a potential body blow to its at-large NCAA Tournament chances.


comical to me how we are even mentioning NCAA

"I've got to do my job," Hurley said. "I've got to get this thing fixed. I've got to get us playing with more urgency, you know, because we're running out of opportunities. We're getting close to February and we're running out of time."


is it me or has JT really regressed this year ?

not sure what our coach is doing but these players all seem to not be improving at all

look at CT.. sure he hit some shots and whatever.. but he is by no means the player that was hyped to be

our players should be improving.. and not being stagnant

I haven't seen URI down in games by over 20 points to A10 teams since Xavier was in the conference. How many times can we just have no explanation for this, except for Jarvis out, Has and EC hurt (and it's obvious) plus Thomson just getting back and needs to start over Downtin. After thinking about it and looking at those factors, its very hard to legitimately judge this team compared to the pre-season or the first few weeks. Injuries are part of the game, but this is beyond 1 player maybe two and not just ANY players. Dan should take responsibility for losses as well, but he doesn't have the team he as supposed to have. I digress.

Hal Kopp wrote:URI coach Dan Hurley said. "This looked like just another game. This is a conference road game. These are hard to get."

http://www.providencejournal.com/sports ... -their-web

"Hard" again is the operative word. I sense a theme developing. Somebody should do a movie about this.

Wow, once again Hal leaves out the opening sentence of the quote that colors the rest of it. But hey, shit posters are going to post shit and Hal's about the shittiest poster we've got.

That quote by DH is mind boggling. Seriously.

This looked like just another game? Yeah, the LaSalle game.

We are truly fucked.

"is it me or has JT really regressed this year ?"

Something is definitely going on with JT, especially the last few games. He was fine before the New Year, up and down, but seemed pretty much the same. JT had turned into my favorite player, along with Hassan, because they seemed to bring it every game and played with more of an edge than the other. And JT was fearless most of the time, he doesn't seem to have that desire right now, for lack of a better term. We all asked what was up with Jarvis and found out he was ill, maybe its time to start questioning what is up with JT.

Gio I think they have tuned Dan out. Micromanaging everything has turned them off.

They aren't enjoying playing the game...you can see it in their faces....you can't play your best if you're not happy.

rambone 78 wrote:Gio I think they have tuned Dan out. Micromanaging everything has turned them off.

They aren't enjoying playing the game...you can see it in their faces....you can't play your best if you're not happy.

Of course they don't. They see it slipping away, too. And they have put in a million hours into it. I don't buy they have tuned him out, though. That's just fans sort of seeing something that isn't there. For me, this story is 5 seasons old. In crunch time or against decent team (especially on the road), the lack of an offensive mind able to adjust to what's in front of him is the issue. Sure, against Duquesne, the offense will rip off 90 points on 67 possessions. Last night, they scored 62 points on 83 possessions. Even with better FT shooting and a few made layups, that's really bad. I have said from jump street this year that they are talented enough to overcome this. If they make the dance, it will be in spite of this gross offense. Running out of daylight, though.

I honestly wish us as fans could walk into that locker room and give them a pep talk, spark some fight in them. The last fight minutes of that game made it close because someone finally lit a firecracker under their ass, too little too late, but why so late??

Rhodymob05 wrote:I honestly wish us as fans could walk into that locker room and give them a pep talk, spark some fight in them. The last fight minutes of that game made it close because someone finally lit a firecracker under their ass, too little too late, but why so late??

Not for you, specifically, but I hate when fans link performance and effort. 99% of the time, these kids are busting their ass. Sometimes, for all the reasons we talk about, they don't play well.

Gonebarongone wrote:

Rhodymob05 wrote:I honestly wish us as fans could walk into that locker room and give them a pep talk, spark some fight in them. The last fight minutes of that game made it close because someone finally lit a firecracker under their ass, too little too late, but why so late??

Not for you, specifically, but I hate when fans link performance and effort. 99% of the time, these kids are busting their ass. Sometimes, for all the reasons we talk about, they don't play well.

I respect their effort and work, but the difference in effort in the first 5 minutes and the last 5 minutes of that game was as obvious as can be without question.

Hal Kopp wrote:URI coach Dan Hurley said. "This looked like just another game. This is a conference road game. These are hard to get."

http://www.providencejournal.com/sports ... -their-web

"Hard" again is the operative word. I sense a theme developing. Somebody should do a movie about this.

I've never seen someone so excited about a team playing bad that they are supposedly a fan of. Keep pumping up the football team though.

adam914 wrote:

Hal Kopp wrote:URI coach Dan Hurley said. "This looked like just another game. This is a conference road game. These are hard to get."

http://www.providencejournal.com/sports ... -their-web

"Hard" again is the operative word. I sense a theme developing. Somebody should do a movie about this.

I've never seen someone so excited about a team playing bad that they are supposedly a fan of. Keep pumping up the football team though.

Adam has bingo. His M.O. is to make things look as bad as possible with the basketball team, up to and including only posting half quotes, so he can turn around and say "why are you trashing football, just look at how basketball is."

Long time lurker, occasional poster. My URI story in a nutshell...

Was a freshman in the fall of '99, class of '03. So my senior year of high school was the last time Rhody danced. Being a huge hoops fan, I went to dozens of Jerry D games at Keany, stormed the court when Woodward beat St. Joes at the buzzer, stormed the court when we beat Seton Hall in the NIT, rooted us on in AC in the A-10 finals in 2006 and later went to games at Rose Hill (including a triple OT loss in a snow storm) to watch us battle Fordham when I lived in NYC.

So many times this Rhody team was in position to dance, most notably 2010 and this season. 2010 because we actually deserved it, this season because it's the most talent (on paper) in my 17 years as a student/alum. I've seen a lot of discussion about the similarities/differences between Hurley and Baron. What boggles my mind is the one glaring similarity...Constantly coming up small in big-time games AND in games that would build momentum.

It's like a movie you've seen dozens of times. The plot points vary, but the ending is always the same. Sometimes we'll come out red hot, only to slowly fizzle away. Other times we'll dig ourselves into a huge hole, battle back but fall short. Missed free throws in money time, potential game changing 3's not falling, our opponents making back-breaking contested shots with the shot clock expiring or my personal favorite, having the ball with a chance to win and not getting a shot off. The cast of characters changes, but the plot remains the same.

Enough bitching and moaning, my personal analysis of this current team is that there is no leadership. Some of that falls on the coach, some of that falls on the players. There is no TJ, no Seawright on this team. EC and Hassan need to constructively get in faces and lead by example. But instead they seem to disappear when the going gets rough as it has many times this season. I don't know what the hell is going on with JT. Kuran has that fire you like in a player, but coupled with enough brain farts per game to drive you mad. Very casual with the ball and his footwork.

Strictly from an X's and O's standpoint, this team lacks a pure catch and shoot scorer. Jimmy Baron Jr's don't grow on trees, but even a McGlynn-type player would help this team immensely. They force the issue to Hassan too much instead of letting the game flow through him or come to him. The lack of discipline on D is alarming, because this isn't a lazy group. There isn't a lack of effort, it's stuff like being late to close out or rotate that is ultimately on the coach. Last night against Richmond, it was like they've never seen the Princeton offense in the 1st half.

An interesting barometer of your team is when big college hoops fans of OTHER teams watch Rhody and give you honest feedback. And this year it's been pretty consistent from several friends of mine who have played at the D1 level: "Rhody is a collection of athletes/talent that don't seem to have an identity on the floor." "Everyone seems to wait for EC or Hassan to do something when things are going bad." "They don't seem to trust their coaching."

I've heard a version of that from people who have watched us in the Cincy, Duke, PC, Valpo, Dayton and Richmond games. Yes, mostly losses.

Like Blue Man and a few other on this board (and despite this post) I would consider myself a Rhody optimist. I'm always ready for the sword to fall on my neck, but even last night when we were down 9 with the ball and 4 minutes to play, I got sucked right back in.

So these might indeed be rough times ahead. I think we're looking at a 10-12 loss season. And as we've seen, you don't just "get hot" and win the conference tournament. There has to be an identity and discipline that a team can fall back on when their backs are against the wall. This latest version of Rhody hoops has not shown they can do that. Here's to hoping it somehow shows up.

I'm sure I'm not the only one, but when it was 9-0 only THREE minutes into the game I said to myself "this game is over." It is SO easy watching this team and knowing when they have it or don't have it. Too damn predictable.

RhowdyRam02 wrote:Wow, once again Hal leaves out the opening sentence of the quote that colors the rest of it. But hey, shit posters are going to post shit and Hal's about the shittiest poster we've got.

Dude that's not fair. I mean he's up there but rambone just based on sheer number of shitposts and lack of actually watching URI basketball has got to be in this conversation.

This team is so mind boggling to watch

We blow out all the crap teams

All the hard teams we play real tight and Lose so frustrating

RhowdyRam02 wrote:

Hal Kopp wrote:URI coach Dan Hurley said. "This looked like just another game. This is a conference road game. These are hard to get."

http://www.providencejournal.com/sports ... -their-web

"Hard" again is the operative word. I sense a theme developing. Somebody should do a movie about this.

Wow, once again Hal leaves out the opening sentence of the quote that colors the rest of it. But hey, shit posters are going to post shit and Hal's about the shittiest poster we've got.

It's also a really weird (I would argue dumb) way to interpret what he's saying. He isn't saying "this is hard so don't blame me," he is saying "this is hard, so we have to realize that and play with some urgency and not think just showing up at the game is enough to deserve to win."

Dan is really quick at blaming his players.....he needs to look in the mirror and ask himself why his players aren't "showing up".

He's the one who is going to take the fall some day for this......it's his job and his responsibility to get his team ready to play.

Maybe it's just becoming too "hard" for him.

......after having listened to the last coaches show cast; he mentioned noticed that even during period prior to player intros he noticed the team/bench was not ready, not emotionally into it......seems to me his use of the words "faceless opponents" seems to perhaps carry over into an emotionless business like approach that results in slow starts and flat performances.......not a psych major but.....

section(105) wrote:......after having listened to the last coaches show cast; he mentioned noticed that even during period prior to player intros he noticed the team/bench was not ready, not emotionally into it......seems to me his use of the words "faceless opponents" seems to perhaps carry over into an emotionless business like approach that results in slow starts and flat performances.......not a psych major but.....

Personally, I've never noticed a more drastic change in players emotion than this team since say the PC game and especially over the past few weeks. I literally look at the TV in disbelief and confusion as to how slow and lackadaisical they became, such as Iverson not Jumping at tip-off vs LaSalle, perfect indicator. Ever see the movie Space Jam when the NBA players get their talent sucked away by the aliens? Similar results here.

rambone 78 wrote:Dan is really quick at blaming his players.....he needs to look in the mirror and ask himself why his players aren't "showing up".

He's the one who is going to take the fall some day for this......it's his job and his responsibility to get his team ready to play.

Maybe it's just becoming too "hard" for him.

From the exact same article...

"I've got to do my job," Hurley said. "I've got to get this thing fixed. I've got to get us playing with more urgency, you know, because we're running out of opportunities. We're getting close to February and we're running out of time."

Silly Adam, letting facts and full quotes get in the way

If anyone wants to criticize Dan for Xs and Os at this point it will be hard for anyone to argue very strongly or very convincingly against you. But all this nit picking on the soft skill areas of the job to me is really unwarranted and more a representation of where certain people are at in their own inner life.

To people like Hal and other similarly minded posters, words no longer have any meaning and it isn't important to use context and common sense to interpret what other people say. Everything anyone ever says is a Rorschach test.

TruePoint wrote:If anyone wants to criticize Dan for Xs and Os at this point it will be hard for anyone to argue very strongly or very convincingly against you. But all this nit picking on the soft skill areas of the job to me is really unwarranted and more a representation of where certain people are at in their own inner life.

To people like Hal and other similarly minded posters, words no longer have any meaning and it isn't important to use context and common sense to interpret what other people say. Everything anyone ever says is a Rorschach test.

I don't think people should be going after everything Hurley says but I do think his sideline behavior is open for criticism. Along with the fact that most other a10 coaches don't seem to like him is somewhat telling.

They're not playing with any joy. Yes, they are playing hard, but it doesn't look like anyone is having fun playing basketball. It might sound silly, but that affects how they play. Even when they win, it doesn't look like they are having fun. I think there are emotional issues going on off the court, and they have nothing to do with basketball. I think that's what's going on with Jarvis, and with Jared being Jarvis' best friend, I think that's what's going on with him.

I'm not really sure how to properly gauge joy, but Jared always seems to be happy and having a good time pregame. Seeing him pregame smiling, singing along to the music playing and dancing, he doesn't seem to be unhappy.

does anybody believe we are not a top 50 rpi team;that represents being one of the best 15% of all d-I programs

to get better is a process;if it were that easy everyone would do it.we are way ahead of where cfl left us--you need to walk before you run. we need a few pieces--like aconsistent inside game to get better

those who see hard times confine your thoughts to football and womens' bb

We are miles ahead of where CFL left us, but not really ahead of where CFL peaked here if we are being honest.

kal-65 wrote:does anybody believe we are not a top 50 rpi team;that represents being one of the best 15% of all d-I programs

to get better is a process;if it were that easy everyone would do it.we are way ahead of where cfl left us--you need to walk before you run. we need a few pieces--like aconsistent inside game to get better

those who see hard times confine your thoughts to football and womens' bb

......a process?.....think we've heard that before, not sure tho.....I think I was lead to believe this years roster HAD all the pieces......and enough of an inside game and depth of bench to be better now, this year......no?.....

105 if hass were 100% and I do remember the announcer on the Richmond game --he interviewed ec who mentioned that he [ ec] was no where near 100% dh has not recruited an inside game since gil b

The announcer claimed EC said he was at 70%. If EC is at 70% right now then I'm not sure we've ever seen him at 100%.

josephski wrote:The announcer claimed EC said he was at 70%. If EC is at 70% right now then I'm not sure we've ever seen him at 100%.

He looked like he was at about 25% vs. Richmond.

Billyboy78 wrote:

josephski wrote:The announcer claimed EC said he was at 70%. If EC is at 70% right now then I'm not sure we've ever seen him at 100%.

He looked like he was at about 25% vs. Richmond.

Could probably say that about the entire team.

Billyboy78 wrote:

josephski wrote:The announcer claimed EC said he was at 70%. If EC is at 70% right now then I'm not sure we've ever seen him at 100%.

He looked like he was at about 25% vs. Richmond.

You have to wonder how much his injury early in the game effected him and if it will going forward.

RhowdyRam02 wrote:

Billyboy78 wrote:

josephski wrote:The announcer claimed EC said he was at 70%. If EC is at 70% right now then I'm not sure we've ever seen him at 100%.

He looked like he was at about 25% vs. Richmond.

You have to wonder how much his injury early in the game effected him and if it will going forward.

My guess is it won't affect him much at all going forward. That happened in the first minute of the game and he still played 29 minutes. I think when EC went down he was probably fearing the worst which is why he stayed down for so long. Once he came back in the game he was laughing with the ref so I don't think it was anything serious at all.

EC's injury (if you want to call it that) the other night just may have been the best thing that could have happened to him. ANY player who experiences a season ending injury is going to be extra cautious going forward with that part of their body. Whether they show it publicly or not, they are concerned. When a player has an "incident" like that and can respond quickly as he did, it tends to have a positive effect going forward.

I wonder if it might have been some scar tissue breaking up.

I like Dan.

His most telling quote is the one when he said he underestimated the A10 conference a few years ago.

Either Naive or foolish. We hope it is the former but lately it seems to be more the latter.

What could you do? The coach has no clue.

TruePoint wrote:We are miles ahead of where CFL left us, but not really ahead of where CFL peaked here if we are being honest.

I'm going to repost this quote everyday I love it! you just dove into the DH JB comparison pool. The water's nice and warm eh?

Quote it every day until it isn't true anymore. I respect Dan's approach, but at some point you have to stand and deliver.

Atta boy TP!

Bottom line is we need results here and we are not getting it done