steviep123 wrote: ↑5 years ago
DaytonFlyerFan, please educate me. When Grant replaced Archie Miller before last season, how was the roster? Did you lose a lot of recruits or current players? I think I vaguely remember Dayton losing some people but I can't remember the details or if they were major pieces.
The returning roster was debatable I guess, I thought it was fine, but there were many accusations that Archie had slacked off on recruiting and left Grant with an empty cupboard.
I just thought that we could have done better last year since Archie was great at doing more with less, thus I was not really buying the empty cupboard stuff.
And, to be fair, we did lose what was I think the winningest senior class in school history.
We had 5 players leave this past off-season, there was apparently friction between at least 3 of the 5 departed players and Grant.
Last year was about instituting a culture change/Grant's new culture I guess.
But, they have rebounded nicely this year after the first losing season in 13 years.
Thanks...so it seems at least somewhat similar to what is happening here. Both Dayton and URI lost a big senior class and a coach. The next season the new coach does worse than hoped/expected and the natives are restless. Now Dayton is better than expected this year with more time under Grant's system.
This kind of goes along with one of my thoughts about why this season has gone south. While Cox was involved in recruiting much of the current roster, he was recruiting them for Dan Hurley as head coach, not for David Cox as head coach. Therefore, it is quite possible that these players aren't necessarily at this point yet the right players for Cox' system. Would Cox have wanted to recruit these players for David Cox as head coach? So that *could be* be part of why this season has gone south. Cox is trying to institute his footprint and the current roster hasn't all gotten it yet. Of course it's just speculation on my part. He does have talented players so perhaps he should also recognize they won't be able to adjust to his system and he should adjust. Just some thoughts.
1 x
Bleed Keaney Blue!
”I'm not coming there to be in the top 3 of the Atlantic 10. I'm coming to win the damn thing!”
steviep123 wrote: ↑5 years ago
Thanks...so it seems at least somewhat similar to what is happening here. Both Dayton and URI lost a big senior class and a coach. The next season the new coach does worse than hoped/expected and the natives are restless. Now Dayton is better than expected this year with more time under Grant's system.
This kind of goes along with one of my thoughts about why this season has gone south. While Cox was involved in recruiting much of the current roster, he was recruiting them for Dan Hurley as head coach, not for David Cox as head coach. Therefore, it is quite possible that these players aren't necessarily at this point yet the right players for Cox' system. Would Cox have wanted to recruit these players for David Cox as head coach? So that *could be* be part of why this season has gone south. Cox is trying to institute his footprint and the current roster hasn't all gotten it yet. Of course it's just speculation on my part. He does have talented players so perhaps he should also recognize they won't be able to adjust to his system and he should adjust. Just some thoughts.
Interesting theory I can see there is possible merit to it.
0 x
We're gonna run the picket fence at "em.....now boys don't get caught watchin' the paint dry!
One point that dawned on me but I haven’t seen raised anywhere during all the discussion about this team’s nosedive in the heart of conference play is that nobody on the roster had ever experienced any kind of adversity during their careers. When things start to spin out on you, it is helpful to have some steady leadership. I’m not saying this team has no leadership or bad leadership, just nobody with experience dealing with basketball adversity.
The main leaders on the team, Jeff and Cyril, had only known championships and tournaments here. Fatts only had last year, on a team that was banging on the door of being a top-10 team in the country and had some of his best personal performances on the biggest stages. The coach has been on staffs for bad teams at points during his career, but has never led a team as the HC, and even as an assistant at this school had been a part of three 22+ win postseason teams and didn’t experience a losing season. The only even mediocre year was 2015-16, when EC went down on opening night and the team still finished with a winning record and was extremely competitive all year - they lost 11 games by two possessions or less. Thompson was a freshman on that team and was thrust into some minutes with EC out, so maybe that is something. Everyone else being relied on is in their first season in college basketball. Everyone that had been here is used to winning; everyone that came in this year expected to win. Not seeing the results is, I’m sure, even more frustrating for them than it is for us.
I know that it’s easy to dismiss some of this less quantifiable stuff and say “no, they just stink because they can’t shoot, the offensive system is a wreck, the defensive efficiency has tanked, they’re playing the wrong guys and the wrong combinations, etc.” and a lot of that is fair, but I do think the atmospherics around a team can have an impact on those things that is hard to quantify. That’s not automatically something that will repeat itself in the exact same way next year.
4 x
"If you build it, they will come." --Us, circa 2011
A couple of points TruePoint. First, Jeff and Cyril played decent size roles on that first tournament team that faced significant adversity. Second, it's not like we started in an adverse state, we put ourselves there. It almost feels like your post is saying, hey what can these guys do, they've never dealt with this stuff before. With better playing and coaching they wouldn't have dug such a hole which requires a bigger effort to get out of
0 x
Take down the Robert Carothers banner and fix the concession stand lines
RhowdyRam02 wrote: ↑5 years ago
A couple of points TruePoint. First, Jeff and Cyril played decent size roles on that first tournament team that faced significant adversity. Second, it's not like we started in an adverse state, we put ourselves there. It almost feels like your post is saying, hey what can these guys do, they've never dealt with this stuff before. With better playing and coaching they wouldn't have dug such a hole which requires a bigger effort to get out of
Yeah, I’m definitely not trying to make excuses for poor performance. Just trying to understand it better.
1 x
"If you build it, they will come." --Us, circa 2011
RhowdyRam02 wrote: ↑5 years ago
A couple of points TruePoint. First, Jeff and Cyril played decent size roles on that first tournament team that faced significant adversity. Second, it's not like we started in an adverse state, we put ourselves there. It almost feels like your post is saying, hey what can these guys do, they've never dealt with this stuff before. With better playing and coaching they wouldn't have dug such a hole which requires a bigger effort to get out of
Yeah, I’m definitely not trying to make excuses for poor performance. Just trying to understand it better.
I think they were doomed from the start. They obviously entered the year believing they were a certain kind of team with certain kinds of players. That hurt them when they played games like Umass, where they walk away saying things like superbowl. They clearly account for their opponents success or lack of success in terms of how they approach/prepare for a game. Leads to let downs and streaks of losing. Theyre obviously not good enough to enter games thinking the other team is worse and URI will roll, because this whole year they have lost those games.
There is also the issue of how they approach/prepare to play a team they perceive to be ahead of them.
hrstrat57 wrote: ↑5 years ago
Looks like Fairfield staff could turn over...
Wondering how Cox would feel about bringing Tyson Wheeler on board?
Getting ahead of ourselves here but thoughts?
Tyson is definitely one of my favorite players here, but I admit I don't know much about him as a coach. What are his strengths? Is he a good recruiter? Teacher? Scout? All three?
I think we need to look beyond ex-URI players (if we are even looking for a new assistant, though it does seem possible, if not likely). I totally get the desire for fans to want to see ex-players come back and coach here because we all love these guys, but there is a huge pool of potential assistants out there and we need the absolute best recruiter we can get. No offense to Tyson or anything, but I'm not sure he's the guy. If you took his name away and just said "yeah we need the assistant from the Fairfield staff that all just got canned" I don't think most here would be thrilled about that.
......if a URI former player is the best candidate available for what the coaching needs are at the time fine......if not then they should get the job because.....example, the assistant coaching teaching needs might be.......coaching big men moves, post play etc.
I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb here, by saying that I think at least some of the reasons for our turnaround can be credited to TJ becoming an interim assistant. His presence imo has helped give this team an extra spark.
Don't believe me? let's see what happens when and if TJ goes back to being just the DBO.....that will likely be next season of course.
Cox can’t afford to give TJ a chance right now. In order to maintain the upward trajectory, he needs to make a true HR hire. A younger, more seasoned recruiter with deep ties already established.
Adam makes the best post in the thread explaining why it’s a mistake to limit our thinking to only ex-URI players, and the next dozen posts are all about hiring an ex-URI player. I think TJ can make it as a coach - he has a ton going for him. But I don’t think that is the profile we need for this staff right now. I’m not sure where the idea that his filling in on the staff on an interim basis turned the season around came from, but it doesn’t seem based on anything.
2 x
"If you build it, they will come." --Us, circa 2011
Yeah this isn't the time for TJ right now (unfortunately because I love the kid). I'm kind of assuming Carroll isn't coming back next year due to his health issues, but I have absolutely no knowledge of that one way or the other so it's all speculation.
I think if we were looking for a new assistant it would/should be a guy who is viewed as the top assistant. So TJ isn't that yet.
He’s been on the staff the whole year. It’s not like they had stuck him in a janitor closet until Carroll got sick and when they took him out he fixed all the problems. I’m sure TJ did his part in helping get it turned around, like everyone around the program did, but to credit him exclusively without having any idea what he actually did is really reaching for a narrative.
2 x
"If you build it, they will come." --Us, circa 2011
TruePoint wrote: ↑5 years ago
He’s been on the staff the whole year. It’s not like they had stuck him in a janitor closet until Carroll got sick and when they took him out he fixed all the problems. I’m sure TJ did his part in helping get it turned around, like everyone around the program did, but to credit him exclusively without having any idea what he actually did is really reaching for a narrative.
ahhhahahahaha. The janitors closet. Good one. We need to lighten up here.
Interesting comments on URI Alum Jim Christian. Says we could know something on him in 72 hours. Mentions Amaker at nearby Harvard and Coen at nearby Northeastern as nearby, ready candidates
ramster wrote: ↑5 years ago
Interesting comments on URI Alum Jim Christian. Says we could know something on him in 72 hours. Mentions Amaker at nearby Harvard and Coen at nearby Northeastern as nearby, ready candidates
Probably for another thread but this article asks an excellent question:
“Should the hard work of winning a regular season championship be over ruled by the mediocre efforts of teams from major conferences such as Texas, Oklahoma and TCU, who could not win half of their conference games?”
1 x
Bleed Keaney Blue!
”I'm not coming there to be in the top 3 of the Atlantic 10. I'm coming to win the damn thing!”
