KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

He's going to get lots of minutes once he adjusts to college defense.

Wow - so smooth with the left hand. Fatts is going to be a good one if he wants it!

This kid will be a fan favorite and get plenty of minutes early on

Not a highlight video from high school. High light video against one of the best back courts in the nation. Me likey.

His 2 jumpers were over a walk-on shorter than him, but what his pass with EC and a double team and his right handed floater looked nice. I like that similar to Jeff Dowtin we should be able to ease him into competition where it makes sense instead of forcing the issue. Big things to come from this kid!

PS: love the idea of him + JD + Thompson in 2018 --> if Russell progresses like we all think he's capable of we can still have one of the best backcourts in the A10 even AFTER the departure of EC, JT, JG, SR. Great recruiting balance from Hurley.

I follow Fatts on Twitter......he wants to be great, don't worry about his make-up....

ramster wrote:https://www.cbssports.com/college-baske ... y-madness/

Seems about as spot on as July predictions could be.

He has us 8 seed hope we do better

Best part of that photo - Hass with a fixed spot in the RC. He deserves his number in the rafters.

I loved Hassan, but the only player to get his number retired
is Ernie Calverley.
I won't go into the list of so many others who had
careers at least as good as Hassan.

Hassan was a warrior no doubt....his lack of height plus injuries kept him from being higher on the ladder of Rhody greats.

Plus he played most of his career out of position.

rodfromcranston wrote:I loved Hassan, but the only player to get his number retired
is Ernie Calverley.

This has always struck me as stupid. Not that Calverley doesn't deserve it, but there are other guys that do too.

True that, TP. Silk, Tyson, ARD, Sly, Art S. and others....the list goes on and on.

I nominate Jiggy.

My "all time" top warrior list [defined - they gave it all].........I only go back to 86/87, as a season ticket holder.

under Tom.....Kenny Green, Tom Garrick
under Al.....Mike Brown, and ARD, Cat, Ty [that Harrick also coached]
under DiG.....
under Baron.....Brian Woodward, Delroy James, Kaheim Searight, Jimmy Baron, Will Daniels, Keith Cothran. It's a shame these guys didn't get to the NCAA's.
under Dan.....Hass
__________________________

Honorable mention......Silk, Bonzie, John Evans, Lamar [for his one year], X

CTRamfan wrote:My "all time" top warrior list [defined - they gave it all].........I only go back to 86/87, as a season ticket holder.

under Tom.....Kenny Green, Tom Garrick
under Al.....Mike Brown, and ARD, Cat, Ty [that Harrick also coached]
under DiG.....
under Baron.....Brian Woodward, Delroy James, Kaheim Searight, Billy Baron, Will Daniels, Keith Cothran. It's a shame these guys didn't get to the NCAA's.
under Dan.....tbd
__________________________

Honorable mention......Silk, Bonzie, John Evans, Lamar [for his one year], X, Hass

You meant jimmy Baron.

bigappleram wrote:Best part of that photo - Hass with a fixed spot in the RC. He deserves his number in the rafters.

No disrespect to Hassan, I'll remember his time here as long as I live, but he's not the best player to wear number 12 for us. Some dude named Cuttino was pretty good. Now if you want to retire it in honor of both of them I'm good with that.

CTRamfan wrote:My "all time" top warrior list [defined - they gave it all].........I only go back to 86/87, as a season ticket holder.

under Tom.....Kenny Green, Tom Garrick
under Al.....Mike Brown, and ARD, Cat, Ty [that Harrick also coached]
under DiG.....
under Baron.....Brian Woodward, Delroy James, Kaheim Searight, Billy Baron, Will Daniels, Keith Cothran. It's a shame these guys didn't get to the NCAA's.
under Dan.....tbd
__________________________

Honorable mention......Silk, Bonzie, John Evans, Lamar [for his one year], X, Hass

I'm not sure how you define warrior, but how is Martin only an honorable mention with all the Baron players listed? Look at some of the injuries he played through the last two years. Hell two years ago he was trying to play so hard through an ankle injury that he caused a stress fracture. And he did it because we were already missing EC so he felt it was his duty to carry the team.

"This has always struck me as stupid. Not that Calverley doesn't deserve it, but there are other guys that do too."
Agree.
Start with two All American, national scoring leaders, who were
part of Frank Keaney's great teams.
Stan Stutz and Chet Jaworski.
Art Stephanson, the biggest over-achiever ever, and easily the best rebounder in
URI history in only 3 years.
Steve Chubin, Denny McGovern, awesome players.
John Fultz, who is a legend in European basketball, and
a double-double machine at URI.His shootouts vs. Dr. J were epic.
Steve Rowell, a terrific all around player and great shooter.
Sly Williams, All American, who had his number at URI retired and unretired.
Silk Owens played with a bullet in his arm, lost his
teeth in a fight with a 6'10" goon, and was URI's best modern point guard.
Number one scorer in Rhody history,
I'd say he gave it his all at URI.
Kenny Green, hands down the best power forward ever at URI.
Cat Mobley, heart and soul of the Elite 8 team, and NBA star.
Lamar wasn't here long enough, but the second most talented
Ram of my lifetime
Will Daniels, the best player of the CFL era.
All these players I've mentioned were not one dimensional performers.

If I was in charge I would make it a two pronged test. You would have to have been on a team that went to the NCAA tournament or the NIT for the older players who played when that was considered the big tournament. A little unfair to someone like Will Daniels to use your example Rod, but I'd rather some exclusivity for the honor. And you should have to have earned a major individual honor. All Americans like Stutz and Jaworski or conference player of the year like Mobley would be givens. Something like defensive player of the year or first team all conference start to be borderline. Maybe you would need to get one of those multiple times.

RhowdyRam02 wrote:

bigappleram wrote:Best part of that photo - Hass with a fixed spot in the RC. He deserves his number in the rafters.

No disrespect to Hassan, I'll remember his time here as long as I live, but he's not the best player to wear number 12 for us. Some dude named Cuttino was pretty good. Now if you want to retire it in honor of both of them I'm good with that.

Totally agree...and ironically I have Cat's URI game jersey in my closet! If they want me to donate for the rafters I would gladly do it.
Agree there should be at least 8-10 ppl up there based on career.

Random but did St. Louis really have more fans than us?

Yes we need to get some numbers retired or at least a ring of honor with their names up in the rafters

Rhodymob05 wrote:

Random but did St. Louis really have more fans than us?

Yes.

SLU plays in a 10,000 seat on campus arena just south of downtown St Louis, one of the biggest cities in America. The city has no NBA team and no other decent college basketball team nearby (U of Missouri is 125 miles away in Columbia). They have typically had very strong attendance for years. With this horrendous year and run, it has declined but it still is very respectable.


http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketb ... d/2017.pdf

The NCAA also released conference tournament attendance along with team totals. As many expected (myself included), the A-10 saw a drop in tournament numbers for Pittsburgh. Any hope for high attendance there was quickly lost when Dayton exited the tourney early. The numbers should rebound next year in DC as it is located closer to several teams. Expect VCU fans to come out en masse.


ATLANTIC-10 TOURNAMENT ATTENDANCE
YEAR-SITE | SESSIONS | TOTAL | AVG
2017 Pittsburgh | 7 | 45,667 | 6,524
2016 Brooklyn | 7 | 52,133 | 7,448
2015 Brooklyn | 7 | 49,419 | 7,060
2014 Brooklyn | 7 | 51,854 | 7,408

Was it ever reported on how many people made the trip to Sacramento? While I was there (sitting in local Sacramento fan section) it seemed like we had a pretty considerable turnout, but I never heard a number. Distance-wise we had longer to travel than any other team in the tournament.

RF1 wrote:The NCAA also released conference tournament attendance along with team totals. As many expected (myself included), the A-10 saw a drop in tournament numbers for Pittsburgh. Any hope for high attendance there was quickly lost when Dayton exited the tourney early. The numbers should rebound next year in DC as it is located closer to several teams. Expect VCU fans to come out en masse.


ATLANTIC-10 TOURNAMENT ATTENDANCE
YEAR-SITE | SESSIONS | TOTAL | AVG
2017 Pittsburgh | 7 | 45,667 | 6,524
2016 Brooklyn | 7 | 52,133 | 7,448
2015 Brooklyn | 7 | 49,419 | 7,060
2014 Brooklyn | 7 | 51,854 | 7,408

The tourney could be in Alaska or Madagascar and VCU fans would turn out....

I will be in DC. Was in Brooklyn. Was not in Pittsburgh.

Sorry for double posts. But putting the tournament in Pittsburgh reminds me of some things that happen in RI government. Making decisions based off of one influential whatever it may be. Here, it was Dayton. That is so stupid. If SEC football operated like that the SEC football championship game would be in like Birmingham and not Atlanta.

My lifetime goal of never going to Pittsburgh is still intact.

I think Hass may be worthy of the URI Athletic HOF.

I think we will be much better than a 10 seed

So, how much better does Dowtin get this year? For a Freshman, he was pretty damn good.

theblueram wrote:So, how much better does Dowtin get this year? For a Freshman, he was pretty damn good.

I love the way he passes the ball. At the open practice, he made some beautiful no-look passes. You can have all the oohs and aahs from a thunderous dunk or a long 3 point shot. I'll take a beautiful pass over those any day. That's what excites me the most in basketball.

reef wrote:I think we will be much better than a 10 seed

Agreed Reef!
I see us as an 8 or a 7.

I don't expect to see a game like Fordham last year, that's for sure.

If things get rolling early, especially on the road ie Neveda and Bama, then the confidence will be drastically different from last year.

We should be underdogs @ Alabama and @ Nevada

Maybe at Bama but we may be slight favs at Reno

Agree on Dowtin so fun to watch hope he is even better this year

reef wrote:Maybe at Bama but we may be slight favs at Reno

Agree on Dowtin so fun to watch hope he is even better this year

It's early for sure but Joe L's latest Bracketology has Alabama and Nevada both as 11-seeds and URI as a 10-seed.

I don't see us favored in either game at their home court.

Nevada finished last season ranked 29 RPI.
Their expected starting line up this season:
Cody Martin F JR 6'7"
Caleb Martin F JR 6'7"
Jordan Caroline F JR 6'7"
Kendall Stephens G SR 6'7"
Lindsey Drew G JR 6'4"

4 juniors and a senior
Tall line up with 4 guys 6'7" and one 6'4"

I personally think the shot blocking, rebounding, offense, leadership and experience of Martin and Iverson will be tough to replace, especially early in the season as these two games are scheduled.

I'll be happy to split 1-1, ecstatic if we win both, but I would not be surprised if we lose both of these games in tough road environments

I think we run Nevada out of the gym forget that. Bama is another story.

I think this board is underestimating the returning Rhody Rams.

There are several reasons our back court will be much improved from last year's OOC performance. I imagine Cyril does just fine as the lead dog in the front court.

You also need to replace Cyril in his former role of first off the bench.

A repeat of last year's overall OOC performance is not good if we hope to get an at large bid.....we have to build on last season's late run, especially when it comes to winning the close ones against better competition.

Alabama has a ton of young talent, and especially a talented back court including the #5 and #32 ranked guards in this class. Our best chance to beat them on their court is early season, you would hope our more physical and experienced guards could wear them out over 40 minutes but they have a ton of talent and will make noise in SEC this year. 1-1 against Nevada/Alabama is success.

ramster wrote:You also need to replace Cyril in his former role of first off the bench.

...yep, because 2 quick fouls on a starting forward seems to be a big part of the strategy at times...

Fultz was last year's star and #1 pick. His team couldn't beat anybody. Look at Newman at Miss. State. Ben Simmons on LSU.

These top guys don't do so hot away from the blue bloods.

It would be an upset for URI with a senior group like we have, with their experience. To go down to Bama and lose.

Nevada? Give me a break.