KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

As Week #4 begins, the two polls - the AP and the USA Today - in no surprise shows no A-10 teams in the Top 25. Virginia is now ranked #18 in the AP poll and #15 in the USA Today poll. Alabama holds the #24 position in AP poll. Seton Hall drops out of AP poll, but is ranked at #25 in the USA Today poll. URI gets 6 votes in the AP poll and one vote in the USA Today poll. No other A-10 teams get votes. OOC opponents garnering votes in the AP poll are Seton Hall which grabs the #26 spot with 87 votes, Nevada gets the 27th position with 61 votes and PC gets 9 votes. In the USA Today Coaches poll, Alabama gets 48 votes, Nevada gets 16 votes and PC gets 13.

With this week, monitoring of the cumulative won-lost records of URI OOC opponents begins. Through the first three weeks of season this record sits at 46-18, .719 which is the highest in recent seasons reflecting URI's strengthened OOC schedule.

For what it's worth given the early time frame, here are key ratings for URI as of the beginning of Week #4:

RPI- 9, up from 22
BPI - 46, down from 40.
Sagarin -44, down from 41
Pomeroy - 53, up from 56


Slim pickings on Monday games.

In the A-10:

Cornell at Duquesne. 7 PM.

In games involving URI OOC opponents:

In an interesting match-up in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, Wisconsin pays a visit to undefeated #18 Virginia. 9 PM. On ESPN2.

Here we go Virginia here we go !!!

Freaking Duquesne.

Wisconsin has 33 points against UVA with 2:00 left. In the game, not the first half.

UVA 49, Wisconsin 37.

Less than a point per minute.

After leading for a good part of contest, Duquesne fell apart midway through second half and Cornell took advantage to win, 78-71.

Undefeated Virginia moved its record to 7-0 as they soundly beat Wisconsin, 49-37. The Cavaliers' defensive effort was excellent as they held Wisconsin which had been averaging 75 points per game to below average performance in all three shooting categories - FG's, 3-pointers, FT's as the Badgers were 31%, 15%, and 57% respectively.

Virginia's next big test will occur on Dec. 5 when they travel to Morgantown to meet #19 West Virginia.

The A10 conf is what it is lousy this year

Obadiah wrote:After leading for a good part of contest, Duquesne fell apart midway through second half and Cornell took advantage to win, 78-71.

Undefeated Virginia moved its record to 7-0 as they soundly beat Wisconsin, 49-37. The Cavaliers' defensive effort was excellent as they held Wisconsin which had been averaging 75 points per game to below average performance in all three shooting categories - FG's, 3-pointers, FT's as the Badgers were 31%, 15%, and 57% respectively.

Virginia's next big test will occur on Dec. 5 when they travel to Morgantown to meet #19 West Virginia.

Eric Williams Jr, 6'5" Guard for Duquesne is off to an impressive start for being just a Freshman in the A10. He was named A10 Co-Rookie of the week in the 1st week of the season.

St Francis (Brooklyn) 26 min - off the bench, 4-9 FG, 1-5 on 3 pointers, 8-14 FTs, 12 rebounds, 17 points
VMI 30 min - starting, 2-9 FG, 1-5 on 3 pointers, 2-2 FTs, 9 rebounds, 7 points
Robert Morris - 35 min - starting, 5-13 FG, 2-7 on 3 pointers, 6-6 FTs, 8 rebounds, 18 points
Cornell - 33 min - Starting, 4-15 FG, 3-7 on 3 pointers, 1-2 FTs, 10 rebounds, 12 points

Good to see some good freshmen coming into the league this year and grabbing starting positions early on

West Virginia has UVA’s number. They will probably be the favorite at home. It’s only one or two. I would give the points.

Virginia had 0 free throw attempts. I can't remember ever seeing that happen in a game before.

Tuesday night action in the A-10, in addition to URI hosting Brown at 7PM.

Davidson at Charlotte. 7 PM. Davidson has lost two in a row.

Appalachian State at VCU. 7 PM. APU had a big and convincing win over Davidson. Let's see if they can duplicate that effort in the more hostile environment of the Siegel Center.

Western Michigan at Saint Louis. 8 PM. After a promising start, SLU has now lost two in a row - one in a rout to PC and the second, more damaging one, to Detroit Mercy on the Billikens home court. Travis Ford can't be too happy.

Only one game involving URI OOC rivals:

Iona at Ohio. 7 PM. On ESPN3. At 1-4, Iona is struggling with a schedule typical of a low mid major team - strong opponents and road games. In fact, in mid to late December Iona will have a stretch of five straight road games, one of which is against the Rams.

Big night for the A10 boys and girls

Big night especially since all 4 games have A10 favored, we should go 4-0, but I wouldn’t bet on it the way this season is going.
URI by 20 1/2 at Home
VCU by 11 at Home
Davidson by 8 1/2 at Charlotte
Saint Louis by 4 1/2 at Home

I'm watching the Alabama-Minnesota highlights they are running during halftime. It is amazing how much better Alabama looked with only three guys...just gave Sexton so much more room to operate. Maybe Avery Johnson should think about just leaving two guys back on defense all the time and let Sexton play with only two other guys on offense - would eliminate fastbreak points and rest guys if you rotated which 2 guys went down with Sexton on offense. (I am obviously kidding about this. Mostly.)

Nice job Travis Ford can't even beat Western Michigan ??

Saint Louis lost to Western Michigan, 65-51. The game flow has some similarities to the URI-Virgina game, nip and tuck for 25 minutes and then in the span of 3 minutes WMU ballooned a small lead to over ten points, aided by Billiken turnovers and poor shooting.

Nice wins by Davidson, VCU and URI gave the conference 3 of four for the night.

A double-double by forward TK Edogi sparked Iona to a big road win over Ohio, 93-88

Lots of action on Wednesday.

In the A-10:

Auburn at Dayton. 7 PM. On CBSSN. 4-1 Auburn has no marquee wins and their lone loss came at the hands of Temple in the Charleston Classic.

East Tennessee State at Fordham. 7 PM. This game completes a home and home series between the two schools. Southern conference member ETSU easily won last year's game at Johnson City, 96-59.

George Mason at James Madison. 7 PM. Football power JMU is no such thing in basketball and has lost 4 of their last five games, but the Dukes will have the home court advantage in this intra state rivalry game. The results of this game will tell much about Mason's rebuilding progress.

Morgan State at George Washington. 7 PM. It's Todd Bozeman's 11th year year as Morgan State head coach and despite taking his team to two NCAA's in 2009 and 2010, he has failed to attract attention from higher level programs to resurrect his career after the scandal at Cal.

St. Bonaventure at Siena. 7 PM. Not a great season so far for 1-4 Siena which was routed at home by future URI opponent, Florida Gulf Coast. Even without Jaylen adams, the Bonnies should take this one.

Bucknell at Saint Joseph's. 7 PM. On its level, Bucknell ain't bad, but Saint Joe's is a different level and even with all their injuries, the Hawks should pull win this one.

Vermont at Richmond. 7 PM. 5-1 Vermont's only loss was at Kentucky by four points so this will be interesting match-up for a youthful Spiders team which has lost three staright.

UMass at Quinnipiac. 7 PM. On ESPN3. Quinnipiac's program has fallen on hard times over the last three years and this season promises to be even worse as the Bobcats were picked for last place in the Metro Atlantic.


In games involving URI OOC opponents:

Rider at PC. 7 PM. A battle of teams with identical 5-1 records. Rider was selected as a bottom feeder in the Metro Atlantic, but they have exceeded expectations so far as their win over GW shows.

D2 Webber International at Florida Gulf Coast. 7 PM. On ESPN3. This should be no contest.

South Carolina Upstate at UNC Asheville. 7 PM.

Louisiana Tech at #24 Alabama. 8 PM. On SECN. First real test for undefeated LTU whose only notable win is over George Mason in the Cancun Challenge.

Illinois State at Nevada. 10 PM. Game is part of Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge. Undefeated Nevada is closing in on a Top 25 ranking which should be an incentive to take this game. 3-3 ISU did beat South Carolina in recent tourney action.

A-10 needs to make up some ground tonight!
Our non-conf opponents look like winners tonight.

Vermont is going to toast Richmond.
Here's an idea.
Trade Fordham for Vermont.

Dayton will get it done tonight

Decent set of A10 games tonight. I’m headed out now to see Bucknell-St. Joe’s.

Obadiah wrote:Lots of action on Wednesday.

In the A-10:

Auburn at Dayton. 7 PM. On CBSSN. 4-1 Auburn has no marquee wins and their lone loss came at the hands of Temple in the Charleston Classic.

East Tennessee State at Fordham. 7 PM. This game completes a home and home series between the two schools. Southern conference member ETSU easily won last year's game at Johnson City, 96-59.

George Mason at James Madison. 7 PM. Football power JMU is no such thing in basketball and has lost 4 of their last five games, but the Dukes will have the home court advantage in this intra state rivalry game. The results of this game will tell much about Mason's rebuilding progress.

Morgan State at George Washington. 7 PM. It's Todd Bozeman's 11th year year as Morgan State head coach and despite taking his team to two NCAA's in 2009 and 2010, he has failed to attract attention from higher level programs to resurrect his career after the scandal at Cal.

St. Bonaventure at Siena. 7 PM. Not a great season so far for 1-4 Siena which was routed at home by future URI opponent, Florida Gulf Coast. Even without Jaylen adams, the Bonnies should take this one.

Bucknell at Saint Joseph's. 7 PM. On its level, Bucknell ain't bad, but Saint Joe's is a different level and even with all their injuries, the Hawks should pull win this one.

Vermont at Richmond. 7 PM. 5-1 Vermont's only loss was at Kentucky by four points so this will be interesting match-up for a youthful Spiders team which has lost three staright.

UMass at Quinnipiac. 7 PM. On ESPN3. Quinnipiac's program has fallen on hard times over the last three years and this season promises to be even worse as the Bobcats were picked for last place in the Metro Atlantic.


In games involving URI OOC opponents:

Rider at PC. 7 PM. A battle of teams with identical 5-1 records. Rider was selected as a bottom feeder in the Metro Atlantic, but they have exceeded expectations so far as their win over GW shows.

D2 Webber International at Florida Gulf Coast. 7 PM. On ESPN3. This should be no contest.

South Carolina Upstate at UNC Asheville. 7 PM.

Louisiana Tech at #24 Alabama. 8 PM. On SECN. First real test for undefeated LTU whose only notable win is over George Mason in the Cancun Challenge.

Illinois State at Nevada. 10 PM. Game is part of Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge. Undefeated Nevada is closing in on a Top 25 ranking which should be an incentive to take this game. 3-3 ISU did beat South Carolina in recent tourney action.

ESPN has them at 23 in their poll

Nevada that is

reef wrote:Dayton will get it done tonight

Ugh, Dayton down by 14 mid 2nd half. Not a whole Lotta defense Goin on.

A-10 goes a disappointing 4-4 for the evenong.:

Dayton lays an egg and ends their 16 game home winning streak as Auburn beats them in convincing fashion, 73-60. Dayton's record falls below .500 and this young team has much growing to do.

East Tennessee State beats Fordham, 82-77. Fordham trailed for most of game, though they got to within 2 in the waning minutes, but ETSU survived with great FT shooting.

In a see-saw game,George Mason pulls it out over James Madison, 76-72.

After a close first half, Morgan State took a 10 point lead in early part of second half, but GW rallied to take the lead mid way and cruised to the win, 73-66.

St. Bonaventure in a romp over Siena, 75-55.

Plagued by poor shooting, Bucknell fell to Saint Joseph's, 83-70. The Hawks led from the very beginning and the win was keyed by James Demery who put in 20 points for the Hawks.

Vermont holds off Richmond to win 71-65. This was a nip and tuck game, but Vermont held a slim lead throughout contest.

UMass was a nine point favorite going into game, but the Minuteman found themselves behind most of the time and though they took a one point lead in second half, they held it for only 30 seconds, eventually losing 68-66.


In games involving URI OOC opponents:

Rider gave PC all it could handle, but some clutch shooting by Rodney Bullock in the closing five minutes gave the Friars the win, 88-84.

D2 Webber International routed at Florida Gulf Coast, 115-61.

UNC Asheville over South Carolina Upstate, 82-70.

#24 Alabama behind most of game pulls out a win in the final seconds over Louisiana Tech, 77 -74.

In the early going, Nevada leads Illinois State, 25-22.

It's now final, Nevada routs Illinois State, 98-68, moving their record to 7-0. Nevada's next game involves a visit to UCI where they will be favored. Winning this game will then set up Nevada's first big road test on Dec. 5 at #22 Texas Tech, also currently unbeaten.

The a10 continues its horrible play . Umass loses to Quinipiac ?? Really ??

I hope Nevada cracks the polls next Monday they deserve

PC beats Rider by only 4 at home I finally think this is the year we bea

Obadiah wrote:It's now final, Nevada routs Illinois State, 98-68, moving their record to 7-0. Nevada's next game involves a visit to UCI where they will be favored. Winning this game will then set up Nevada's first big road test on Dec. 5 at #22 Texas Tech, also currently unbeaten.

Interesting game tonight is Seton Hall (5-1) versus #22 Texas Tech (6-0) at Madison Square Garden. Will Texas Tech go into the Nevada Game with both teams undefeated? Game Is on FS1 tonight at 6:30pm

Nevada travels to Texas Tech next Tuesday night at 8pm. Clash of the unbeatens??

[quote="Obadiah"]A-10 goes a disappointing 4-4 for the evenong.:

After a close first half, Morgan State took a 10 point lead in early part of second half, but GW rallied to take the lead mid way and cruised to the win, 73-66.

Yuta Watanabe, the GW Senior 6'9" guard from Japan had a nice box score line:

39 minutes, 9-16 FG, 3-7 on 3 Pointers, 5-6 FT, 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 blocks for 26 points. Not sure who will cover Watanabe for URI this year

ramster wrote:

Obadiah wrote:A-10 goes a disappointing 4-4 for the evenong.:

After a close first half, Morgan State took a 10 point lead in early part of second half, but GW rallied to take the lead mid way and cruised to the win, 73-66.

Yuta Watanabe, the GW Senior 6'9" guard from Japan had a nice box score line:

39 minutes, 9-16 FG, 3-7 on 3 Pointers, 5-6 FT, 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 blocks for 26 points. Not sure who will cover Watanabe for URI this year

Terrell. Watanabe is tall, but he's also softer than baby poop. Terrell can muscle him all day and frustrate him. When he gets frustrated he's the A10 version of bad Grayson Allen

No A-10 games on Thursday evening.

Only two games of relevance involving URI OOC opponents:

Seton Hall faces #22 Texas Tech in the Under Armour Reunion tournament at Madison Square Garden. 6:30 PM. On FS1. The second game in this tourney doubleheader pits Temple against South Carolina.

Western Carolina at Charleston.

reef wrote:The a10 continues its horrible play . Umass loses to Quinipiac ?? Really ??

The A-10 is currently 43-44 (0.4943) versus D1 opponents. It is the 12h ranked conference according to the RPI numbers. It is uncharacteristically ranked after leagues such as the MVC, MWC, WAC, and Summit.


Link:
http://www.rpiforecast.com/live-conf-rpi.html

Let's go Hall!
Good game early

People should check out that Notre Dame Michigan State game!

I admit I don’t know much of anything about Texas Tech, but this game against Seton Hall is really entertaining so far.

PeterRamTime wrote:People should check out that Notre Dame Michigan State game!

Irish getting killed.

Rhody74 wrote:

PeterRamTime wrote:People should check out that Notre Dame Michigan State game!

Irish getting killed.

That they are.

Michigan Sate has come out swinging with their raucous crowd.
Notre Dame could not handle it.
Through 10 minutes they were getting out rebounded 13-1.

Seton Hall is starting to impose their will on Tech. Up 8.

Good win for SHU

TruePoint wrote:Good win for SHU

I do not usually root for BE teams but did so for this game. A ten point win by SHU over a ranked team makes Rhody's thanksgiving win without two starters look even better.

Same

Yes that bodes very well SH winning

Now we can beat 2 BE teams

Charleston won also.

ace wrote:I admit I don’t know much of anything about Texas Tech, but this game against Seton Hall is really entertaining so far.

I don't know anything about the Red Raiders, either, but they will indirectly end up having a fair amount of influence on URI's postseason resume between their game with Seton Hall and their game next week with Nevada. If Tech is a tournament team and two of our better OOC opponents can beat them, it raises their profile which in turn helps us. Hopefully Tech drops those two and rolls the rest of the way in OOC.

Friday action in the A-10:

Towson versus La Salle. 2 PM. On CBSSN. This game is being played as the second half of a doubleheader of the Hall of Fame Belfast Classic being held in Belfast, Ireland. The first game is a match up now underway between Holy Cross and Manhattan. The Jaspers are leading the Crusaders, 55-38, in the second half.

In the City Game, Duquesne squares off versus Pittsburgh at PPG Paints Arena. 7 PM.

In a game being played in Charlotte, Davidson faces #13 North Carolina. 8 PM. ESPN2.


Other than Holy Cross game, there are no games involving URI OOC opponents scheduled.

Competitive game between Towson and La Salle, but their uniforms are just similar enough to be a little annoying.

La Salle leads 48-46 with about 8 to play.

La Salle falls to Towson.

A good question now would be...

Can the A-10 muster a record above 500 in the non conference?

La Salle’s play in the last 30 seconds or so of the game was maybe some of the worst I’ve ever seen. They started out down only 3, took 3 shots, and I don’t think any of them even hit the rim.

Obadiah wrote:Friday action in the A-10:

Towson versus La Salle. 2 PM. On CBSSN. This game is being played as the second half of a doubleheader of the Hall of Fame Belfast Classic being held in Belfast, Ireland. The first game is a match up now underway between Holy Cross and Manhattan. The Jaspers are leading the Crusaders, 55-38, in the second half.

In the City Game, Duquesne squares off versus Pittsburgh at PPG Paints Arena. 7 PM.

In a game being played in Charlotte, Davidson faces #13 North Carolina. 8 PM. ESPN2.


Other than Holy Cross game, there are no games involving URI OOC opponents scheduled.

All four opponents lost yesterday. The A-10 is currently 43-47 (0.4778) versus D1 opponents with an RPI conference ranking of #13. Nearly 2/3 of the OOC schedule has now been played making a big turn around not likely.

If the ranking stays at 12 or 13, which is looking more and more likely going into conference play...the A10 is looking at no more than 2 bids....sad to say.

Guys, please resist the urge to look at present-day RPIs. They are misleading. Use free tools like RPIforecast.com which will show you where each team or conference is expected to rank in RPI at the end of the regular season. A10 is having a terrible year for sure, but is still trending to around 10th.

http://www.rpiforecast.com/confrpi.html

Lots of Saturday action in college basketball. Besides The Rhody Rumble at 5 PM. On CBSSN, other games In the A-10 are:

Holy Cross meets La Salle in the consolation round of the HOF Belfast Classic in Ireland. 9:30 AM.

UMass at South Carolina. 2 PM. On SECN.

Saint Louis at Butler. 2PM. On FS1.

Maine at Fordham. 2 PM. Maine basketball has hit hard times as they finished last in America East last season and are predicted to do the same this year. Poor Bob Walsh, he never had to contend with this kind of situation at RIC.

St. Bonaventure at Buffalo. 2 PM. On ESPN 3. This is a rivalry game in the Buffalo area and provides a comparative indicator for Ram fans.

Richmond at Wake Forest. 4 PM. On ACCNE.

Villanova pays a visit to cozy Hagan Arena to play Saint Joseph's in a Big Five match-up. Beating undefeated Villanova may be a stretch for the Hawks, but a win would be a huge morale booster given the SJU injuries situation. 5:30 PM. On ESPN2.

In another intra-state rivalry game, Old Dominion plays at VCU. 7 PM.


In games involving URI OOC opponents:

Lehigh visits 7-0 # 18 Virginia. 12PM. On ACCNE.

Fairleigh Dickinson at Iona. 1 PM. On ESPN3.

Central Connecticut at Brown. 2 PM.

Middle Tennessee at Florida Gulf Coast. 7 PM.

Undefeated Nevada at UC Irvine. 10 PM.