URI Season Preview Busting Brackets

[bradcav]

https://bustingbrackets.com/2018/09/15/ ... -the-rams/

URI season preview written last week. I would love to get honest feedback from URI fans. Criticism is welcomed, do not be afraid to be harsh.

[Roz]

Sounds fair to me.

[MrRamsDen76]

Overall it was well written article. However, it did not address one of most important questions facing the team in the 2018-19 season.

With no HC experience at Division 1, and with limited HC experience throughout his career, what kind of coach will David Cox be ?

What are his offense and defensive philosophies?

How are his game management skills?

What happens if the team hits a few potholes, or injuries, can he make adjustments on the fly?

Lots of assistants can recruit and run a practice, but when the bright lights are on, how do they respond. I think David Cox is going to be an outstanding coach, but with five freshman, and with two other upper classman who hardly played in '17-'18, he is going to be tested. Adding this type of insight would have made the article more complete.

[rhodywins]

This article was the most informative I have seen on the A10. I don't agree with everything said but the overall info on all teams the A 10 was great. A must read for all around league info.

[SandorClegane]

Great piece. Well written.

Only comment is that there was no way Akele was challenging Harris as starting PF.

[rjsuperfly66]

I think a big key for how good URI is this year will be the development of the freshman.
One of the hardest thing for players playing the 4/5 is the development of their pick and roll defense.
This can be a huge area of exploitation, especially for a team whose top guards are on the smaller side.
The only post player with any experience is Langevine. You know he'll be fine there.

My other area of concern would be with "energy."
Guys like Fatts and Langevine made their names as higher-energy players.
However, both players averaged 18 minutes per game last year.
If both need to play in the neighborhood of 30+ minutes on a given night, does that affect their style of play?
And if the defensive intensity is sustainable, does it affect the offensive play?
Not saying it would happen, just a thought.

[Rhody83]

I think a big key for how good URI is this year will be the development of the freshman.
One of the hardest thing for players playing the 4/5 is the development of their pick and roll defense.
This can be a huge area of exploitation, especially for a team whose top guards are on the smaller side.
The only post player with any experience is Langevine. You know he'll be fine there.

My other area of concern would be with "energy."
Guys like Fatts and Langevine made their names as higher-energy players.
However, both players averaged 18 minutes per game last year.
If both need to play in the neighborhood of 30+ minutes on a given night, does that affect their style of play?
And if the defensive intensity is sustainable, does it affect the offensive play?
Not saying it would happen, just a thought.

Rhody has one small guard (Fatts). Dowtin is 6’3” and has done a good job defensively for 2 years.
I agree about the energy question regarding Fatts.
Regarding Cyril, he will probably play 25 minutes/game. The big guys play less due to foul trouble and fatigue.
I am not sure I categorize Cyril’s play as high energy. I think the biggest concern with Cyril is can he stay out of foul trouble.

[rjsuperfly66]

I think a big key for how good URI is this year will be the development of the freshman.
One of the hardest thing for players playing the 4/5 is the development of their pick and roll defense.
This can be a huge area of exploitation, especially for a team whose top guards are on the smaller side.
The only post player with any experience is Langevine. You know he'll be fine there.

My other area of concern would be with "energy."
Guys like Fatts and Langevine made their names as higher-energy players.
However, both players averaged 18 minutes per game last year.
If both need to play in the neighborhood of 30+ minutes on a given night, does that affect their style of play?
And if the defensive intensity is sustainable, does it affect the offensive play?
Not saying it would happen, just a thought.

Rhody has one small guard (Fatts). Dowtin is 6’3” and has done a good job defensively for 2 years.
I agree about the energy question regarding Fatts.
Regarding Cyril, he will probably play 25 minutes/game. The big guys play less due to foul trouble and fatigue.
I am not sure I categorize Cyril’s play as high energy. I think the biggest concern with Cyril is can he stay out of foul trouble.

I probably didn't verbalize what I meant properly -- On defense, I would imagine Fatts is defending 1's and Dowtin is defending 2's, and if that starting lineup holds as listed in the article, Thompson is defending 3's. However, many point guards now are 6'2-6'3, many 2's are 6'4-6'6, and many 3's are 6'5-6'7. URI would be giving up size in every matchup. That does not make or break anything, but the URI defense in the past few years has been reliant on great rotations. That means that you 4 and 5's are in sync with your 1-3's to make sure they are limiting horrendous switches and bad matchups. Sometimes that is where the youth appears most because a lot of that communication and technique has not made a difference in their past and now it can break down an entire defense. I can only judge my own team, but I look at Nate Watson last year. Strong, decent post offense/defense, but complete liability at times in the pick and roll defense. He just did not have that experience and had to think too much which limited defensive instincts and left him a step behind on many occasions. If the URI freshman come in and can handle these rotations (which are far more exotic than PC's defense), the team will be in great shape.

[Seawrightspostgame]

I think a big key for how good URI is this year will be the development of the freshman.
One of the hardest thing for players playing the 4/5 is the development of their pick and roll defense.
This can be a huge area of exploitation, especially for a team whose top guards are on the smaller side.
The only post player with any experience is Langevine. You know he'll be fine there.

My other area of concern would be with "energy."
Guys like Fatts and Langevine made their names as higher-energy players.
However, both players averaged 18 minutes per game last year.
If both need to play in the neighborhood of 30+ minutes on a given night, does that affect their style of play?
And if the defensive intensity is sustainable, does it affect the offensive play?
Not saying it would happen, just a thought.

Rhody has one small guard (Fatts). Dowtin is 6’3” and has done a good job defensively for 2 years.
I agree about the energy question regarding Fatts.
Regarding Cyril, he will probably play 25 minutes/game. The big guys play less due to foul trouble and fatigue.
I am not sure I categorize Cyril’s play as high energy. I think the biggest concern with Cyril is can he stay out of foul trouble.

I probably didn't verbalize what I meant properly -- On defense, I would imagine Fatts is defending 1's and Dowtin is defending 2's, and if that starting lineup holds as listed in the article, Thompson is defending 3's. However, many point guards now are 6'2-6'3, many 2's are 6'4-6'6, and many 3's are 6'5-6'7. URI would be giving up size in every matchup. That does not make or break anything, but the URI defense in the past few years has been reliant on great rotations. That means that you 4 and 5's are in sync with your 1-3's to make sure they are limiting horrendous switches and bad matchups. Sometimes that is where the youth appears most because a lot of that communication and technique has not made a difference in their past and now it can break down an entire defense. I can only judge my own team, but I look at Nate Watson last year. Strong, decent post offense/defense, but complete liability at times in the pick and roll defense. He just did not have that experience and had to think too much which limited defensive instincts and left him a step behind on many occasions. If the URI freshman come in and can handle these rotations (which are far more exotic than PC's defense), the team will be in great shape.

X Not true.

[rjsuperfly66]

Rhody has one small guard (Fatts). Dowtin is 6’3” and has done a good job defensively for 2 years.
I agree about the energy question regarding Fatts.
Regarding Cyril, he will probably play 25 minutes/game. The big guys play less due to foul trouble and fatigue.
I am not sure I categorize Cyril’s play as high energy. I think the biggest concern with Cyril is can he stay out of foul trouble.

I probably didn't verbalize what I meant properly -- On defense, I would imagine Fatts is defending 1's and Dowtin is defending 2's, and if that starting lineup holds as listed in the article, Thompson is defending 3's. However, many point guards now are 6'2-6'3, many 2's are 6'4-6'6, and many 3's are 6'5-6'7. URI would be giving up size in every matchup. That does not make or break anything, but the URI defense in the past few years has been reliant on great rotations. That means that you 4 and 5's are in sync with your 1-3's to make sure they are limiting horrendous switches and bad matchups. Sometimes that is where the youth appears most because a lot of that communication and technique has not made a difference in their past and now it can break down an entire defense. I can only judge my own team, but I look at Nate Watson last year. Strong, decent post offense/defense, but complete liability at times in the pick and roll defense. He just did not have that experience and had to think too much which limited defensive instincts and left him a step behind on many occasions. If the URI freshman come in and can handle these rotations (which are far more exotic than PC's defense), the team will be in great shape.

X Not true.

Perhaps I'm wrong then -- I can only look at what I know which is the Big East.
This year, PC is starting 6'3, 6'6, 6'7 in those positions.
Last year they started 5'11, 6'7, 6'7.
Then I look at the other tournament teams in the Big East.
Villanova started 6'3, 6'3, 6'5.
Xavier started 6'4, 6'5, 6'6.
Seton Hall started 6'3, 6'3, 6'6.
Butler started 6'0, 6'2, 6'6.
Creighton started 6'3, 6'3, 6'3.
So on average last season, they went 6'2-6'4-6'6.
That's my barometer, I can't tell you what the teams looked like in the A10 top to bottom, but I know that was PC's 10 quality matchups in the Big East.
Nor do I think it's the end of the world, it's just a matter of good rotations and avoiding extreme switches/mismatches (I.E. - having Fatts getting posted up by a 6'10 C).
Because let's be honest - Fatts is a pest on defense. He will drive every lead guard in the country nuts. If I'm an opposing coach, I'm trying to figure out how to let my PG control the game without having Fatts in his grill. And I'm going to be very aggressive in trying to get switches that is going to put Fatts on bigger offensive players that can ideally try to post him up (even bigger 2's or 3's could try this). So how can you defend against that? You're going to try to hedge and not switch so Fatts can stay on the ballhandler. But if the switch/hedge is poor, it's going to lead to wide open baskets or the requirement of having to switch. So can we get the freshmen up to speed? Not worried about Langevine's defense and ability to perform this task.
That's why I pointed it out as a question. If the freshmen/defense perform seamlessly, there's not really an issue with the size and URI's defense will continue on the trend it was on the last few years. If there is a learning gap, the height can become more pronounced.