KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

With Womens soccer going 0-18, vball 7-14, football on a downhill slide, wbb consistently under performing...yet track, rowing and mens soccer doing well, how would we rate the current state of Rhody Athletics?

Very good.
largely due to the improvements in hoops and FB.
Nobody follows the other sports anyways.
The atmosphere has changed 100 %.

In 2016 volleyball was 12-2 in conference, so is this just a lull or is an actual downward trend? Football is hard to say. They looked good with Lawson and the lights and turf are good news, however who knows what the future looks like with no Lawson and they need East stands. Like Hal alluded to though, men's basketball is far and away most important for the athletic department and they look good. Football is a distant second, then women's basketball is a distant third from football, then it's all a jumble after them.

I'd put Men's soccer ahead of WBB...who draws more attendance and fan interest? I would guess soccer team. Especially if they are good. Basketball in general is of course more high interest, but unless you are UCONN or winning at the highest level I don't see much interest in the sport across the country. Soccer continues to be a growing sport in this country and a great soccer program would uplevel URIs athletic dept moreso than a decent WBB program, IMO.

Also, regardless of losing 2 games, Football is in a helluva lot better place now than it looked 12 months ago. Lots of talent in the program, most teams lose when they lose their QB1. The sky isn't falling. UNH was picked Top 10 and is 1-6 bc they lost their QB1. Not many programs at FBS level have 2 great starting caliber QBs. I am sure Fleming is prioritizing a 5th year or FBS transfer at QB for next season.

bigappleram wrote: ↑5 years ago I'd put Men's soccer ahead of WBB...who draws more attendance and fan interest? I would guess soccer team. Especially if they are good. Basketball in general is of course more high interest, but unless you are UCONN or winning at the highest level I don't see much interest in the sport across the country. Soccer continues to be a growing sport in this country and a great soccer program would uplevel URIs athletic dept moreso than a decent WBB program, IMO.

We charge for tickets for wbb, soccer is free, so be default revenue programs are more important. If you want to say soccer and baseball at the top of the rest I wouldn't argue with that.

Got u, didn't know we didn't charge for Men's Soccer games. Maybe that explains why they seem to be well attended.

I thought we used to, but we definitely don't anymore

I’m more interested in the performance of the baseball team and soccer team than the women's basketball program, and those programs seem to be in fine shape. I know the football team got smoked this weekend, but clearly that program is in better shape than it has been in a while. I like to see URI do well in golf, and it seems like the golf team currently has some talent. I think our track programs have done well. I’m honestly not even sure what other sports we play, so not sure that the W-L records there matter so much.

The key is the basketball program. If the basketball team is good and fans are buying tickets and donating money as a result, the people in athletics will continue to get good report cards. There will never be a scenario where the basketball team is good but the women’s volleyball team or the swimming team went winless so there is heat on the AD.

The women's programs at URI for the most part as a whole do not generally perform well. Why is that? I would think it far easier to occasionally have success in women's sports as the talent and competitive advantages are perceived to be less than on the men's side.