Week #6 - Games of Interest

[Obadiah]

In the AP poll, Dayton moves up to the # 14 spot. Maryland is now #3. In the others category, West Virginia gets 3 votes, Richmond gets 3, LSU gets 2, and Duquesne and VCU each get one vote.

In the USA Today/Coaches poll, Dayton moves into the #12 position and Maryland gets #4. In the others category, VCU gets 17 votes and LSU 10 votes. Louisville remains #1 in both polls.

The overall A-10 record now stands at 84-42, 0.667.

The cumulative record of the URI OOC opponentsis 65-44, 0.596, an increase from previous week. Maryland at 10-0 is the only unbeaten team of the lot.

Here is a look at how URI stacks up on several key ranking metrics.

NET - NA
BPI - 85, down 1
Pomeroy - 78, up 13
Sagarin - 79, up 11


Only one Monday game in the A-10.

Columbia versus Duquesne at the 1,200 seat Kerr Sports Center at La Roche U. in Pittsburgh, 7 PM. On ESPN+. While its home court is under renovation, Duquesne has been playing is home schedule at different locations in the PIttsburgh area. This is the last game at Kerr. When Duquesne starts conference play, the games will be held at either the close to campus PPG Paints Arena or Robert Morris's new 4000 seat UMPC Events Center in Moon Township.

No games involving URI OOC opponents:

With many schools entering their exam periods, court action will be reduced over the next week or so.

[bkoeppen]

Duquesne is killing Columbia. They may have the weakest OOC schedule in the A-10 but I'm interested to see how competitive they will be in A-10 play. I still expect Davidson to straighten things out which is going to make for a very tough first 7 to 8 teams in the league.

[SmartyBarrett]

Davidson definitely scares me more than Duquesne right now. Dukes will play 0 Top 100 teams and 0 true road games in their non-conference, so jury is very much still out on them.

[TruePoint]

Before the season started I would have predicted

VCU
Dayton
Davidson
URI

Now I would predict

Dayton
VCU
URI
Davidson

Nothing anyone else has done has moved them into that group of teams, IMO, and Davidson has too long of a track record of having these sorts of OOC performances and then being totally fine for me to move them out of this group. Slight reconfiguring of the relevant strength of these teams with respect to each other, but that’s it.

Next group remains Richmond, Mason, St Louis and Duquesne, also unchanged from preseason. I’d be very surprised if any of these teams finishes ahead of Davidson and shocked if any finish higher than the other three teams in the top group.

[Rhody83]

TP, you just don’t like Richmond. Every published poll or rating has Richmond in the top 4 of the A10. Other than you. To say nothing they have done has moved the needle seems to be a misstatement. They are 8-1 with one loss to #12 Auburn. Their Wisconsin win just got better this week when Wisconsin beat Indiana.

Have you watched much of Davidson? They are 4-5. Their big win is over Northeastern.

[bigappleram]

Davidson also lost Luke Frampton (personal reasons), I believe for the rest of the season. Richmond has no depth, but is very formidable 1 thru 5. HOWEVER, they have faced the 306th ranked defenses (via their schedule) whereas we have faced the 44th. We will be much more battle tested when we meet them in our A10 opener. That will be a very meaningful game to begin league play.

[PeterRamTime]

Yeah I watched most of Richmonds games against Wisconsin and Auburn and they looked night and day from last year.

Everybody important is back and they are a lot more athletic than they have been lately.

They run their offense really well too.

It's looking like waiting almost a full decade for Mooney to amass a another tournament caliber team is finally paying off....

[TruePoint]

TP, you just don’t like Richmond. Every published poll or rating has Richmond in the top 4 of the A10. Other than you. To say nothing they have done has moved the needle seems to be a misstatement. They are 8-1 with one loss to #12 Auburn. Their Wisconsin win just got better this week when Wisconsin beat Indiana.

Have you watched much of Davidson? They are 4-5. Their big win is over Northeastern.

It’s not so much that I dislike them. I have no personal grudge against the University of Richmond. I’m just an open skeptic about their basketball team in the 2019-20 season. Are Sherod and Francis good enough that they’ll make what was a truly overmatched and borderline awful team last year into a juggernaut this year? That seems very unlikely to me, and one good game against Wisconsin aside I don’t know how you could overcome a strong presumption that they are a mid-pack team when they have played the schedule they’ve played. I guess my thought is not so much that I am absolutely sure they are frauds as it is that I am adamant that I don’t know nearly enough at this point to change my opinion.

As far as Davidson, losing Frampton will hurt. They seem to lose guys every year and the McKillop system ends up working fine by the time they get to conference. They also will get Pritchett back at some point and I kind of expect Gudmundsson to come alive at some point similar to what I expect from Jeff for us.

At the end of the day, I just have a ton of respect for McKillop and Davidson and very little for Mooney, and I put more stock in the track records than I do in a small sample size of a season where teams can more or less choose their own record thru how they schedule their OOC. Davidson and URI have chosen to play top-100 schedules. Richmond, St Louis, Duquesne, Mason, etc, couldn’t be bothered to play top-200 schedules so I’m going to hold off on rewarding them with praise for fattening up on a steady dose of cupcakes.

[steviep123]

TP, you just don’t like Richmond. Every published poll or rating has Richmond in the top 4 of the A10. Other than you. To say nothing they have done has moved the needle seems to be a misstatement. They are 8-1 with one loss to #12 Auburn. Their Wisconsin win just got better this week when Wisconsin beat Indiana.

Have you watched much of Davidson? They are 4-5. Their big win is over Northeastern.

R83, are you talking preseason or more recent? Most if not all preseason predictions had VCU, Dayton, Davidson, URI, mostly in that order. I don't recall any with Richmond in the top 4, though I will admit I didn't read them all. Now if someone moved Richmond into the top 4 based on current play, that is another thing and is reasonable.

[ramster]

This was the A10 Coaches Predictions:
PRESEASON POLL (First-place votes in parenthesis)
1. VCU (19) ............................................................ 381
2. Davidson (8) .................................................... 359
3. Dayton (1) ......................................................... 341
4. Rhode Island ................................................... 283
5. St. Bonaventure .............................................. 280
6. Richmond ......................................................... 248
7. Saint Louis ........................................................ 225
8. Duquesne ........................................................ 196
9. George Mason ................................................ 185
10. La Salle .............................................................. 133
11. Massachusetts ................................................ 103
12. George Washington ..................................... 93
13. Saint Joseph’s ................................................. 65
14. Fordham ........................................................... 48

[Obadiah]

Some pick-up in action on Tuesday in the A-10:

In a game already underway, Bryant at Fordham in a Kids Day Matinee. On ESPN+. With 10 minutes left in first half Fordham leads 21-16.

Saint Joseph's at Temple in a Big Five match-up, 7 PM. On ESPNU.

Coppin State at Davidson, 7 PM. On ESPN+.


In games involving URI OOC opponents:


Maryland at Penn State. 7 PM. On ESPN2.

Brown at St. John's, 7 PM. On FS1.

Other game:

UConn takes on Indiana in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden, 9 PM. On ESPN.
#1 Louisville plays Texas Tech in first game of doubleheader.

[RF1]

Fordham falls at home 69-61 to Bryant. The Bulldogs head coach Jared Grasso had once been on the Fordham staff for four years (2006-10) and was the interim head coach for much of the season when Whittenburg was fired in December of 2009.

[PeterRamTime]

Fordham=yuck

[bigappleram]

Grasso was 28 or 29 when he inherited that dumpster fire at Fordham. He is doing great work at Bryant and wouldn’t surprise me if his next gig is an A10 level job just not in the Bronx. Great NY ties and pedigree, believe Dan was looking at him as a potential AC at 1 point.

[Rhodymob05]

Espn says that Bryant Fordham game was sold out in the Bronx. At noon on a Tuesday? Good for Bryant I guess.

[RF1]

Espn says that Bryant Fordham game was sold out in the Bronx. At noon on a Tuesday? Good for Bryant I guess.

It had the weird start time because it was one of those elementary school field trip event games. That would also be the reason it was sold out.

[Rhody83]

Espn says that Bryant Fordham game was sold out in the Bronx. At noon on a Tuesday? Good for Bryant I guess.

It had the weird start time because it was one of those elementary school field trip event games. That would also be the reason it was sold out.

The capacity is only 3,200.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Penn State hanging with MD. Love it.
up 6, 5:00 to go

[phipsiGD'11]

It's a dogfight in State College, PA.
Penn State has been playing great basketball. Really good defense.

[TruePoint]

Is it strange they’re playing a conference game at this time of year?

Meanwhile, Texas Tech, which had lost 3 in a row, is running out in front of #1 Louisville. Up 7 with 8 minutes to go.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Looks like the Big 10, ACC and a couple other conferences have all played some conference games already.

[Rhody74]

St Joe’s gets smoked by 45. It’s going to be a long year on Hawk Hill.

[Rhody83]

Is it strange they’re playing a conference game at this time of year?

Meanwhile, Texas Tech, which had lost 3 in a row, is running out in front of #1 Louisville. Up 7 with 8 minutes to go.

Not any more on the conference games. To play 20 conference games they have to play a few before Jan.

Maryland loses by 7 to Penn State.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Is it strange they’re playing a conference game at this time of year?

Meanwhile, Texas Tech, which had lost 3 in a row, is running out in front of #1 Louisville. Up 7 with 8 minutes to go.

Not any more on the conference games. To play 20 conference games they have to play a few before Jan.

Maryland loses by 7 to Penn State.

I kinda like it. Increases the odds that on any given night, there's a decent game to watch.

[Rhody83]

5-3 Texas Tech missing their leading scorer beats #1 Louisville 70-57.

[Rhody83]

Is it strange they’re playing a conference game at this time of year?

Meanwhile, Texas Tech, which had lost 3 in a row, is running out in front of #1 Louisville. Up 7 with 8 minutes to go.

Not any more on the conference games. To play 20 conference games they have to play a few before Jan.

Maryland loses by 7 to Penn State.

I kinda like it. Increases the odds that on any given night, there's a decent game to watch.

Maryland wins help URI. Don’t know how Penn State beating Maryland improves the odds of good games to watch every night.
You could just like that Texas Tech beat #1 Louisville.

[PeterRamTime]

That tech louisville game was intense.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Not any more on the conference games. To play 20 conference games they have to play a few before Jan.

Maryland loses by 7 to Penn State.

I kinda like it. Increases the odds that on any given night, there's a decent game to watch.

Maryland wins help URI. Don’t know how Penn State beating Maryland improves the odds of good games to watch every night.
You could just like that Texas Tech beat #1 Louisville.

Huh? Having conference teams play against conference opponents early in the season - especially with the P5 conferences...increases the chances of seeing a good game every night.

[TruePoint]

A freshman from South Korea had 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench tonight for Davidson in their 36 point win over Coppin State. Coppin State is obviously not good but you can’t play terribly and win by 36. Davidson always does this - this kid Lee, who I guarantee nobody has ever heard of, is probably a player. It’s the Davidson way. They will finish in the top 4 of the conference. I will make friendly wagers with anyone who wants some.

[Rhody83]

I kinda like it. Increases the odds that on any given night, there's a decent game to watch.

Maryland wins help URI. Don’t know how Penn State beating Maryland improves the odds of good games to watch every night.
You could just like that Texas Tech beat #1 Louisville.

Huh? Having conference teams play against conference opponents early in the season - especially with the P5 conferences...increases the chances of seeing a good game every night.

Didn’t understand your point in your original post to mean you like seeing P5 conference games earlier in the year. Got it.

They added two conference games so they could block out competitive OOC games not on their home court.
I think the Louisville vs Texas Tech game and the UConn vs Indiana game are good games to watch tonight.
I always support playing top teams out of conference and pull for the top mid majors to get adequate chances.

[Rhody83]

You shoot 37% FG, 15% 3P, commit 15 turnovers and you win.
Those were Indiana’s #s in 57-54 win over UConn.
UConn had 22 turnovers.

[ramster]

A freshman from South Korea had 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench tonight for Davidson in their 36 point win over Coppin State. Coppin State is obviously not good but you can’t play terribly and win by 36. Davidson always does this - this kid Lee, who I guarantee nobody has ever heard of, is probably a player. It’s the Davidson way. They will finish in the top 4 of the conference. I will make friendly wagers with anyone who wants some.

I had noted this guy in the off season thread.....click on the Asian players link.

They’re gonna be tough again.

Will be interesting to see how Hyunjung Lee plays next year at Davidson. McKillop likes to recruit shooters and often with good height.
http://asianplayers.com/2019/05/27/u18- ... -davidson/

[reef]

That a UConn Indiana game was ugly bad basketball

[rambone 78]

UConn and Dan still have a way to go.....a lot of their fans were thinking they had turned a corner and the good times were back...not so fast.

However I think the AAC overall this season is no better than the A10, maybe even not as good. They could finish top 4 or 5.

[section(105)]

Fordham=yuck

......yet another coaching change coming in da Bronx?......the grave yard of college hoops coaches......can they finally say, hey MAAC, let us in......

[Rhody83]

Bouknight last night - 0 points, 0-3 FG, 0 Assists & 3 turnovers. UConn fans can pump the brakes on his All American status.

[Obadiah]

Brown, down by 17 points at the half, came back in the second stanza to make it game by closing to within 4 points before falling at St. John's, 82-71. Brown is good three point shooting team and Brandon Anderson is a player.

The losses suffered by Maryland and Louisville show there are no guarantees in CBB. URI has three games left in the OOC, two of them on the road and nothing can be taken for granted and complacency is to be avoided if URI is to enter conference play on a high.

[rambone 78]

I trust that Cox will keep the team focused on each and every game.

He knows they can't take anyone for granted, especially on the road.

Treat each game as a one game season.

[Obadiah]

Only one Wednesday game in the A-10.

Yale at UMass. 7 PM. On ESPN+.

Only one game involving URI OOC opponents:


Carver at Nicholls, 8 PM.

(Nicholls must struggle to put together its OOC schedule to schedule a school at the level of Carver, a member of the NCCAA, an athletics association of Christian, bible colleges.)

[bigappleram]

Bouknight last night - 0 points, 0-3 FG, 0 Assists & 3 turnovers. UConn fans can pump the brakes on his All American status.

He's very good, just had a rough night. Its inevitable with FR outside of the Top 10-15 blue chippers.

[reef]

The only Carver I know is the high school from White Shadow fame

[TruePoint]

Indiana beat UConn last night without one player scoring double digits

[Rhody83]

Indiana beat UConn last night without one player scoring double digits

Right. They only scored 57 points. Played 11 guys with 9 of them getting 10+ minutes.

[ATPTourFan]

Yale up 10 on UMass in the first half

[Rhody83]

UMass up 5 at end of first half. They need a win badly.

[ramster]

UMASS Yale go to OT (75-75)

[TruePoint]

I don’t care at all about what UMass needs, but it would have been good for us if they could have not coughed one up here. But alas.

[Rhody83]

UMass is a losing team. Up 7 with 3:00 minutes to go. Don’t score again in regulation and then score 2 points in OT until a last second 3 when games was over. McCall can’t coach. They had no discipline with the lead - shots early in the possession three times in a row with the lead and under 2:30 to go.

6 losses in a row.

[Rhodymob05]

How is their basketball program so bad for so long. With that arena, history, and alumni base, they should be competitive. Plus their arena is empty.

[ramster]

Yale was favored by 6.5 points.
Game time decision but UMASS top scorer, TJ Weeks, did not play due to a hip pointer. Could be out for a while.