11/4 | Johnson & Wales | 7:00PM (WRIU-Radio) (EXHIBITION)

[spookydog]

University of Rhode Island vs Johnson & Wales University
The Ryan Center, Kingston, RI
Thursday, November 4, 2021
7:00PM

Media
Radio: 90.3 FM (WRIU)

Previews:
If I find any, I will post here

Well, here we are, the start of the 2021-22 season. Eight months to the day since their last game, the Rams take the floor in an exhibition game to get ready for the upcoming season against instate DIII Johnson & Wales Wildcats. A nice little warmup before the season begins. After a disappointing season last year, the Rams come in with a lot of question marks. How is Makhi Mitchell after a devastating left knee injury last season? When will Allen Betrand be healthy enough to play after getting injured in the season finale? Will Jalen Carey make the jump to a serviceable A-10 player? Who will be the best Ishmael on this team? Are we better then Fordham? Johnson & Wales is sure to come in a bit rusty, not having played in almost 1000 days, after sitting out the 2020-21 season because of Covid. The Wildcats are a young team but lead by one of their few upperclassmen, Justin Bullock. As a junior 2 seasons ago, he averaged 15.2 points & 2 assists per game. He was also second on the team in steals per game. This game will feature a match-up of former high school teammates; Rhody’s Sebastian Thomas & JWU’s Bobby Fiorito both played for Bishop Hendricken at the same time. The goal of this game is to get the rust off while not getting any injuries. This is a game that you can tinker with rotations a bit. Who will be the 2nd & 3rd player off the bench? Time to go to work & get ready for the season. My prediction, URI wins 87-53. Go Rhody!

Opponent
Record:
0-0, 0-0 in the GNAC
Last season (2019-20): 12-13, 4-7 in the GNAC

Rankings (URI):
NCAA NET: N/A (112)*
RPI: N/A (188)*
KenPom: N/A (100)
BPI: N/A (95)*
Sagarin: N/A (111)*
* Denotes last season

Leaders:
Points – Justin Bullock 15.2 (Sr., G)
Rebounds – Bryan Davis 7.6 (Sr., G)
Assists – Justin Bullock 2.0 (Sr., G)

Historical
As far as I am aware, this is the first ever match-up between the two teams

[Rhody_NYCT]

Let the negativity begin!

[ram1980]

Got my mobile tickets in email today. Hopefully all systems go with this technology at the Ryan center.. can't wait to see.. here's to hoping this season turns into a pleasant surprise..

[SGreenwell]

At this point, I'm jonesing for any basketball action, ha. Thanks for the write-up, Spooky!

[adam914]

Same here. I'm just excited about games starting up. I'll worry about all the other stuff about how good we are and who will impress when the time comes, but for now PLEASE JUST GIVE ME SOME HOOPS!!

[Falcon]

DID WE SCRIMMAGE ST JOHNS YESTERDAY AS WAS PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED ??

[Billyboy78]

I didn't get my season tickets yet. Is this exhibition included?

[Rhody74]

I didn't get my season tickets yet. Is this exhibition included?

Yes it is.

[steveystuds06]

Let's go!! This should be a blowout but it'll be fun to see some live basketball again. RHODY RHODY RHODY

[Rhody72]

These games are a waste of time. I would rather see a balanced intra-squad game with real refs and game conditions. Make it competitive.

[DC_Rams]

DID WE SCRIMMAGE ST JOHNS YESTERDAY AS WAS PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED ??

No.

[Jersey77]

DID WE SCRIMMAGE ST JOHNS YESTERDAY AS WAS PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED ??

No.

Scheduled for 10/31

[Rhodymob05]

I’m pumped to finally see these guys, but I also hate these exhibition games.

[section(105)]

……..I like these dress rehearsals, put the game uni on, bust out from the tunnel, see and feel game like conditions against an opponent in live fire action, bad calls/good calls, coaches to opportunity to deliver on their game assignments, experiment with some rotations, run the offense, run the defense, most importantly adjust to to the opponent and games conditions……….and get ready for the first game that counts on the record……..Go Rhody

[Rhody15]

……..I like these dress rehearsals, put the game uni on, bust out from the tunnel, see and feel game like conditions against an opponent in live fire action, bad calls/good calls, coaches to opportunity to deliver on their game assignments, experiment with some rotations, run the offense, run the defense, most importantly adjust to to the opponent and games conditions……….and get ready for the first game that counts on the record……..Go Rhody

Exactly.

[Dino611]

I like the exhibitions, it’s the only game of the year I get to go to and relax at

[ace]

Players and fans seem to like exhibitions, coaches prefer the closed scrimmage format. Both are fun, to me, because they signify that the start of the season is near. None of the results should be taken to mean much at all.

[SandorClegane]

The two best teams in RI…squaring up early.

[spookydog]

I week from right this very minute we (well at least some of us) will be at a live game at the Ryan Center cheering on the Rams!!! This can not come soon enough.

[Rhody72]

I dislike posting winners and losers for exhibition games when the primary focus of neither team is winning. Just don't keep score - it is not important.

[STC]

Same, I hope everyone just has fun no matter the score.

Orange slices and laughs postgame!

[Bos8]

These games are a waste of time. I would rather see a balanced intra-squad game with real refs and game conditions. Make it competitive.

They do this every day in practice. The benefit of this type of situation beyond getting the opportunity to play someone else is the opportunity to play WITH someone elese. How many reps have EA and Shepp had together? Have they come with both Mitchell twins on their team? Has Thomas had the opportunity to be out there with 4 starters? How many opportunities have the twins had to play together? If so, about 99% of the time it's against Samb and Walker.

[Rhody72]

These games are a waste of time. I would rather see a balanced intra-squad game with real refs and game conditions. Make it competitive.

They do this every day in practice. The benefit of this type of situation beyond getting the opportunity to play someone else is the opportunity to play WITH someone elese. How many reps have EA and Shepp had together? Have they come with both Mitchell twins on their team? Has Thomas had the opportunity to be out there with 4 starters? How many opportunities have the twins had to play together? If so, about 99% of the time it's against Samb and Walker.

Every match-up is even less competitive than what they face in practice each day. How does this help you to improve? I wasn't critical about scrimmaging St John's who have good D1 athletes other than claiming a win for the score in a scrimmage. Take a day trip to Storrs and scrimmage UCONN without keeping score,

[Rhodymob05]

I understand the benefits from these games, but if this game is even within 10 points, it’s almost detrimental to their confidence, our confidence and the overall reputation of the team.

[Jersey77]

I understand the benefits from these games, but if this game is even within 10 points, it’s almost detrimental to their confidence, our confidence and the overall reputation of the team.

I think this would be a good opportunity for the freshman to get plenty of minutes.

[rambone 78]

If this game is within 10 points, duck for cover because this will get ugly real fast.

J & W is known for cooking, not for basketball.

[SGreenwell]

I understand the benefits from these games, but if this game is even within 10 points, it’s almost detrimental to their confidence, our confidence and the overall reputation of the team.

Eh, I think the counterpoint would be that if the game is within 10 points, it can serve as a "wake up!" call to the team before the regular season starts. However, I don't think that's going to happen here anyway. I'm overall of the opinion though that the exhibition games matter less than the scrimmages, given the huge disparities in talent, usually height. While Andre Berry ended up being a good player for us his senior year, I think he had a sophomore or junior year game against RIC where he put up like 20. Before him, I think Jonathan Cruz from the Baron era had a similar result. JWU's listed roster suggests that their tallest players are 6'4", they played one game last year (or their schedule / results page is wrong), and in 2019-20, they went 12-13.

[ramster]

These games are a waste of time. I would rather see a balanced intra-squad game with real refs and game conditions. Make it competitive.

They do this every day in practice. The benefit of this type of situation beyond getting the opportunity to play someone else is the opportunity to play WITH someone elese. How many reps have EA and Shepp had together? Have they come with both Mitchell twins on their team? Has Thomas had the opportunity to be out there with 4 starters? How many opportunities have the twins had to play together? If so, about 99% of the time it's against Samb and Walker.

Every match-up is even less competitive than what they face in practice each day. How does this help you to improve? I wasn't critical about scrimmaging St John's who have good D1 athletes other than claiming a win for the score in a scrimmage. Take a day trip to Storrs and scrimmage UCONN without keeping score,

72,
Most teams play a secret scrimmage and at least 1 exhibition game against an easy opponent. I find no school playing a remotely difficult opponent in exhibition.

So your questioning URI and Coach Cox would be like questioning most all Head Coaches Exhibition scheduling strategies. Look at the schools being played / most you might have never heard of. Huge blowouts even with heavy bench play.

Your negativity on this subject is hurting URI Coschibg decision making before we even play our 1st game

Some facts and feel free to look up lots of other D1 schools.

Some examples I looked up quickly on exhibition games for top A10 Teams:
Nov 1 Dayton vs Cedarville 96-40
Nov 1 VCU vs Virginia State 74-55
Nov 3 Davidson vs Ferrum
Nov 4 St Bonaventure vs Alfred

Oct 26 St Louis vs Rockhurst 84-42
Oct 31 St Louis vs Lindenwood 89-66

Examples of others quickly looked up for non A10:
Oct 21 PC vs Stonehill 95-71
Oct 25 Bryant vs Nichols 107-71
Oct 30 Duke vs Winston Salem St 106-38

Oct 29 Kentucky vs Kentucky Wesleyan College 95-72
Nov 5 Kentucky vs Miles College

Oct 31 Gonzaga vs Eastern Oregon 115-62
Nov 5 Gonzaga vs Lewis/Clark State

[Rhody72]

...
72,
Most teams play a secret scrimmage and at least 1 exhibition game against an easy opponent. I find no school playing a remotely difficult opponent in exhibition.
...

I believe that URI should play a Q4 D1 opponent as their warm-up game, From a competitive perspective playing J&W will set back team development. Further, I suspect the J&W game was imposed upon the team for financial reasons and not team improvement. Because the buy game fee to host J&W is negligible to non-existent, game revenue will greatly exceed expenses.

URI is having more trouble finding OOC opponents this year than last year because we have a good team and teams whose NCAAT resume would be hurt by a loss to URI do not want to play us. My concerns about this game is not a negative reflection on the teams scheduling effort. URI Athletics is cash strapped.

[Billyboy78]

...
72,
Most teams play a secret scrimmage and at least 1 exhibition game against an easy opponent. I find no school playing a remotely difficult opponent in exhibition.
...

I believe that URI should play a Q4 D1 opponent as their warm-up game, From a competitive perspective playing J&W will set back team development. Further, I suspect the J&W game was imposed upon the team for financial reasons and not team improvement. Because the buy game fee to host J&W is negligible to non-existent, game revenue will greatly exceed expenses.

URI is having more trouble finding OOC opponents this year than last year because we have a good team and teams whose NCAAT resume would be hurt by a loss to URI do not want to play us. My concerns about this game is not a negative reflection on the teams scheduling effort. URI Athletics is cash strapped.

Hey, your negative comments are ruining this team.

[Rhody15]

...
72,
Most teams play a secret scrimmage and at least 1 exhibition game against an easy opponent. I find no school playing a remotely difficult opponent in exhibition.
...

I believe that URI should play a Q4 D1 opponent as their warm-up game, From a competitive perspective playing J&W will set back team development. Further, I suspect the J&W game was imposed upon the team for financial reasons and not team improvement. Because the buy game fee to host J&W is negligible to non-existent, game revenue will greatly exceed expenses.

URI is having more trouble finding OOC opponents this year than last year because we have a good team and teams whose NCAAT resume would be hurt by a loss to URI do not want to play us. My concerns about this game is not a negative reflection on the teams scheduling effort. URI Athletics is cash strapped.

Uh, if we have a good team (we don’t), teams wouldn’t be concerned with losing to us because it wouldn’t hurt their resume.

Another ass backward post from you. Bravo.

[steveystuds06]

...
72,
Most teams play a secret scrimmage and at least 1 exhibition game against an easy opponent. I find no school playing a remotely difficult opponent in exhibition.
...

I believe that URI should play a Q4 D1 opponent as their warm-up game, From a competitive perspective playing J&W will set back team development. Further, I suspect the J&W game was imposed upon the team for financial reasons and not team improvement. Because the buy game fee to host J&W is negligible to non-existent, game revenue will greatly exceed expenses.

URI is having more trouble finding OOC opponents this year than last year because we have a good team and teams whose NCAAT resume would be hurt by a loss to URI do not want to play us. My concerns about this game is not a negative reflection on the teams scheduling effort. URI Athletics is cash strapped.

At least Johnson and Wales have the balls to play us unlike your squad last season.

[ramster]

...
72,
Most teams play a secret scrimmage and at least 1 exhibition game against an easy opponent. I find no school playing a remotely difficult opponent in exhibition.
...

I believe that URI should play a Q4 D1 opponent as their warm-up game, From a competitive perspective playing J&W will set back team development. Further, I suspect the J&W game was imposed upon the team for financial reasons and not team improvement. Because the buy game fee to host J&W is negligible to non-existent, game revenue will greatly exceed expenses.

URI is having more trouble finding OOC opponents this year than last year because we have a good team and teams whose NCAAT resume would be hurt by a loss to URI do not want to play us. My concerns about this game is not a negative reflection on the teams scheduling effort. URI Athletics is cash strapped.

72,
I gave you numerous examples of Exhibition opponents for D1 Teams. I can’t find a single example of a D1 team playing a D1 team in their exhibition game.

Even teams like Gonzaga, Kentucky and St Louis who are playing 2 Exhibition games are playing non D1 small school opponents.

The teams they are playing are local similar to what PC, Bryant and URI have done each year. It’s not a budget thing for this year because all the teams schedule local small schools every year.

But I’m open to you showing examples of D1 schools playing D1 schools to counterpoint.

[ramster]

They do this every day in practice. The benefit of this type of situation beyond getting the opportunity to play someone else is the opportunity to play WITH someone elese. How many reps have EA and Shepp had together? Have they come with both Mitchell twins on their team? Has Thomas had the opportunity to be out there with 4 starters? How many opportunities have the twins had to play together? If so, about 99% of the time it's against Samb and Walker.

Every match-up is even less competitive than what they face in practice each day. How does this help you to improve? I wasn't critical about scrimmaging St John's who have good D1 athletes other than claiming a win for the score in a scrimmage. Take a day trip to Storrs and scrimmage UCONN without keeping score,

72,
Most teams play a secret scrimmage and at least 1 exhibition game against an easy opponent. I find no school playing a remotely difficult opponent in exhibition.

So your questioning URI and Coach Cox would be like questioning most all Head Coaches Exhibition scheduling strategies. Look at the schools being played / most you might have never heard of. Huge blowouts even with heavy bench play.

Your negativity on this subject is hurting URI Coschibg decision making before we even play our 1st game

Some facts and feel free to look up lots of other D1 schools.

Some examples I looked up quickly on exhibition games for top A10 Teams:
Nov 1 Dayton vs Cedarville 96-40
Nov 1 VCU vs Virginia State 74-55
Nov 3 Davidson vs Ferrum
Nov 4 St Bonaventure vs Alfred

Oct 26 St Louis vs Rockhurst 84-42
Oct 31 St Louis vs Lindenwood 89-66

Examples of others quickly looked up for non A10:
Oct 21 PC vs Stonehill 95-71
Oct 25 Bryant vs Nichols 107-71
Oct 30 Duke vs Winston Salem St 106-38

Oct 29 Kentucky vs Kentucky Wesleyan College 95-72
Nov 5 Kentucky vs Miles College

Oct 31 Gonzaga vs Eastern Oregon 115-62
Nov 5 Gonzaga vs Lewis/Clark State

Games.

From Wikipedia on Exhibition Games

College basketball
Traditionally, major college basketball teams began their seasons with a few exhibition games. They played traveling teams made up of former college players on teams such as Athletes in Action or a team sponsored by Marathon Petroleum.[13] On occasion before 1992, when FIBA allowed professional players on foreign national teams, colleges played those teams in exhibitions. However, in 2003, the National Collegiate Athletic Association banned games with non-college teams. Some teams have begun scheduling exhibition games against teams in NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III, or even against colleges and universities located in Canada. Major college basketball teams still travel to other countries during the summer to play in exhibition games, although a college team is allowed only one foreign tour every four years and a maximum of ten games in each tour.

[ramster]

72,
Coach K on Exhibition Games. 4 year old article but includes his thoughts.

https://amp.newsobserver.com/sports/col ... 22401.html

[Rhody74]

I remember Athletes in Action and the like. They often provided better competition than the small colleges do today. Any idea why the rule change?

[ramster]

I remember Athletes in Action and the like. They often provided better competition than the small colleges do today. Any idea why the rule change?

Here is an article on AIA back when the NCAA banned these teams

https://slate.com/culture/2004/12/god-s ... -team.html

[Jersey77]

...
72,
Most teams play a secret scrimmage and at least 1 exhibition game against an easy opponent. I find no school playing a remotely difficult opponent in exhibition.
...

I believe that URI should play a Q4 D1 opponent as their warm-up game, From a competitive perspective playing J&W will set back team development. Further, I suspect the J&W game was imposed upon the team for financial reasons and not team improvement. Because the buy game fee to host J&W is negligible to non-existent, game revenue will greatly exceed expenses.

URI is having more trouble finding OOC opponents this year than last year because we have a good team and teams whose NCAAT resume would be hurt by a loss to URI do not want to play us. My concerns about this game is not a negative reflection on the teams scheduling effort. URI Athletics is cash strapped.

72,
I gave you numerous examples of Exhibition opponents for D1 Teams. I can’t find a single example of a D1 team playing a D1 team in their exhibition game.

Even teams like Gonzaga, Kentucky and St Louis who are playing 2 Exhibition games are playing non D1 small school opponents.

The teams they are playing are local similar to what PC, Bryant and URI have done each year. It’s not a budget thing for this year because all the teams schedule local small schools every year.

But I’m open to you showing examples of D1 schools playing D1 schools to counterpoint.

Ramster you are correct, typically Div1 schools won’t play other Div1 schools in exhibition games. Off hand the only example I can think of is Nebraska played Colorado 10/31 in a charity exhibition game. Nebraska won 82-67.

[Bos8]

I remember Athletes in Action and the like. They often provided better competition than the small colleges do today. Any idea why the rule change?

Rudy Gay and Jim Calhoun played a part...

[KingstonLane]

Game day.

I take it this isn’t on TV anywhere?

[DC_Rams]

Lol, no.

Just radio.

[Jersey77]

Curious to hear how much play the freshmen get.
In the interview with Cox, he still seems indecisive about redshirting Bassy.
The NCAA committee is still mulling the idea about changing the rule regarding redshirting in basketball. They were leaning towards making it similar to football so players can appear in a limited amount of games without burning their redshirt.

[CamsRams]

anybody want tickets to tonights game? PM me...$0

[bigappleram]

Anyone who attends please post some observations

Also trying to push the game thread over the multiple threads infested with Covid opinions.

[adam914]

Agreed, would love to hear how the guys look!

[theblueram]

Anyone who attends please post some observations

Also trying to push the game thread over the multiple threads infested with Covid opinions.

Infested with covid opinions? I mean what do you expect BAR? When do you expect all restrictions lifted? It's been almost 2 years. 90% of the state is vaxxed. At what point does it end? Go Rhody!

[CamsRams]

Is the game really on WIRU?

[PeterRamTime]

If this game is within 10 points, duck for cover because this will get ugly real fast.

J & W is known for cooking, not for basketball.

I know a guy whose a chef here in Nashville who went to J&W. Didn't know they were known for cooking so that makes sense.

[PeterRamTime]

Game day.

I take it this isn’t on TV anywhere?

So annoying. We used to televise our exhibitions at least on a streaming service.

[theblueram]

If this game is within 10 points, duck for cover because this will get ugly real fast.

J & W is known for cooking, not for basketball.

I know a guy whose a chef here in Nashville who went to J&W. Didn't know they were known for cooking so that makes sense.

Yeah, they have a great cooking school. Almost went there for a degree to become a chef. This was back in the 80's. It was good back then. Went to URI for Accounting instead. LOL. Emeril Lagasse graduated from JWU.