1/11 | St. Bonaventure | 7:00PM (YurView/ESPN+)

[spookydog]

University of Rhode Island vs St. Bonaventure University
Ryan Center, Kingston, RI
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
7:00PM

Media
TV: YurView
Online: ESPN +
Radio: Tune In Radio
App: Varsity Network

Previews
St. Bonaventure Fan Forum

The Rhody Rams head back to Kingston with their tail between their legs after losing a very winnable game at La Salle. URI needs to take a breath, regroup, & get ready to take on the Bonnies at home Wednesday night. St. Bonaventure is only 8-8 on the season but 2-1 in conference play with both wins coming at home. The Bonnies have a nice dozen point victory at Notre Dame but other than that every other win is expected. They do have some losses where they should had won like games against Canisius, Buffalo, & Siena. Yes, all 3 of those games were on the road but they should be able to pull out the victory in a couple of them.

Leading the Bonnies is the Saint Peter’s transfer Daryl Banks III, who I can only assume with a name like that was the long-lost brother of Carlton, Hillary, & Ashley Banks. This workhorse is averaging an incredible 38.8 minutes per game & is scoring about 16 & a half per context. Leading the team in rebounding is former Rhody recruit, Yann Farell. Farell has already been the A-10 Rookie of the Week 3 times this season. He went for 22 & 10 against UMass to open conference play but only scored 6 points total in his last 2 games. The Bonnies are one of the few teams in the league (I believe) that start 3 forwards with Chad Venning, Barry Evans & the aforementioned Farell. Rhody will have their work cut out for them downlow, especially with the 6’10” Venning. The Morgan State transfer is averaging 11.4/5.7 & leads the team in blocks with 23. Holy Cross transfer Kyrell Luc is the other double-digit scorer on this team with almost 13 per game. Luc (34.4 minutes/game) & Banks III will play the majority of minutes in the backcourt. With a small rotation of basically only 6 players maybe the Rams can run & tired them out.

Rhody shows glimpses of what could be, but they have been prone to let winnable games slip away (see BC, Brown, & La Salle to name a few). If the Rams can tighten up some of their shooting, they can get the wins will come. It seems like there is at least one player with an off-shooting night, whether it be Ish, Bray, or Martin. By no means am I pinning these last 3 losses on Ish, but in those games, he shot just 28% & went 1 for 10 from deep. He came up with huge rebounds in the game against La Salle & is probably my favorite player on this team, but hopefully he can tighten up the shooting percentage. It is clearly not just him, I just hope to see better shooting all around. Or no shooting when it comes to Bassy.

Hopefully with some home cooking, Rhody will be able to pull out the victory over a comparable Bonnies squad. Will Rhody play a bigger lineup against the Bonnies? Will Malik go up against Farrell or will he have to play against a bigger player like Barry Evans? I think we will see more minutes from Rory in this game. Rhody comes into this game with a 5-game home winning streak against the Bonnies. Given Rhody is at home, I think they will be favored by about a point in this one. Once again, if you want free money, might I suggest looking at the race to 10 points in the first half. Rhody has won the race to 10 in 7 of the last 9 games. As for the game itself, this time Bray hits the game winner in regulation unlike last game. Well, I am assuming that is what happened last game since the camera forgot to follow the ball. My prediction is URI 71 – St Bonaventure 69. Go Rhody!!

Opponent
Record:
8-8, 2-1 in the A10
23-10, 12-5 in the A10 (Last Season)

Rankings (URI):
NCAA NET: 181 (242)
RPI: 172 (222)
KenPom: 158 (206)
BPI: 175 (230)
Sagarin: 149 (194)
Barttovik: 150 (208)

Leaders:
Points – Daryl Banks III 16.4 (Jr., G)
Rebounds – Yann Farell 7.4 (Fr., F)
Assists – Kyrell Luc 4.5 (Soph., G) (2.8 TO per game)

Historical
Series: 42-31
H: 25-8, A: 15-20, N: 2-3
Most Recent Matchup: 2/22/22 73-55 L at St. Bonaventure
Most Recent Win Streak: 1 – St. Bonaventure
Match-up Predictor: 55.0% Chance of URI Winning

[KeaneyBluBallz]

bonnies by 20

[Jersey77]

Mark Schmidt has done a pretty good job replacing basically an entire roster.
He has added some talented freshman starting two of them, along with some immediate impact transfers.

The Bonnies have yet to win a true road game, hopefully it doesn't start with us.

[section(105)]

Sure, why not. Team rankings now says; their #200, #13 A-10 ranked Rams has 53% chance to beat their #157 ranked Bonnie’s.

[RF1]

You have to give Schmidt a lot of credit for what he has accomplished at SBU. It is a tiny school with less than 2k undergraduates in a small town in a remote location. It plays in a 5,480 seat venue built back in 1966 with few creature comforts. Its average attendance is typically in the low to mid 4k range with their ticket prices on the low end thus limiting revenues. The Bonnies have however been able to somehow find the money to pay Schmidt and make him happy enough to stay. Despite the perceived hurdles, he in his fifteen year tenure has got his program to three NCAA and two NIT tournaments winning an NCAA game over UCLA in the 2018 play in round and leading them to the MSG semis of the NIT in 2022. Their last overall losing season was some ten years ago.

[section(105)]

Why can’t coaches like that? ……oh sorry that is what I used to think…….

[adam914]

These are some encouraging words to hear from Archie about Weston. He clearly recognizes that Weston is starting to come around as well, so I'm hopeful more playing time could be in the near future for him.

[steveystuds06]

These are some encouraging words to hear from Archie about Weston. He clearly recognizes that Weston is starting to come around as well, so I'm hopeful more playing time could be in the near future for him.

He's right we have only seen a little bit because he only plays a little bit of minutes..

[Rhody72]

Teams usually shoot better at home. I was more disappointed with our defense than offense at LaSalle and our offense wasn't particularly good either which is not unusual on the road. We could win this game.

[ArchieOrBust]

Rhody is about to explode, sources say Harris is playing. Watch for this team in March!

[Rhodymob05]

Rhody is about to explode, sources say Harris is playing. Watch for this team in March!

Would be great if this wasn’t sarcasm.

[reef]

This will be a close game as will the point spread be close

[Billyboy78]

Rhody is about to explode, sources say Harris is playing. Watch for this team in March!

It must be nice having sources in the URI and NCAA's admission offices.

[McRam]

This will be a close game as will the point spread be close

Guessing we will be 1 pt favorite. Will we have any students there?

[section(105)]

This will be a close game as will the point spread be close

Guessing we will be 1 pt favorite. Will we have any students there?

Question, how we would notice the difference…….?

[Billyboy78]

This will be a close game as will the point spread be close

Guessing we will be 1 pt favorite. Will we have any students there?

Classes don't start until the 23rd.

[KingstonLane]

- URI faculty and staff get 4 free tickets
- Season ticket holders can bring a friend
- URI students can bring 4 guests for free

They’re literally giving away all the tickets to this game. Can’t imagine they expect more than 2k people at the gate

[theblueram]

Anyone know if the Bonnies are in town already?

[NYGFan_Section208]

I have a friend that has been to most games and not had to buy a ticket yet. Probably won't have to all year.

So for this game, looks like there's free tickets and $2 hot dogs. Need to just take that one small step/giant leap for mankind, and then you'd get some people (or at least more noise)....say it with me now, "Dollar Beer Night"

[Rhody15]

I have a friend that has been to most games and not had to buy a ticket yet. Probably won't have to all year.

So for this game, looks like there's free tickets and $2 hot dogs. Need to just take that one small step/giant leap for mankind, and then you'd get some people (or at least more noise)....say it with me now, "Dollar Beer Night"

I know I shouldn’t be surprised but It’s pretty incredible the price of a 16 oz beer. $13 goddamn dollars.

[NYGFan_Section208]

I have a friend that has been to most games and not had to buy a ticket yet. Probably won't have to all year.

So for this game, looks like there's free tickets and $2 hot dogs. Need to just take that one small step/giant leap for mankind, and then you'd get some people (or at least more noise)....say it with me now, "Dollar Beer Night"

I know I shouldn’t be surprised but It’s pretty incredible the price of a 16 oz beer. $13 goddamn dollars.

Dollar Beer Night. This has to happen. Awesome potential....free tickets and $1 beers...I could probably get an extra 4 or 5 to go

[KeaneyBluBallz]

- URI faculty and staff get 4 free tickets
- Season ticket holders can bring a friend
- URI students can bring 4 guests for free

They’re literally giving away all the tickets to this game. Can’t imagine they expect more than 2k people at the gate

tell me how ticket sales are bad without telling me ticket sales are bad

[ramster]

- URI faculty and staff get 4 free tickets
- Season ticket holders can bring a friend
- URI students can bring 4 guests for free

They’re literally giving away all the tickets to this game. Can’t imagine they expect more than 2k people at the gate

tell me how ticket sales are bad without telling me ticket sales are bad

The more tickets they give away the more the announced attendance is for tonights game (announced, not actual bodies in seats)

[steveystuds06]

Will this be the game Weston gets to play 25 minutes? I hope so.

[KingstonLane]

- URI faculty and staff get 4 free tickets
- Season ticket holders can bring a friend
- URI students can bring 4 guests for free

They’re literally giving away all the tickets to this game. Can’t imagine they expect more than 2k people at the gate

tell me how ticket sales are bad without telling me ticket sales are bad

Is what it is. I like what they’re doing. Get people interested at all costs. Get them in the building. Then if/when you start winning they’re more likely to come back

[KevanBoyles]

Will this be the game Weston gets to play 25 minutes? I hope so.

I don't think Weston is a ball handler an he is behind Martin at the 3 or 4 for now. So until one of those change, his minutes will be limited

[RI_Bred]

- URI faculty and staff get 4 free tickets
- Season ticket holders can bring a friend
- URI students can bring 4 guests for free

They’re literally giving away all the tickets to this game. Can’t imagine they expect more than 2k people at the gate

tell me how ticket sales are bad without telling me ticket sales are bad

Is what it is. I like what they’re doing. Get people interested at all costs. Get them in the building. Then if/when you start winning they’re more likely to come back

Yeah people that might not otherwise ever attend - get them interested. Of course, a win would help with that!

[RF1]

It appears that URI is a 1.5 point favorite. I sure wouldn't put money on this.

[section(105)]

Will this be the game Weston gets to play 25 minutes? I hope so.

I don't think Weston is a ball handler an he is behind Martin at the 3 or 4 for now. So until one of those change, his minutes will be limited

If this seasons win loss records don’t mean much for the big picture, then I would rather Archie select those he wants to retain and build/ coach them up now. Even if that means less PT for Martin etc. let’s see what we got, no?

[RamStock]

Will this be the game Weston gets to play 25 minutes? I hope so.

I don't think Weston is a ball handler an he is behind Martin at the 3 or 4 for now. So until one of those change, his minutes will be limited

If this seasons win loss records don’t mean much for the big picture, then I would rather Archie select those he wants to retain and build/ coach them up now. Even if that means less PT for Martin etc. let’s see what we got, no?

Martin and Carey do nothing to help this teams future. It is not their fault, but any minutes they can get players that could be part of the future would be much more beneficial. The problem is the bench is so bad on this team it is tough to play these guys.

[Billyboy78]

- URI faculty and staff get 4 free tickets
- Season ticket holders can bring a friend
- URI students can bring 4 guests for free

They’re literally giving away all the tickets to this game. Can’t imagine they expect more than 2k people at the gate

tell me how ticket sales are bad without telling me ticket sales are bad

Is what it is. I like what they’re doing. Get people interested at all costs. Get them in the building. Then if/when you start winning they’re more likely to come back

Or, depending on how we play, less likely.

[SGreenwell]

Will this be the game Weston gets to play 25 minutes? I hope so.

I don't think Weston is a ball handler an he is behind Martin at the 3 or 4 for now. So until one of those change, his minutes will be limited

If this seasons win loss records don’t mean much for the big picture, then I would rather Archie select those he wants to retain and build/ coach them up now. Even if that means less PT for Martin etc. let’s see what we got, no?

I don't disagree with that, but I also think players still need to earn their playing time and their way up the depth chart. One of Baron's worst traits as a coach was his musical chairs routine. We're one game removed from Martin putting up 23, and he had nine rebounds against La Salle. Carey's PER is now the second highest on the team. Weston is slowly winning me over because he has potential, but the 10 to 30 minute range is probably where he's going to be at right now.

[PeacefulBonnie]

You have to give Schmidt a lot of credit for what he has accomplished at SBU. It is a tiny school with less than 2k undergraduates in a small town in a remote location. It plays in a 5,480 seat venue built back in 1966 with few creature comforts. Its average attendance is typically in the low to mid 4k range with their ticket prices on the low end thus limiting revenues. The Bonnies have however been able to somehow find the money to pay Schmidt and make him happy enough to stay. Despite the perceived hurdles, he in his fifteen year tenure has got his program to three NCAA and two NIT tournaments winning an NCAA game over UCLA in the 2018 play in round and leading them to the MSG semis of the NIT in 2022. Their last overall losing season was some ten years ago.

SBU is lucky to have Schmidt and I believe his family has mostly enjoyed their time in WNY. Bonaventure was on the upswing in the late 90s into the very early 2000s until the scandal knocked them off course.

Jan Van Breda Kolff had some success in his short tenure at SBU (BESIDES the obvious scandal that he was a part of..) and I often wonder what would have happened to the program had Baron not left for your URI Rams.

Bonaventure will never be a Dayton or VCU-type program, but they do have a loyal fanbase which is bigger than most people realize. Problem is most Bona fans aren't in the university region, so attendance struggles during the work week, but they typically draw solid crowds for weekend games when the weather is nice.

The school is in the process of building a lot of new sports facilities to compete at a higher level in the A10 and that includes a practice facility for men's and women's basketball.
https://gobonnies.com/sports/2022/9/5/a ... nture.aspx

[Billyboy78]

You have to give Schmidt a lot of credit for what he has accomplished at SBU. It is a tiny school with less than 2k undergraduates in a small town in a remote location. It plays in a 5,480 seat venue built back in 1966 with few creature comforts. Its average attendance is typically in the low to mid 4k range with their ticket prices on the low end thus limiting revenues. The Bonnies have however been able to somehow find the money to pay Schmidt and make him happy enough to stay. Despite the perceived hurdles, he in his fifteen year tenure has got his program to three NCAA and two NIT tournaments winning an NCAA game over UCLA in the 2018 play in round and leading them to the MSG semis of the NIT in 2022. Their last overall losing season was some ten years ago.

SBU is lucky to have Schmidt and I believe his family has mostly enjoyed their time in WNY. Bonaventure was on the upswing in the late 90s into the very early 2000s until the scandal knocked them off course.

Jan Van Breda Kolff had some success in his short tenure at SBU (BESIDES the obvious scandal that he was a part of..) and I often wonder what would have happened to the program had Baron not left for your URI Rams.

Bonaventure will never be a Dayton or VCU-type program, but they do have a loyal fanbase which is bigger than most people realize. Problem is most Bona fans aren't in the university region, so attendance struggles during the work week, but they typically draw solid crowds for weekend games when the weather is nice.

The school is in the process of building a lot of new sports facilities to compete at a higher level in the A10 and that includes a practice facility for men's and women's basketball.
https://gobonnies.com/sports/2022/9/5/a ... nture.aspx

What is nice winter weather in Olean? 15 degrees and light snow?

[ramster]

Will this be the game Weston gets to play 25 minutes? I hope so.

Stevey,
You and I have liked Weston from the start. Weston was solid in the preseason scrimmage. I picked him my high scorer A couple posters have mentioned some things I agree with. When given the opportunity he doesn’t always fully capitalize on it.
If I remember right Miller said Weston had lost about 20 pounds over the summer since arriving. Is that right?
Because he still looks a little slow to me and seems to get winded. Wonder if he needs to shed another 10?
But I trust Archie to handle his playing time.

It will be interesting to see how minutes are distributed tonight following last game when Archie said we did not play hard 1st half, then 2.5 minutes into 2nd half Archie put Thomas, Weston and Stewart in and they led a comeback run. So does Archie reward those guys are a couple of them with more minutes tonight?

Thomas went 4-4 FT and now is 12-13 FT for 92% since the end of November. Who saw that coming? Thomas had a game high and career high 3 steals last game as well.

What do you think? And starting line up changes tonight?

[hrstrat57]

Archie convinced Carey and Martin to stay. Now y’all want to bench them and hurt any chance to play professional basketball overseas?

That’s not going to happen. Miller wouldn’t be able to retain any upperclassmen in future if he did that.

[reef]

You have to give Schmidt a lot of credit for what he has accomplished at SBU. It is a tiny school with less than 2k undergraduates in a small town in a remote location. It plays in a 5,480 seat venue built back in 1966 with few creature comforts. Its average attendance is typically in the low to mid 4k range with their ticket prices on the low end thus limiting revenues. The Bonnies have however been able to somehow find the money to pay Schmidt and make him happy enough to stay. Despite the perceived hurdles, he in his fifteen year tenure has got his program to three NCAA and two NIT tournaments winning an NCAA game over UCLA in the 2018 play in round and leading them to the MSG semis of the NIT in 2022. Their last overall losing season was some ten years ago.

SBU is lucky to have Schmidt and I believe his family has mostly enjoyed their time in WNY. Bonaventure was on the upswing in the late 90s into the very early 2000s until the scandal knocked them off course.

Jan Van Breda Kolff had some success in his short tenure at SBU (BESIDES the obvious scandal that he was a part of..) and I often wonder what would have happened to the program had Baron not left for your URI Rams.

Bonaventure will never be a Dayton or VCU-type program, but they do have a loyal fanbase which is bigger than most people realize. Problem is most Bona fans aren't in the university region, so attendance struggles during the work week, but they typically draw solid crowds for weekend games when the weather is nice.

The school is in the process of building a lot of new sports facilities to compete at a higher level in the A10 and that includes a practice facility for men's and women's basketball.
https://gobonnies.com/sports/2022/9/5/a ... nture.aspx

Congrats on keeping Schmidty after losing his whole starting lineup from the last 2 years , a huge coup

[section(105)]

Archie convinced Carey and Martin to stay. Now y’all want to bench them and hurt any chance to play professional basketball overseas?

That’s not going to happen. Miller wouldn’t be able to retain any upperclassmen in future if he did that.

OK fair enough. Must suck being a head coach balancing all the competing interests in PT distribution. I would think by now, Martin’s resume for the next level is a known. At some point, the page needs to be turned. Early now? Fine. But the future has gotta be development of talent that will be on roster beyond.

[steveystuds06]

Will this be the game Weston gets to play 25 minutes? I hope so.

Stevey,
You and I have liked Weston from the start. Weston was solid in the preseason scrimmage. I picked him my high scorer A couple posters have mentioned some things I agree with. When given the opportunity he doesn’t always fully capitalize on it.
If I remember right Miller said Weston had lost about 20 pounds over the summer since arriving. Is that right?
Because he still looks a little slow to me and seems to get winded. Wonder if he needs to shed another 10?
But I trust Archie to handle his playing time.

It will be interesting to see how minutes are distributed tonight following last game when Archie said we did not play hard 1st half, then 2.5 minutes into 2nd half Archie put Thomas, Weston and Stewart in and they led a comeback run. So does Archie reward those guys are a couple of them with more minutes tonight?

Thomas went 4-4 FT and now is 12-13 FT for 92% since the end of November. Who saw that coming? Thomas had a game high and career high 3 steals last game as well.

What do you think? And starting line up changes tonight?

Weston lost a ton of weight and has been playing/practicing/training with this team for months, so I would be surprised if he's still getting tired after playing 5-8 minutes in a half. He's a freshman so he definitely needs to keep improving his body. I'm not saying he's played perfect basketball. He hasn't. He seems to lack speed at times and stands and watches too much. He also has some dumb fouls.

In the last four games, he's averaging 15MPG, 6 pts while shooting 60% from the field and 50% from 3. I don't think those percentages will stay that high if he played bigger minutes, but he's hit impressive shots lately. The only other player I think could make some of the shots he's hit is Carey, and he's our toughest shot-maker.

We have seen some brutal basketball by almost everyone on this roster, and the same guys are still getting big minutes. As some have said, I would rather see the young guys play. It's not just Weston...I'm totally surprised that Lou is completely out of the rotation but someone like Rory is.

I would love 25 minutes, but if Archie can bump Weston to 20 minutes consistently I'll be happy.

[section(105)]

Big lines at the concessions for those $2 Rhody Dogs?

[McRam]

I think Weston’ s strongest suit is that he a really tough and strong player- especially rebounding battles . Of course that is Malik’s strongest attribute.

After the last game, I wonder if our offense would be better without a Samb or aT on the floor for part of he game.Eg Martin Weston, Carey, Bray, Ish. .

[RI_Bred]

Anyone tuning in on ESPN+ having a problem finding the broadcast??

[RhowdyRam02]

Samb has his left thumb wrapped up, but didn't seem to be hindered in warm-ups and has the start

[Martyf250]

Yes not on ESPN+

[reef]

Yeah can’t find it ugh

[section(105)]

Anyone tuning in on ESPN+ having a problem finding the broadcast??

Yes.

[adam914]

It's still saying the event has not yet started. Hopefully it works soon.

[reef]

God damn u espn plus

[RI_Bred]

Anyone tuning in on ESPN+ having a problem finding the broadcast??

I found it, it was DEEP in the menu, and has not started yet as of 7:03pm.

[KevanBoyles]

I got it. Refresh!