Game #13: Southern Mississippi - Saturday Dec 28 @ 2pm

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 10 years ago

ramster wrote: The substitution of Gil and Jarelle. Hurley mentions in today's PROJO that the guys were tired and in retrospect he should have called time out and he insinuated that he should not have made those 2 substitutions. Good to hear him admit that. We would never have heard that in the Baronesque era.

As soon as JR and Gil went to the scorer's table, I said to the guy in front of me that it was a mistake to change the lineup at that point. He correctly pointed out that TJ was gasses. And he was gassed. But my point was call a timeout. Wait until after the free throws to call it to maximize "recovery" time for those guy, but you can't take them out with how effective that lineup had been. That is a very critical juncture of the game, in that if either team scores the next four points they probably win the game. SMU scored the next four, then we finally called timeout and put the small lineup back on the floor but by then it was too late and the momentum was going away from us.

luke · Unread post by **luke** » 10 years ago

When they got it down to two points from twelve and had a chance to tie or go ahead, Munford took a quick bad shot and Southern Miss immediately scored. I could see the momentum and the game went right back to Southern Miss. This team has a very fragile psyche. When things go well for short periods as in the comeback, they are a different team. They continue to need some lucky breaks to get them over the hump. They don't have great talent up and down the roster, but I do believe it is better than they are exhibiting. It sure would help if they could significantly improve the free throw shooting which would keep them in the game and put more pressure on the other team. I don't understand how TJ can be such a poor ft shooter or any D 1 player for that matter. Practice, practice, practice- then be confident and relaxed.

rhodylaw · Unread post by **rhodylaw** » 10 years ago

Free throws are mental issues for most guys - it is in their head that they are missing which is tough to reverse

Ram Stampede!!! · Unread post by **Ram Stampede!!!** » 10 years ago

The group we have, right now, does not contain an everyday producer. Munford was that guy last year and hasn't put last years numbers up. It could be EC in the future. But we need different players to step up and fill the gaps when they see their teammates don't have it on that day. I'd say our most consistent and hard working guy is TJ! He gives his all, all the time. Looking forward to having his leadership around next year too. I wonder if he can continue to emerge as a big motivating factor to our players.

Must beat Brown! Get that first "road" win!

Rhodymob05 · Unread post by **Rhodymob05** » 10 years ago

Everyone talks about x not being x this season while he quietly averages 15 points per game. Only two less than last season.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

And, X is playing 5 minutes a game less than last year.
He's not Ray Allen or Steph Curry, but he's been a factor since his early season woes.

Smokinjimit · Unread post by **Smokinjimit** » 10 years ago

In Larry Birds book he writes about going to school and shooting free throws for at least an hour every day before school. I wonder if any of the guys on this team do this? Jimmy Baron wasn't born a great shooter he worked at it. If you want to get better at something you must WORK at it. Of course it's tough to get up at 5:30 am to work on free throws if you are just getting in at 4 am.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

Exactly!
How many times did we hear that Ray Allen was shooting for an hour before
warm ups?
Repetition, repetition. Unfortunately, it takes ten time the effort to
unlearn a bad habit as to learn it right the first time around.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

Eventually, the players that are dedicated enough, to WANT to win and to do the work necessary to win, will be the ones on this team that will remain to reap the rewards of that hard work.

The slackers will fall by the wayside. Dan seems to be saying that some of these guys just don't want to work hard enough.

I think the staff is out there looking for just those types of guys.

Smokinjimit · Unread post by **Smokinjimit** » 10 years ago

You can't fault a team if they give the effort. Some of the best advice I got as a coach was to go easy on a team after a tough loss if the effort was there. Then tear into them if they breezed through an easy team if they didn't put the effort in. It is not easy finding kids to work that hard at any level. I coached a kid who played for URI when he was in middle school. The kid was an extremely hard worker and a gym rat. I knew he would get better and play at a high level. At that time he wasn't even the best player on the team. But he wanted it more.

Ram Stampede!!! · Unread post by **Ram Stampede!!!** » 10 years ago

Rhodymob05 wrote:Everyone talks about x not being x this season while he quietly averages 15 points per game. Only two less than last season.

Maybe thats because he is seemingly "quiet". They need him to lead this team as a loud and impactful leader. Not just score points...

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 10 years ago

Maybe we need a shot doctor to come on a house call; way back in the day, there was this guy, I think he name was Hank Slider, that would go around to big time summer hoop games and campus sights to work out the troubles players were having.......

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

A loud mouth doesn't make someone a leader.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

Well, Jimmy Jr. and Billy worked their asses off to become the players they were/are.

Dan is telling us that the transfers, by and large, aren't doing that. When the coach comes out and says some of his team isn't giving enough effort, that is damning evidence indeed.

Ram Stampede!!! · Unread post by **Ram Stampede!!!** » 10 years ago

Just because someone is loud doesn't mean they are using words or talking...intangibles and the "will to win" are what matters.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

So, sit the asses of the ones not giving effort on the bench and
play the guys who care. Simple.
Nothing gets players motivated like a trip to the bench.
Hurley needs to have a doghouse, like Bill Belichick has.
Players need to earn their way out of the doghouse.
His father has no problems motivating kids. Maybe Dan should make a phone call, home?

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 10 years ago

Our roster is so delicate that I think we could struggle to put enough guys on the court if there was a dog house and another incident.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

Play the walk ons. The ultimate humiliation to the slackers.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

I would agree with you, but if he does that, guys could transfer again and with the APR situation, that could be a disaster in the making.

The one thing that could derail our recruiting efforts going forward, is with the loss of more scholarships, or the ultimate disaster, no post season play.

That's not a problem this year, but in the next 2-3 years, we expect to get there. I don't even want to think what would happen if we get penalized.

And I'm not trying to be negative here, just realistic. I think Dan is going to have to baby this situation along as best he can, until the academic situation clears up.

ramfan85 · Unread post by **ramfan85** » 10 years ago

Some of the players may be coasting because they feel that they "have" to play because we're short handed. (Nice evaluations).
If that's the case, sit them and ignore them. Play walk-ons if necessary. Nothing hits home more than having a screaming coach who doesn't yell at you anymore.
The more things change the more they stay the same.

Rhodymob05 · Unread post by **Rhodymob05** » 10 years ago

well everyone has been LOUD about criticizing X this season. He did it all last year. Hes doing a lot of it this year so give him credit whether hes shooting well or not. You need more spread out scoring. EC is the only other consistent scorer. Gil explodes and goes quiet with the flip of a switch. I know that is all obvious but X is still X. And I agree with everyone about this teams attitude problem. They need to all be TJ.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

I don't envy Dan right now. At all.

He's got a tough job juggling all of this stuff.

Just when he thinks one fire's put out, along comes another brush fire.

Good thing he doesn't have much hair. If he did before, it would be all gone by now without a haircut.

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 10 years ago

I am not a big fan of the mass benching of starters etc. to send messages etc. Weird how against Brown at Brown two years ago, JB benched the whole Holton group etc. it backfired, the Brown kids got even more motivated, took a lead and held it enough that when the starters got in the game, the tide had already turned against us. At the D-1 level I think that tact is a high school JV play book move.

hrstrat57 · Unread post by **hrstrat57** » 10 years ago

section(105) wrote:I am not a big fan of the mass benching of starters etc. to send messages etc. Weird how against Brown at Brown two years ago, JB benched the whole Holton group etc. it backfired, the Brown kids got even more motivated, took a lead and held it enough that when the starters got in the game, the tide had already turned against us. At the D-1 level I think that tact is a high school JV play book move.

Agree 100%

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

Nobody said mass benching. Hurley talked about “It’s funny. You’ve got the four guys that sat out last year and watched (Xavier Munford) and T.J. (Buchanan) and Ryan (Brooks) and Alwayne Brooks and Andrew Malone. They watched them fight so hard from beginning to end, and they haven’t adopted that. We’re not talented enough to roll it out there right now. "
So, who is he talking about? Clearly not EC or Martin. Not Munford. Not TJ.
That leaves Biruta, Reischel, Minnis and Oneykaba. Would starting Martin and TJ really kill this team?
Nope.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

Out of that transfer group, Minnis and Biruta play hard at times, but not all the time.

The other two? JR has disappeared, and the Big O is playing like the small O.

TJ and Martin should start ahead of them.

You've basically got 6 guys that should be getting most all of the minutes.

Mike Aaman plays hard also. When he gets back, he deserves time too.

Spook5365 · Unread post by **Spook5365** » 10 years ago

Agree fully, Martin and TJ need to start and play max minutes. Martin will probably foul out, but so be it. I've seen enough players from opposing teams stroll down the lane uncontested for at will put backs. It's become a joke at this point. I'm trying to temper this with fact I thought S Miss was a very will coached team with good players. Best rebounding small team I've seen in a while. Then again, when the other team just walks away from the rebounds, what's so hard about it?

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

We simply don't have a good defensive frontcourt. Not enough bodies, and the bodies we do have, get in foul trouble.

Not a whole lot they can do about it right now.

luke · Unread post by **luke** » 10 years ago

I haven't seen Minnis not play hard all the time. it really seems to be Onyekoba and Rreischel and maybe Biruta who don't seem to be busting it all game long. And didn't Reischel lose his spot and probably because of it? so we may see some action with the other two if they don't start at least blocking out and rebounding, and clogging up the lane on defense. A couple wins would do a world of good to get this team going. A win at Brown is an absolute must.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

Funny, with a little better free throw shooting, we could have
had three more wins.
10-3 and we'd have been jumping for joy, instead of jumping off bridges.
Think about it.

Iggy1979 · Unread post by **Iggy1979** » 10 years ago

The silver lining is that Hurley now knows this team need help.

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 10 years ago

Iggy1979 wrote:The silver lining is that Hurley now knows this team need help.

Iggy
I hope the help comes in the form of a bright shiny freshmen class. We filled the holes with transfers for this year. Not panning out so well. We need to start rebuilding with 1st year recruits....yesterday.

luke · Unread post by **luke** » 10 years ago

Agree Rod. I just don't get it. TJ I think missed his first four fts, then made six in a row? I can somewhat understand Onyekaba missing fts because he is not really a shooter, but the rest I'm sure were shooters in High School. did they shoot poorly there also? Are they nervous and feeling the pressure? Are they tired? I think it is all about confidence as they shot better from the line against the weak teams. anyway, that is all i can figure, but this far into the season you would think the nervousness and anxiety would go away. Maybe their lack of success is keeping it going. I don't know. Whatever the problem is it better get fixed quick.

ramfan85 · Unread post by **ramfan85** » 10 years ago

What we see is what we are. I don't have much faith that anything is going to change.
I also want freshmen, not transfers.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 10 years ago

For those looking for a great freshman class next year, almost all of the top flight players from '14 are already signed. We are back to looking for diamonds in the rough. It's very unlikely that next year's class will be even close to this year's freshman class.

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 10 years ago

luke wrote:Agree Rod. I just don't get it. TJ I think missed his first four fts, then made six in a row? I can somewhat understand Onyekaba missing fts because he is not really a shooter, but the rest I'm sure were shooters in High School. did they shoot poorly there also? Are they nervous and feeling the pressure? Are they tired? I think it is all about confidence as they shot better from the line against the weak teams. anyway, that is all i can figure, but this far into the season you would think the nervousness and anxiety would go away. Maybe their lack of success is keeping it going. I don't know. Whatever the problem is it better get fixed quick.

TJ was visibly livid with his misses. He has the passion I wish all of them had. TJ is the type of glue guy that makes any team better, which he does. Ft's are a problem, but it's a bigger problem if players are not upset with themselves for missing them. TJ is going to be fine going forward.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 10 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:For those looking for a great freshman class next year, almost all of the top flight players from '14 are already signed. We are back to looking for diamonds in the rough. It's very unlikely that next year's class will be even close to this year's freshman class.

100% right Billyboy. Next years class will not be much to get excited about barring some shocker along the way.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 10 years ago

adam914 wrote:
Billyboy78 wrote:For those looking for a great freshman class next year, almost all of the top flight players from '14 are already signed. We are back to looking for diamonds in the rough. It's very unlikely that next year's class will be even close to this year's freshman class.
100% right Billyboy. Next years class will not be much to get excited about barring some shocker along the way.

Exactly. Last year at this time, we already had two top 150 players signed....not happening this year.

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 10 years ago

adam914 wrote:
Billyboy78 wrote:For those looking for a great freshman class next year, almost all of the top flight players from '14 are already signed. We are back to looking for diamonds in the rough. It's very unlikely that next year's class will be even close to this year's freshman class.
100% right Billyboy. Next years class will not be much to get excited about barring some shocker along the way.

DH needs to find some talent he can coach up. If he is the coach we think he is, he should be able to get them to our level. That is where we are. If he can get guys in and coach them into A10 caliber players or better, the better recruits will come on the premise he can get them to the next level. Top 100 is out next year agreed. They don't exist at this point.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

Late bloomers, boys, late bloomers. EC and Hassan were, and anybody we get for next year will be too.

Diamonds in the rough. What else can we get? When the big boys want you, they will get you.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 10 years ago

rambone 78 wrote:Late bloomers, boys, late bloomers. EC and Hassan were, and anybody we get for next year will be too.

Diamonds in the rough. What else can we get? When the big boys want you, they will get you.

I don't know if they were late bloomers. EC was a 4 star, ranked somewhere in the 70s. Hassan was slightly overlooked because of his injury his junior year, but he was still a 3 star and ranked around 140, IIRC. Are we even involved with anyone like that now?

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

78, good question. I would expect we are, but it seems the staff is keeping things more under wraps these days.

For 2015-16, I think we are involved with a bunch of them.

rhodylaw · Unread post by **rhodylaw** » 10 years ago

What about matt Cimino? He would be a great get and I think he can look at the roster and know he will have PT immediately.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

Cimino is pretty much a lock for Tulsa and Danny Manning.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 10 years ago

I haven't been on the boards in a while. It's actually tough to stomach being a URI fan. I'm sure most of this has been posted...but here goes:

We aren't good. At all. Period.

Biruta is the most over-rated player we've had since Scott Hazelton, possibly ever. Just garbage. No defense. No rebounding. Just attempts at unnecessarily acrobatic layups. Sure he can score 13 but I'm sure he lets in about 25 a game. I'm literally sick watching him.

TJ is the only player on this team that looks like he has a problem with losing. And the only one who looks like he's made any progress since last year. Start him.

X looks like Oz once the curtain was pulled back. when you take 20 something shots a game, you should score a hell of a lot more than 15 points. Seriously what does he bring to the team? He can't shoot anymore. When you take that away - he's not particularly dominant off the dribble. Can't really finish strong. Plays defense as well as jimmy baron did. More or less a liability out there.

Free throw shooting. What. The. Fuck. It wouldn't have saved us in this game, but the 3 lost before it were completely because of free throws. I'm not even asking for perfection. Those last couple games had we shot 65% we'd have won.

I don't really have any suggestions on who to put where at this point or what to do. With the injuries and everything else - we suck. I'm just venting.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

First off, Scott Hazleton had a hell of a senior year, after Baron sat him
behind Jamal Wise for an entire year. Hazelton was a damned good player.
I'll never forget his mano a mano duel with Ryan Gomes at the PCC.
X is not a bad defensive player. I don't know who the hell you've been watching since last
November. He also doesn't take 20 shots a game, either. He averages 13.9 shots a game.
BIG difference.
The rest, of your rant, I agree with.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 10 years ago

rodfromcranston wrote:First off, Scott Hazleton had a hell of a senior year, after Baron sat him
behind Jamal Wise for an entire year. Hazelton was a damned good player.
I'll never forget his mano a mano duel with Ryan Gomes at the PCC.
X is not a bad defensive player. I don't know who the hell you've been watching since last
November. He also doesn't take 20 shots a game, either. He averages 13.9 shots a game.
BIG difference.
The rest, of your rant, I agree with.

I did take some liberties with the shot number with X. I'm not so mad about the number taken as I am the number that go in. 28% from 3, 74% free throws and 3 TOPG is UNACCEPTABLE from a shooting guard, especially one who was supposed to be one of the best in the conference this year. I'd rather see butler in the game so you could actually see some shots fall. His D isn't enough that makes me think he's a starter. I'd rather see TJ as a starter over him.

I was alluding to Hazelton being sold to us as NBA caliber. He had a great game against PC (so did Hellenga that one time). It's just not a fun time to hang out at the ryan center these days.