Scrimmage

[Billyboy78]

For those who saw the scrimmage, do you think any of Tres, Ileri or Samb might contribute this year? I didn't get to see the scrimmage myself, so I have no idea. I'd like to go just a little deeper than 8, especially if Carey disappoints again this year.

[SGreenwell]

I agree with both of you. BUT, Walker did not always start last year, and he did not always start the second half, and he did not play as many minutes as I thought he should have - others also thought Walker should have played more minutes

So based on what I saw last season I have reason to believe Walker might not start and might not receive the minutes I think he should.

What Cox does and what we think he should do are not necessarily the same. No way should Russell have been playing as many minutes as he did as injured as he was - for example.

I do agree and would be very surprised and disappointed if Walker doesn't start, but who knows.
But anyway, contrary to the thoughts of several on this board, I think our team will be very hard to predict this season.

What? I think most people have said this team *isn't* easy to predict, but there is a general pessimism about the program because it doesn't seem like an NCAA tournament team. Both things can be true.

[Jersey77]

I agree with both of you. BUT, Walker did not always start last year, and he did not always start the second half, and he did not play as many minutes as I thought he should have - others also thought Walker should have played more minutes

So based on what I saw last season I have reason to believe Walker might not start and might not receive the minutes I think he should.

What Cox does and what we think he should do are not necessarily the same. No way should Russell have been playing as many minutes as he did as injured as he was - for example.

I do agree and would be very surprised and disappointed if Walker doesn't start, but who knows.
But anyway, contrary to the thoughts of several on this board, I think our team will be very hard to predict this season.

What? I think most people have said this team *isn't* easy to predict, but there is a general pessimism about the program because it doesn't seem like an NCAA tournament team. Both things can be true.

Actually, It was mentioned in another thread (A10 outlook) that because our roster is basically the same, there shouldn't be many surprises.
Again I am still thinking we finish 6, but anywhere from 4-8 wouldn't surprise me.

[reef]

Yeah if he started all 25 last year I highly doubt he will be a reserve this year

[rambone 78]

There are many potential outcomes this season.

IMO now, the number of wins could range from a clusterfuck 10 to as many as 20.

Postseason play not likely. NIT will require at least 20.

I think we'll end up somewhere in the middle of that 10-20 range.

[Jersey77]

There are many potential outcomes this season.

IMO now, the number of wins could range from a clusterfuck 10 to as many as 20.

Postseason play not likely. NIT will require at least 20.

I think we'll end up somewhere in the middle of that 10-20 range.

Well Rambone, we all hope you are wrong and end up closer to that 20 win range.

[section(105)]

For those who saw the scrimmage, do you think any of Tres, Ileri or Samb might contribute this year? I didn't get to see the scrimmage myself, so I have no idea. I'd like to go just a little deeper than 8, especially if Carey disappoints again this year.

……..uuuuummmmm……no

[rambone 78]

There are many potential outcomes this season.

IMO now, the number of wins could range from a clusterfuck 10 to as many as 20.

Postseason play not likely. NIT will require at least 20.

I think we'll end up somewhere in the middle of that 10-20 range.

Well Rambone, we all hope you are wrong and end up closer to that 20 win range.

77, I really hope we don't get 17-18 wins and leave the coach situation twisting in the wind.

Either knock it out of the park and win big enough to extend Cox, or shit the bed enough to hire another coach.

We had way too much of the mediocre route when Baron was here.

Again imo, 15 wins or less gets Cox canned, and 20+ wins gets Cox a short extension [short of an NCAA bid].

[Jersey77]

There are many potential outcomes this season.

IMO now, the number of wins could range from a clusterfuck 10 to as many as 20.

Postseason play not likely. NIT will require at least 20.

I think we'll end up somewhere in the middle of that 10-20 range.

Well Rambone, we all hope you are wrong and end up closer to that 20 win range.

77, I really hope we don't get 17-18 wins and leave the coach situation twisting in the wind.

Either knock it out of the park and win big enough to extend Cox, or shit the bed enough to hire another coach.

We had way too much of the mediocre route when Baron was here.

Again imo, 15 wins or less gets Cox canned, and 20+ wins gets Cox a short extension [short of an NCAA bid].

I am really hoping for 20 wins (or better of course) and we play the upper tier teams extremely tough.
If we see a dramatic improvement, it will give us something to look forward to next season.

[bigappleram]

For those who saw the scrimmage, do you think any of Tres, Ileri or Samb might contribute this year? I didn't get to see the scrimmage myself, so I have no idea. I'd like to go just a little deeper than 8, especially if Carey disappoints again this year.

IMO right now no. Tres was the most assertive and in the time I saw looked to be the most comfortable. Samb and Ileri still seemed a ways away but we are pretty deep up front so not sure how much time they would get anyhow.

[ramster]

I do agree and would be very surprised and disappointed if Walker doesn't start, but who knows.
But anyway, contrary to the thoughts of several on this board, I think our team will be very hard to predict this season.

What? I think most people have said this team *isn't* easy to predict, but there is a general pessimism about the program because it doesn't seem like an NCAA tournament team. Both things can be true.

Actually, It was mentioned in another thread (A10 outlook) that because our roster is basically the same, there shouldn't be many surprises.
Again I am still thinking we finish 6, but anywhere from 4-8 wouldn't surprise me.

It has been said by some that this years 2021-22 team is hard to predict.
This team has 7 of the top 8 returning (with Grad Year Russell replaced by Grad Year El Amin). We have seen those 7 returnees play enough minutes to judge their ability.

If this team does not significantly improve on its 10-15, (7-10) 10th place finish then there will like by a coaching change after 4 years.

If we don’t improve then the question should be why did we stay with basically the same roster vs try to upgrade with the high number of transfers available due to Covid and no sit out rule adoption. We basically chose to play our hand at the poker table.

[ramster]

I agree with both of you. BUT, Walker did not always start last year, and he did not always start the second half, and he did not play as many minutes as I thought he should have - others also thought Walker should have played more minutes

So based on what I saw last season I have reason to believe Walker might not start and might not receive the minutes I think he should.

What Cox does and what we think he should do are not necessarily the same. No way should Russell have been playing as many minutes as he did as injured as he was - for example.

According to ESPN Walker started all 25 games last season. I do agree he got the early hook too many times and seemed to be the only guy who had a short leash but I dont recall him ever not starting. Dont see that changing in his senior year.

I agree. I checked Gorhody stats too and he started each game. I do recall him not starting a second half or possibly more.

He only averaged 22.5 minutes per game. A number of games I questioned why he got pulled so soon and why he okayed so few minutes in the second half of games. And only 22.5 mpg with Mitchell out from game 7 on plus Harris underperforming in his coming off the bench role (after starting in Cox’ 1st two years.

I also observed Walker getting some significant “constructive criticism” yet I never saw Russel get scolddd in the past 3 years.

I hope Walker gets plenty of minutes this season.

[Jersey77]

What? I think most people have said this team *isn't* easy to predict, but there is a general pessimism about the program because it doesn't seem like an NCAA tournament team. Both things can be true.

Actually, It was mentioned in another thread (A10 outlook) that because our roster is basically the same, there shouldn't be many surprises.
Again I am still thinking we finish 6, but anywhere from 4-8 wouldn't surprise me.

It has been said by some that this years 2021-22 team is hard to predict.
This team has 7 of the top 8 returning (with Grad Year Russell replaced by Grad Year El Amin). We have seen those 7 returnees play enough minutes to judge their ability.

If this team does not significantly improve on its 10-15, (7-10) 10th place finish then there will like by a coaching change after 4 years.

If we don’t improve then the question should be why did we stay with basically the same roster vs try to upgrade with the high number of transfers available due to Covid and no sit out rule adoption. We basically chose to play our hand at the poker table.

Yes, I think Cox is very comfortable with the team he assembled last year and only decided to add EA as a replacement for Fatts.
And of course the Bozeman/Sutton swap.
We also have question marks about the recruits/freshman, Ish we all feel good about, I hope the other 3 pan out.

So yeah he is all in on this roster. I hope it all works out.

[DC_Rams]

I agree with both of you. BUT, Walker did not always start last year, and he did not always start the second half, and he did not play as many minutes as I thought he should have - others also thought Walker should have played more minutes

So based on what I saw last season I have reason to believe Walker might not start and might not receive the minutes I think he should.

What Cox does and what we think he should do are not necessarily the same. No way should Russell have been playing as many minutes as he did as injured as he was - for example.

According to ESPN Walker started all 25 games last season. I do agree he got the early hook too many times and seemed to be the only guy who had a short leash but I dont recall him ever not starting. Dont see that changing in his senior year.

I agree. I checked Gorhody stats too and he started each game. I do recall him not starting a second half or possibly more.

He only averaged 22.5 minutes per game. A number of games I questioned why he got pulled so soon and why he okayed so few minutes in the second half of games. And only 22.5 mpg with Mitchell out from game 7 on plus Harris underperforming in his coming off the bench role (after starting in Cox’ 1st two years.

I also observed Walker getting some significant “constructive criticism” yet I never saw Russel get scolddd in the past 3 years.

I hope Walker gets plenty of minutes this season.

You CANNOT coach every kid the same. If you ever coached anything, you would know at least that much. I tend to agree Fatts killed us at times, but we also were not the same team without the threat of him being on the floor. You never knew how and when he was going to impact a game.

[ramster]

According to ESPN Walker started all 25 games last season. I do agree he got the early hook too many times and seemed to be the only guy who had a short leash but I dont recall him ever not starting. Dont see that changing in his senior year.

I agree. I checked Gorhody stats too and he started each game. I do recall him not starting a second half or possibly more.

He only averaged 22.5 minutes per game. A number of games I questioned why he got pulled so soon and why he okayed so few minutes in the second half of games. And only 22.5 mpg with Mitchell out from game 7 on plus Harris underperforming in his coming off the bench role (after starting in Cox’ 1st two years.

I also observed Walker getting some significant “constructive criticism” yet I never saw Russel get scolddd in the past 3 years.

I hope Walker gets plenty of minutes this season.

You CANNOT coach every kid the same. If you ever coached anything, you would know at least that much. I tend to agree Fatts killed us at times, but we also were not the same team without the threat of him being on the floor. You never knew how and when he was going to impact a game.

I agree with you DC_Rams on coaching kids differently,
But I would say I thought Walker should have gotten more minutes and Russell should have gotten less minutes especially when his injuries were impacting his play.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this team plays with Sheppard given the PG role plus Leggett stepping into a Sophomore season.

Big year for this team and David Cox

[bigappleram]

According to ESPN Walker started all 25 games last season. I do agree he got the early hook too many times and seemed to be the only guy who had a short leash but I dont recall him ever not starting. Dont see that changing in his senior year.

I agree. I checked Gorhody stats too and he started each game. I do recall him not starting a second half or possibly more.

He only averaged 22.5 minutes per game. A number of games I questioned why he got pulled so soon and why he okayed so few minutes in the second half of games. And only 22.5 mpg with Mitchell out from game 7 on plus Harris underperforming in his coming off the bench role (after starting in Cox’ 1st two years.

I also observed Walker getting some significant “constructive criticism” yet I never saw Russel get scolddd in the past 3 years.

I hope Walker gets plenty of minutes this season.

You CANNOT coach every kid the same. If you ever coached anything, you would know at least that much. I tend to agree Fatts killed us at times, but we also were not the same team without the threat of him being on the floor. You never knew how and when he was going to impact a game.

I agree with this BUT IMO good/great players want to be coached hard. And Fatts is a good/great player so I think some type of reigning him in at times was warranted. I think if DC was more established in the job with more tenure he likely would have coached him differently. He may also have a tighter relationship with Twan which always allows for a bit more forceful instruction.

[steveystuds06]

According to ESPN Walker started all 25 games last season. I do agree he got the early hook too many times and seemed to be the only guy who had a short leash but I dont recall him ever not starting. Dont see that changing in his senior year.

I agree. I checked Gorhody stats too and he started each game. I do recall him not starting a second half or possibly more.

He only averaged 22.5 minutes per game. A number of games I questioned why he got pulled so soon and why he okayed so few minutes in the second half of games. And only 22.5 mpg with Mitchell out from game 7 on plus Harris underperforming in his coming off the bench role (after starting in Cox’ 1st two years.

I also observed Walker getting some significant “constructive criticism” yet I never saw Russel get scolddd in the past 3 years.

I hope Walker gets plenty of minutes this season.

You CANNOT coach every kid the same. If you ever coached anything, you would know at least that much. I tend to agree Fatts killed us at times, but we also were not the same team without the threat of him being on the floor. You never knew how and when he was going to impact a game.

I was watching the Lakers preseason the other day. A random player named Austin Reaves was about to come out of the game. He drains a 3, gets a steal, and then hits another 3. What does Frank Vogel do? He tells the guy going in for Reaves to return to the bench and keeps Reaves in the game. That's smart coaching. Yes I know he's an NBA coach...

Taking out a player who is red hot and clearly in the zone all because you predetermined his minutes before the game is not. I felt he handled Walker, Fatts, Ish, and Carey's minutes poorly for many games last season. Remember when Malik Martin started 4-4 from 3, and he immediately takes him out? It wasn't all bad. Cox had plenty of great moments last season, but he can't have those types of mistakes again this year

[rambone 78]

It's called being in tune with the flow of the game.

Cox didn't seem to care if someone was hot, he would take that player out no matter what.

That kind of momentum killing can't continue.

[SGreenwell]

Cox's sub patterns certainly seemed a bit too rigid to me as well. It's one thing if you're a pro coach, with players in their 30s and you're managing fatigue levels, or if you have players nursing injuries. Players want to play, and you can't necessarily trust them to manage themselves, and sometimes you have to pull a guy for his own sake, even if it hurts the team in the short-term.

That being said, the only player that applied to on last year's team was Fatts. Guys like Walker and Malik Martin were certainly capable of playing an extra 2 to 4 minutes before coming out. I'm not even a huge believer in "hot hand" and momentum stuff, but at the very least, keeping a "hot" player in forces the defense to adjust, and opens up other areas of attack.

[Billyboy78]

I've said that before. It doesn't matter what is going on in the game. If a player is scheduled to come out after playing 6 minutes, he's coming out. It seems Cox has no feel for the flow of the game. Baron used to do this with Jimmy. He'd hit 5 in a row and Baron would take him out. It drives me crazy. Play the players who are playing well and who match up well at that point of the game. If a player needs a blow, I understand. But Twan always seemed to come out after 6 minutes or so. I'm pretty sure he can handle more than that. Looks like he's in pretty good shape to me. Only an injury or a foul situation should change that.

[ramster]

Cox plays a lot of guys, therefore we will always be discussions about who is playing how many minutes and who is subbing for who - goes with the territory of playing many players. 8 players got between 14 and 22 minutes per game. Represents a lot of substituting and difficulty for players to establish confidence and momentum.

Lot was said about URI having a lot of depth, but St Bonaventure goes with a 7 man lineup most of the season. You see VCU, Dayton, Davidson, St Louis and Richmond shrink their lineups to just 6-7 players by Conference Tournament time and NCAA time.

URI - 11 Players got double digit Minutes per game:
33-Russell
31-Sheppard
22-Makhel Mitchell
22-Walker
20-Leggett
20-Martin
19-Betrand
16-Carey
16-Makhi Mitchell
15-Johnson
14-Harris

St Bonaventure - Only 7 Players got double digit Minutes per game:
38-Lofton
34-Welch
34-Osunniyi
33-Adeway
33-Holmes
21-Roberts
13-Vasquez

[SGreenwell]

I prefer St. Bonaventure's approach, which is also what Hurley did, although the caveat would be that URI just wasn't as talented or deep as them. Russell and Sheppard got played a ton, which was probably appropriate. Ish probably should have been 30+ MPG for the second half of the season, but he was a freshman and averaged 24+ MPG for the final half of the season. You left Walker out of your list by accident, Ramster, so it was actually 11 players, since he was at 22 MPG with Makhel. Walker clearly should have played closer to 30 MPG, along with Makhel, although his personal fouls (6.2 per 40 minutes) probably limited his minutes more than anything.

That being said, I listed five players (Russell, Sheppard, Ish, Makhel, Walker). Everyone else was varying levels of inconsistent or ineffective at times. It kind of felt like when a football team insists that they have two equally good starting QBs, which means that they have 0 good starting QBs. If you want to be charitable, you can say that maybe Cox was giving all of the bench options some burn, some run, to really evaluate whether they could play or not. Johnson seemed average to me (but he's gone now anyway), and Martin too. Betrand, Carey and Harris were below-average players. And again, I'm really skeptical on Berry and Ayo-Faleye to ever be more than bench pieces, if they weren't able to force their way into playing time last year.

At the beginning of last year, I thought we had decent depth, which is kind of true. Like, this isn't the early and late Baron years, when guys were playing major minutes who clearly weren't able to handle A-10 competition. But we have a whole lot of average and below average among the roster, which is almost harder to improve upon. (i.e. In a way, it's simpler to replace a D+ starter at center with a B+ guy and improve drastically. It's tough if your starting lineup is full of B- to B+ players, and your bench has D+ to C+ options.)

[ramster]

SG,
I agree with your assessment.

[rambone 78]

I definitely agree with Greenwell's last paragraph.

Whoever our best players are, Cox has to play them more minutes.

Sounds simple in theory, no?

[steveystuds06]

[rhodyblue12]

To me it looked like Ayo-Faleye is a player. Unafraid and has the physical skills to be really good. Just a hunch.
I was also very wrong on Sebastian Thomas. He handled himself well and will be a solid player for us next year.
Walker needs to play BIG minutes this year, no doubt.

[Rhodymob05]

Yea I have a feeling Faleye will get good time.

[Jersey77]

To me it looked like Ayo-Faleye is a player. Unafraid and has the physical skills to be really good. Just a hunch.
I was also very wrong on Sebastian Thomas. He handled himself well and will be a solid player for us next year.
Walker needs to play BIG minutes this year, no doubt.

Thanks for your input, good to hear some positive thoughts on these young players.