Game #20 - @ St. Joe - Wednesday, Jan. 22, 7pm

[Blue Man]

I really would've liked to see even more of Butler in this one. That assist he made to Iffy on the dunk in the first half made a great case for him staying on the floor. He's developing.

Questionable officiating or not, our turnovers, lack of finishing when fouled, missing free throws, and missing open shots lost this game for us.

For once, we played a good first half. We just hit a wall in the 2nd.

If this team can figure out how to string together a complete game, we might be able to shock a team.

Also - if biggie's been hurt, and not able to work out, and put on weight, and got slower...why don't we just rest him fully until mid february so he gets in shape for brooklyn?

[rodfromcranston]

St. Joe's facility is better than Rose Hill. Have you been to Fordham?
You have to walk through a building and then a hallway to get into the arena.
Anyway, I don't understand how St. Joe's consistently gets home cooking
by the refs, year after year, decade after decade.
I was thinking all the way back to 1979, Sly's last year.
We went to Philly, and had the lead, and the refs just took Sly out of the game,
by calling a couple of ridiculous fouls. No Sly, no win.
As for the current team, Matthews played
a long high school schedule last year, with playoffs, and played since August, here.
He may well be wearing down. Travel, adjusting to college life, adjusting to
college basketball, could be the wall he's hitting.
He had two 21 point games and a 17, and then had two 7 point games, before
GMU, where he had an atrocious first half and came on in the second and OT.
He had five shots blocked last night. Sure, he was probably fouled on a couple. 2-12?
This is our go-to guy next year without X? Scary.
EC and Hassan seem to let calls or non calls get to them. Maybe in high school, as stars,
they were used to getting the calls?
He'll be fine. If he ever hits his first shot, he'll probably have a good game.
If we ever hit our first shot, I'll faint.

[neil]

Agree with the majority of the comments. Because of a lack of depth, there is a very thin line between winning and losing. To make it very simple, we don't shoot the ball very well. Will we ever see a 50% shooting game before the end of the year. Granted, when Gil is out, there is no low post game. I do think on a neutral court (Brooklyn) there will be a few teams that won't want to face us.

Anyway, I'll throw my story in about St. Joe's home games. Many years ago, (T Mack era) my sons for the holiday decided to take me by plane back and forth in one day to see the Rams play the Hawks in Philly. Included was a philly cheese steak. Great gift. Half time and we were up by four or five, when Martelli walks off the court with the refs, literally with his arm around one. Second half, the whistles blew constantly and we lost by twelve. Refs do not totally determine a game, but 38 to 15, give me a break!

[rhodyrudder]

They're not sending the tape to Springfield.
With 2:47 remaining, second half fouls were 14-6.
I can see a make-up call after the ridiculous
over-and-back violation that they called on the Hawks.
But that was a brutal stretch of whistle-blowing.
Second half free throw attempts were 16-2 at that point.
St Joe was 10-16, Rhody 1-2.
Those nine points were basically the difference
between a 3-pt lead at half, and an 8-pt deficit.
However, the game was lost when the Rams scored
exactly 2 points between hoops at 14:19 and 5:58,
nearly eight-and-a-half minutes with one basket.
Not gonna win too many games doing that.
Joe was in man, but whenever anybody penetrated
they would collapse on him and make it 3 on 1.
Rhody had poor shot after poor shot, turnover after
turnover, almost never kicking it out to an open man.
1 v 3 in the lane is not the recipe for success for
any of our guys.

[ATPTourFan]

Rod, yes, I go to Rose Hill just about every year. My opinion is that now with this year's enhancements to Rose Hill, it's a facility that is more fan friendly and recruit friendly than the overpriced scam that was the Hagan Arena facelift. Call it what it is.. Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse!

[BFC]

I hate to blame the refs, URI offense was bad but St. Joe's went on a 15-2 run in the second half between the 14 minute mark and 8 and half minute mark. During that span, there were 8 fouls called on URI, 0 on St. Joe's. 7 of St. Joe's 15 points during the run came at the free throw line. URI's 6 point lead turned into a 7 point deficit. URI certainly committed some silly fouls but there was also alot of fouls called on body contact on St. Joe's drives yet the same type of contact wasn't called on URI drives, particularly EC Matthews.

[rodfromcranston]

According to Fordham's own website, the last renovations to Rose Hill Dump were in
2002. No mention of anything more recent.
At least St. Joe's gym looks nice, and not like a barn. I like the way they painted the ducts
St. Joe's maroon.

[Smokinjimit]

What would be funny is to go back 20 yrs and add the fouls by us and by them at st. Joes. Anyone retired or out of work and board? It would be nice to send that to the league and ask them to explain.

[RF1]

The game headline in the Providence Journal sums it up accurately:

RAMS RUN AFOUL
Huge discrepancy in free throws really costs Rhody
By TIM CASEY SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ ... w=ZW50aXR5

[ATPTourFan]

According to Fordham's own website, the last renovations to Rose Hill Dump were in
2002. No mention of anything more recent.
At least St. Joe's gym looks nice, and not like a barn. I like the way they painted the ducts
St. Joe's maroon.

Rod, maybe renovations as in major structure work, but I'm talking about game day experience enhancements which are many. Rose Hill is now a great historical venue, maintaining many of those "barn" elements like skylights and black-painted exposed metal structure. It has also advanced with the times well beyond Hagan with HD video boards on each end and updated scorer's table display, audio system, etc.

Either way, we'll disagree.

[SlyWilliamsCaddy]

Smokinjimit Ask and you shall receive.

Quickly going back and looking in the archives, URI has played 5 games at St. Joes dating back to the 2006-2007 season. Uri is 2-3 in those games. Interestingly we have only hosted st. joes 3 times since and another time in the a-10 tournament. In those 5 games the foul totals are:

URI 28- St. Joes 15
URI 21- St. Joes 10
URI 15- St. Joes 18
URI 27- St. Joes 15
URI 21- St. Joes 22

Totals: Uri has been called for a total of 112 fouls compared to St. Joes 80. Funny how in the 2 games that were called evenly, Uri got the win. Funny how that works. Uri is averaging 22.4 fouls per game down there compared to St. Joes 16 per. Now that's a home court advantage.

[Rhody72]

URI fouled a lot knowing SJU was atrocious at the line. Don't blame the foul discrepancy on the refs.

We should have fouled them with walk-ons. Teams can beat us down low or by pressuring us - their choice. We should have put a walk-on on their worst foul shooter and fouled him each time he touched the ball. Let them get 30 points from the line.

Even when JR makes a lay-up, it is never clean.

Will GB, Iffy and JR get much better? I don't think so. The loss of X next year will exceed the sum of underclass improvement plus new recruits. That is what is most troubling about watching this team. I say that recognizing EC's and HM's upside.

[RAM67]

URI fouled a lot knowing SJU was atrocious at the line. Don't blame the foul discrepancy on the refs.

We should have fouled them with walk-ons. Teams can beat us down low or by pressuring us - their choice. We should have put a walk-on on their worst foul shooter and fouled him each time he touched the ball. Let them get 30 points from the line.

Even when JR makes a lay-up, it is never clean.

Will GB, Iffy and JR get much better? I don't think so. The loss of X next year will exceed the sum of underclass improvement plus new recruits. That is what is most troubling about watching this team. I say that recognizing EC's and HM's upside.

That's absurd.

[hrstrat57]

Refs are afraid of the hawk, flap flap flap....

Need to bring Rhody to hawk hill to neutralize the hawk.....

[Iggy1979]

I passed off some of R72's negativity on the Baron years. but now, same old, same old. Just a disgruntled URI employee or former employee. In year 2, before he has finished rebuilding the roster, he's done with Hurley.

[rodfromcranston]

'72 is just plain bitter. What about, is anyone's guess.
He also told us Baron would never be bought out.

[hrstrat57]

I think emptying the bench further to deliver more fouls tho a decent strategy would come off a bit clownish or bush league. Do we want a win at 10-9 that bad?

We let Galloway get the ball had we fouled somebody else with the players on the floor that might have worked in lieu of sketchy tactics.

Methinks we are grasping at straws a bit?

[ram1980]

Lots of shots blocked last night... Need to incorporate fakes to either draw the foul or dish to an open man... EC especially.. Kid has loads of talent, but he needs to change it up a bit.. Get in trouble pass it off.. Teams are also figuring out he is only going left all the time.. Needs to work on going right to take away the overplays.

[RF1]

The problem with the free throw disparity is that it is always that way for URI on Hawk Hill year after year. It doesn't matter if URI is good or bad, has an inside game, what Rhody's style of play is, or who the coach is. The one constant is that the Hawks always seem to get a lot of home cooking at their place. It is so bad and frequent, that we all referenced this well before last night's game ever started. It is basically a given that URI will get screwed by the refs there and it happened again yesterday.

[Rhodyfan22]

During the 2nd half Hurley went right to the URI staff member who was doing the book for the game sitting at the scorers table and said "get ..... on the phone right when we get in the locker room."


The name I forget. The Rams def did foul at times to send roberts and hahil to the line. But even some of the make up calls URI got Hurley was laughing in anger. The one non call that really set him off is when X got a tip going for a steal that looked like he would turn into a fastbreak, but galloway bumped him and X fell to the ground. Nothing was called. I believe it was 52-47 at the time. The over back call was a joke. All 3 refs didnt have a clue. While URI was getting touch fouls, down the other end EC, X and TJ were getting bumped all over the place and nothing was called. The first half was called pretty fair. Gil got to the line a decent amount. But Martelli really ripped into them before half. And right on que in the 2nd half he got everything.

Sometimes I think Hurley is on the Refs too much. But I really give him credit last night. There were times where you could tell he was ready to burst. But he held himself back. A couple clip board throws. But that was it.

I'm looking forward to the rematch.

[hrstrat57]

During the 2nd half Hurley went right to the URI staff member who was doing the book for the game sitting at the scorers table and said "get ..... on the phone right when we get in the locker room."


The name I forget. The Rams def did foul at times to send roberts and hahil to the line. But even some of the make up calls URI got Hurley was laughing in anger. The one non call that really set him off is when X got a tip going for a steal that looked like he would turn into a fastbreak, but galloway bumped him and X fell to the ground. Nothing was called. I believe it was 52-47 at the time. The over back call was a joke. All 3 refs didnt have a clue. While URI was getting touch fouls, down the other end EC, X and TJ were getting bumped all over the place and nothing was called. The first half was called pretty fair. Gil got to the line a decent amount. But Martelli really ripped into them before half. And right on que in the 2nd half he got everything.

Sometimes I think Hurley is on the Refs too much. But I really give him credit last night. There were times where you could tell he was ready to burst. But he held himself back. A couple clip board throws. But that was it.

I'm looking forward to the rematch.

Good point, I know had I been the HC I'd have got multiple techs for sure, he did a nice job on the bench last night as least from what I could see on TV.

Good share with that post!

[Ram Stampede!!!]

Thought it was awesome that we out rebounded them 40-30.

We lost to GMason by 7 in their house and won when they came to the RC.
Well we only lost by 4 to St Joe's. Welcome to the RC on feb 19...I bet if we replay the effort from yesterday in our house we will see better results.

[rodfromcranston]

Trying to figure out why a coach would be making phone calls during
half time.What could be more important than the game at hand?
I thought he did that thing with the headphones with Don and Steve after the half ends?

[RAM67]

He said that Hurley said this during the second half, meaning call after the game.

[Rhodyfan22]

It was in the 2nd half. So it was after the game.

My guess was it was some in the A10 league office of some sort. The refs really lost control of this one in the 2nd half. I;m sure you could see it on TV, but I saw both. Saw the reply on a local cable network in philly when I got home that night. It was a lot worse in person. I was at the LaSalle game. Those refs talked to Hurley, gave him explanations when he talked to them. These guys last night did not. He got warned very early on. When he talked to them, two really wanted nothing to do with him. Quick responses and little eye contact and always walking away from him. I'm not here to make excuses for URI. But they really played well at points in this one. Esp to start the 2nd half. But there were 3-4 fouls or non calls that really changed this game in 2nd half. It was very quite when URI was up 37-31, the place got really loud in a hurry. I heard everything that game was right behind the bench. It was a great experience. I give Hurley a lot of credit. I was at the Temple game last year when he and Bobby were beyond heated. He was at the point last night in the 2nd half. But really found a way to keep his cool.

[ATPTourFan]

Rhodyfan22, thanks for your on-site accounts. Great info!!

[rambone 78]

Maybe if Dan could get the league office's attention, to see just how bad some of these refs are.

If they watch the replay, and agree, maybe we won't see them ref any more of our games.

Does college basketball, or the specific leagues, have a system for ref discipline? They should be warned, then suspended for incompetence if necessary.

[rodfromcranston]

A-10 officials are horrible, game after game, year after year.
Somehow, we never get this kind of on sided refing on our home court.

[section(105)]

At this D-1 level I would shocked if there was not some type of official rating / evaluation system the coaches use after each game or at season end. Also, shocked if the league itself does not have some type of officials review. A coaches review could be voluntary. Any rating / evaluation system is probably more focused on administration of game rules, floor position, keeping up with speed of floor play, control of the action(including coaches behavior)etc. rather than any disparity of foul counts, or after the fact judgement calls. Some systems may resulting ranking of officials. Where officials work games in multiple leagues is another factor to consider in assignment of officials. I doubt any coach could blackball any official from their games home or away. Parts of the above was used in high school ball in NY. I would be shocked if a more detailed system is not in place.

[RF1]

A-10 officials are horrible, game after game, year after year.
Somehow, we never get this kind of on sided refing on our home court.

You got that right. The last three games are a great example of that. The calls and ft's were basically nearly even when the game was at URI but 2-1 in favor of the home team at SJU. URI never seems to get a similar advantage at the Ryan Center. I think the refs get nervous in these little gyms (like SJU) with fans on top of them and call games differently for the home teams. The same effect is not in play at the Ryan Center which is bigger with some seating in an upper deck separated from the floor. The fact that the RC usually has thousands of empty seats also doesn't help the intimidation factor. The venue shouldn't matter for refs but sadly it seems it does.

Last 3 games in the SJU-URI Series FT Review

Two games at SJU

SJU 38-62 25PF called on Hawks
URI 17-29 49PF called on Rams

One game at URI

SJU 14-14 15PF called on Hawks
URI 11-17 14PF called on Rams

[rambone 78]

Sadly, we are still a year or two away from consistently filling up the Ryan for league games.

We start winning, bigger crowds, might help with affecting the officiating. Until then.....

[rhodyrudder]

Rod,
Steve & don were upstairs wednesday. At the RC it would be equivalent to the top of 205.
With a divider between the floor seats and the higher seats, Dan would've had to walk around and go up some stairs, or climb over the rail to get there. I don't think you were complaining that he didn't go on with them, I am just pointing it out in case you or anybody was wondering why he didn't appear on the radio.

[ATPTourFan]

Dan doesn't do post-game except for last game of year.

This past game was the first on the road with the modified post-game show format allowing for the assistant coach with the scout to join Steve and Don right away so that they can re-join the team in the locker room. Coach Carr joined the post-game show Wednesday night.

We won't have any more issues where the assistant is stuck in the locker room with rest of staff and team and doesn't have a chance to join the post-game show. Consider that fixed. No More No-Shows.

[rodfromcranston]

Why, did Jasper. Laprey and/or Schemm talk to staff, and remind them of
their obligations?

[ATPTourFan]

Athletics Dept observed this conflict in team's activities following the game and the format of the post-game show. Here's my post from the Dan Hurley thread that explains what was happening, however unintentional.

Seems the no-show by the staff following losses is more a logistics issue which could possibly be resolved by rearranging the post-game program.

Road game post game shows are already shorter, especially after a loss with no players invited to speak. Coaching staff talks to the team much longer following a loss, as well.

Combine these factors and we have a situation where the assistant coach is delayed and unable to attend the shorter format post game show.

They could probably get a coach to speak with Steve and Don immediately so that they can hussle back to join the staff and team in the locker room. No way there's intentional avoidance going on... It's Steve and Don afterall. What's there to fear?

[ramfan85]

Maybe I'm out of touch, but I don't understand what the problem is with having an asst. coach talk to Don and Steve after a game. Why do they all have to be present immediately to talk to the team? Doesn't Dan do all of the talking anyway?

[ATPTourFan]

At first I was like "why doesn't Dan talk post-game?!" but then I realized that he's better off in the locker room with his team. Also, it's good to give his assistants face time with the media since they have potential to move up the coaching ladder. CFL rarely had that to worry about with exception of Skerry.