1/13 | UMass | 7:00PM (NESN/ESPN+)

[theblueram]

URI's turnover rate (percentage of individual possessions that end with turnovers)

Sheppard: 29.4%
Walker: 28.0
Carey: 26.6
Leggett: 20.6
Mitchell: 19.5
Betrand: 18.4
Russell: 15.3
Harris: 14.4
Johnson: 14.2
Martin: 11.8

Senior
Redshirt junior
Redshirt sophomore
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Junior
Redshirt junior
Junior

It feels like this roster is too old to be turning it over this much, on two different fronts. One, they should have enough experience and talent to just be able to take care of the ball better, and two, how much better will it really get going forward with this roster unless fundamental changes are made? Are you really going to see big jumps from players who are in the third year or more of playing college basketball if something big isn't changed?

The “year” of most of our players doesn’t tell an accurate story

Sheppard - senior who hasn’t played D1 ball in 2 years
Walker - junior with extremely limited playing time as freshmen and sat out 1st semester of last season
Carey - essentially didn’t play last year and saw his role diminish over his freshmen year
Leggett - Freshmen
Mitchell - sophomore who bared played last year
Betrand - junior
Fatts - senior
Harris - junior
Johnson - junior who is playing his first year of D1 basketball
Martin - junior

I say all of this to add context. Fatts, betrand, Harris, and Martin are really the only 4 players on our roster with any sort of consistent development to this point. That’s not a debate. That’s a reality. You can be pissed at how this is our roster is constructed but it’s a completely different discussion

LOL. We are not debating that. In the third year of a coach that's a feckin tragedy.

[Jersey77]

“So does our entire roster” like Cox has had a recruit stay longer than 2 years. 8 transfers in the first 2 years but hold onto Cox for roster continuity.

I’m not saying get rid of him, but he needs to change his system or we have to. Doesn’t matter what your roster looks like if you can’t recognize how to put your players in positions that maximize their strengths and mask their weaknesses.

It is too early for the get rid of Cox talk and I think we are rushing to judgment on how this roster will grow into a cohesive team.
I think the turnover problem will get corrected and players will become accountable. We have shown in the Seton Hall game that we are capable of doing a much better job in that regard.
Cox does have an advantage of keeping this core with all the transfers, because they will have to sit out if they leave after this year.
If Cox is gone then it is a free for all, because waivers are usually granted due to coaching changes.
I am still very optimistic about next season, this year has been a total mess much of it out of our control.
The 2 top teams in our conference are on Covid pause.
None of the players this year have the opportunity to play in front of fans and feed off the crowd.
I would be surprised if there will be a large coaching turnover based upon this season's performance.

I don't know what changes next year. We lose by far the best ball handler and opponents top assignment in Fatts. We most likely lose our second best ball handler and shooter in Shep. I love Ish, and he'll be fantastic, but he can't do it all. We may lead the country in turnovers next season.

My question is, what are you seeing from our coaching that makes you believe this team can take a step forward next season? Where do you see progress?

Coaching Philosophy- Guys have the green light to shoot any bad shot they want and can consistently play poor defense with no fear of losing minutes. What is our identity?! Either players aren't buying in (Cox's fault) or his gameplan/tactics prevent us from reaching our potential (Cox's fault). I think the sign of a good coach knows what your team's strengths and weaknesses are. We need to fit a system to our players, rather than fit players to our system.

When it comes to actual Xs and Os are you seeing improvement?? The worst to me is a coach who shows absolutely no flexibility when it comes to tactics. I felt Dan did this too much, but at least we consistently stuck to what we were good at... Not riding the hot hand, sitting players producing in games (Ish), keeping a player at the point when he's a walking turnover (Carey) all come to mind...Our timeouts make no sense. Our plays out of timeout are rarely successful. What do you see from an X's and O's standpoint that will make next year any different?

Are players being held accountable? Years ago, we were up 20 and had a bad turnover that leads to an easy layup. Dan called a timeout and ripped into our guys. Two minutes later, after JT drained an NBA 3, he let a guy blow past him for another layup. Dan calls timeout again and flipped. Our guys knew that we had to run our offense and stay locked in no matter what the score was under Dan. I don't see that under Cox. We can fight at times, but just like his coaching, it's very inconsistent. Why is everyone allowed to take dumb shots and miss defensive assignments with no repercussions? I'm starting to see more guys look disengaged on the floor and during timeouts. I watched our leader, Fatts, staring at the ground with his hands on his hips while Cox talked during the second half yesterday. If players aren't playing smart basketball, then they need to know they will be benched. I think Ish will give this team a tougher identity but will Cox recognize that the keys need to be turned over to him?

Progression- The biggest thing I've noticed under Cox is how extremely inconsistent we are. It wouldn't surprise me if we beat ST. Louis and lost to Fordham. I understand teams have cold nights, but the consistent turnovers and sloppy play on both ends are unacceptable. After our collapse last year and this season, it's clear to me I don't see progressions from our players and, more importantly, from our coaching staff. Whether it's the coaches he surrounds himself with or the players he's bringing in, it's not good enough. I see flashes of brilliance and ugliness.

I ask you again. Why does any of this change next season???

Because this team will have a full year under its belt.
As pointed out by Kingston the majority of our roster hasn't had much actual div1 playing time.
I think Ish, AB, Carey, and hopefully Tres will come into their own, and form a good backcourt. Maybe Shep also returns as a bonus
Martin and DJ, I like on the wing
Frontcourt should be solid with the Twins, JH, Walker, and freshman Ileri and Samb
Many of the top teams in our conference lose most of their starters and top scorers if their seniors don't return.
All this makes me optimistic for next year.

[theblueram]

If we are not knocking on a top 25 next year the hammer comes down. Sorry to say. But this is some seriously bad basketball happening.

[KingstonLane]

Senior
Redshirt junior
Redshirt sophomore
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Junior
Redshirt junior
Junior

It feels like this roster is too old to be turning it over this much, on two different fronts. One, they should have enough experience and talent to just be able to take care of the ball better, and two, how much better will it really get going forward with this roster unless fundamental changes are made? Are you really going to see big jumps from players who are in the third year or more of playing college basketball if something big isn't changed?

The “year” of most of our players doesn’t tell an accurate story

Sheppard - senior who hasn’t played D1 ball in 2 years
Walker - junior with extremely limited playing time as freshmen and sat out 1st semester of last season
Carey - essentially didn’t play last year and saw his role diminish over his freshmen year
Leggett - Freshmen
Mitchell - sophomore who bared played last year
Betrand - junior
Fatts - senior
Harris - junior
Johnson - junior who is playing his first year of D1 basketball
Martin - junior

I say all of this to add context. Fatts, betrand, Harris, and Martin are really the only 4 players on our roster with any sort of consistent development to this point. That’s not a debate. That’s a reality. You can be pissed at how this is our roster is constructed but it’s a completely different discussion

LOL. We are not debating that. In the third year of a coach that's a feckin tragedy.

I mean ya I think everyone would agree it’s less than ideal. How we lost our recruits/transfer was a bit of an all time perfect shit storm though

Tyrese - Transferred up in competition (hard to rerecruit against that in general and add in the fact it was to his old coach)

Toppin - Again transferred up in competition to debatably the NCAAB with the most spotlight on it (how do you recruit against that)

Long, Hammond, Tate - showed little to nothing of a reason they even were worth keeping (can argue they were over recruited potentially)

Adam’s - blame Hurley if you want to blame anyone. Kid followed

Harris - this isn’t a transfer but given everything else that happened with that recruiting class I think it’s extra painful that he really hasn’t come close to panning out whatsoever

Am I missing anyone?

[steveystuds06]

It is too early for the get rid of Cox talk and I think we are rushing to judgment on how this roster will grow into a cohesive team.
I think the turnover problem will get corrected and players will become accountable. We have shown in the Seton Hall game that we are capable of doing a much better job in that regard.
Cox does have an advantage of keeping this core with all the transfers, because they will have to sit out if they leave after this year.
If Cox is gone then it is a free for all, because waivers are usually granted due to coaching changes.
I am still very optimistic about next season, this year has been a total mess much of it out of our control.
The 2 top teams in our conference are on Covid pause.
None of the players this year have the opportunity to play in front of fans and feed off the crowd.
I would be surprised if there will be a large coaching turnover based upon this season's performance.

I don't know what changes next year. We lose by far the best ball handler and opponents top assignment in Fatts. We most likely lose our second best ball handler and shooter in Shep. I love Ish, and he'll be fantastic, but he can't do it all. We may lead the country in turnovers next season.

My question is, what are you seeing from our coaching that makes you believe this team can take a step forward next season? Where do you see progress?

Coaching Philosophy- Guys have the green light to shoot any bad shot they want and can consistently play poor defense with no fear of losing minutes. What is our identity?! Either players aren't buying in (Cox's fault) or his gameplan/tactics prevent us from reaching our potential (Cox's fault). I think the sign of a good coach knows what your team's strengths and weaknesses are. We need to fit a system to our players, rather than fit players to our system.

When it comes to actual Xs and Os are you seeing improvement?? The worst to me is a coach who shows absolutely no flexibility when it comes to tactics. I felt Dan did this too much, but at least we consistently stuck to what we were good at... Not riding the hot hand, sitting players producing in games (Ish), keeping a player at the point when he's a walking turnover (Carey) all come to mind...Our timeouts make no sense. Our plays out of timeout are rarely successful. What do you see from an X's and O's standpoint that will make next year any different?

Are players being held accountable? Years ago, we were up 20 and had a bad turnover that leads to an easy layup. Dan called a timeout and ripped into our guys. Two minutes later, after JT drained an NBA 3, he let a guy blow past him for another layup. Dan calls timeout again and flipped. Our guys knew that we had to run our offense and stay locked in no matter what the score was under Dan. I don't see that under Cox. We can fight at times, but just like his coaching, it's very inconsistent. Why is everyone allowed to take dumb shots and miss defensive assignments with no repercussions? I'm starting to see more guys look disengaged on the floor and during timeouts. I watched our leader, Fatts, staring at the ground with his hands on his hips while Cox talked during the second half yesterday. If players aren't playing smart basketball, then they need to know they will be benched. I think Ish will give this team a tougher identity but will Cox recognize that the keys need to be turned over to him?

Progression- The biggest thing I've noticed under Cox is how extremely inconsistent we are. It wouldn't surprise me if we beat ST. Louis and lost to Fordham. I understand teams have cold nights, but the consistent turnovers and sloppy play on both ends are unacceptable. After our collapse last year and this season, it's clear to me I don't see progressions from our players and, more importantly, from our coaching staff. Whether it's the coaches he surrounds himself with or the players he's bringing in, it's not good enough. I see flashes of brilliance and ugliness.

I ask you again. Why does any of this change next season???

Because this team will have a full year under its belt.
As pointed out by Kingston the majority of our roster hasn't had much actual div1 playing time.
I think Ish, AB, Carey, and hopefully Tres will come into their own, and form a good backcourt. Maybe Shep also returns as a bonus
Martin and DJ, I like on the wing
Frontcourt should be solid with the Twins, JH, Walker, and freshman Ileri and Samb
Many of the top teams in our conference lose most of their starters and top scorers if their seniors don't return.
All this makes me optimistic for next year.

I love some of the pieces we have and I really hope you're right.

[theblueram]

It is too early for the get rid of Cox talk and I think we are rushing to judgment on how this roster will grow into a cohesive team.
I think the turnover problem will get corrected and players will become accountable. We have shown in the Seton Hall game that we are capable of doing a much better job in that regard.
Cox does have an advantage of keeping this core with all the transfers, because they will have to sit out if they leave after this year.
If Cox is gone then it is a free for all, because waivers are usually granted due to coaching changes.
I am still very optimistic about next season, this year has been a total mess much of it out of our control.
The 2 top teams in our conference are on Covid pause.
None of the players this year have the opportunity to play in front of fans and feed off the crowd.
I would be surprised if there will be a large coaching turnover based upon this season's performance.

I don't know what changes next year. We lose by far the best ball handler and opponents top assignment in Fatts. We most likely lose our second best ball handler and shooter in Shep. I love Ish, and he'll be fantastic, but he can't do it all. We may lead the country in turnovers next season.

My question is, what are you seeing from our coaching that makes you believe this team can take a step forward next season? Where do you see progress?

Coaching Philosophy- Guys have the green light to shoot any bad shot they want and can consistently play poor defense with no fear of losing minutes. What is our identity?! Either players aren't buying in (Cox's fault) or his gameplan/tactics prevent us from reaching our potential (Cox's fault). I think the sign of a good coach knows what your team's strengths and weaknesses are. We need to fit a system to our players, rather than fit players to our system.

When it comes to actual Xs and Os are you seeing improvement?? The worst to me is a coach who shows absolutely no flexibility when it comes to tactics. I felt Dan did this too much, but at least we consistently stuck to what we were good at... Not riding the hot hand, sitting players producing in games (Ish), keeping a player at the point when he's a walking turnover (Carey) all come to mind...Our timeouts make no sense. Our plays out of timeout are rarely successful. What do you see from an X's and O's standpoint that will make next year any different?

Are players being held accountable? Years ago, we were up 20 and had a bad turnover that leads to an easy layup. Dan called a timeout and ripped into our guys. Two minutes later, after JT drained an NBA 3, he let a guy blow past him for another layup. Dan calls timeout again and flipped. Our guys knew that we had to run our offense and stay locked in no matter what the score was under Dan. I don't see that under Cox. We can fight at times, but just like his coaching, it's very inconsistent. Why is everyone allowed to take dumb shots and miss defensive assignments with no repercussions? I'm starting to see more guys look disengaged on the floor and during timeouts. I watched our leader, Fatts, staring at the ground with his hands on his hips while Cox talked during the second half yesterday. If players aren't playing smart basketball, then they need to know they will be benched. I think Ish will give this team a tougher identity but will Cox recognize that the keys need to be turned over to him?

Progression- The biggest thing I've noticed under Cox is how extremely inconsistent we are. It wouldn't surprise me if we beat ST. Louis and lost to Fordham. I understand teams have cold nights, but the consistent turnovers and sloppy play on both ends are unacceptable. After our collapse last year and this season, it's clear to me I don't see progressions from our players and, more importantly, from our coaching staff. Whether it's the coaches he surrounds himself with or the players he's bringing in, it's not good enough. I see flashes of brilliance and ugliness.

I ask you again. Why does any of this change next season???

Because this team will have a full year under its belt.
As pointed out by Kingston the majority of our roster hasn't had much actual div1 playing time.
I think Ish, AB, Carey, and hopefully Tres will come into their own, and form a good backcourt. Maybe Shep also returns as a bonus
Martin and DJ, I like on the wing
Frontcourt should be solid with the Twins, JH, Walker, and freshman Ileri and Samb
Many of the top teams in our conference lose most of their starters and top scorers if their seniors don't return.
All this makes me optimistic for next year.

We just lost to a team fronted by mostly Freshmen. Blows up your whole statement.

[Jersey77]

The “year” of most of our players doesn’t tell an accurate story

Sheppard - senior who hasn’t played D1 ball in 2 years
Walker - junior with extremely limited playing time as freshmen and sat out 1st semester of last season
Carey - essentially didn’t play last year and saw his role diminish over his freshmen year
Leggett - Freshmen
Mitchell - sophomore who bared played last year
Betrand - junior
Fatts - senior
Harris - junior
Johnson - junior who is playing his first year of D1 basketball
Martin - junior

I say all of this to add context. Fatts, betrand, Harris, and Martin are really the only 4 players on our roster with any sort of consistent development to this point. That’s not a debate. That’s a reality. You can be pissed at how this is our roster is constructed but it’s a completely different discussion

LOL. We are not debating that. In the third year of a coach that's a feckin tragedy.

I mean ya I think everyone would agree it’s less than ideal. How we lost our recruits/transfer was a bit of an all time perfect shit storm though

Tyrese - Transferred up in competition (hard to rerecruit against that in general and add in the fact it was to his old coach)

Toppin - Again transferred up in competition to debatably the NCAAB with the most spotlight on it (how do you recruit against that)

Long, Hammond, Tate - showed little to nothing of a reason they even were worth keeping (can argue they were over recruited potentially). Tate did show ability but had an indefinite suspension and obviously other off court problems.

Adam’s - blame Hurley if you want to blame anyone. Kid followed

Harris - this isn’t a transfer but given everything else that happened with that recruiting class I think it’s extra painful that he really hasn’t come close to panning out whatsoever

Am I missing anyone?

[adam914]

I keep seeing the inexperience and lack of playing together used as an excuse. UMass has played half as many games as we have including a Covid pause, had 3 freshman play notable minutes yesterday, and have been playing together for less than a month. Shouldn't they be way more affected by those things then we are?

[Jersey77]

I don't know what changes next year. We lose by far the best ball handler and opponents top assignment in Fatts. We most likely lose our second best ball handler and shooter in Shep. I love Ish, and he'll be fantastic, but he can't do it all. We may lead the country in turnovers next season.

My question is, what are you seeing from our coaching that makes you believe this team can take a step forward next season? Where do you see progress?

Coaching Philosophy- Guys have the green light to shoot any bad shot they want and can consistently play poor defense with no fear of losing minutes. What is our identity?! Either players aren't buying in (Cox's fault) or his gameplan/tactics prevent us from reaching our potential (Cox's fault). I think the sign of a good coach knows what your team's strengths and weaknesses are. We need to fit a system to our players, rather than fit players to our system.

When it comes to actual Xs and Os are you seeing improvement?? The worst to me is a coach who shows absolutely no flexibility when it comes to tactics. I felt Dan did this too much, but at least we consistently stuck to what we were good at... Not riding the hot hand, sitting players producing in games (Ish), keeping a player at the point when he's a walking turnover (Carey) all come to mind...Our timeouts make no sense. Our plays out of timeout are rarely successful. What do you see from an X's and O's standpoint that will make next year any different?

Are players being held accountable? Years ago, we were up 20 and had a bad turnover that leads to an easy layup. Dan called a timeout and ripped into our guys. Two minutes later, after JT drained an NBA 3, he let a guy blow past him for another layup. Dan calls timeout again and flipped. Our guys knew that we had to run our offense and stay locked in no matter what the score was under Dan. I don't see that under Cox. We can fight at times, but just like his coaching, it's very inconsistent. Why is everyone allowed to take dumb shots and miss defensive assignments with no repercussions? I'm starting to see more guys look disengaged on the floor and during timeouts. I watched our leader, Fatts, staring at the ground with his hands on his hips while Cox talked during the second half yesterday. If players aren't playing smart basketball, then they need to know they will be benched. I think Ish will give this team a tougher identity but will Cox recognize that the keys need to be turned over to him?

Progression- The biggest thing I've noticed under Cox is how extremely inconsistent we are. It wouldn't surprise me if we beat ST. Louis and lost to Fordham. I understand teams have cold nights, but the consistent turnovers and sloppy play on both ends are unacceptable. After our collapse last year and this season, it's clear to me I don't see progressions from our players and, more importantly, from our coaching staff. Whether it's the coaches he surrounds himself with or the players he's bringing in, it's not good enough. I see flashes of brilliance and ugliness.

I ask you again. Why does any of this change next season???

Because this team will have a full year under its belt.
As pointed out by Kingston the majority of our roster hasn't had much actual div1 playing time.
I think Ish, AB, Carey, and hopefully Tres will come into their own, and form a good backcourt. Maybe Shep also returns as a bonus
Martin and DJ, I like on the wing
Frontcourt should be solid with the Twins, JH, Walker, and freshman Ileri and Samb
Many of the top teams in our conference lose most of their starters and top scorers if their seniors don't return.
All this makes me optimistic for next year.

We just lost to a team fronted by mostly Freshmen. Blows up your whole statement.

Shit happens, we had a BAD game and lost by 2 there. I guess we never see any upsets in sports. Anything can happen in 1 game, I would still take our team over theirs.

[theblueram]

Because this team will have a full year under its belt.
As pointed out by Kingston the majority of our roster hasn't had much actual div1 playing time.
I think Ish, AB, Carey, and hopefully Tres will come into their own, and form a good backcourt. Maybe Shep also returns as a bonus
Martin and DJ, I like on the wing
Frontcourt should be solid with the Twins, JH, Walker, and freshman Ileri and Samb
Many of the top teams in our conference lose most of their starters and top scorers if their seniors don't return.
All this makes me optimistic for next year.

We just lost to a team fronted by mostly Freshmen. Blows up your whole statement.

Shit happens, we had a BAD game and lost by 2 there. I guess we never see any upsets in sports. Anything can happen in 1 game, I would still take our team over theirs.

We've had 7 bad games. 6 good ones.

[RhodyKyle]

We just lost to a team fronted by mostly Freshmen. Blows up your whole statement.

Shit happens, we had a BAD game and lost by 2 there. I guess we never see any upsets in sports. Anything can happen in 1 game, I would still take our team over theirs.

We've had 7 bad games. 6 good ones.

We may have 6 wins but I won't say the St Joe's game was a good game.

[theblueram]

Shit happens, we had a BAD game and lost by 2 there. I guess we never see any upsets in sports. Anything can happen in 1 game, I would still take our team over theirs.

We've had 7 bad games. 6 good ones.

We may have 6 wins but I won't say the St Joe's game was a good game.

Agreed Kyle. We have 8 bad games and 5 good ones.

[adam914]

I'm also reaching the point where I'm not so sure it was even much of an upset. Doesn't mean we can't still turn it around eventually, but for now we are who we are. We're halfway through the season, so at some point we have to stop going back to preseason rankings and "well we beat Seton Hall".

[ramster]

We've had 7 bad games. 6 good ones.

We may have 6 wins but I won't say the St Joe's game was a good game.

Agreed Kyle. We have 8 bad games and 5 good ones.

And that’s with Mitchell, Mitchell, Martin, Carey and Betrand all ruled eligible due to extenuating circumstances.
Imagine year 3 of the Cox era if that hadn’t happened?

[Jersey77]

Shit happens, we had a BAD game and lost by 2 there. I guess we never see any upsets in sports. Anything can happen in 1 game, I would still take our team over theirs.

We've had 7 bad games. 6 good ones.

We may have 6 wins but I won't say the St Joe's game was a good game.

On the other hand Arizona State wasn't a bad loss for our first game. I didn't expect us to beat Wisc, WK, or at Richmond.
This will be an up and down year and as I said so many times, there will be bad losses.
Look, I am not going to get too worked up over our record in this Covid season anyway.

[theblueram]

We've had 7 bad games. 6 good ones.

We may have 6 wins but I won't say the St Joe's game was a good game.

On the other hand Arizona State wasn't a bad loss for our first game. I didn't expect us to beat Wisc, WK, or at Richmond.
This will be an up and down year and as I said so many times, there will be bad losses.
Look, I am not going to get too worked up over our record in this Covid season anyway.

4-5 ASU? That Arizona State?

[theblueram]

JHC we are playing just as bad as pc.

[Jersey77]

We may have 6 wins but I won't say the St Joe's game was a good game.

On the other hand Arizona State wasn't a bad loss for our first game. I didn't expect us to beat Wisc, WK, or at Richmond.
This will be an up and down year and as I said so many times, there will be bad losses.
Look, I am not going to get too worked up over our record in this Covid season anyway.

4-5 ASU? That Arizona State?

Yes, that ASU team, they were ranked at that time, maybe you feel they should fire Bobby Hurley, they actually had very high expectations this year and a favorite to win their conference.

[theblueram]

On the other hand Arizona State wasn't a bad loss for our first game. I didn't expect us to beat Wisc, WK, or at Richmond.
This will be an up and down year and as I said so many times, there will be bad losses.
Look, I am not going to get too worked up over our record in this Covid season anyway.

4-5 ASU? That Arizona State?

Yes, that ASU team, they were ranked at that time, maybe you feel they should fire Bobby Hurley, they actually had very high expectations this year and a favorite to win their conference.

Not anymore lol. Seems like they suck tbh.

[Billyboy78]

I keep seeing the inexperience and lack of playing together used as an excuse. UMass has played half as many games as we have including a Covid pause, had 3 freshman play notable minutes yesterday, and have been playing together for less than a month. Shouldn't they be way more affected by those things then we are?

And their starting point guard is a transfer. Ours is a senior.

[rambone 78]

We aren't very good.

Debate that all you want.

We've had a couple of good stretches in games where it resulted in a win. Seton Hall and VCU. That's all folks!

We've had MANY bad stretches.

We can't beat anybody easily, no matter how good some think we are.

I would like to be optimistic about next season.

Cox and company, so far, has given me NO reason to be optimistic.

We are a horrible FT shooting team, and don't value the ball just about every game.

How's that for consistency? Of the wrong kind, unfortunately.

Billyboy, for as good as Fatts can be once in a while, he is the ultimate embarassment shooting 3's.

How many teams can say their supposed best player is a 20% shooter from 3? And he's a senior?

[Jersey77]

4-5 ASU? That Arizona State?

Yes, that ASU team, they were ranked at that time, maybe you feel they should fire Bobby Hurley, they actually had very high expectations this year and a favorite to win their conference.

Not anymore lol. Seems like they suck tbh.

That's why you shouldn't let this year get to you. I sometimes find myself getting too emotional over all this also and then need to take a deep breath and step back. So many teams are on pause or have been, some conferences completely cancelled, schedules in constant flux, and we can't even attend games.
Next year is when we should really be concerned and get a better idea of where this program is headed.

[rambone 78]

77, I felt the same way you did not long ago, about not worrying about this season.

Well that changed. No longer confident that Cox is the answer for this program.

It started creeping in late last season, and only continues unabated this season.

And don't anybody give me crap about the turnover. These are Cox's players, and he's had enough time by now, for them and him to show improvement.

And we are seeing very little of that. What talent we have looks like it will be wasted, and that's a shame.

[theblueram]

Sure, next year. Ok. Cox will have 1 year left on his contract so yeah, let's discuss next year. But if the same shitshow is what we watch, it might be his last.

[Jersey77]

Sure, next year. Ok. Cox will have 1 year left on his contract so yeah, let's discuss next year. But if the same shitshow is what we watch, it might be his last.

Not so sure about that I year left, I wouldn't be surprised if Thorr gives him a short term extension after this year, that is usually the protocol. Most times, coaches don't live out their contract anyway, either they leave or get fired.
78', I am not there yet on giving up on Cox, time will tell. At least he puts in the work, an excellent recruiter, and knows how to build a roster, that is half the battle. He just needs to get the players to perform consistently on the court, that is when it counts.

[theblueram]

Sure, next year. Ok. Cox will have 1 year left on his contract so yeah, let's discuss next year. But if the same shitshow is what we watch, it might be his last.

Not so sure about that I year left, I wouldn't be surprised if Thorr gives him a short term extension after this year, that is usually the protocol. Most times, coaches don't live out their contract anyway, either they leave or get fired.
78', I am not there yet on giving up on Cox, time will tell. At least he puts in the work, an excellent recruiter, and knows how to build a roster, that is half the battle. He just needs to get the players to perform consistently on the court, that is when it counts.

If it doesn't work out with Cox as Head Coach, I think we would all love him to remain as an assistant. He's a great recruiter and really a nice guy. And he did a great job as scout with DH. As far as extensions, with the new transfer rules, the 4 year contract on head coaches at this level is not needed.

[Jersey77]

Sure, next year. Ok. Cox will have 1 year left on his contract so yeah, let's discuss next year. But if the same shitshow is what we watch, it might be his last.

Not so sure about that I year left, I wouldn't be surprised if Thorr gives him a short term extension after this year, that is usually the protocol. Most times, coaches don't live out their contract anyway, either they leave or get fired.
78', I am not there yet on giving up on Cox, time will tell. At least he puts in the work, an excellent recruiter, and knows how to build a roster, that is half the battle. He just needs to get the players to perform consistently on the court, that is when it counts.

If it doesn't work out with Cox as Head Coach, I think we would all love him to remain as an assistant. He's a great recruiter and really a nice guy. And he did a great job as scout with DH. As far as extensions, with the new transfer rules, the 4 year contract on head coaches at this level is not needed.

Blueram you don't want coaches with 1-2 years left regardless. That puts strain on the coach/ director relationship and if the coach does succeed they are more apt to leave.
Also if players decide to transfer and in many times after their 1st year, they won't go to a situation with a lame duck coach or one that is on the hot seat because they don't want to go through that process again and maybe with penalty.

[bigappleram]

Sure, next year. Ok. Cox will have 1 year left on his contract so yeah, let's discuss next year. But if the same shitshow is what we watch, it might be his last.

Not so sure about that I year left, I wouldn't be surprised if Thorr gives him a short term extension after this year, that is usually the protocol. Most times, coaches don't live out their contract anyway, either they leave or get fired.
78', I am not there yet on giving up on Cox, time will tell. At least he puts in the work, an excellent recruiter, and knows how to build a roster, that is half the battle. He just needs to get the players to perform consistently on the court, that is when it counts.

If it doesn't work out with Cox as Head Coach, I think we would all love him to remain as an assistant. He's a great recruiter and really a nice guy. And he did a great job as scout with DH. As far as extensions, with the new transfer rules, the 4 year contract on head coaches at this level is not needed.

You can’t possibly think any coach would get fired and then agree to be the assistant to the person they replaced him with...I mean think about what you wrote. That’s trolling.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Losing games is frustrating enough but it is the way we are losing that goes up my arse 8 1/2 miles. it has been a blessing in disguise that I have not been allowed to attend the home games. That is probably true for virtually for all of us on this board.

Still catching up...but I'd like to think things might be different with fans. Maybe not. We'll never know.

[UCH21377]

There sure seemed to be a lack of focus, determination, intensity, whatever you want to call it, last night (Mitchell the obvious exception). They seemed to just drift thru most of the game. Very disappointing but not surprising either.

[NYGFan_Section208]

We can blame the coach for the 16 steals by UMASS but Johnson, Leggett, Martin and Harris has zero turnovers total.
Carey had 3 all of which were outright steals off the dribble in the half court offense. He was not bringing the ball up the court, ie point guard.
Degray, Fernandes and Garcia each stripped Carey for breakaways. All 3 first year players for umass. Carey now with 25 turnovers for the year. A few games back the announcer said turnovers was why he was no longer at Syracuse. So no surprise here.

Betrand had 2 balls stolen off the dribble. Fatts had 2 stolen off the dribble.

UMASS seemed to know they could steal before the game. 16 steals is huge. URI in history has only exceeded 16 steals in a game a handful of times. 20 is the record for URI. Nothing in the record books about opponents stealing against us.

While it’s “on the Coach” and easy to blanket blame the Coach, some players like Leggett, Martin and Johnson are not losing the ball to steals.

A lot of it is dribbling into traffic. When a player does that, he should immediately see his ass on the bench. The coach should then tell the player why he was removed from the game. I don't see any of that. It's called teaching.

Is "dribbling into traffic" the same as "putting the ball on the (open) floor with no one near you and then having a single guy pick your pocket'?

[bigappleram]

A positive from last night: 20 assists on 29 field goals

There were half dozen TOs that resulted from guys being unselfish and trying to feed someone they shouldn’t have been. Feel like we threw 3-4 at Makhel’s shins. You can live with those as the intent is good. It’s the careless guys get picked at half court for run outs and the dribbling into trouble that is mind numbing.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Another problem with the what did you expect, expectations are too high line of thinking is that they're looking at this year in a vacuum instead of Cox' entire tenure. The expectations from everyone, and the whole point of hiring Cox, was that if we hired him there would be no rebuild and we'd dance in his first three seasons. There isn't a single person that thought those were unfair expectations. No rebuild and one tournament appearance in three years was the bare minimum that was expected, and most people thought we'd dance last year, this year, and we'd keep building. If we hired someone other than Cox people warned us there would be a massive rebuild. Well we've had a massive rebuild, we didn't dance in his first year, we were outside of the bubble picture when last year ended, we certainly aren't on track to dance this year, and there's no resemblance to the culture Dan built here. We've been bad enough that the very bare minimum is now considered unfair expectations two and a half years in

I don't think those were my expectations...pretty sure I was for hiring someone else?

[Rhody15]

Sure, next year. Ok. Cox will have 1 year left on his contract so yeah, let's discuss next year. But if the same shitshow is what we watch, it might be his last.

Not so sure about that I year left, I wouldn't be surprised if Thorr gives him a short term extension after this year, that is usually the protocol. Most times, coaches don't live out their contract anyway, either they leave or get fired.
78', I am not there yet on giving up on Cox, time will tell. At least he puts in the work, an excellent recruiter, and knows how to build a roster, that is half the battle. He just needs to get the players to perform consistently on the court, that is when it counts.

If it doesn't work out with Cox as Head Coach, I think we would all love him to remain as an assistant. He's a great recruiter and really a nice guy. And he did a great job as scout with DH. As far as extensions, with the new transfer rules, the 4 year contract on head coaches at this level is not needed.

You have got to be kidding with this.

Fire a coach and then ask him to stay as an assistant? Are you for real?


Incredibly incredibly stupid post.

[ramster]

A positive from last night: 20 assists on 29 field goals

There were half dozen TOs that resulted from guys being unselfish and trying to feed someone they shouldn’t have been. Feel like we threw 3-4 at Makhel’s shins. You can live with those as the intent is good. It’s the careless guys get picked at half court for run outs and the dribbling into trouble that is mind numbing.

That was a positive. Many good passes for high percentage shots.

Sheppard had a URI career high 7 assists topping his previous high of 5 back against South Florida.

[Blue Man]

Read through most of the thread and I got the end with one glaring issue with those who keep writing "expectations are too high", "what did you expect", "we were picked to finish 6th"... on and on.

Fine! You win. Our expectations were too high.

HOWEVER - While I am willing to concede that expectations were maybe set too high you people have to admit we are not getting any better. There is no progress nor improvement game to game and that is a problem that cant be fixed or explained by simply saying, "well what did you expect?".

This program has real issues and its beyond talent, recruiting, practice gyms, COVID, scheduling, money, private charters and whatever other excuse you can try to dig up. Its a lack of direction, a lack of identity, and a lack of a winning culture.

UCONN turning it around under Hurley is proof of just how important coaching is. They had all the bells and whistles we are longing for - and then some! Private planes, top tier facilities, money, recruitment, competitive league, name recognition... Yet the program was unremarkable for years. Hurley comes in and after 3 years you have a ranked, tournament caliber team. What does that say?

Its simple - we need a coach.

Hey man - it's our fault. Our expectations are obviously unrealistic. Being good after 3 years with a coach who had been here for one of the best 4 year runs in program history? Keeping players that you recruit for longer than 2 years?

After watching a program get resurrected from the dead and seeing them tangibly improve year over year, how could we possibly expect a championship caliber program, handed over to a coach that was part of the resurrection, to continue to be good?

We should just be happy we have a basketball team, obviously. Whatever "bar" was set doesn't matter because Covid. We're the only program in the country that has had to deal with these challenges.

I fully get that DH at this time, is a better head coach than Cox, he also has more head coaching experience and his father has one of the best reputations in the industry, which helped his basketball IQ. This position was a stepping stone for him, so get over it.
But to compare his situation at UConn to URI is ridiculous. They have all the resources, considered a blue-blood program winning 4 national championships since 1998-99, deep runs in the NCAAT, and so on.
He has the funds available to hire top notch assistants, with deep connections and coaching experience.
He also has access to some of top recruits in the country because of their league and history.
Thorr wants to avoid another total rebuild so he will stick with Cox for awhile, hoping the pieces fall into place.
Remember if Cox leaves so does our entire roster again, not sure we want that to happen.
Hurley wasn't perfect either, many fans after 4 years were questioning the hire, especially with his emotional outbursts.
Let's move on from the Hurley talk, he isn't coming back.

I am not comparing Dan Hurley at UConn to Dave Cox at URI.

I am comparing Dan Hurley at URI to Dave Cox at URI.

Dan had more challenges than Dave will ever have here. He had a smaller coaches budget. He had APR recruiting hamstrings. He didn't have a first class training facility. He didn't have charter flights. He didn't have a brand name that had been to 2 NCAAT's. HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A FILM ROOM.

Dan Hurley did significantly more with significantly less at this same program within the last 8 years. We were all here for it.

I don't give a shit what Dan does at UConn compared to here. I do care what we do here now, compared to what we did with Dan. He set this program up for a capable successor to continue to build on what he did. It is not being done as of right now.

[Jersey77]

Hey man - it's our fault. Our expectations are obviously unrealistic. Being good after 3 years with a coach who had been here for one of the best 4 year runs in program history? Keeping players that you recruit for longer than 2 years?

After watching a program get resurrected from the dead and seeing them tangibly improve year over year, how could we possibly expect a championship caliber program, handed over to a coach that was part of the resurrection, to continue to be good?

We should just be happy we have a basketball team, obviously. Whatever "bar" was set doesn't matter because Covid. We're the only program in the country that has had to deal with these challenges.

I fully get that DH at this time, is a better head coach than Cox, he also has more head coaching experience and his father has one of the best reputations in the industry, which helped his basketball IQ. This position was a stepping stone for him, so get over it.
But to compare his situation at UConn to URI is ridiculous. They have all the resources, considered a blue-blood program winning 4 national championships since 1998-99, deep runs in the NCAAT, and so on.
He has the funds available to hire top notch assistants, with deep connections and coaching experience.
He also has access to some of top recruits in the country because of their league and history.
Thorr wants to avoid another total rebuild so he will stick with Cox for awhile, hoping the pieces fall into place.
Remember if Cox leaves so does our entire roster again, not sure we want that to happen.
Hurley wasn't perfect either, many fans after 4 years were questioning the hire, especially with his emotional outbursts.
Let's move on from the Hurley talk, he isn't coming back.

I am not comparing Dan Hurley at UConn to Dave Cox at URI.

I am comparing Dan Hurley at URI to Dave Cox at URI.

Dan had more challenges than Dave will ever have here. He had a smaller coaches budget. He had APR recruiting hamstrings. He didn't have a first class training facility. He didn't have charter flights. He didn't have a brand name that had been to 2 NCAAT's. HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A FILM ROOM.

Dan Hurley did significantly more with significantly less at this same program within the last 8 years. We were all here for it.

I don't give a shit what Dan does at UConn compared to here. I do care what we do here now, compared to what we did with Dan. He set this program up for a capable successor to continue to build on what he did. It is not being done as of right now.

Still too early to early to make that comparison of their time at URI. Yes I would of taken DH over DC but remember Hurley had a stronger basketball pedigree along with previous head coaching experience so it puts him at an advantage. Also remember that after DH's first 4 years here many were doubting the hire and had question marks about the program. So at this time , I will not pass judgement.

[raminwarwick]

I also believe that DH was able to pick his own coaches. Was Carroll forced on Cox because of the fathers circumstances. Hurly could also say we will be getting a BB area. Cox has promised it but it isn't happening. Maybe the transfers out were because of this.

[SandorClegane]

[/quote]
Still too early to early to make that comparison of their time at URI. Yes I would of taken DH over DC but remember Hurley had a stronger basketball pedigree along with previous head coaching experience so it puts him at an advantage. Also remember that after DH's first 4 years here many were doubting the hire and had question marks about the program. So at this time , I will not pass judgement.
[/quote]


I remember sitting in the stands during one of Danny’s early years and the 20 people behind me were all talking about how he can’t coach and how we should get rid of him. It’s funny how absence makes the heart grow fonder... I think next year will be key to evaluating Cox. He’ll (likely) lose his biggest scorer and it’ll be up to him to develop a game plan with the remaining talent. You’ll also have a full year of these guys playing together. We’ll see how he responds.

Regardless, we’re not getting an at-large and we’re not winning the regular season this year. So we should focus on the A-10 tournament. If we can figure it out prior to then, we have as good a shot as anybody (maybe with the exception of SL) to win the conference tournament.

[theblueram]

Still too early to early to make that comparison of their time at URI. Yes I would of taken DH over DC but remember Hurley had a stronger basketball pedigree along with previous head coaching experience so it puts him at an advantage. Also remember that after DH's first 4 years here many were doubting the hire and had question marks about the program. So at this time , I will not pass judgement.
[/quote]


I remember sitting in the stands during one of Danny’s early years and the 20 people behind me were all talking about how he can’t coach and how we should get rid of him. It’s funny how absence makes the heart grow fonder... I think next year will be key to evaluating Cox. He’ll (likely) lose his biggest scorer and it’ll be up to him to develop a game plan with the remaining talent. You’ll also have a full year of these guys playing together. We’ll see how he responds.

Regardless, we’re not getting an at-large and we’re not winning the regular season this year. So we should focus on the A-10 tournament. If we can figure it out prior to then, we have as good a shot as anybody (maybe with the exception of SL) to win the conference tournament.
[/quote]

I really don't know where you sit, but if all those people where saying that in DH's early (year 1 or 2) years with us, you have some idiots as seatmates.

[rambone 78]

What has Cox got to lose, by putting Leggett at PG and seeing what happens?

If he's the future, let's get on with it and give him the experience and PT he needs to prove it.

Like was said, we're not going anywhere this season.

As I remember, Dan put a certain freshman at PG [yes it was due to an illness] at midseason, and look what happened.

[ramster]

I knew Fernandes was going to be good. Local kid. Wish we would have got him.

Been seeing a lot more RI players on roster than usual the past couple years. Would be so cool to have at least one of them!

Saw Keegan Records from South Kingstown on Colgate the other day.

Keegan Records is only in his second year at Colgate.

He is 2nd in the Nation in Field Goal % 77.3%

He is 26th in the Nation in Rebounding with 10 rpg.

E42D4289-497D-4E9C-A473-F7608E4E88D4.png

[Rhodysk]

Any information come up about what happen at the end of the game?