2018-19 Current Season schedule discussion (top post is current)

[Rhodyram]

I saw a fellow Rhody fan out earlier this evening and she and I were talking about the PC game on the first. I checked Vivid to see what they were pricing tickets for and looks like mostly the $70-200 range, as I thought. I can also confirm (via gorhody.com, too) that the game is starting at 5 pm. Haven't seen the time posted in any other thread, but now we know it's 5 pm any kind of festivities can be planned accordingly.

Broke down and bought a cheap mini plan to get the Rhody game at the dunk. The total was $113 for 2tix in the corner nosebleeds. Just wanted to get in the building. Figured I’d have no problem unloading the other 2 games - St. John’s and Butler

[Rhody83]

I saw a fellow Rhody fan out earlier this evening and she and I were talking about the PC game on the first. I checked Vivid to see what they were pricing tickets for and looks like mostly the $70-200 range, as I thought. I can also confirm (via gorhody.com, too) that the game is starting at 5 pm. Haven't seen the time posted in any other thread, but now we know it's 5 pm any kind of festivities can be planned accordingly.

Broke down and bought a cheap mini plan to get the Rhody game at the dunk. The total was $113 for 2tix in the corner nosebleeds. Just wanted to get in the building. Figured I’d have no problem unloading the other 2 games - St. John’s and Butler

Good idea. We know plenty of PC fans bought the URI 5 game plan to get into the Ryan Center last year. URI only gets about 1,000 tickets for the Dunkin that are available to Rhody donors.

[ramster]

Links are always appreciated when referring to things on other sites. Streaming link for CoC game from their own athletics site schedule:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/charleston/#live

You can see the link now in gorhody schedule now too.

[RhowdyRam02]

Links are always appreciated when referring to things on other sites. Streaming link for CoC game from their own athletics site schedule:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/charleston/#live

Sorry, you're right. Not sure what I was thinking, or not thinking, there

[daytonflyerfan]

If your 2019-20 schedule is correct, it will be the highest number (4) of true road games in several years. Adding in possible neutral site tournament games that could number from 2-4, and that would mean URI would be playing from 6-8 games away from the Ryan Center that year. This would be following this upcoming season where URI is breaking from the strategy (just 4-5 games away from the RC) of the last several years as it is scheduled to play 7 games outside Kingston (3 Away / 4 Neutral). Given that it is far tougher to win away from home, this adds more risk and should not be a desired trend. It is the exact opposite of what P5 teams, which make up the great majority of the NCAA Tournament field, are doing. When AD Thorr Bjorn was put on the spot several months ago about spending URI basketball's new revenues (NCAA earnings/attendance/sponsorships) and head coaching salary savings (Cox makes several 100k less than Hurley), he indicated that he would meet with David Cox to discuss what he felt it should be used for (salary/buy games/more charters). We know from public statements that no significant additional monies were immediately allocated to the assistant coach salary pool. The schedule for this season and next would suggest that more buy games are not in the cards in the immediate future. Are additional charter flights being scheduled? Where is all the additional revenue/savings being spent? So far, there is no sign of where that might be.


OOC Schedule Last Five Years
2014-15 | Home: 6 | Away: 2 | Neutral: 3
2015-16 | Home: 8 | Away: 3 | Neutral: 2
2016-17 | Home: 7 | Away: 3 | Neutral: 2
2017-18 | Home: 7 | Away: 2 | Neutral: 2
2018-19 | Home: 5 | Away: 3 | Neutral: 4

I only skimmed through this thread, but you guys are only playing 5 away/neutral games this year, not 7.

And playing a bunch of buy games does not do anything for you in terms of improving your rpi/net rating and/or sos. Buy games against teams with bad rpi/net ratings actually really hurts your sos and rpi/net rating.

If your goal is to just make the ncaat, then I can see the logic in loading up on buy games in order to avoid the risk of a loss in a road/neutral game.

But, if your goal is to actually improve your seed in the ncaat, then as far as I am concerned, the only way to do that is to play more road/neutral games against good, but beatable, opponents. That is the formula that Temple and Xavier employed for years and years when they were in the A10. Those 2 teams annually would schedule an additional home-and-home series every year and get a leg up on the rest of the conference, and then those 2 teams would actually go out and win that additional away game, as part of a home-and-home series, every year.

You are pretty much always going to lose 1 or 2 conference games every year that you shouldn't lose, due to the nature of conference play. That is just the way that things are. If you play the same crappy teams year after year, then sooner or later, they will find a way to beat you, even though you should beat them every single time.

Thus, IMO, the only way to move up in the college basketball world is not to focus on eeking out 1 or 2 more conference wins every year, but instead focus on improving your non-conference schedule, and then going out and winning those 1 or 2 additional tougher ooc games every year.

You guys are playing 16 home and 14 away/neutral this year. A lot of teams do that.

If you want to improve your seed in the ncaat, then, as far as I'm concerned, you are going to have to go to a 15 home/15 away/neutral scheduling model. Now, I realize that this is much easier said than done, but IMO, it can be done.

You guys scheduling a h/h series with WKU and also? MTSU is great and is exactly what you need to do more of if you are going to grow your program by getting a better seed in the ncaat.

You are pretty much expected to win every buy game, you will get hardly no credit for winning a buy game, and you are hardly never going to be able to get a tier 1 or tier 2 win from playing a buy game.

The p5 teams can load up on buy games because they are in tougher conferences. The A10 is actually getting weaker, we used to be the #7 rpi rated conference for a long time when Temple and Xavier were in the A10, but last year we were #11, and this year is not looking all that great either. We are currently all the way down to the #17 rpi rated conference, but kenpom.com has the A10 as the #9 best conference, so there is some variation there between the kenpom and rpi conference ratings. IMO, you need to play less, not more, buy games, if you want to move up in the college basketball world if you are a member of the A10.

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_conf_Men.html



The selection committee only really values tier 1 and tier 2 wins, and maybe only just tier 1 wins.

I have been complaining for years and years about Dayton's absolute refusal to schedule an additional h/h series and go to a 15/15 schedule.

We maxed out at a 7 seed under Archie Miller, and IMO, we will likely never get better than a 7 seed so long as we stick with a 16/14 schedule.

And to top it off, our schedule actually regressed this year, as we are playing an extra buy game this year, and thus we are playing a 17/14 schedule this year. We got an extra game as part of our exempt tourney this year, so we are playing 31 games this year, instead of 30.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-baske ... ges-teams/


Home Neutral Road

vs. RPI vs. RPI vs. RPI
Tier 1 1-30 1-50 1-75
Tier 2 31-75 51-100 76-135
Tier 3 76-160 101-200 136-240
Tier 4 161+ 201+ 241+

[theblueram]

If your 2019-20 schedule is correct, it will be the highest number (4) of true road games in several years. Adding in possible neutral site tournament games that could number from 2-4, and that would mean URI would be playing from 6-8 games away from the Ryan Center that year. This would be following this upcoming season where URI is breaking from the strategy (just 4-5 games away from the RC) of the last several years as it is scheduled to play 7 games outside Kingston (3 Away / 4 Neutral). Given that it is far tougher to win away from home, this adds more risk and should not be a desired trend. It is the exact opposite of what P5 teams, which make up the great majority of the NCAA Tournament field, are doing. When AD Thorr Bjorn was put on the spot several months ago about spending URI basketball's new revenues (NCAA earnings/attendance/sponsorships) and head coaching salary savings (Cox makes several 100k less than Hurley), he indicated that he would meet with David Cox to discuss what he felt it should be used for (salary/buy games/more charters). We know from public statements that no significant additional monies were immediately allocated to the assistant coach salary pool. The schedule for this season and next would suggest that more buy games are not in the cards in the immediate future. Are additional charter flights being scheduled? Where is all the additional revenue/savings being spent? So far, there is no sign of where that might be.


OOC Schedule Last Five Years
2014-15 | Home: 6 | Away: 2 | Neutral: 3
2015-16 | Home: 8 | Away: 3 | Neutral: 2
2016-17 | Home: 7 | Away: 3 | Neutral: 2
2017-18 | Home: 7 | Away: 2 | Neutral: 2
2018-19 | Home: 5 | Away: 3 | Neutral: 4

I only skimmed through this thread, but you guys are only playing 5 away/neutral games this year, not 7.

And playing a bunch of buy games does not do anything for you in terms of improving your rpi/net rating and/or sos. Buy games against teams with bad rpi/net ratings actually really hurts your sos and rpi/net rating.

If your goal is to just make the ncaat, then I can see the logic in loading up on buy games in order to avoid the risk of a loss in a road/neutral game.

But, if your goal is to actually improve your seed in the ncaat, then as far as I am concerned, the only way to do that is to play more road/neutral games against good, but beatable, opponents. That is the formula that Temple and Xavier employed for years and years when they were in the A10. Those 2 teams annually would schedule an additional home-and-home series every year and get a leg up on the rest of the conference, and then those 2 teams would actually go out and win that additional away game, as part of a home-and-home series, every year.

You are pretty much always going to lose 1 or 2 conference games every year that you shouldn't lose, due to the nature of conference play. That is just the way that things are. If you play the same crappy teams year after year, then sooner or later, they will find a way to beat you, even though you should beat them every single time.

Thus, IMO, the only way to move up in the college basketball world is not to focus on eeking out 1 or 2 more conference wins every year, but instead focus on improving your non-conference schedule, and then going out and winning those 1 or 2 additional tougher ooc games every year.

You guys are playing 16 home and 14 away/neutral this year. A lot of teams do that.

If you want to improve your seed in the ncaat, then, as far as I'm concerned, you are going to have to go to a 15 home/15 away/neutral scheduling model. Now, I realize that this is much easier said than done, but IMO, it can be done.

You guys scheduling a h/h series with WKU and also? MTSU is great and is exactly what you need to do more of if you are going to grow your program by getting a better seed in the ncaat.

You are pretty much expected to win every buy game, you will get hardly no credit for winning a buy game, and you are hardly never going to be able to get a tier 1 or tier 2 win from playing a buy game.

The p5 teams can load up on buy games because they are in tougher conferences. The A10 is actually getting weaker, we used to be the #7 rpi rated conference for a long time when Temple and Xavier were in the A10, but last year we were #11, and this year is not looking all that great either. We are currently all the way down at the #23 rpi rated conference, but kenpom.com has the A10 as the #9 best conference, so there is some variation there between the kenpom and rpi conference ratings. IMO, you need to play less, not more, buy games, if you want to move up in the college basketball world if you are a member of the A10.

The selection committee only really values tier 1 and tier 2 wins, and maybe only just tier 1 wins.

I have been complaining for years and years about Dayton's absolute refusal to schedule an additional h/h series and go to a 15/15 schedule.

We maxed out at a 7 seed under Archie Miller, and IMO, we will likely never get better than a 7 seed so long as we stick with a 16/14 schedule.

And to top it off, our schedule actually regressed this year, as we are playing an extra buy game this year, and thus we are playing a 17/14 schedule this year. We got an extra game as part of our exempt tourney this year, so we are playing 31 games this year, instead of 30.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-baske ... ges-teams/


Home Neutral Road

vs. RPI vs. RPI vs. RPI
Tier 1 1-30 1-50 1-75
Tier 2 31-75 51-100 76-135
Tier 3 76-160 101-200 136-240
Tier 4 161+ 201+ 241+

DFF we actually have a 14/16 home/away schedule. We play PC, Holy Cross and Charleston away. We have West Virginia neutral and 3 games in the Hawaiin Classic.

[RF1]

I only skimmed through this thread, but you guys are only playing 5 away/neutral games this year, not 7.

That is wrong. The 2018-19 URI Men's schedule has seven OOC games away from Kingston:

@ College of Charleston
@ Providence
@ Holy Cross (Worcester DCU Center)
vs West Virginia (Mohegan Sun)
vs Bucknell (Diamond Head Classic-HI)
vs TCU/Charlotte (Diamond Head Classic-HI)
vs TBD (Diamond Head Classic-HI)

There are two fewer home games at the Ryan Center this season as there are just five OOC games.:

Bryant
Harvard
Stony Brook
Brown
Middle Tennessee

[daytonflyerfan]

DFF we actually have a 14/16 home/away schedule. We play PC, Holy Cross and Charleston away. We have West Virginia neutral and 3 games in the Hawaiin Classic.

Ok, my mistake, let me get this straight.

I am seeing:

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_116_Men.html

at Charleston
at Providence
at Holy Cross
neutral with West Virginia
neutral with Bucknell

So, I am missing 2 neutral games in your exempt tourney.

So, that bring the total to 14 home and 16 away/neutral. That is awesome and is exactly what you should be doing. You actually went a step beyond 15/15 to 14/16, wow, that is impressive.

I wish that Dayton would follow your example. I feel like you are starting to pass us by as a program, your administration gets it/does a great job in terms of scheduling.

[daytonflyerfan]

Were the Charleston and Holy Cross games part of h/h series?

And is the MTSU game part of a h/h series?

[daytonflyerfan]

Are the Bryant, Stony Brook, and Brown games buy games?

Is the Harvard game part of a h/h series?

[theblueram]

Charleston, HC, MTSU and Brown are h/h. Not sure if Bryant and Harvard are buys but I think Stony Brook is.

[Seawrightspostgame]

Im not remotely into the scheduling as much as a couple guys here.

BUT I think Charleston was certainly a h/h. Harvard is a h/h. Holy Cross is a h/h, with the return game at a pseudo neutral site.

I don't think we paid either Brown or Bryant. It's been said on here many times that URI plays @Brown specifically to avoid paying.
Now Stony Brook appears to maybe be a buy game.

MTSU? This I have the least confidence in, but I would guess a h/h with how things have been the past few years.

I feel like I just answered a KB Schedule thread test.

[RF1]

Were the Charleston and Holy Cross games part of h/h series?

And is the MTSU game part of a h/h series?

All were series. Charleston an even H&H. Holy Cross a 2-1 with their home game off campus at the nearby downtown Worcester DCU Center (UMass had a similar arrangement with them). It is my understanding that MTSU will be an even H&H. Brown is an even H&H (typically rotates each year but the order got thrown off with the non series HOF Tournament two seasons ago. Appears new current series started in Kingston).

Game with West Virginia at the neutral site Mohegan Sun in nearby CT (about 1hr away) was part of a two game series. Dayton plays Tulsa there the same day as part of a doubleheader. The return will be at WVU. URI gets no on campus home game.

Still have a return game in 2019-20 for an even H&H with Florida Gulf Coast. The future series with Western Kentucky will be an even H&H.

Some posters have indicated that Harvard will be an even H&H which is not out of reason given URI likes to play in Boston and have done even H&H with BU and Northeastern there.

PC is a continuing H&H series that rotates each year. My guess is that both Bryant and Stony Brook were one time guaranteed buy games.

[daytonflyerfan]

2 more points:

1. I have heard that the selection committee recognizes "scheduling intent". In other words, if you schedule a ooc h/h with a team that is usually pretty good, and the team ends up having a down year when you play them, then the selection committee will give you credit for intending to play a tougher team in your ooc schedule.

I have heard that the selection committee highly respects teams that are willing to play more than the normal amount of road/neutral ooc games.

2. I have heard that the selection committee does not fully penalize you for losing a road/neutral ooc game against a good team. Yes, a loss is bad, but I have heard that the selection committee does not really fully hold these sort of losses against you.

[RF1]

2 more points:

1. I have heard that the selection committee recognizes "scheduling intent". In other words, if you schedule a ooc h/h with a team that is usually pretty good, and the team ends up having a down year when you play them, then the selection committee will give you credit for intending to play a tougher team in your ooc schedule.

I have heard that the selection committee highly respects teams that are willing to play more than the normal amount of road/neutral ooc games.

2. I have heard that the selection committee does not fully penalize you for losing a road/neutral ooc game against a good team. Yes, a loss is bad, but I have heard that the selection committee does not really fully hold these sort of losses against you.

The problem I have is not necessarily playing many of the teams mentioned above on their home courts. My issue is that, if this is to be done, there should not be a lot of other true road games and or or neutral site games those same years. URI's OOC schedule is very much out of the ideal balance this season in my opinion with just 14 home games and 16 away/neutral site games. Just compare to your own Dayton Flyers who have just one OOC away game playing a schedule with 8 home games/1 away/4 neutral for a total season with conference games of 17 home and 14 away/neutral.

[ATPTourFan]

Guys. Why are we talking this season in NEXT season’s schedule thread??

[theblueram]

The Flyer Fan started it lol

[daytonflyerfan]

What is even more impressive is that Nevada bailed on you at the last minute, so at least one of these h/h series was likely done on short notice.

[daytonflyerfan]

The problem I have is not necessarily playing many of the teams mentioned above on their home courts. My issue is that, if this is to be done, there should not be a lot of other true road games and or or neutral site games those same years. URI's OOC schedule is very much out of the ideal balance this season in my opinion with just 14 home games and 16 away/neutral site games. Just compare to your own Dayton Flyers who have just one OOC away game playing a schedule with 8 home games/1 away/4 neutral for a total season with conference games of 17 home and 14 away/neutral.

I think the balance is pretty good, but maybe drop the away game at HC if you want another home game.

My problem with Dayton playing a 16/14 all the time is that we will struggle to ever get better than a 7 seed IMO. We only lost 3 A10 games one year under Archie, yet we only got a 7 seed.

Also, if we lose the first game in the exempt tourney, then the next 2 tourney games might be against lower quality teams, thus screwing up our sos and rpi and not giving us enough opportunities to get good wins. It is too risky to have a lot of the sos hinge on the outcome of that first tourney game.

I would much rather have too many good games than not enough.

[theblueram]

The issue is not OOC. The issue is the dregs of this conference.

[daytonflyerfan]

The issue is not OOC. The issue is the dregs of this conference.

I agree, but the A10 is not going to get better, it is getting worse, so your only choice is to improve the ooc.

[theblueram]

The issue is not OOC. The issue is the dregs of this conference.

I agree, but the A10 is not going to get better, it is getting worse, so your only choice is to improve the ooc.

Have to disagree. The A10 has been a very strong league. Multiple At Large bids. It might be down, but in no way is it not going to get better. It has been a top league annually. Lots of young coaches right now. I could name the former A10 coaches in top conferences but I have to get a beer.

[ATPTourFan]

Moved the posts into this years schedule thread.

[rambone 78]

I disagree about the getting better part.

Too many programs in this conference either can't or won't commit the money necessary to be good with any degree of consistency.

It's getting harder and harder to compete with the P5's as it is, and it's only going to get harder, with fewer and fewer at large berths available to mid majors.

Why did DH leave? It's all about the money...not just his, but the amount the school can put into the program.

Also look at LaSalle...new coach or not, he can only do so much...that program almost dropped out of the conference...and probably should have.

[theblueram]

I disagree about the getting better part.

Too many programs in this conference either can't or won't commit the money necessary to be good with any degree of consistency.

It's getting harder and harder to compete with the P5's as it is, and it's only going to get harder, with fewer and fewer at large berths available to mid majors.

Why did DH leave? It's all about the money...not just his, but the amount the school can put into the program.

Also look at LaSalle...new coach or not, he can only do so much...that program almost dropped out of the conference...and probably should have.

??? We offered DH $2 million dollars. You think Jim Calhoun made $6 mill his first year?

[TruePoint]

The issue is not OOC. The issue is the dregs of this conference.

I agree, but the A10 is not going to get better, it is getting worse, so your only choice is to improve the ooc.

Have to disagree. The A10 has been a very strong league. Multiple At Large bids. It might be down, but in no way is it not going to get better. It has been a top league annually. Lots of young coaches right now. I could name the former A10 coaches in top conferences but I have to get a beer.

Things are always one way until they are another way.

[rambone 78]

Yes we offered DH big money [for us[ but it's more than what the coach makes that counts.

The BB budget at URI was a big point of contention for Hurley....he knew it needed to be bigger, to be at least as much as the other top A10 programs....in that area we were 2 million or so short....and that wasn't going to change upward anywhere near enough.

And the costs of running a big time program only get higher every year....at least URI is trying to make the best commitment they can, unlike some others in the conference.

In other words, the bottom feeders are a drag to the conference, and will continue to be a drag...and it looks to be getting worse.

[theblueram]

Not sure what you are talking about. We offered DH $2 million a year plus charters everywhere. Keep thinking this school is small time in your own mind. Times have changed.

[rambone 78]

I never said we are small time. We are doing what we can....and it's helped us become one of the top programs in the A10.

The problem is, there's too many small time programs in our conference. They simply don't have the resources to compete...or in the case of Fordham they have the money, they just choose not to do enough to compete.

[daytonflyerfan]

Have to disagree. The A10 has been a very strong league. Multiple At Large bids. It might be down, but in no way is it not going to get better. It has been a top league annually. Lots of young coaches right now. I could name the former A10 coaches in top conferences but I have to get a beer.

The numbers just do not bear that out at this point...the A10 dropped 4 spots last year...this year has been a very rough start to the ooc for the league...2 years in a row is the beginning of a trend...the A10 misses Xavier and Temple carrying the league every year.

The A10 is possibly headed for just 1 bid this year.

[ramster]

Have to disagree. The A10 has been a very strong league. Multiple At Large bids. It might be down, but in no way is it not going to get better. It has been a top league annually. Lots of young coaches right now. I could name the former A10 coaches in top conferences but I have to get a beer.

The numbers just do not bear that out at this point...the A10 dropped 4 spots last year...this year has been a very rough start to the ooc for the league...2 years in a row is the beginning of a trend...the A10 misses Xavier and Temple carrying the league every year.

The A10 is possibly headed for just 1 bid this year.

And what’s happened to Dayton? Big fall off there

[daytonflyerfan]

And what’s happened to Dayton? Big fall off there

We hired Anthony Grant is what happened. We should have promoted from within, like you guys did with Cox, and hired one of Archie's assistants. I was against the Grant hire from the very beginning. We might not win another ncaat game for another 8 or 9 years IMO, depending on how long Grant is in charge. The next coach will need at least 2 or 3 years to get things turned back around.

[reef]

I agree with DFF and 78 that I believe the A10 is trending downward of late .
Before we were always outside the P5 ranked about 7th best now it's probably around 10th or 11th
The days of 4 plus bids appear to be over and the norm may be about 1 or 2 depending on who wins the conf tournament
Nice points about the home road splits in the schedule making
Also important to schedule well when you know you have a NCAAT type team like we did last year and unlike the year Bona was denied a berth

[daytonflyerfan]

Have to disagree. The A10 has been a very strong league. Multiple At Large bids. It might be down, but in no way is it not going to get better. It has been a top league annually. Lots of young coaches right now. I could name the former A10 coaches in top conferences but I have to get a beer.

I go back and forth on this...SLU will be back eventually, maybe even this year...Davidson has been pretty consistent...VCU has been consistent...Rhody, SJU, Bonnie's(lately), and Dayton have been consistent...UMass and GMU could contribute at some point.

As rambone noted, the problem is that there are too many dregs.

Cutting the A10 down to 10 or 12 teams would be ideal...dump Fordham, LaSalle, Duquesne, and one other, probably GW, GMU, UMass, or Richmond...but that will never happen.

[rambone 78]

Fordham and LaSalle should go. Duquesne at least looks to be investing in their program and is trending upward.....

12 teams would be ideal imo.

[Rhody83]

Fordham and LaSalle should go. Duquesne at least looks to be investing in their program and is trending upward.....

12 teams would be ideal imo.

There is no way LaSalle would go - Philly market.

[Rhodyram]

I think laSalle will be be decent in the future. Facilities suck and will not change but the new coach will get players.

[ATPTourFan]

Disagree. Don’t think LaSalle can get out of the basement. Fordham also. You could argue that Duquestis actually investing in facilities.

[RF1]

Another imbalance to this year's schedule is the long stretch of six straight games away from the Ryan Center in the first four weeks of December.

12/1 @ Providence
12/8 @ Holy Cross (DCU Center)
12/16 vs W Virginia (Mohegan Sun)
12/22 vs Bucknell (Diamond Head Classic-HI)
12/23 vs TCU/Charlotte (Diamond Head Classic-HI)
12/24 vs TBD (Diamond Head Classic-HI)

URI plays Brown at the Ryan Center on 11/28 with the next game not being until 4.5 weeks later against Middle Tenn State on 12/30. It will be very interesting to see how such a young team does being away from home for such an extended time.

[daytonflyerfan]

Disagree. Don’t think LaSalle can get out of the basement. Fordham also. You could argue that Duquestis actually investing in facilities.

I am bullish on Duquesne, Keith Dambrot was a great hire as head coach, he did very well at Akron...I expect Duquesne to improve quite a bit.

[daytonflyerfan]

There is no way LaSalle would go - Philly market.

We already have St. Joe's in Philly, why do we need LaSalle too?

[daytonflyerfan]

I think laSalle will be be decent in the future. Facilities suck and will not change but the new coach will get players.

Ashley Howard seemed like a good hire by LaSalle.

[Rhodymob05]

While Lasalle plays in a gym that more closely resembles Lasalle Academy, they at least made the sweet sixteen in 2013. Fordham hasn’t been anywhere close to making the big dance since 1996. They have to go.

[daytonflyerfan]

That game at Charleston may end up being a tier 1 game.

Kenpom has the Charleston game as a Tier A game.

Those are the types of games that you have to schedule more of, instead of more buy games, if you want to move up/get a better ncaat seed and improve your odds of advancing deeper into the ncaat.

The number of h/h series opportunities with p5 teams is drying up as the p5 leagues go to 20 game league schedules.

[reef]

Agree Fordham needs to go not sure of the other team to go but I guess LaSalle and keep Duquesne

[rhodylaw]

God I hate these early season weeklong breaks! I am dying for more Rhody Hoops.

[RhowdyRam02]

I like them, if only because I imagine the extra practice time could be very beneficial for our young team

[rhodylaw]

I agree that the schedule is smart for a young team - but the fan in me is dying!

[ace]

The start of the schedule does have kind of a stutter step feel to it. It’s like when you wait all winter for baseball and then they have that built in off day on day 2 in case of a rainout. Practice is good, but this early, getting tested in-game is what I think you prefer. The schedule does give Dowtin a chance to get that ankle completely healthy, though.

[RF1]

Holy Cross is promoting the game with URI December 8th at the DCU Center in downtown Worcester.