2014-15 Rhode Island Hoops: Yes We Still Exist

URI

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I promised a few years ago I would not start another thread until we beat a ranked team again.
 
Well...
 

 
Rhode Island 66 - #21 Nebraska 63.
 
We play Kansas next in the Orlando Classic.
 

riboflav

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URI said:
I promised a few years ago I would not start another thread until we beat a ranked team again.
 
Well...
 

 
Rhode Island 66 - #21 Nebraska 63.
 
We play Kansas next in the Orlando Classic.
 
Bad day for Nebraska athletics. 
 
Congrats, URI.
 

Orel Miraculous

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Not only does URI exist, but they have a strong chance of making the tournament in each of the next few years.  In the UMass thread I pegged them for a 5th place finish in the A10. It's a young, talented team that lost a ton of close games last year and is ready to make the leap.
 

pdaj

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I was able to catch most of the game last night ... URI's a likable group this year. Very athletic. The freshman guard, Terrell, showed massive balls, taking (and making) back to back 3's in OT to help complete the upset. It's nice to see RI hoops on the up and up. 
 
What was the deal with the Jordan Hare's departure from the team? How big of dent does it put in Rhody's post-season aspirations? 
 

URI

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pdaj said:
What was the deal with the Jordan Hare's departure from the team? How big of dent does it put in Rhody's post-season aspirations?
It's pretty hush hush around the program, but rumors are clashes with just about everyone, coach and player.

In the one way, it's a big loss, because he is 6'10 and athletic. But it's not like the team runs many offensive sets for him, and Hurley doesn't have a lot of patience of players that don't buy in 100%, which Hare never did.
 

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For what it's worth, I am good friends with one of the URI Equipment managers, who has worked in that capacity since Phil Kidd and his side burns were patrolling Keaney Gym.  He told me last week that this team has the  potential to go to the "Big Dance" and will surprise people.  He is pretty cynical usually.. so coming from him..that tells me this could be a great season here in Kingston.
 

URI

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AQ, AM, or TR?

Sounds like AM.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Both URI and PC are for real with each having a potential 1st round pick in their backcourt with EC and Dunn. Exciting time.

Winters in RI are better when URI and PC are competing to go dancing.
 

URI

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Ha, nailed it.

Yeah, Al doesn't tend to be rosy about stuff, but he's been positively sunny about this season.
 

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Al is one of the funniest guys around after a few coors lights and at family reunions. He really is a big teddy bear.  I am excited for the team this year and the last time I watched URI on TV Don Coyne was calling the game on a local Cox channel and just I read that ESPN2 is showing thursday's game..  Souped!
 

pdaj

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HomeRunBaker said:
Both URI and PC are for real with each having a potential 1st round pick in their backcourt with EC and Dunn. Exciting time.

Winters in RI are better when URI and PC are competing to go dancing.
 
As a die-hard Friar fan, I've always rooted for URI to do well, with exception of our annual match-up, of course. I even catch a couple Brown/Bryant games when I get the chance. I'm hoping to one day see all 4 programs make the tourney the same year.
 
After last night, I decided to grab a few tickets for the January game vs, VCU. It's conveniently sandwiched in PC's home games vs GU and SJU. Good times.
 

URI

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norm from cheers said:
Al is one of the funniest guys around after a few coors lights and at family reunions. He really is a big teddy bear.  I am excited for the team this year and the last time I watched URI on TV Don Coyne was calling the game on a local Cox channel and just I read that ESPN2 is showing thursday's game..  Souped!
Now our Cox team is Eric Frede and Abu Bakr (who is the worst). Steve Mac and Don Kaull still do the radio.

We generally get the (regional) B or C team when we're on NBC/CBS...it sucks. It's a lot of Pete Gillen time.
 

URI

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pdaj said:
As a die-hard Friar fan, I've always rooted for URI to do well, with exception of our annual match-up, of course. I even catch a couple Brown/Bryant games when I get the chance. I'm hoping to one day see all 4 programs make the tourney the same year.
 
After last night, I decided to grab a few tickets for the January game vs, VCU. It's conveniently sandwiched in PC's home games vs GU and SJU. Good times.
What seats?
 

pdaj

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One of my  directors is a URI alum and season ticket holder. He's got 4 and offered me two in exchange for financing the alcohol. I'm not sure where he's seated, but I've been to the Ryan Center a few times over the last few years. It's hard to find a bad seat.
 

URI

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PM me his name if you can...I can tell you how good the seat is.

I have some information about that game too if you want.
 

Guapos Toenails

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norm from cheers said:
Al is one of the funniest guys around after a few coors lights and at family reunions. He really is a big teddy bear.  I am excited for the team this year and the last time I watched URI on TV Don Coyne was calling the game on a local Cox channel and just I read that ESPN2 is showing thursday's game..  Souped!
I know AM.  I'm from Wakefield and I used to work with him at Wakefield Liquors back in the day...he is a funny bastard...
I had to listen to the Nebraska game on the internet...the two guys doing radio for RIU are hilariously bad
 

HomeRunBaker

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Nice barometer game today at 2pm (ESPN2) in Orlando vs. a Kansas team that comes off the bench with two projected lottery picks next summer in Oubre and Alexander.

Challenges like this are always fun.
 

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I am moving Turkey dinner to 4:30 to watch the game today.. I think everyone in town knows AM or his wife from her days at the Italian Village or Purple Cow.  here are a couple links previewing the game:
 
Projo
http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/college/university-of-rhode-island/20141126-talented-kansas-will-be-tough-test-for-confident-uri-basketball-team.ece
 
Yahoo
https://sports.yahoo.com/news/kansas-rhode-island-preview-181225236--ncaab.html
 
ESPN
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/preview?gameId=400585707
 
Lawrence KS (KU Local Newspaper)
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2014/nov/26/self-tourney-title-priority/
 

URI

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You probably shouldn't have moved that dinner...

We ate during the 2nd half. It was...well we have a lot of work to do.
 

EL Jeffe

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Well, we rebounded nicely with a whoppin' over Santa Clara. So there's that.
 

URI

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Game against Georgia Tech tomorrow night. They aren't very good.

The last three seasons, we would have lost the Santa Clara game. Neutral site, just got smacked on national TV, and they would try to beat Santa Clara by just using their athleticism rather than by playing basketball.

That didn't happen yesterday.
 

SaveBooFerriss

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I am very bullish on RI. I think they get into the tournament.  I would not be surprised if they end up 3rd in the A-10 this year.  I also think Hurley leaves for a bigger program at the end of the season.  
 

Orel Miraculous

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SaveBooFerriss said:
I am very bullish on RI. I think they get into the tournament.  I would not be surprised if they end up 3rd in the A-10 this year.  I also think Hurley leaves for a bigger program at the end of the season.
 
Not if he's smart. Even if he makes the tournament this year (and he has a very good chance to do so) he still won't have done enough to put himself in serious contention for any top tier openings.  He might get some looks from some lower level BCS schools, but those jobs are often where coaching careers go to die.  If he's smart he'll hang around for another 3-5 years and build a consistent tourney team, then he'll have many more promising opportunities open to him.  Rhody fans should be hoping for that too, obviously.
 

Orel Miraculous

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Rhody didn't do quite enough in the out-of-conference slate to put itself in position for an at-large bid (losing a very winnable game at Providence really stings in that regard).  But, importantly, URI also didn't do anything to put an at-large bid out of reach, as they go into A10 play without a single bad loss on their resume.  Fortunately, the scheduling gods are really smiling down on the Rams this season:  URI plays each of the other top 4 teams in the conference (GW, VCU, Dayton, and Davidson) just once, and all but the Dayton game are in Kingston.  They have a legitimate chance of going something like 14-4 and finishing in the top 3 of the conference, which would probably be enough to put them in the dance. I'd say the A10 breaks down like this:
 
Don't Screw Up and You're In
GW
VCU
Dayton
 
Impress in the A10 and You're In
URI
Davidson
 
No Sleep Till Brooklyn
UMass
La Salle
Richmond
St Bona
 
Better Luck Next Year
St Joes
St Louis
Duquesne
Fordham
George Mason
 

yeahlunchbox

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I think Hurley is going to be very careful about picking his next job. After his first season at URI he had the chance to jump to Rutgers and he used that offer to get increased salaries for his assistants and other program enhancements.
 

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I am seeing todays URI Game is being broadcast on NBCSN which on Fios is channel 590.  I was referred to this page to see video of the game by the URI Athletics page:  http://stream.nbcsports.com/liveextra/
 
I have a kids Bday party to go to and will not have access to TV during the game.. however I will have Wifi.. does that link say today's game will be streamed live?  If that's the case, My day just got made!
 

yeahlunchbox

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If it's going to work for you for the URI game it should be working for you now for the Dayton game
 

yeahlunchbox

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Not a great game, but winning in conference on the road by double digits when you're not playing your best shows just how far this program has come under Hurley
 

EL Jeffe

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This team continues to compete its tail off: 14-5 record, 6-2 in a pretty solid A-10. Hurley has completely changed the culture of this program.
 
What do we make of Kuran Iverson transferring here? He was a bit of a dud at Memphis, but a legit top 40 recruit a couple of years ago. 
 

yeahlunchbox

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Rumor is that Hurley was originally reluctant to take him on due to worries he might not fit in with the culture he's trying to build, but was convinced by the head coach of Expressions Elite. That's the AAU program Iverson was in along with Jared Terrell. That said, TJ Buchanan had a lot of praise after the GW game about how Iverson is fitting in so far.
 

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Big game today at Richmond @ 2:30pm (televised on NBCSN).

VCU fell to St. Bonaventure last night and suddenly looks very beatable, now diminished by injuries. The A10 is there for the taking.

(And yes, I've jumped on the local team's bandwagon with K-State's implosion... guilty as charged.)
 

SaveBooFerriss

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SaveBooFerriss said:
I am very bullish on RI. I think they get into the tournament.  I would not be surprised if they end up 3rd in the A-10 this year.  I also think Hurley leaves for a bigger program at the end of the season.  
 
I think I sold URI short.  With Dayton's lack of height and VCU's injuries, URI could definitely win the A-10.  
 

( . ) ( . ) and (_!_)

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Currently one of Joe Lunardi's last 8 teams out of the bracket
 
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology/_/iteration/224
 
The general consensus I gather from talking to other alums is that this team is a year away, but it's just exciting to see the program mentioned anywhere near the tournament.  Those close losses to PC and VCU are going to come back to bite them this year, but I'm excited to get into the A10 tournament and see what happens.
 

Orel Miraculous

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( . ) ( . ) and (_!_) said:
Currently one of Joe Lunardi's last 8 teams out of the bracket
 
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology/_/iteration/224
 
The general consensus I gather from talking to other alums is that this team is a year away, but it's just exciting to see the program mentioned anywhere near the tournament.  Those close losses to PC and VCU are going to come back to bite them this year, but I'm excited to get into the A10 tournament and see what happens.
 
I don't think they're a year away, I think they're plenty good enough right now. Unfortunately, they played a pathetic OOC and didn't give themselves much a chance to build an at-large resume. Scheduling 6 sub-200 RPI teams and just 2 top 100s is not a good idea for an A10 team (though I'll grant that no one though Nebraska would be this bad). 
 

URI

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Their non-conference scheduled this year was
 
Southern Connecticut
UMass-Lowell
Nebraska
Orlando Classic
Delaware St
 
Its pretty embarrassing if you think about it.
 
Also, the losses to Georgia Tech, St Joe's, and UMass will haunt me more than to PC and VCU.
 

BoSoxFink

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Umass is a bubble team too, that's not as bad of a loss as your making it out to be. Umass is right there in terms of winning the A-10
 

HomeRunBaker

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URI said:
Their non-conference scheduled this year was
 
Southern Connecticut
UMass-Lowell
Nebraska
Orlando Classic
Delaware St
 
Its pretty embarrassing if you think about it.
 
Also, the losses to Georgia Tech, St Joe's, and UMass will haunt me more than to PC and VCU.
The Rams 97th of 351 in SOS. Those teams listed are cupcakes that all teams buy each year. The trouble with a team like URI is that you can buy those 200+ RPI schools by throwing a dart. You can't buy home games from Top-100 schools without it being a home-and-home, negotiating payouts, etc. This has always been a problem for schools like this and now this season Hurley had to be careful not to "over schedule" to ensure a certain number of non-conference wins with as little risk as possible.

To compare, PC has the 22nd most difficult schedule which included Binghamton, Yale, Navy, Albany, Brown, and Stony Brook. The Friars buy the same type of games as URI.

What is hurting URI's chances are being 0-3 vs Top 50 RPI and the lack of a signature win. There's still time but I can't put a ton of blame on Hurley as the last thing you want to do is paint yourself in a hole prior to the conference schedule beginning. He has put them in position to go dancing and his scheduling strategy has been a positive in doing so by protecting his team from being exposed.
 

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BoSoxFink said:
Umass is a bubble team too, that's not as bad of a loss as your making it out to be. Umass is right there in terms of winning the A-10
 
If I can speak for URI, it's not that UMass isn't a quality team, it's that we were up 6 late in the game and couldn't close it out. That's a killer when you can win a conference game on the road and blow it.
 

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Tough home loss to Davidson last night.  URI was down 10+ with about 12 minutes to play but came back to take the lead, until a disastrous final minute....
 
Up 5 points with 58 seconds to play, Hassan Martin shooting two free throws.  Missed them both.  Davidson comes down the court and they foul a guy while making a layup, guy finishes the three point play.  5 point swing in a manner of about 6 seconds.  Davidson then hits the go ahead three with 11 seconds left.  Rhody calls time, inbounds from half court.  The play breaks down, but they kick it out to Terrell (I think) for a wide open three.  Not the ideal shot when down only one point, but he had 2-3 seconds to shoot and no one around him, it was a good look.  He bricked it, Rhody loses.  
 
Just a bad all around shooting night for the Rams:
1 of 19 from three
16 of 33 on free throws (!)
 
Tough loss at home.
 

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Tough loss to swallow missing 17 free throws and losing by 1 point.  Missed more free throws than Davidson attempted.  A win would have vaulted URI to alone in 1st in the A-10 and possibly on the right side of the bubble for the first time all season.
 

yeahlunchbox

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Every time we get close to really putting ourselves in the tournament conversation we have a tough loss. That's not a knock on the program, because we're still about a year ahead of schedule, but it still hurts to shoot ourselves in the foot. It feels like we lost the game more than Davidson won it.
 

URI

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HomeRunBaker said:
The Rams 97th of 351 in SOS. Those teams listed are cupcakes that all teams buy each year. The trouble with a team like URI is that you can buy those 200+ RPI schools by throwing a dart. You can't buy home games from Top-100 schools without it being a home-and-home, negotiating payouts, etc. This has always been a problem for schools like this and now this season Hurley had to be careful not to "over schedule" to ensure a certain number of non-conference wins with as little risk as possible.

To compare, PC has the 22nd most difficult schedule which included Binghamton, Yale, Navy, Albany, Brown, and Stony Brook. The Friars buy the same type of games as URI.

What is hurting URI's chances are being 0-3 vs Top 50 RPI and the lack of a signature win. There's still time but I can't put a ton of blame on Hurley as the last thing you want to do is paint yourself in a hole prior to the conference schedule beginning. He has put them in position to go dancing and his scheduling strategy has been a positive in doing so by protecting his team from being exposed.
 
Bakes, that is their NC this year.  It's all cupcakes plus Nebraska, and a tournament they got into because Xavier went to the Big East.  The Rams NC schedule is 245th.  PC's is 97th.  You can play teams like Binghamton, Yale, Navy, Albany, Brown, and Stony Brook when you also play Kentucky, Notre Dame, Florida State, and Miami, and then play a Big East schedule where the worst team they play is DePaul (142) and not Saint Louis (246) or George Mason (227).
 
 I can put a bunch of blame on Hurley...and do.
 
And for the record, Yale is pretty good this year.
 
And UMass isn't a bubble team, and wasn't when they lost to them.  UMass isn't very good.  But URI wasn't really a bubble team either, and not that good either when you consider the goal is one of the 36 at large bids.  The bubble doesn't realistically reach down past the top 50 teams in the country.
 

HomeRunBaker

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URI said:
 
Bakes, that is their NC this year.  It's all cupcakes plus Nebraska, and a tournament they got into because Xavier went to the Big East.  The Rams NC schedule is 245th.  PC's is 97th.  You can play teams like Binghamton, Yale, Navy, Albany, Brown, and Stony Brook when you also play Kentucky, Notre Dame, Florida State, and Miami, and then play a Big East schedule where the worst team they play is DePaul (142) and not Saint Louis (246) or George Mason (227).
 
 I can put a bunch of blame on Hurley...and do.
 
And for the record, Yale is pretty good this year.
 
And UMass isn't a bubble team, and wasn't when they lost to them.  UMass isn't very good.  But URI wasn't really a bubble team either, and not that good either when you consider the goal is one of the 36 at large bids.  The bubble doesn't realistically reach down past the top 50 teams in the country.
Let me put it this way. URI is winning the games they are suppose to win and falling short against (semi) quality teams simply because the Rams aren't ready or aren't good enough to do so. If the problem is getting over the hump agaiant (semi) quality teams, which is somewhat expected since they lack elite talent, I don't see how scheduling and likely losing more games helps URI get into the tournament.

I honestly feel Hurley designed his schedule to give them this best shot at sneaking in. More losses against Top-50s or Top-100s would have killed any chances of this.

As him team matures/improves i'd expect him to try and take a payday to go play at a Duke and agree to a home and home against a Top-50. This years team wasn't ready for much more than what was scheduled as their record vs Top-50s indicate.
 

yeahlunchbox

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Funny you mention Duke specifically. Not sure if it's accurate, but there was a rumor we'll be going there or they'll be at the tournament at Mohegan and we'll be playing them in the 2016-17 season.