(01-17-2020 08:42 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 12:44 AM)InterestedX Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 12:12 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  Our players can read.

So can the players on other teams.

Not all of them.

Utter and complete BS, and you know it.

This is consistently the weakest and most inane defense of Rice suckitude that pops up.

(01-21-2020 12:38 PM)InterestedX Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 08:42 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 12:44 AM)InterestedX Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 12:12 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  Our players can read.

So can the players on other teams.

Not all of them.

Utter and complete BS, and you know it.

This is consistently the weakest and most inane defense of Rice suckitude that pops up.

I’m sure the UNC basketball players are all very well versed on African and Afro-American Studies. Ben Simmons was surely educated well at LSU

I stand by my comment that 60+% of the top 300 basketball players would not get into or succeed at Rice (and most don’t even want to try).

(01-21-2020 03:33 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(01-21-2020 12:38 PM)InterestedX Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 08:42 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 12:44 AM)InterestedX Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 12:12 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  Our players can read.

So can the players on other teams.

Not all of them.

Utter and complete BS, and you know it.

This is consistently the weakest and most inane defense of Rice suckitude that pops up.

I’m sure the UNC basketball players are all very well versed on African and Afro-American Studies. Ben Simmons was surely educated well at LSU

I stand by my comment that 60+% of the top 300 basketball players would not get into or succeed at Rice (and most don’t even want to try).

If even if your contention that 60+% of top 300 players wouldn't succeed (or worse, get into) Rice is true, it's tough to explain why Rice Basketball has been so consistently terrible over the 50 years (this is the 50th anniversary of our last tournament team) when schools like Yale, Harvard, Cornell (not to mention Penn and Princeton-they're in a different class), Lehigh, Davidson, etc have all had varying levels of basketball success during that same time period.

Either we hire the worst coaches (there is some truth to this I think), there is something institutionally unique to Rice that is handicapping us (excuse-making), or, we have really bad luck???

(01-21-2020 04:07 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(01-21-2020 03:33 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(01-21-2020 12:38 PM)InterestedX Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 08:42 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 12:44 AM)InterestedX Wrote:  So can the players on other teams.

Not all of them.

Utter and complete BS, and you know it.

This is consistently the weakest and most inane defense of Rice suckitude that pops up.

I’m sure the UNC basketball players are all very well versed on African and Afro-American Studies. Ben Simmons was surely educated well at LSU

I stand by my comment that 60+% of the top 300 basketball players would not get into or succeed at Rice (and most don’t even want to try).

If even if your contention that 60+% of top 300 players wouldn't succeed (or worse, get into) Rice is true, it's tough to explain why Rice Basketball has been so consistently terrible over the 50 years (this is the 50th anniversary of our last tournament team) when schools like Yale, Harvard, Cornell (not to mention Penn and Princeton-they're in a different class), Lehigh, Davidson, etc have all had varying levels of basketball success during that same time period.

Either we hire the worst coaches (there is some truth to this I think), there is something institutionally unique to Rice that is handicapping us (excuse-making), or, we have really bad luck???

I’d guess it’s a combination of terrible university support, poor coaching hires, and the recruiting pool for an outlier like us in Texas. It is amazing we never lucked into it when we were falling from a real conference to our garbage CUSA.

(01-21-2020 03:33 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(01-21-2020 12:38 PM)InterestedX Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 08:42 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 12:44 AM)InterestedX Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 12:12 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  Our players can read.

So can the players on other teams.

Not all of them.

Utter and complete BS, and you know it.

This is consistently the weakest and most inane defense of Rice suckitude that pops up.

I’m sure the UNC basketball players are all very well versed on African and Afro-American Studies. Ben Simmons was surely educated well at LSU

I stand by my comment that 60+% of the top 300 basketball players would not get into or succeed at Rice (and most don’t even want to try).

You implied that 60% of all those recruits Rice doesn't get can't read. You're simply wrong.

Think it's probably fair to say a lot of potential recruits wouldn't be able to get into Rice and that well-regarded, academically-oriented division 1 programs often use the school's admission standards as a convenient excuse. Yes, it's harder to do a quick rebuild at Rice than at North Texas. No, that doesn't excuse year after year of failure. I think Rhoades was a hire along the right path and could have gotten us to the tournament, though it's hard to tell because I'm pretty sure he was set on leaving for anywhere else after three years. And Rhoades is a bit unique in that I don't think one of his recruits was playing for Rice, they were all playing for Rhoades (except maybe Cashaw). That's a recipe for disaster when you have a coach itching to leave.

If you want to counter the academic threshold argument, just look at Belmont. They've had 17 Academic All-Americans since 2001, are annually one of the highest achieving teams in the country, have won an absurd number of conference titles in the last 15 years, and play an aesthetically pleasing style of basketball. It's not that the kids who can take Rice to the next level aren't out there. They most definitely are. We're just not finding them or we're not putting them in the right spots to succeed.

A lot has to come together in the modern era of CBB for a school like Rice to create a foundation. For one, you need a coach who's willing to stay for more than a few years and who wants to build something bigger than himself. You need to recruit the right kids who value a Rice education, which means you might have to get schematically creative because you're probably not going to recruit a bunch of 6-7 4* wings who can guard 1 through 5. You also have to have a cogent plan and recruit kids that fit the system. If you want a 4/5 out system, make sure every kid on the roster can shoot. If you want a team that shoots 30 3s per game, get a 5-7 PG like Max Guercy who can get in the paint and pass. Or go the complete opposite way and try to become Virginia or Vermont. Recruit kids who are raw offensively but tenacious as hell on defense. Get a couple shot blockers. Sure 50-40 games can be boring but I'd rather win 50-40 than lost 90-75.

It's not always going to work out. We're not always going to have the perfect team composition, especially with transfers nowadays. But for once I want to see a Rice men's team with a clear identity. I can stand a losing season or two if I see what we're building to. Seasons like this, where you look ahead and don't see a light at the end of the tunnel, are the intolerable ones.

Adams, Martin and Harrison were all Rhodes recruits. Guercy was tiny but not 5-7 (he was listed at 6-0). And Cashaw was a Ben Braun recruit I think??

(01-22-2020 06:33 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Adams, Martin and Harrison were all Rhodes recruits. Guercy was tiny but not 5-7 (he was listed at 6-0). And Cashaw was a Ben Braun recruit I think??

Cashaw was in the same recruiting class as Evans, Quez, and Lott.

I think if Pera can still finish around .500, make the CUSA tournament, and hold most of the team together (limited transfers like last year), its worth giving him 1 more season. His teams have shown glimpses, but not consistency. And if he is keeping most of his recruits here for 4 years and guys are getting degrees, that is a huge plus.

This is a big offseason because Pera's 1st full recruiting class was Murphy, Peterson, Mullins, Moore, and QMB. One guy already transferred. If the 4 remaining guys stay for their junior years than I think all 4 also stay as seniors (unless they graduate early). That is a pretty strong core of guys if they are on campus 4 seasons.

But even if the team finishes reasonably strong, if we lose 3+ guys to transfers, then we need to find a coach who can keep guys at Rice.

I agree if we can finish around .500, Pera should probaly given one more year but I do not see us finishing around .500 with no defense.

(01-22-2020 10:53 AM)mrbig Wrote:  

(01-22-2020 06:33 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Adams, Martin and Harrison were all Rhodes recruits. Guercy was tiny but not 5-7 (he was listed at 6-0). And Cashaw was a Ben Braun recruit I think??

Cashaw was in the same recruiting class as Evans, Quez, and Lott.

I think if Pera can still finish around .500, make the CUSA tournament, and hold most of the team together (limited transfers like last year), its worth giving him 1 more season. His teams have shown glimpses, but not consistency. And if he is keeping most of his recruits here for 4 years and guys are getting degrees, that is a huge plus.

This is a big offseason because Pera's 1st full recruiting class was Murphy, Peterson, Mullins, Moore, and QMB. One guy already transferred. If the 4 remaining guys stay for their junior years than I think all 4 also stay as seniors (unless they graduate early). That is a pretty strong core of guys if they are on campus 4 seasons.

But even if the team finishes reasonably strong, if we lose 3+ guys to transfers, then we need to find a coach who can keep guys at Rice.

I'm not going to lose my mind if Pera gets another year. There have been plenty of new coaches in the country worse than him. The class coming in (Sheffield, Poteat, Ondigo) is solid and we still have two spots left. But I think we've seen more awful performances than glimmers of hope. In my mind, if he does get another year, he needs to recruit a PG. He needs to show that he can coach defense. And we need to show more consistency. I've beat this dead horse for two years now, but our offense is unwatchable when we're playing like we did against UNT. Aimlessly passing the ball around the perimeter, no penetration, and no interior threat. We don't need Marcus Evans, or a guy who steps on campus and can score 20+ a game, but there's an element that's missing when we're on offense.

We are 1-6 in conference having played 5 of those six losses on the road.

We finish with 5 of 7 at home, before getting into pod play.

I’m not saying we’ll get all the way back to .500, but home teams in CUSA are winning at better than 70% clip so far.