Thought I start a thread to let those who have been following it very closely weigh in with their impressions so far.

We have a nice interlude here between Hawaii Bowl and start of baseball when MBB is the main game in town.

I haven't been to any games. I'd have to say that I pleasantly surprised by how competitive we have been, and it seems that Rhoades has influenced that.

And somewhat disappointed that only three of our Frosh/Soph players have played measurable minutes (Jackson, Drone, Mency).

I have only been able to watch them from afar (TV from San Diego), but what I have seen from the team, I'm excited. I think that this team is going to have great potential. I'm predicting .500 next year, competing for the conference championship in 2.

(01-11-2015 10:22 AM)MemOwl Wrote:  Thought I start a thread to let those who have been following it very closely weigh in with their impressions so far.

We have a nice interlude here between Hawaii Bowl and start of baseball when MBB is the main game in town.

I haven't been to any games. I'd have to say that I pleasantly surprised by how competitive we have been, and it seems that Rhoades has influenced that.

And somewhat disappointed that only three of our Frosh/Soph players have played measurable minutes (Jackson, Drone, Mency).

Well Rivers had also been getting some minutes...upper teens recently and 30 in the UTEP game. His departure has to lower the grade a bit.

Like that the team has been in almost every game until the end, disappointed that they haven't been able to pull a few more out. Feel great about the future though!

They have done fine with the talent they have. I wonder if Rivers left because of the class load. Why keep it so quiet? How can we progress if all is hush hush and we don't know why so many are leaving Doesn't the athletic dept provide tutors to help with the various classes and tutors to assist on away games ?

(01-11-2015 03:50 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  They have done fine with the talent they have. I wonder if Rivers left because of the class load. Why keep it so quiet? How can we progress if all is hush hush and we don't know why so many are leaving Doesn't the athletic dept provide tutors to help with the various classes and tutors to assist on away games ?

Assuming this has to do with Rivers and not the state of the department (like the Morcos days) Rice stands to gain nothing by throwing him under the bus on his way out. The players probably know and will adjust accordingly.

My only issue is we seem to occasionally have complete and total meltdowns mid game. We had a 15 minute period (6 mins in the first half and 9 in the second) where, barring the crazy 3 at halftime, scored only 6 points. We also gave away the ball 6-8 times on errant and sloppy passes. Makes me scratch my head as after this period, we reverted to good ball. Same thing happened against UTSA.

All said and done, good season so far. Ive been to all the home games but one and have enjoyed watching the Owls play. We are 1 win away from the 5 wins we had 2 years ago and 3 away from the 7 of last year. IMO, we can top both of those numbers.

Playing hard but not always playing smart. Despite the navy seal training and better fitness and conditioning that is apparent , we are a very small team. Even our 6-5 and 6-6 players are still on the thin side. New recruits the tallest is 6-7. I suspect coach is working on this. Most of the players have Twitter pages and there was nothing from Maurice Rivers even the day before. He even mentioned a big man with good grades who needs a school to play for. Unfortunately the players are young and put things on Twitter that can come back to bite them but Rivers did not. If it was a grade problem I am disappointed in Rice. I tutored the basketball team quite a bit when I was there, paid for the beer and movies and hope things are still the same.
He was only there one semester and was getting more PT. I think he had just played his best game. But he was a Braun signee.

My grade for the team at this point has to be an incomplete. Since the new coaching staff arrived, the team has begun to transition to a different style of basketball with mixed results. I would agree that the energy and effort is there and the team is measurably getting better during the season. The top performer has been Marcus Jackson, who showed flashes of potential last season but has brought his game up several notches this year. You can also see the improvement in his game over the past 3-5 games compared to the first 8 games of the season. He is becoming less selfish with the ball and is acting more like a leader on the court. Seth G. has overachieved relative to his talent this year. He is understanding his role well and is not just sitting at the three point line and launching treys as he has been criticized for in the past (55 of his 125 shots have been from inside the arc). He also leads the team in rebounds.

Andrew Drone has struggled at times but has had some good stretches. For his size and strength he has not learned to explode to the basket and the team has not run their offense through the low post as much as the coaching staff wants, I think largely due to this inconsistency. Nate Pollard's freshman season has been difficult. He really could have used a red-shirt year to learn the game at this level and get stronger. I have seen no improvement in his game and I do not think he has earned any more minutes.

Early on, Mency and Rivers struggled to adjust to the D-1 game but you could see vast improvements over the past month. It really hurts that Rivers has left the team. Rivers, Mency and Jackson were the core which Rice could have built a competitive program around. This is the third player that has left the team since the fall (Rivers, Wilson, Xiu). The continued absence of Denzel Davis has curtailed his development and at this point, any understanding of his skill set or ability to help the team.

Dan Peera is not quick enough to be handling the minutes he is being asked to provide at guard but he is clearly respected by his teammates on the court for what he does with his talent. Jeremy Jones is just learning the system so I will reserve judgment on his game and development. Van Green has not been very impressive, except in small spurts, like skying for a couple of rebounds during the past 2 or 3 games (I had no idea how high he can jump) and some occasional defense. He is not as aggressive as I thought he would be on the offensive side of the ball (he has only taken 56 shots in 240 minutes of PT so far).

Max does not have the size to handle the point against certain teams so Marcus and others have had to step up and direct the team. It has also hurt on defense, in particular against N. Texas where he was over-matched a few times during the early 2nd half run by the Mean Green. It seems like Max's shooting % is better this year but I have not done a year-to-year comparison.

The rest of the bench has not played enough to have any real observation.

Several of the games have been closer that I expected but they are still 4 and 10, which is about where I though they would be at this point in the season.

I hope the coaching intensity of Coach Rhodes and his staff is one which the players adapt to effectively and eventually embrace. I am concerned about losing 3 players during the first half of the season, (for whatever reason). I am sure there are legitimate justifications for each situation, but it is still not a good trend.

I also asked and found out that attendance has increased over 30% at Autry/Tudor this year for the games compared to 2013-2014. There are still far too many empty seats for my taste but the trend is encouraging. This board has often been hypercritical of the "marketing" efforts for the program so I think that they should be recognized when things improve, as they have been, at least in marketing for the basketball games.

Kayjay - good post. I wouldn't be too worried when a walk-on like Xu quits. I was a walk-on baseball player and I quit at some point (as did other walk-ons). D1 sports is just a huge time committment. And while it is fun and an honor to be part of the team, if you know you don't really have the talent to make an positive impact on the team, sometimes guys go a different direction. Wasn't Ross Wilson's departure injury-related? If not, then I agree losing 2 guys is disappointing. But if Wilson was an injury issue, then I'm not too concerned about losing 1 guy. I do hope Denzel Davis gets to contribute at some point, whether he is out of games right now because of injury or other issues.

(01-12-2015 01:01 PM)Kayjay Wrote:  My grade for the team at this point has to be an incomplete. Since the new coaching staff arrived, the team has begun to transition to a different style of basketball with mixed results. I would agree that the energy and effort is there and the team is measurably getting better during the season. The top performer has been Marcus Jackson, who showed flashes of potential last season but has brought his game up several notches this year. You can also see the improvement in his game over the past 3-5 games compared to the first 8 games of the season. He is becoming less selfish with the ball and is acting more like a leader on the court. Seth G. has overachieved relative to his talent this year. He is understanding his role well and is not just sitting at the three point line and launching treys as he has been criticized for in the past (55 of his 125 shots have been from inside the arc). He also leads the team in rebounds.

Andrew Drone has struggled at times but has had some good stretches. For his size and strength he has not learned to explode to the basket and the team has not run their offense through the low post as much as the coaching staff wants, I think largely due to this inconsistency. Nate Pollard's freshman season has been difficult. He really could have used a red-shirt year to learn the game at this level and get stronger. I have seen no improvement in his game and I do not think he has earned any more minutes.

Early on, Mency and Rivers struggled to adjust to the D-1 game but you could see vast improvements over the past month. It really hurts that Rivers has left the team. The continued absence of Denzel Davis has curtailed his Rivers, Mency and Jackson were the core which Rice could have built a competitive program around. This is the third player that has left the team since the fall (Rivers, Wilson, Xiu). development and at this point, any understanding of his skill set or ability to help the team.

Dan Peera is not quick enough to be handling the minutes he is being asked to provide at guard but he is clearly respected by his teammates on the court for what he does with his talent. Jeremy Jones is just learning the system so I will reserve judgment on his game and development. Van Green has not been very impressive, except in small spurts, like skying for a couple of rebounds during the past 2 or 3 games (I had no idea how high he can jump) and some occasional defense. He is not as aggressive as I thought he would be on the offensive side of the ball (he has only taken 56 shots in 240 minutes of PT so far).

Max does not have the size to handle the point against certain teams so Marcus and others have had to step up and direct the team. It has also hurt on defense, in particular against N. Texas where he was over-matched a few times during the early 2nd half run by the Mean Green. It seems like Max's shooting % is better this year but I have not done a year-to-year comparison.

The rest of the bench has not played enough to have any real observation.

Several of the games have been closer that I expected but they are still 4 and 10, which is about where I though they would be at this point in the season.

I hope the coaching intensity of Coach Rhodes and his staff is one which the players adapt to effectively and eventually embrace. I am concerned about losing 3 players during the first half of the season, (for whatever reason). I am sure there are legitimate justifications for each situation, but it is still not a good trend.

I also asked and found out that attendance has increased over 30% at Autry/Tudor this year for the games compared to 2013-2014. There are still far too many empty seats for my taste but the trend is encouraging. This board has often been hypercritical of the "marketing" efforts for the program so I think that they should be recognized when things improve, as they have been, at least in marketing for the basketball games.

Good overall assessment. With regards to the comment in bold above, none of the active players on this year's team are likely to be "the core" of next year's squad. The transfer from Arizona (Russian) who is sitting out this season would have been the best player on this year's squad....hands down. He and the three 3-star recruits will form the core of the team-- and the future-- next year, with Jackson, Guercy, Mency and Drone providing support. Xiu left the program because it was quite clear he was not going to see minutes outside of garbage time, and he came to Rice primarily for the education. Not exactly a big loss. I don't know enough about Wilson to comment either way. As for Rivers, no question he was going to be a contributor, but until we know the facts behind his departure or dismissal (if we ever will), I'm not sure it's a big concern, save for badly hurting our already limited depth this year.

Well I really think Marcus has some skills and would be part of the "core". Agree on the rest though I think Max could still start at point-but I am perplexed as he is pretty much the same player as 2 years ago, or maybe has digressed a bit.

Rivers was a Braun recruit - that probably has something to do with him leaving. I agree with Walt that outside of Jackson and Mency (and Guercy and Drone in relief), I don't expect many of the underclassmen to be a significant part of the rotation next year. Although I'm a little concerned that we don't have much height coming in next year. But I don't want to lose any other players as we need to maintain enthusiasm and momentum with the coaching staff.

One has to believe that Coach Rhoades is scouring the country for a big man to take up Rivers' scholarship for next season; particularly given the uncertain/ambiguous Denzel Davis situation. Right now, Drone and Pollard are the only 2 guys over 6' 6", I believe, and that includes Egor (6' 5") and our 3 top recruits.

I think it's a little early for mid term grades. As we are just 3 games into conference with a brand new coach implementing a radically different playing style that was bound to shake things up in many ways from a team that was last out of 13 teams in a non-power league the previous year.

I am ecstatic that free throw shooting has improved as much as it has.

I'll probably have more insight after we see more of conference season. This season is about setting tone and expectations, so although I'd like the record to be better than it is so far, it's only a few months in.

Most of the insights posted have merit, and I frankly have been pleased with the competitiveness we have shown in the non-conference season in most games. I was not aware, or had forgotten that Rivers was a Braun recruit. I would be sad if coaching style and system were possible reasons for the situation, as I believe Rhoades has the right idea, attitude and coaching style to succeed here at Rice.

I am also glad to hear attendance is up 30%. What I have seen so far from the TV broadcasts is more entertaining to watch than many of the past years of Rice hoops.

The people that have come to watch for the most part are much more into the game they in past years. During this stretch of 3 CUSA games with the students gone the crowd intensity has been quite good. During the stretch of poor play against UNT things were quiet but once the Owls finally got it under 9 the crowd could sense a run was coming and immediately started making noise. It will me nice when the students are back and with the dept actively promoting the games to the campus it may yield a nice home court advantage.

I have been impressed with the improvement of Andrew Drone. At times last year, he appeared to be lost. This year, he is doing a much better job rebounding and scoring.