The women host Old Dominion today at 5 pm at Tudor. The Owls actually had the best non-conference record of anyone in CUSA although I'd say that their NC schedule was pretty poor (even worse than the men outside of the two close losses we had at LSU and Oklahoma State).

I think a couple of the women's teams are decent (?) but I'm guessing no one is going to run away from the conference either. There is a chance we'll be in the mix for a conference title this year as the women have really improved since the start of the year. I'll let someone else chime in on who the top teams are - I probably can give a pretty good estimate on the men's sides of things but I don't feel that confident about predicting how our women will finish.

Anyway here are the non-conference records of the various CUSA squads.

Rice 9-2
Charlotte and Marshall 8-3
Southern Miss and Western Kentucky 8-4
UAB 7-4
Louisiana Tech, MTSU and Old Dominion 5-6
Florida Atlantic and UTSA 4-7
North Texas 3-8
UTEP (wow) 3-9
FIU 2-9

FWIW Sagarin has these rankings:

67. Western Kentucky
94. Middle Tennessee
97. Charlotte
117. Rice
128. UAB
133. Southern Miss
157. Old Dominion
175. Louisiana Tech
190. Marshall
207. UTSA
216. North Texas
237. UTEP
275. Florida Atlantic
298. Florida International

Sagarin underranks us in all sports.
Case in point- we're 135 in Sagarin MBB vs 111 in Pomeroy right now.

Adjust the WBB ratings for Sagarin Bias and I'd say scientifically that we're 2nd in Conference.

Let the games begin!

Rice leads 15-12, end of the 1Q.

Rice loosing by one at the half. They do not look good so far but a lot of starters on the bench with two fouls.

(12-30-2016 06:26 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Rice leads 15-12, end of the 1Q.

Getting demolished in the fourth by a sub .500 team.

Not a good way to start conference.

BTW, NCAA RPI for Rice is 131.


53. Charlotte
91. Middle Tennessee
130. Western Kentucky
131. Rice
139. Southern Miss
140. UAB
179. Old Dominion
197. Marshall
220. Louisiana Tech
231. UTSA
259. Florida International
272. Florida Atlantic
273. North Texas
308. UTEP



http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-...etball-rpi

To be fair, ODU was ranked well ahead of Rice in the pre-season conference poll.

They looked unprepared and out of sink especially for the full court press. I hope they wake up the next game.

(12-30-2016 08:11 PM)InterestedX Wrote:  To be fair, ODU was ranked well ahead of Rice in the pre-season conference poll.

After the game, Massey showed Rice dropping 21 spots to 139, and ODU going up 2 spots to 137.

To the other poster who noted ODU was a sub-.500 team, they played a tough OOC schedule. Their Massey SOS (after the Rice game, which would have dropped it) was 92. Rice's (even with ODU) was 275. ODU played 5 teams in Massey's top 100, all of them losses. They have 1 bad loss, but beat every team in the 100 to 150 range they played.

The next 3 games for Rice women aren't any easier - Massey gives 40%, 22% and 32% chances to win each (in order).

ODU was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. They looked like a B10 program. #25 completely controlled the game and scored 25 points (she averages 26) and is the favorite for POY. The Lady Owls couldn't stop her from driving and with several other big players they effectively shut off Rice driving to the hoop. Their zone also made it more difficult from the 3 pt line. The 5-6 record they sported coming in was deceptive as they are a deep well coached team. Definitely a learning experience for the Lady Owls. Until we can get bigger (not just taller) inside as well as having a strong offensive threat from the guards it will be difficult to match up against teams like this.
Having said this I do think the Owls were clearly rattled in the 2nd half. As Dr Tiki said it looked like Rice was playing several Serena Williams given their size and strength.

#25 was New Comer of the Year her first year after transferring and was 1st Team All CUSA last year.
http://www.odusports.com/ViewArticle.dbm...EASON=2016

We should be a lot quicker though. That's why I was surprised the press hurt us so much. However, it shows we do not have the athletes in place yet to be a top contender in Conference USA.

(12-31-2016 10:36 AM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  ODU was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. They looked like a B10 program. #25 completely controlled the game and scored 25 points (she averages 26) and is the favorite for POY. The Lady Owls couldn't stop her from driving and with several other big players they effectively shut off Rice driving to the hoop. Their zone also made it more difficult from the 3 pt line. The 5-6 record they sported coming in was deceptive as they are a deep well coached team. Definitely a learning experience for the Lady Owls. Until we can get bigger (not just taller) inside as well as having a strong offensive threat from the guards it will be difficult to match up against teams like this.
Having said this I do think the Owls were clearly rattled in the 2nd half. As Dr Tiki said it looked like Rice was playing several Serena Williams given their size and strength.

#25 was New Comer of the Year her first year after transferring and was 1st Team All CUSA last year.
http://www.odusports.com/ViewArticle.dbm...EASON=2016

Not any discussion about it, but the lady Owls lost their 3rd straight conference game tonight, 71-61 @MTSU.

What the hell is going on with the women. Our two top shooters from last year , Rainey and Goodwine, have been terrible. Are they hurt or just in a slump. Maya is finally shooting the ball like her regualr self. I hope Langley can figure this out because they have not improved from last year.

(01-06-2017 01:24 AM)mrbig Wrote:  Not any discussion about it, but the lady Owls lost their 3rd straight conference game tonight, 71-61 @MTSU.

Women's game postponed until tomorrow due to weather.

(01-07-2017 12:20 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  Women's game postponed until tomorrow due to weather.

Now that's saying something for an (presumably) indoor event!