7th -- Rice 14-13
8th -- Marshall 12-14 currently losing to LaTech with 3 outs to go
9th -- FIU 12-15

Rice needs to win 2 of 3 at UAB to clinch tourney spot

[Rice needs to win next 4 games to reach .500 on the season]

Even if we don't win 2, Rice *probably* gets into the tournament with 15 conference wins, as I don't see FIU sweeping WKU AND Marshall sweeping Charlotte.

Certainly possible (maybe even likely) that one of those is a sweep, but somewhat improbable that both occur.

Still, if we can't squeak out two wins in BHam, I don't give us much of a shot in the conference tourney.

(05-14-2017 03:34 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Even if we don't win 2, Rice *probably* gets into the tournament with 15 conference wins, as I don't see FIU sweeping WKU AND Marshall sweeping Charlotte.

Certainly possible (maybe even likely) that one of those is a sweep, but somewhat improbable that both occur.

Still, if we can't squeak out two wins in BHam, I don't give us much of a shot in the conference tourney.

You do know our ugly history playing road games-- especially season-ending road games-- in Birmingham? It is our personal house of horrors.

And Marshall loses, so tied with FIU at 12-15

We're also a game behind Charlotte and UTSA (and have a tie-breaker advantage over both teams). Even if Marshall sweeps, one win next weekend will get us ahead of Charlotte. And UTSA plays USM so that's a tough weekend for them too. I think 1 win will probably get us in the tournament.

(05-14-2017 03:38 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 03:34 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Even if we don't win 2, Rice *probably* gets into the tournament with 15 conference wins, as I don't see FIU sweeping WKU AND Marshall sweeping Charlotte.

Certainly possible (maybe even likely) that one of those is a sweep, but somewhat improbable that both occur.

Still, if we can't squeak out two wins in BHam, I don't give us much of a shot in the conference tourney.

You do know our ugly history playing road games-- especially season-ending road games-- in Birmingham? It is our personal house of horrors.

Not sure what I said that refutes that history.

All I said was that if we can't win 2/3, I don't give us much of a shot in Biloxi.

Are you going to go give us much of a shot if we go in to Birmingham and lose 2/3 games?

(05-14-2017 03:27 PM)grol Wrote:  [Rice needs to win next 4 games to reach .500 on the season]

That's the goal. Not settling for 1 or 2 or 3.

(05-14-2017 06:20 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 03:27 PM)grol Wrote:  [Rice needs to win next 4 games to reach .500 on the season]

That's the goal. Not settling for 1 or 2 or 3.

Not sure why that's the goal. As FBO and others have correctly pointed out, the Tuesday game against Texas State means absolutely nothing. Zippo. And given how little pitching we have-- and how hit and miss it's been all year-- we can ill-afford to waste any of our 7 primary pitchers on Tuesday. We have no choice to play strategy at this point-- do everything possible to maximize our chances of taking at least 2 of 3 from UAB on Thursday - Saturday...and then turnaround quickly in Biloxi starting on Wednesday, where we have to find a way to stay in the winners bracket (as we surely do not have the pitching to come out of the losers bracket). Similarly, the offense has to find some consistency, and not keep going into hypernation after scoring early. Fortunately, Wayne has finally got his best, most productive lineup out there-- with Dunlap as DH and Warren in the #9 hole. For the life of me, I don't understand why Andrew was used so sparingly until a week ago.

(05-14-2017 07:39 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 06:20 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 03:27 PM)grol Wrote:  [Rice needs to win next 4 games to reach .500 on the season]

That's the goal. Not settling for 1 or 2 or 3.

Not sure why that's the goal. As FBO and others have correctly pointed out, the Tuesday game against Texas State means absolutely nothing. Zippo. And given how little pitching we have-- and how hit and miss it's been all year-- we can ill-afford to waste any of our 7 primary pitchers on Tuesday. We have no choice to play strategy at this point-- do everything possible to maximize our chances of taking at least 2 of 3 from UAB on Thursday - Saturday...and then turnaround quickly in Biloxi starting on Wednesday, where we have to find a way to stay in the winners bracket (as we surely do not have the pitching to come out of the losers bracket). Similarly, the offense has to find some consistency, and not keep going into hypernation after scoring early. Fortunately, Wayne has finally got his best, most productive lineup out there-- with Dunlap as DH and Warren in the #9 hole. For the life of me, I don't understand why Andrew was used so sparingly until a week ago.

I just don't like seeing us treating any game as a throwaway. Winning is the goal whenever we step on the field. Also, if this is the OG's last season, I do not want it to be a sub-.500 season - his first. I see the strategy behind dumping the midweek game, but it just rubs me the wrong way. kind of like the preseason game thingie I keep hearing about in football. I guess this means we treat Tuesday as a preseason game, as our season has come down to the conference tournament.

(05-14-2017 08:45 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 07:39 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 06:20 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 03:27 PM)grol Wrote:  [Rice needs to win next 4 games to reach .500 on the season]

That's the goal. Not settling for 1 or 2 or 3.

Not sure why that's the goal. As FBO and others have correctly pointed out, the Tuesday game against Texas State means absolutely nothing. Zippo. And given how little pitching we have-- and how hit and miss it's been all year-- we can ill-afford to waste any of our 7 primary pitchers on Tuesday. We have no choice to play strategy at this point-- do everything possible to maximize our chances of taking at least 2 of 3 from UAB on Thursday - Saturday...and then turnaround quickly in Biloxi starting on Wednesday, where we have to find a way to stay in the winners bracket (as we surely do not have the pitching to come out of the losers bracket). Similarly, the offense has to find some consistency, and not keep going into hypernation after scoring early. Fortunately, Wayne has finally got his best, most productive lineup out there-- with Dunlap as DH and Warren in the #9 hole. For the life of me, I don't understand why Andrew was used so sparingly until a week ago.

I just don't like seeing us treating any game as a throwaway. Winning is the goal whenever we step on the field. Also, if this is the OG's last season, I do not want it to be a sub-.500 season - his first. I see the strategy behind dumping the midweek game, but it just rubs me the wrong way. kind of like the preseason game thingie I keep hearing about in football. I guess this means we treat Tuesday as a preseason game, as our season has come down to the conference tournament.

Who ever said this will be The OG's last season? Given he has one year left on this contract, and given all he has meant to Rice Baseball, the athletic department and the University, I'd say there is just about zero possibility he won't be back for one more season. The only question is whether he announces in advance that next season will be his last (allowing us to get an early jump on hiring a fitting replacement).

(05-14-2017 10:25 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 08:45 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 07:39 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 06:20 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 03:27 PM)grol Wrote:  [Rice needs to win next 4 games to reach .500 on the season]

That's the goal. Not settling for 1 or 2 or 3.

Not sure why that's the goal. As FBO and others have correctly pointed out, the Tuesday game against Texas State means absolutely nothing. Zippo. And given how little pitching we have-- and how hit and miss it's been all year-- we can ill-afford to waste any of our 7 primary pitchers on Tuesday. We have no choice to play strategy at this point-- do everything possible to maximize our chances of taking at least 2 of 3 from UAB on Thursday - Saturday...and then turnaround quickly in Biloxi starting on Wednesday, where we have to find a way to stay in the winners bracket (as we surely do not have the pitching to come out of the losers bracket). Similarly, the offense has to find some consistency, and not keep going into hypernation after scoring early. Fortunately, Wayne has finally got his best, most productive lineup out there-- with Dunlap as DH and Warren in the #9 hole. For the life of me, I don't understand why Andrew was used so sparingly until a week ago.

I just don't like seeing us treating any game as a throwaway. Winning is the goal whenever we step on the field. Also, if this is the OG's last season, I do not want it to be a sub-.500 season - his first. I see the strategy behind dumping the midweek game, but it just rubs me the wrong way. kind of like the preseason game thingie I keep hearing about in football. I guess this means we treat Tuesday as a preseason game, as our season has come down to the conference tournament.

Who ever said this will be The OG's last season? Given he has one year left on this contract, and given all he has meant to Rice Baseball, the athletic department and the University, I'd say there is just about zero possibility he won't be back for one more season. The only question is whether he announces in advance that next season will be his last (allowing us to get an early jump on hiring a fitting replacement).

There seems to be a lot of sentiment here that JK should take steps. Maybe I am reading that wrong, but it sure seems that way to me. One possible step would be to persuade the OG to announce his retirement.

In any case, I believe that Graham has never had a sub-.500 season at Rice, and that is yet another streak i would not want to see broken.

(05-14-2017 11:08 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  In any case, I believe that Graham has never had a sub-.500 season at Rice, and that is yet another streak i would not want to see broken.

He had never had a losing season at Rice. His first team finished with a 29-26 record, a 13-win improvement over the previous season. Every team since then has had a .618 win percentage or better, pretty remarkable all things considered.

I heard (completely unverified) that Coach Graham has never had a losing season anywhere - HS, JC and Rice

From wiki:

"He has never had a losing season in 38 years as a high school or college coach."

(05-15-2017 09:44 PM)Old Sammy Wrote:  I heard (completely unverified) that Coach Graham has never had a losing season anywhere - HS, JC and Rice

(05-16-2017 12:48 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  From wiki:

"He has never had a losing season in 38 years as a high school or college coach."

That is insane. Hope the team wins enough games to continue that streak at least. Regardless of what any Rice fan thinks about the direction of the program, I think we can all agree that Coach Graham has been a remarkable coach (considering his entire tenure) and Rice has been amazingly lucky to have him.

(05-16-2017 01:11 AM)mrbig Wrote:  

(05-15-2017 09:44 PM)Old Sammy Wrote:  I heard (completely unverified) that Coach Graham has never had a losing season anywhere - HS, JC and Rice

(05-16-2017 12:48 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  From wiki:

"He has never had a losing season in 38 years as a high school or college coach."

That is insane. Hope the team wins enough games to continue that streak at least. Regardless of what any Rice fan thinks about the direction of the program, I think we can all agree that Coach Graham has been a remarkable coach (considering his entire tenure) and Rice has been amazingly lucky to have him.

I can't imagine anyone disagreeing with that statement.

(05-16-2017 11:59 AM)Minnewaska Owl Wrote:  

(05-16-2017 01:11 AM)mrbig Wrote:  

(05-15-2017 09:44 PM)Old Sammy Wrote:  I heard (completely unverified) that Coach Graham has never had a losing season anywhere - HS, JC and Rice

(05-16-2017 12:48 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  From wiki:

"He has never had a losing season in 38 years as a high school or college coach."

That is insane. Hope the team wins enough games to continue that streak at least. Regardless of what any Rice fan thinks about the direction of the program, I think we can all agree that Coach Graham has been a remarkable coach (considering his entire tenure) and Rice has been amazingly lucky to have him.

I can't imagine anyone disagreeing with that statement.

And this is one of the reasons I hope we win tonight. Dropping this game would make it much harder to reach .500 or better. No, I don't think it is important enough to pull out all the stops in an effort to win, burning our pitching, but I don't think a complete abdication of an effort to win is called for either. I trust Wayne to find the balance. I just hope our offense is good enough to make the pitching decisions easy.

(05-16-2017 01:11 AM)mrbig Wrote:  

(05-15-2017 09:44 PM)Old Sammy Wrote:  I heard (completely unverified) that Coach Graham has never had a losing season anywhere - HS, JC and Rice

(05-16-2017 12:48 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  From wiki:

"He has never had a losing season in 38 years as a high school or college coach."

That is insane. Hope the team wins enough games to continue that streak at least. Regardless of what any Rice fan thinks about the direction of the program, I think we can all agree that Coach Graham has been a remarkable coach (considering his entire tenure) and Rice has been amazingly lucky to have him.

+1000!

(05-16-2017 12:29 PM)4GOwls Wrote:  

(05-16-2017 01:11 AM)mrbig Wrote:  

(05-15-2017 09:44 PM)Old Sammy Wrote:  I heard (completely unverified) that Coach Graham has never had a losing season anywhere - HS, JC and Rice

(05-16-2017 12:48 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  From wiki:

"He has never had a losing season in 38 years as a high school or college coach."

That is insane. Hope the team wins enough games to continue that streak at least. Regardless of what any Rice fan thinks about the direction of the program, I think we can all agree that Coach Graham has been a remarkable coach (considering his entire tenure) and Rice has been amazingly lucky to have him.

+1000!

Its truly remarkable. I would venture to guess there are VERY few coaches in ANY sport that have never had a losing season over a period of 30+ years. Its basically too unrealistic to even comprehend.

The record that amazes me is Wayne's record at Rice against UH, which now stands at 84-35. Until last Tuesday, he was 50 games over .500 against UH.