According to Pomeroy:

66. Middle Tennessee (7-1)
67. Old Dominion (7-3)
107. Louisiana Tech (7-3)
114. UAB (6-4)
117. Western Kentucky (6-3)
182. Marshall (7-3)
200. UTEP (3-6)
205. UTSA (6-5)
244. Florida Atlantic (6-3)
250. North Texas (6-5)
267. Charlotte (3-6)
272. Southern Miss (5-4)
288. Florida Int'l (5-4)
298. Rice (2-7)

Note: In the 2013-14 season (the last one with Ben Braun), Rice finished #299.

Thanks Mike Rhoades!

WRC - do you think Pera is a good coach who has been handed a really tough task because of Rhoades?

(12-13-2017 02:00 AM)mrbig Wrote:  WRC - do you think Pera is a good coach who has been handed a really tough task because of Rhoades?

At this early juncture, it is impossible to determine Pera's ability to be a good head coach/recruiter. I have hopes for him, because I don't see the same moral failings of other coaches who simply use any opportunity to publicize themselves at the expense of players and universities.

(12-13-2017 02:00 AM)mrbig Wrote:  WRC - do you think Pera is a good coach who has been handed a really tough task because of Rhoades?

Hard to tell about the quality of coach, but you can tell he was dealt a deck that was missing a lot of cards.

Rhoades was great while he was here, but he sure screwed us by leaving at the time he did and the resulting fall out of players leaving (which almost all certainly related back to him leaving) decimated the team in the same way the RG exodus did.

Until we establish a few good seasons in a row, I think basketball is going to be stuck in these boom or bust cycles since transferring is so easy, and each defection carries so much weight.

My thoughts on the season so far:

1) Pera was dealt a tough hand. I think that we were overly optimistic about the level of talent that stuck with us.

2) Rhoades is a better player/game coach than Pera. Rhoades came into Rice with no existing talent. His first year, Rhoades got far more out of the existing players than anyone had any right to expect. That team lacked talent but was super fun to watch. This year's team is not super fun to watch.

3) It is far too early to judge Pera overall. We need to see the players he brings in and what he does with them. I'm not convinced that Rhoades was on track to bring in better talent that he already had. His best recruiting class was his first full class. His second class is still pretty much with us and appears to be a big step backwards in talent compared to the first class. He did not appear to have anyone special headed our way for this year before he left.

4) I'm not sure we will beat St. Edwards tomorrow.

Agree with that and would add the following:

1) AD's job in any University when a coach leaves is to evaluate if the program is going in right direction to meet goals or not. We have heard JK say many times that 'continuity' was needed in this situation so clearly he believed it was going in right direction above/beyond Rhoades.

2) We know JK had the players in his ear about Pera and my $.02 is that it carried weight...too much IMO. I heard some famous AD (can't remember name..maybe Broyles?) say 'never listen to the players when making a coaching decision' He seemed to be right here as they hit the eject button after trying to lobby to get their guy in the chair.

3) Need to find people who want to be at Rice, not want to use Rice as a stepping stone to something else. Rhoades was here for a stepping stone and the players he recruited were not here for a Rice education. The loyalties were all personal to individuals at the program, not to the University. I think that Pera does want to be here, did want the job, etc. and that carried weight as well.

Ultimately an AD will be judged on results in MBB and FB as 90% of success on the job (see Nebraska and Tennessee as recent examples).

I think JK's mistake was not necessarily hiring Pera but not by running any real process to see if there were better/other alternatives. He made his mind-up on continuity as the # 1 thing but I would have gotten some market feedback to help me in that decision vs. knee jerk response in the moment to bring stability to an unstable situation that ultimately became unstable anyway.

It is still early but this team has not shown anything (despite Pera's optimistic social media posts) that it can overachieve and punch above its weight. Nobody expected any postseason action but also nobody expected a game like St. Edwards to be in doubt before it is played either.

I do agree Rhoades showed an ability to get more from less than Pera has so far. Lot riding on new folks coming in next year to change trajectory.

The combined records of Rice Football and MBB for one season should/could be an all-time low in 2017 for the two most important sports...and this is C-USA, not the SWC. And there have been some bad Rice teams over those years but can't think of a combined losing % of both sports that may be lower than this year.

Pera has said multiple times he wants to recruit players who want to be at Rice. If he's given a chance (a couple of years beyond this season), I think he'll do good things with the program.

(12-13-2017 12:34 PM)owl40 Wrote:  The combined records of Rice Football and MBB for one season should/could be an all-time low in 2017 for the two most important sports...and this is C-USA, not the SWC. And there have been some bad Rice teams over those years but can't think of a combined losing % of both sports that may be lower than this year.

I dunno, I suspect some years in the 80's may be worse record wise, but as you noted that was the SWC, not CUSA 3.0.....

we are out-rebounding our opponents, which might be a nice indicator of effort. On the skills dimensions--shooting, steals, and turnovers--we lag badly.

disappointing that Harrison and Meyer not getting more minutes, but can flip that around to be optimistic about Osborne who is getting minutes (I haven't seen the team play).

We have seen both Braun and Rhoades get from worst team in country to an alphabet tournament in 3 years. We have seen how a single great player (Kazimi, Evans) can change the trajectory rapidly.

There are so many players that I have to remain optimistic. there are even a lot of players who
a. are nowhere close to one-and-done types
b. can do academic work
c. know there is a reasonable chance they will need a degree rather than play pro ball

And I'll repeat that we should be looking for transfers who are getting 10 mpg at a top 40 team and could play 30 minutes for us.

And something needs to be done about the schedule. I'm not buying the RPI excuse. here are teams that top teams are playing

villanova played nicholls state
sparty played north florida and stoney brook
duke played utah valley and southern

and we need to find a way to get UT, TAMU and LSU to Tudor. 2 for 1 or 3 for 1 if necessary.

I wouldn't travel out of state to play a bad team. And we can fill in home schedules with SWAC as necessary to balance out the games above.

One thing I feat is that scheduling cupcakes to pad win totals probably accelerates departure of coach without accelerating NCAA tournament bid.

(12-13-2017 03:42 PM)MemOwl Wrote:  we are out-rebounding our opponents, which might be a nice indicator of effort. On the skills dimensions--shooting, steals, and turnovers--we lag badly.

disappointing that Harrison and Meyer not getting more minutes, but can flip that around to be optimistic about Osborne who is getting minutes (I haven't seen the team play).

We have seen both Braun and Rhoades get from worst team in country to an alphabet tournament in 3 years. We have seen how a single great player (Kazimi, Evans) can change the trajectory rapidly.

There are so many players that I have to remain optimistic. there are even a lot of players who
a. are nowhere close to one-and-done types
b. can do academic work
c. know there is a reasonable chance they will need a degree rather than play pro ball

And I'll repeat that we should be looking for transfers who are getting 10 mpg at a top 40 team and could play 30 minutes for us.

And something needs to be done about the schedule. I'm not buying the RPI excuse. here are teams that top teams are playing

villanova played nicholls state
sparty played north florida and stoney brook
duke played utah valley and southern

and we need to find a way to get UT, TAMU and LSU to Tudor. 2 for 1 or 3 for 1 if necessary.

I wouldn't travel out of state to play a bad team. And we can fill in home schedules with SWAC as necessary to balance out the games above.

One thing I feat is that scheduling cupcakes to pad win totals probably accelerates departure of coach without accelerating NCAA tournament bid.

On the transfer note I think Parrish fits that bill nicely. Sounds like he’d easily be our best player this year. Egor was the same way when he transferred in. I agree I’d like to take 1 like that each year and 1 grad transfer. Do that and bring in 3-4 freshmen each year and you’re never starting from scratch.

Let's keep in mind that Cashaw and Lapray have only played together in 3 games so far this year. It's awfully tough when we only have one outside shooter on the floor.

(12-13-2017 03:42 PM)MemOwl Wrote:  One thing I feat is that scheduling cupcakes to pad win totals probably accelerates departure of coach without accelerating NCAA tournament bid.

I don't think so. I think they are independent of each other.

Braun and Bailiff scheduled and beat plenty of cupcakes and no one wanted them while at Rice or even after. Rhoades also scheduled cupcakes but he got hired away; I suspect due to his potential and not his win total.

That said, yes - scheduling cupcakes is a good way to feel better about ourselves while ensuring we aren't getting closer to the NCAA tournament. And why I personally oppose the concept vehemently.

I think we should give Pera three years to see if he can improve the program. I would have not hired him until going through the process like the football coach was chosen. I hope JK learned his lesson because it could be a costly mistake. The biggest fallacy I saw in Rhodes and now Pera is you have to recruit more players from Texas and they will tend not to jump ship since they be playing close to home.

(12-13-2017 03:42 PM)MemOwl Wrote:  we are out-rebounding our opponents, which might be a nice indicator of effort. On the skills dimensions--shooting, steals, and turnovers--we lag badly.

disappointing that Harrison and Meyer not getting more minutes, but can flip that around to be optimistic about Osborne who is getting minutes (I haven't seen the team play).

We have seen both Braun and Rhoades get from worst team in country to an alphabet tournament in 3 years. We have seen how a single great player (Kazimi, Evans) can change the trajectory rapidly.

There are so many players that I have to remain optimistic. there are even a lot of players who
a. are nowhere close to one-and-done types
b. can do academic work
c. know there is a reasonable chance they will need a degree rather than play pro ball

And I'll repeat that we should be looking for transfers who are getting 10 mpg at a top 40 team and could play 30 minutes for us.

And something needs to be done about the schedule. I'm not buying the RPI excuse. here are teams that top teams are playing

villanova played nicholls state
sparty played north florida and stoney brook
duke played utah valley and southern

and we need to find a way to get UT, TAMU and LSU to Tudor. 2 for 1 or 3 for 1 if necessary.

I wouldn't travel out of state to play a bad team. And we can fill in home schedules with SWAC as necessary to balance out the games above.

One thing I feat is that scheduling cupcakes to pad win totals probably accelerates departure of coach without accelerating NCAA tournament bid.