(02-12-2021 09:48 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  

(02-12-2021 09:45 PM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  

(02-12-2021 09:37 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  One of our worst stretches of ball all year. 58-53 WKU turns into 75-61 WKU. Way too much Havsa in this half. Don't get sitting Abercrombie at the 7 minute mark down 10. Still bitter about Evee only playing 8 minutes in the first half. Still bitter that Rice clearly doesn't care enough about its sports to even have somebody watching the games. 350 other D1 programs would have been tweeting or posting about Olivari's dunk, not that it matters any now.

Seriously? In the previous 15 seasons, Rice men's basketball has had exactly TWO seasons with winning records. Add to that, Rice seemingly has 5 new starters every year. And you blame the fans for not getting on board with this dumpster fire?

I'm talking about people who work for Rice Athletics. As in, any functioning athletics department would have had somebody see a spectacular play and immediately try to get it attention. Because even a small amount of publicity on Twitter is better than nothing. But it's clear that nobody at Rice Athletics is watching the game or cares enough.

Anyway, a Bassey block and a Hollingsworth layup probably ices the game. 77-69 WKU with under a minute left.

tsk, tsk...have you forgotten that Rice is the "no sandwich boards" school? unconventional marketing = no marketing. Now, get back in line, comrade.

Olivari's gonna leave the arena and realize not one person associated with Rice cares enough about the program to promote him. And we wonder why 4-5 guys transfer out of the program each year. Because it's not just about some silly video. It's about building a program and the individuals within the program. This is the *easiest* exposure that Rice could ever get. It'll be minor, just a few eyeballs, but it literally costs nothing and takes a minute. And for Olivari, who eventually wants to play professionally, it's some tiny promotion for him. Maybe some scout in a year or two is scanning through boxscores and remembers his name (unlikely but who cares).

Freaking Longwood University (picking randomly) posts detailed game threads on Twitter with videos. Longwood, which hasn't won more than 17 games in like forever, and has nowhere near the budget of Rice, cares more about their basketball program than us. No offense to Longwood, go Lancers.

And just to finish my rant, because evidently Rice has turned me into a grumpy old man, Evee, who sat for 12 minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul because of Pera's fear he would pick up a 3rd foul, finished the game with...two fouls.

(02-12-2021 10:18 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Olivari's gonna leave the arena and realize not one person associated with Rice cares enough about the program to promote him. And we wonder why 4-5 guys transfer out of the program each year. Because it's not just about some silly video. It's about building a program and the individuals within the program. This is the *easiest* exposure that Rice could ever get. It'll be minor, just a few eyeballs, but it literally costs nothing and takes a minute. And for Olivari, who eventually wants to play professionally, it's some tiny promotion for him. Maybe some scout in a year or two is scanning through boxscores and remembers his name (unlikely but who cares).

Freaking Longwood University (picking randomly) posts detailed game threads on Twitter with videos. Longwood, which hasn't won more than 17 games in like forever, and has nowhere near the budget of Rice, cares more about their basketball program than us. No offense to Longwood, go Lancers.

And just to finish my rant, because evidently Rice has turned me into a grumpy old man, Evee, who sat for 12 minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul because of Pera's fear he would pick up a 3rd foul, finished the game with...two fouls.

We do it as well when we're at home; simply not when we're on the road. In fact, we do it for all our sports at home-- including WBB and WVB. Continuous tweets throughout the game, many with videos attached.

And Olivari's dunk was just posted by Rice Athletics on twitter, with a shout out to @sportscenter....

https://twitter.com/RiceAthletics/status...9432256514

(02-12-2021 10:38 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(02-12-2021 10:18 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Olivari's gonna leave the arena and realize not one person associated with Rice cares enough about the program to promote him. And we wonder why 4-5 guys transfer out of the program each year. Because it's not just about some silly video. It's about building a program and the individuals within the program. This is the *easiest* exposure that Rice could ever get. It'll be minor, just a few eyeballs, but it literally costs nothing and takes a minute. And for Olivari, who eventually wants to play professionally, it's some tiny promotion for him. Maybe some scout in a year or two is scanning through boxscores and remembers his name (unlikely but who cares).

Freaking Longwood University (picking randomly) posts detailed game threads on Twitter with videos. Longwood, which hasn't won more than 17 games in like forever, and has nowhere near the budget of Rice, cares more about their basketball program than us. No offense to Longwood, go Lancers.

And just to finish my rant, because evidently Rice has turned me into a grumpy old man, Evee, who sat for 12 minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul because of Pera's fear he would pick up a 3rd foul, finished the game with...two fouls.

We do it as well when we're at home; simply not when we're on the road. In fact, we do it for all our sports at home-- including WBB and WVB. Continuous tweets throughout the game, many with videos attached.

Sure, but Longwood does it on the road. Why can they do it for a game at Presbyterian but we can't for a game at WKU (especially one that's on TV)?

Anyway, my long nightmare is over because they have officially posted video of the dunk. I'll be putting away my Winchester until the next battle.

(02-12-2021 10:43 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  

(02-12-2021 10:38 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(02-12-2021 10:18 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Olivari's gonna leave the arena and realize not one person associated with Rice cares enough about the program to promote him. And we wonder why 4-5 guys transfer out of the program each year. Because it's not just about some silly video. It's about building a program and the individuals within the program. This is the *easiest* exposure that Rice could ever get. It'll be minor, just a few eyeballs, but it literally costs nothing and takes a minute. And for Olivari, who eventually wants to play professionally, it's some tiny promotion for him. Maybe some scout in a year or two is scanning through boxscores and remembers his name (unlikely but who cares).

Freaking Longwood University (picking randomly) posts detailed game threads on Twitter with videos. Longwood, which hasn't won more than 17 games in like forever, and has nowhere near the budget of Rice, cares more about their basketball program than us. No offense to Longwood, go Lancers.

And just to finish my rant, because evidently Rice has turned me into a grumpy old man, Evee, who sat for 12 minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul because of Pera's fear he would pick up a 3rd foul, finished the game with...two fouls.

We do it as well when we're at home; simply not when we're on the road. In fact, we do it for all our sports at home-- including WBB and WVB. Continuous tweets throughout the game, many with videos attached.

Sure, but Longwood does it on the road. Why can they do it for a game at Presbyterian but we can't for a game at WKU (especially one that's on TV)?

Anyway, my long nightmare is over because they have officially posted video of the dunk. I'll be putting away my Winchester until the next battle.

Funny you said Longwood as they actually have a coach that Rice might should consider if Pera ever leaves. Lots of Houston connection for him.

(02-12-2021 10:56 PM)AggieOwl84 Wrote:  

(02-12-2021 10:43 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  

(02-12-2021 10:38 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(02-12-2021 10:18 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Olivari's gonna leave the arena and realize not one person associated with Rice cares enough about the program to promote him. And we wonder why 4-5 guys transfer out of the program each year. Because it's not just about some silly video. It's about building a program and the individuals within the program. This is the *easiest* exposure that Rice could ever get. It'll be minor, just a few eyeballs, but it literally costs nothing and takes a minute. And for Olivari, who eventually wants to play professionally, it's some tiny promotion for him. Maybe some scout in a year or two is scanning through boxscores and remembers his name (unlikely but who cares).

Freaking Longwood University (picking randomly) posts detailed game threads on Twitter with videos. Longwood, which hasn't won more than 17 games in like forever, and has nowhere near the budget of Rice, cares more about their basketball program than us. No offense to Longwood, go Lancers.

And just to finish my rant, because evidently Rice has turned me into a grumpy old man, Evee, who sat for 12 minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul because of Pera's fear he would pick up a 3rd foul, finished the game with...two fouls.

We do it as well when we're at home; simply not when we're on the road. In fact, we do it for all our sports at home-- including WBB and WVB. Continuous tweets throughout the game, many with videos attached.

Sure, but Longwood does it on the road. Why can they do it for a game at Presbyterian but we can't for a game at WKU (especially one that's on TV)?

Anyway, my long nightmare is over because they have officially posted video of the dunk. I'll be putting away my Winchester until the next battle.

Funny you said Longwood as they actually have a coach that Rice might should consider if Pera ever leaves. Lots of Houston connection for him.

I'm still dead set on hiring Swarthmore's HC if Pera leaves.

(02-12-2021 11:01 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  

(02-12-2021 10:56 PM)AggieOwl84 Wrote:  

(02-12-2021 10:43 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  

(02-12-2021 10:38 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(02-12-2021 10:18 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Olivari's gonna leave the arena and realize not one person associated with Rice cares enough about the program to promote him. And we wonder why 4-5 guys transfer out of the program each year. Because it's not just about some silly video. It's about building a program and the individuals within the program. This is the *easiest* exposure that Rice could ever get. It'll be minor, just a few eyeballs, but it literally costs nothing and takes a minute. And for Olivari, who eventually wants to play professionally, it's some tiny promotion for him. Maybe some scout in a year or two is scanning through boxscores and remembers his name (unlikely but who cares).

Freaking Longwood University (picking randomly) posts detailed game threads on Twitter with videos. Longwood, which hasn't won more than 17 games in like forever, and has nowhere near the budget of Rice, cares more about their basketball program than us. No offense to Longwood, go Lancers.

And just to finish my rant, because evidently Rice has turned me into a grumpy old man, Evee, who sat for 12 minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul because of Pera's fear he would pick up a 3rd foul, finished the game with...two fouls.

We do it as well when we're at home; simply not when we're on the road. In fact, we do it for all our sports at home-- including WBB and WVB. Continuous tweets throughout the game, many with videos attached.

Sure, but Longwood does it on the road. Why can they do it for a game at Presbyterian but we can't for a game at WKU (especially one that's on TV)?

Anyway, my long nightmare is over because they have officially posted video of the dunk. I'll be putting away my Winchester until the next battle.

Funny you said Longwood as they actually have a coach that Rice might should consider if Pera ever leaves. Lots of Houston connection for him.

I'm still dead set on hiring Swarthmore's HC if Pera leaves.

Didn’t we have a player transfer to Longwood several years ago?

(02-12-2021 10:18 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Olivari's gonna leave the arena and realize not one person associated with Rice cares enough about the program to promote him. And we wonder why 4-5 guys transfer out of the program each year. Because it's not just about some silly video. It's about building a program and the individuals within the program. This is the *easiest* exposure that Rice could ever get. It'll be minor, just a few eyeballs, but it literally costs nothing and takes a minute. And for Olivari, who eventually wants to play professionally, it's some tiny promotion for him. Maybe some scout in a year or two is scanning through boxscores and remembers his name (unlikely but who cares).

Freaking Longwood University (picking randomly) posts detailed game threads on Twitter with videos. Longwood, which hasn't won more than 17 games in like forever, and has nowhere near the budget of Rice, cares more about their basketball program than us. No offense to Longwood, go Lancers.

And just to finish my rant, because evidently Rice has turned me into a grumpy old man, Evee, who sat for 12 minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul because of Pera's fear he would pick up a 3rd foul, finished the game with...two fouls.

elw, you seem to follow basketball as closely as anybody. It seemed like we had some momentum going with Tudor's backing, Tudor arena, and the Rhoades hire and his mild success, but it has all fallen apart and now seems just about as hopeless as ever. But there has to be some way we could turn this around. What do you think we need to have happen to actually have a successful men's program? What are we missing? What changes would you make if you had a magic wand?

I'm generally curious as I don't follow as closely these days.

In my eyes, the only way a school like Rice creates a successful MBB program is by hitting on a coach who is both talented and, for whatever reason, wants to remain at Rice for an extended period of time. I've mentioned this before on this forum, but the model mid-major D1 programs (at least for Rice) are probably Davidson and Belmont. And the common thread between the two programs is the head coach. Namely, Belmont got Rick Byrd and Davidson got Bob McKillop, both of who were innovative offensive coaches who recruited well for their respective systems and wanted to stay at their respective school. And they created cultures that attracted and kept players (not necessarily instantaneously, but over time).

The obvious problem is that the model is ridiculously hard to replicate because you have to hit the lottery on a coach. You're basically trying to find a brilliant, under-the-radar 30-50 year old who has no aspirations beyond coaching at a CUSA school or who falls in love with Rice. Good luck.

The alternative to that - building a culture a la Grand Canyon - just doesn't seem achievable at a place like Rice. And that's largely down to the student body. The type of kids Rice attracts and accepts makes it an extremely welcoming community, but it also sort of segregates athletics. In my four years it felt like the middle part of the Venn diagram, the intersection of normal students and students who wanted to support athletes, was miniscule. And I don't see that changing because the administration understandably wants to keep that feeling of community. I personally think there's a way to maintain the culture and also admit a few more students that might support basketball and football, but I have no power.

I do think there are small changes that Rice could make to at least try to attract more student support. I've been advocating for this for a while, but I abhor our nonconference scheduling. I have no evidence to support the theory, but I'd guess that more students would show up for a home game against Princeton or Harvard than Incarnate Word or Lamar. If I'm on the MBB staff, every year I'm trying to get away games at places like Duke, Stanford and UVA (I don't care if we lose by 40 every year). I'm trying to play Houston twice a year. And I'm trying to get home and aways with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. It might not work, but at least it would beat the stale schedules we normally have.

I should also add that there is a chance that Pera can be that coach. There are legitimate bright spots this year that should give fans hope. But there are also serious question marks. The defense generally. The inability to keep players in the program. And the lingering question of whether, with James Harden heading to New York, whether Pera might return to the northeast.

Fiedler's game last night (just 2 points and just 2 FGA) hopefully will convince him that he's not ready for a power 5 conference after this season. Although to be fair, he still had 9 rebounds and 4 blocks so it's not like he was completely overmatched by Bassey (who is absolutely an NBA player). And it didn't look like we shot interior shots at all during the game.

Maybe we could squeak out a win today as we're in danger of dropping into a tie for 6th in the West with another loss. As I've said repeatedly, our schedule to close out the year is really tough. And it's quite unfair how the teams close to us in the standings have a much easier conference schedule than we do (we have 6 games against the top 3 teams in the East, while UTSA, UTEP and USM have 6 games against bottom half eastern teams).

I knew plenty of kids who could’ve gone to Rice but went to Duke and are obsessed with Duke basketball. Winning cures all. So does playing against universities you recognize. Even the kids who didn’t care about Rice football at all would show up for UT/A&M games. We had full houses for Memphis basketball when they were good.

(02-13-2021 12:25 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  I knew plenty of kids who could’ve gone to Rice but went to Duke and are obsessed with Duke basketball. Winning cures all. So does playing against universities you recognize. Even the kids who didn’t care about Rice football at all would show up for UT/A&M games. We had full houses for Memphis basketball when they were good.

The problem is that historically, Rice has had one of the very worst basketball programs in the nation. That is fact, not hyperbole. In the 50 seasons since Rice last went to the NCAA Tournament, the program has had only 12 seasons with winning records.

The reason why the comparison to Gonzaga is ludicrous is that the Bulldogs' program was not a wasteland prior to Mark Few's arrival for the 1999-2000 season. In the 28 seasons from the last year Rice went to the Tournament until 1999, Gonzaga had FOUR seasons with LOSING records.

Apples to oranges.

(02-13-2021 02:23 PM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  

(02-13-2021 12:25 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  I knew plenty of kids who could’ve gone to Rice but went to Duke and are obsessed with Duke basketball. Winning cures all. So does playing against universities you recognize. Even the kids who didn’t care about Rice football at all would show up for UT/A&M games. We had full houses for Memphis basketball when they were good.

The problem is that historically, Rice has had one of the very worst basketball programs in the nation. That is fact, not hyperbole. In the 50 seasons since Rice last went to the NCAA Tournament, the program has had only 12 seasons with winning records.
The reason why the comparison to Gonzaga is ludicrous is that the Bulldogs' program was not a wasteland prior to Mark Few's arrival for the 1999-2000 season. In the 28 seasons from the last year Rice went to the Tournament until 1999, Gonzaga had FOUR seasons with LOSING records.
Apples to oranges.

That's a factor if you are unwilling to change the culture. But a transformative leader can change that culture. K-State had the worst cumulative football record in the country before Bill Snyder got there. He did some things that I find disgusting, but he changed the culture drastically, and K-State is now fairly regularly a football power.

Rice needs a major paradigm shift in the culture of its athletics program.

(02-13-2021 02:37 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(02-13-2021 02:23 PM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  

(02-13-2021 12:25 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  I knew plenty of kids who could’ve gone to Rice but went to Duke and are obsessed with Duke basketball. Winning cures all. So does playing against universities you recognize. Even the kids who didn’t care about Rice football at all would show up for UT/A&M games. We had full houses for Memphis basketball when they were good.

The problem is that historically, Rice has had one of the very worst basketball programs in the nation. That is fact, not hyperbole. In the 50 seasons since Rice last went to the NCAA Tournament, the program has had only 12 seasons with winning records.
The reason why the comparison to Gonzaga is ludicrous is that the Bulldogs' program was not a wasteland prior to Mark Few's arrival for the 1999-2000 season. In the 28 seasons from the last year Rice went to the Tournament until 1999, Gonzaga had FOUR seasons with LOSING records.
Apples to oranges.

That's a factor if you are unwilling to change the culture. But a transformative leader can change that culture. K-State had the worst cumulative football record in the country before Bill Snyder got there. He did some things that I find disgusting, but he changed the culture drastically, and K-State is now fairly regularly a football power.

Rice needs a major paradigm shift in the culture of its athletics program.

Agreed. But the coaches are trying their best to succeed without the proper guidance and assistance from the university's leaders.

Extraordinarily soft by Fiedler already tonight. And another poor start overall. 10-3 WKU.

22-16 WKU. Defense getting shredded again. Pera content to give WKU open 3s all game which is fine against a team that struggles to shoot...except they're making them tonight. So maybe we need a wrinkle now and again.

27-21 WKU at 7:53. I swear, some of the turnovers this team commits are comedic. Entirely unnecessary. Sheffield fumbles the ball, Sheffield turns down a wide open 3 and instead drives into a wall of defenders, Havsa runs wildly out of control in transition, etc. etc. Cut those errors out and maybe you can call us a good team. But with them, and with the sporadic defense, we're bang average.

How many freaking times are Sheffield and Abercrombie going to give Frampton room to shoot? Will it take the 4th time he bangs one in their face? The 5th time? The one guy on the entire roster that you have to close hard and make drive, and it's like not one guy has taken the scouting report to heart. 34-26 WKU. Same story as last game. Rice closes it to 3, WKU goes on a 5-0 run. Seems like nobody can make a shot when we actually close the gap.

Nightmare half from Sheffield. Both times that Rice has made runs to close to 3 or 5, he's committed awful turnovers. WKU now up 41-28.