Rice released its out of conference schedule today and we face only one P4 team in Stanford. Looking like Lanier is hoping to stack some wins against lesser competition.
Other thing of note with the release is the players featured on the graphic. Cole Andrew’s-Heinz was featured and I believe this could be a signal that he is finally going to be featured in the rotation, as many in this sub have wanted for the last couple years. Excited for the season!

Okay then, let’s go get some wins!

The conference may also want for its non-at-large contenders to rack up a few more wins to improve the chances of others in the league to get better metrics (at least those who beat Rice)

(09-14-2026 08:53 PM)OwlLifer1969 Wrote:  Rice released its out of conference schedule today and we face only one P4 team in Stanford. Looking like Lanier is hoping to stack some wins against lesser competition.
Other thing of note with the release is the players featured on the graphic. Cole Andrew’s-Heinz was featured and I believe this could be a signal that he is finally going to be featured in the rotation, as many in this sub have wanted for the last couple years. Excited for the season!

This might be a tougher schedule OOC than last year. SFA, Arkansas State, Texas Southern, and Sam Houston are legitimate competition.

We played SFA and Arkansas State last year too (both at home - this year they are both on the road). Last year we also had Oregon and Tennessee on the road. The schedule could be tougher but it probably depends on whom we play in that tournament. As I noted elsewhere, it is tougher just in the sense we have quite a few road games. Even Denver (who isn’t great) will be very tough because of the altitude.

Scout Jacksonville Classic
Nov. 22 vs Lamar
Nov. 24 vs UIC
Nov. 25 vs Ohio

Conference schedule has been released. We open the conference season at home on Dec. 30th vs Temple. First home conference opener since 2020-21! Meaning the last six seasons, we opened our conference on the road.

Men were picked next to last (ahead of UTSA) in preseason poll. Seemed pretty unanimous for Rice 12th and UTSA 13th (or maybe it’s 13th and 14th - I can’t remember how many teams play in the conference).

(10-09-2026 05:08 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Men were picked next to last (ahead of UTSA) in preseason poll. Seemed pretty unanimous for Rice 12th and UTSA 13th (or maybe it’s 13th and 14th - I can’t remember how many teams play in the conference).

13 American teams compete in MBB


{14 Football minus Army and Navy (Football-only) plus Wichita State (full member who does not field Football)}

Why is Lanier still here?

(10-10-2026 06:44 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  Why is Lanier still here?

Because he's a really good coach.

Preseason polls mean very little this day in the era of massive roster turnover. There’s a very good chance we are much better - we are just very young at the guard spot. Getting Dar back is huge. He showed moments two years ago where he was Rice’s best player since Trey Murphy (or maybe Quincy Olivari). Can he shoulder the responsibility of being the top scorer remains to be seen.

I try to remain mostly positive here so I need to stay away from the other thread. But prior to the football game, I checked out the second half of our men’s basketball scrimmage vs Texas State. We were down for much of the second half (6 to maybe 11 points) before we had a strong defensive finish.

We ended up winning the scrimmage by four. Our true freshman guard from Dallas is super impressive (I think he had 29 points today), and having Dar back is huge too. We still have some issues to work around, and don’t get me wrong, we are probably not challenging for a conference title. But we look a bit better than last year and some other newcomers who look decent.

Supposedly, we beat Louisiana last week in another scrimmage.

I also heard that Jaxon Thompson had a great scrimmage. I will be interested in seeing him compete. I have no idea if any of the forwards played well at the 4/5 position. That was a real struggle last year.

(10-17-2026 07:46 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I try to remain mostly positive here so I need to stay away from the other thread. But prior to the football game, I checked out the second half of our men’s basketball scrimmage vs Texas State. We were down for much of the second half (6 to maybe 11 points) before we had a strong defensive finish.

We ended up winning the scrimmage by four. Our true freshman guard from Dallas is super impressive (I think he had 29 points today), and having Dar back is huge too. We still have some issues to work around, and don’t get me wrong, we are probably not challenging for a conference title. But we look a bit better than last year and some other newcomers who look decent.

Supposedly, we beat Louisiana last week in another scrimmage.

How did Andrews-Heitz look? Hoping for a bigger role for him this year.

As good as you’d expect a walk-on to look against a top 120 team (in other words, he didn’t play).

Starters I think are Thompson (the freshman I mentioned earlier) and Myers (Juco transfer) at guard, Dar and Eguagie (who looked improved) at forward, and Oladakun at center. Howell and Adkins (USC Upstate transfer) were primary back-ups at guard, and Leeth (freshman from Tennessee) at forward. The two European freshmen both played a little - one of them (#3 I think - I need to double check the roster) is taller and can play inside more. Cochran didnt play any of the second half that I saw.

Two guards (Carroll and Hobbs) weren’t suited up but neither looked seriously hurt ((of course Hobbs pretty much missed all of last year). I never saw the 6-10 Charlotte transfer. I’m not sure what the deal is there.

Lanier is missing an opportunity to get fans interested and invested in the student-athletes. This is the second consecutive year with no kick-off event. Conversely, the women are holding their annual kick-off event next Tuesday (dinner before final exhibition). Lindsey puts the players upfront and this has in the past been one of the most fun events held by Rice Athletics.

(10-19-2026 03:55 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Lanier is missing an opportunity to get fans interested and invested in the student-athletes. This is the second consecutive year with no kick-off event. Conversely, the women are holding their annual kick-off event next Tuesday (dinner before final exhibition). Lindsey puts the players upfront and this has in the past been one of the most fun events held by Rice Athletics.

I didn't get any notification about the women's bball dinner.

To whom it may concern who is reading this: somebody has dropped the ball on promoting this year's dinner.