Sigh, seems this happens every year the same at about this time...we get close and then fall down the mountaintop. After the Owl's three-game losing streak in conference, here's where we stand in the artificial race of Rice vs VCU in Men's Hoops:

Rice Owls 15-8 .652 6-6 .500 T4th CUSA
VCU Rams 18-7 .720 9-3 .750 1st A-10

Rice is currently 269th in defensive efficiency, allowing 1.044 points per possession. That won't get it done.

(02-09-2023 08:01 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Rice is currently 269th in defensive efficiency, allowing 1.044 points per possession. That won't get it done.

Never has and appears never will

Sigh...they won on a buzzerbeater Wed night away against current A-10 bottom-feeder Rhode Island; we lost last night at home against C-USA last place UTSA.

Rice Owls 16-10 .615 7-8 .467 T5th CUSA
VCU Rams 19-7 .731 10-3 .769 1st A-10

Rams have turned it on...won 5 in a row...2 games up on Flyers in A-10...Owls have stumbled yet again mid-conference season... lost 2 in a row, lost 7 of last 9 games....8 games back in CUSA...

Rice Owls 17-12 .586 8-10 .444 6th CUSA
VCU Rams 23-7 .767 14-3 .824 1st A-10

Not to be negative, but included in the Rice totals are victories over those noted basketball powers St. Thomas University; North American University (???) and the ever-powerful Jarvis Christian College.

Top-seed VCU beat eight-seed Davidson on Thursday in a 71-53 victory in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament quarterfinals. VCU will play Saint Louis on Saturday afternoon in the A-10 semifinals.

Third-seeded UAB rolled past 6th-seed Rice 87-60 in C-USA quarterfinals on Thursday evening. Rice will await a possible invite to the NIT or an alphabet tournament.

Rice Owls 18-15 .545 8-12 .400 6th CUSA L1
VCU Rams 25-7 .781 15-3 .833 1st A-10 W7


btw, the Owls were 2-1 this year against AP Top25 teams...that would be the Temple Owls, beating #16 Villanova 68-64 on Nov 11, beating #1 Houston 56-55 on Jan 22, and losing to #3 Houston 65-81 on Feb 5.

...and of course, the Owls finally made the NCAA Tourney, but again that would be the Kennesaw State Owls 26-8 (15-3 in A-Sun) who notched a 67-66 victory over Liberty on Sunday, March 5th, earning the Owls their first Atlantic Sun Conference championship and their first trip to the NCAA tournament.

Still awaiting the fate of the Owls, that's the top-seeded Florida Atlantic Owls 29-3 (18-2, CUSA), who creamed the Western Kentucky Marshmallows on Thursday 75-51.

Oh, and in case you were wondering...the Oregon Tech Hustlin' Owls finished the year 14-15 (11-11) with a 76-82 overtime loss thriller to Eastern Oregon in the quarterfinals of the Cascade Conference Championships (presented by USBank) in Quinn Coliseum. (Tech was leading 38-37 at the Half.)



That's your Owls wrappup for today, folks!

(03-10-2023 06:54 AM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Top-seed VCU beat eight-seed Davidson on Thursday in a 71-53 victory in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament quarterfinals. VCU will play Saint Louis on Saturday afternoon in the A-10 semifinals.

Third-seeded UAB rolled past 6th-seed Rice 87-60 in C-USA quarterfinals on Thursday evening. Rice will await a possible invite to the NIT or an alphabet tournament.

Rice Owls 18-15 .545 8-12 .400 6th CUSA L1
VCU Rams 25-7 .781 15-3 .833 1st A-10 W7


btw, the Owls were 2-1 this year against AP Top25 teams...that would be the Temple Owls, beating #16 Villanova 68-64 on Nov 11, beating #1 Houston 56-55 on Jan 22, and losing to #3 Houston 65-81 on Feb 5.

...and of course, the Owls finally made the NCAA Tourney, but again that would be the Kennesaw State Owls 26-8 (15-3 in A-Sun) who notched a 67-66 victory over Liberty on Sunday, March 5th, earning the Owls their first Atlantic Sun Conference championship and their first trip to the NCAA tournament.

Still awaiting the fate of the Owls, that's the top-seeded Florida Atlantic Owls 29-3 (18-2, CUSA), who creamed the Western Kentucky Marshmallows on Thursday 75-51.

Oh, and in case you were wondering...the Oregon Tech Hustlin' Owls finished the year 14-15 (11-11) with a 76-82 overtime loss thriller to Eastern Oregon in the quarterfinals of the Cascade Conference Championships (presented by USBank) in Quinn Coliseum. (Tech was leading 38-37 at the Half.)



That's your Owls wrappup for today, folks!

WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Southern Connecticut men's basketball lost to New Haven, 75-59, in the Northeast 10 Conference Quarterfinals at Charger Gymnasium in West Haven, Conn. Southern drops to 18-12 on the year while New Haven improved to 19-9.

New Haven led by as many as 13 points in the first half, 34-21, thanks to an 11-for-15 start from the floor including 5-of-6 from the outside. UNH's Ty Perry led the Chargers with 12 points, all coming from long range on 4-for-4 shooting from the outside. Trailing by 13, the Owls outscored New Haven, 13-4, on the final 7:36 of the half to head into the break down by just four points, 38-34. On the other end of the court, the Owls' defense held the Chargers to 3-of-9 shooting in the final eight minutes of the frame.

Looks like Rhoades/Byers/Scott are going to do the thing again. Gotta admit, I was rooting against them (which kind of surprised me). Nothing personal against Rhoades - don't think I've heard anybody say a bad thing about him. But man, the more I think about his tenure at Rice the worse I feel about it. Brought some incredibly exciting talent to Tudor and was a treat to watch somebody like Evans. But pretty clear the school meant nothing to him. Seemed destined to leave after only a few years even for schools that weren't big that big of a step up. And his recruiting philosophy was never going to work at Rice. He brought in guys who wanted to play for him and in his system, not guys who actually cared about what Rice offered. Was always going to doom any progress he made when he inevitably left.

I kind of disagree. He and Pera have a relationship like Goldsmith and Hatfield. I don’t think Rhoades would have left if Pera wasn’t immediately offered the job as his replacement. I personally liked Rhoades quite a bit, and he’s been about the only successful coach in a major sport after leaving Rice (Todd Graham is up for debate).

Rhoades is certainly a better head coach than Pera. But Rice didn’t deserve him - they didn’t support him well enough in terms of fan support. VCU has a real fan base.

I don't know, I vaguely remember Rhoades interviewing for the UMass opening before he took the VCU gig. Without that, I would have no qualms with him leaving when and how he did. He's a VCU guy through and through so getting the opportunity to be the HC there is a dream come true. It was the other, non-meaningful job interviews that left me with a sour taste.

I fully agree about Rhoades as a person, though. Extremely liked by pretty much everybody.

(03-12-2023 02:59 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  I don't know, I vaguely remember Rhoades interviewing for the UMass opening before he took the VCU gig. Without that, I would have no qualms with him leaving when and how he did. He's a VCU guy through and through so getting the opportunity to be the HC there is a dream come true. It was the other, non-meaningful job interviews that left me with a sour taste.

I fully agree about Rhoades as a person, though. Extremely liked by pretty much everybody.

Rhoades also interviewed for the Dusquesne job before leaving for VCU, which should show us how badly supported our program is.

At least UMass is a real program.

Rhoades was is a great coach. If not for lsu we might have had him for another year or two. And maybe....

Pera and Rhodes are tied with both still never having won an NCAA Tourney game:

Quote:Perhaps the third time will be the charm for Mike Rhodes. The Rams coach has led the team to its third NCAA tournament appearance in five years. But he's still searching for his first NCAA tournament win. If it happens, the Rams' defensive pressure will be the difference. They forced turnovers on nearly one-fifth of their league opponents' possessions. What does that mean? For every four trips up the floor, A-10 opponents had a turnover. That's an incredible rate. Opposing teams know they'll have trouble advancing the ball against the Rams. Adrian Baldwin Jr. (12.6 PPG) & Co. have also experienced offensive gains during the nine-game winning streak that continued when VCU beat Dayton in the Atlantic-10 tournament championship game.

(03-13-2023 10:40 AM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Pera and Rhodes are tied with both still never having won an NCAA Tourney game:

Quote:Perhaps the third time will be the charm for Mike Rhodes. The Rams coach has led the team to its third NCAA tournament appearance in five years. But he's still searching for his first NCAA tournament win. If it happens, the Rams' defensive pressure will be the difference. They forced turnovers on nearly one-fifth of their league opponents' possessions. What does that mean? For every four trips up the floor, A-10 opponents had a turnover. That's an incredible rate. Opposing teams know they'll have trouble advancing the ball against the Rams. Adrian Baldwin Jr. (12.6 PPG) & Co. have also experienced offensive gains during the nine-game winning streak that continued when VCU beat Dayton in the Atlantic-10 tournament championship game.

GoodOwl, What's the source for this quote?

(03-13-2023 11:14 AM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(03-13-2023 10:40 AM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Pera and Rhodes are tied with both still never having won an NCAA Tourney game:

Quote:Perhaps the third time will be the charm for Mike Rhodes. The Rams coach has led the team to its third NCAA tournament appearance in five years. But he's still searching for his first NCAA tournament win. If it happens, the Rams' defensive pressure will be the difference. They forced turnovers on nearly one-fifth of their league opponents' possessions. What does that mean? For every four trips up the floor, A-10 opponents had a turnover. That's an incredible rate. Opposing teams know they'll have trouble advancing the ball against the Rams. Adrian Baldwin Jr. (12.6 PPG) & Co. have also experienced offensive gains during the nine-game winning streak that continued when VCU beat Dayton in the Atlantic-10 tournament championship game.

GoodOwl, What's the source for this quote?

oops! Sorry, it was the ESPN Tourney breakdown. I thought the defensive pressure thing was noteworthy since that has been a big knock on Pera here....maybe Pera could bring back the Navy SEAL Rhodes does training next year? If I recall, all the coaches had to do it along with the players...not sure about student managers....

well, Pera will be playing longer than Rhoades this year as VCU goes down tonight to Saint Mary's 63-51, and Rhoades has STILL not won a game in the NCAA Tourney, so he remains tied with Pera. Not sure what Rhoades' record in CBI is...
Rhoades has not taken VCU to the CBI (only the NCAA in 2018-19, 2020-21, and this year's squad in 2022-23; also the NIT in 2021-22 where he reached the second round) Rhoades did go to the CBI...with Rice in 2016-17, where the Owls reached the second round (quarterfinal), beating SanFran in opening round 85-76, then losing to Utah Valley 79-85 in the second round (quarterfinal.)

So...win a coupla' games in CBI and Pera will have been more successful thanh Rhoades in CBI...

I was looking good out the gate picking Furman and Princeton . By association, that should have boded well for Rhoades & Co., as well.

Apparently my picking Rhoades to win his first (through sixth) games in the NCAA proved too much pressure for the Common Wealth squad.

https://www.si.com/college/pennstate/bas...ions-coach

Rhoades perhaps headed to Penn State?

(03-28-2023 06:01 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  https://www.si.com/college/pennstate/bas...ions-coach

Rhoades perhaps headed to Penn State?

Apparently so - https://www.wtvr.com/sports/report-penn-...ch-28-2023