(11-30-2016 09:56 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 09:55 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 09:43 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 09:42 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 09:27 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  You should hear their fans.

We see them. I hope we drop HBU from future schedules.

Why?

Hard fowls, several Owls (Letcher-Ellis, Koulachov) angry. No need to risk injury against an RPI like HBU. Better Southland teams would bring as many fans.

Cross-town rivalry is a good thing.

Dirty play, trash talking and arguing every call aren't. Number 3 should've been thrown out. The tackle of Lott was also worthy of an ejection. Worst part was their coach encouraged it by not sitting any of them and sympathizing with them when the calls went against them.

I have no problem with the loud fans. I was just saying they weren't very "Christian like" with their comments.

(11-30-2016 10:33 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 09:56 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 09:55 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 09:43 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 09:42 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  We see them. I hope we drop HBU from future schedules.

Why?

Hard fowls, several Owls (Letcher-Ellis, Koulachov) angry. No need to risk injury against an RPI like HBU. Better Southland teams would bring as many fans.

Cross-town rivalry is a good thing.

Dirty play, trash talking and arguing every call aren't. Number 3 should've been thrown out. The tackle of Lott was also worthy of an ejection. Worst part was their coach encouraged it by not sitting any of them and sympathizing with them when the calls went against them.

I have no problem with the loud fans. I was just saying they weren't very "Christian like" with their comments.

You should have heard the Sunday school groups at Baylor stadium in 1989 when we beat them 9-6. Quite seriously - several of those groups used to fill the stadium, seated behind the MOB. The language is not stuff I normally heard at church.

We've played the 334th most difficult non-conference schedule in MBB thus far. That will improve as we play Tech, SFA, and Pitt, but it still won't be strong.

We are probably a 100-200 RPI team, not a top 100 team.

I'm thinking we'll go 21-9 or so.

(11-30-2016 10:32 PM)DFW Owl Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 10:02 PM)picrig Wrote:  So we're now 6-1. Best start in a long time. In 2004-2005 we started 5-1, then lost in a close game to #11 UConn (@ Tudor...well Autry at that time). Those were the "glory" days (or maybe I"m just saying that b/c I was a student at the time).

ESPN's records only got back to 2001-2002 as far as I can tell, and we haven't started 6-1 in any of those years. Not saying this is our best team (although it could be...we'll see)...but for people who doubt Rhoades has us moving in the right direction.....I think you at least have to give him that we're headed upward. Fast enough? TBD. But I'll take progress for now.

Rice started 6-0 in 76-77 and then lost 9 in a row. Finished the season 9-18. Before that was a 10-0 start in 55-56. Have had several 7-2 or 8-2 starts in more recent years after we became decent in the early 90's. Scheduling cupcakes helps pad the nonconference record.

55-56? A lot of research to make your point that you don't think much of a 6-1 start.

(11-30-2016 09:56 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  Cross-town rivalry is a good thing.

The cross-town rival needs to be Houston, without the Baptist.

Tonight was our best complete game of the season. There was only a couple of short stretches when we went cold to let them back into the game. Good rebounding, moves to the basket, good shot selection, really crisp passes, good D. Well done Owls!!!

(11-30-2016 10:38 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  We've played the 334th most difficult non-conference schedule in MBB thus far. That will improve as we play Tech, SFA, and Pitt, but it still won't be strong.

We are probably a 100-200 RPI team, not a top 100 team.

I'm thinking we'll go 21-9 or so.

Agree our schedule has been very weak but glad the guys are getting some wins under their belt. I believe it definitely is a thing to "know how to win". I was hoping for 20-10 or so at the beginning of the season. 10-3 ooc and then you have to win all of your conference home games and steal a couple against weak teams on the road.

CUSA is only going to be a 1 bid league. Peak in the tourney.

(11-30-2016 10:43 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 09:56 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  Cross-town rivalry is a good thing.

The cross-town rival needs to be Houston, without the Baptist.

+1. And we are better than LSU who just smoked them.

(11-30-2016 10:43 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 09:56 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  Cross-town rivalry is a good thing.

The cross-town rival needs to be Houston, without the Baptist.

I have no doubt that a long time ago, when UH was getting started in athletics, there were Rice fans that pooh-poohed the idea of them ever being a rival.

HBU is not going to stop playing Div 1 basketball. They're in the same city. Rice will play them, a lot. So let it be a rivalry. There's no rule against having more than one rival. I understand it can be good for business.

6-1 start is great and provides a lot of optimism going forward. But just like we hear with football, we haven't beaten anyone with a pulse. Unlike with football, we have shown we can beat someone with a pulse, and I have realistic optimism that we can at a minimum give good teams a run for their money.

And in the end, if we just keep winning, it won't matter who it's against. Just win, baby!

I think HBU came into Tudor thinking they owned us and got peeved when Rice Fight didn't roll over for them.

(11-30-2016 10:45 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 10:38 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  We've played the 334th most difficult non-conference schedule in MBB thus far. That will improve as we play Tech, SFA, and Pitt, but it still won't be strong.

We are probably a 100-200 RPI team, not a top 100 team.

I'm thinking we'll go 21-9 or so.

Agree our schedule has been very weak but glad the guys are getting some wins under their belt. I believe it definitely is a thing to "know how to win". I was hoping for 20-10 or so at the beginning of the season. 10-3 ooc and then you have to win all of your conference home games and steal a couple against weak teams on the road.

CUSA is only going to be a 1 bid league. Peak in the tourney.

I will be disappointed if we aren't favored at North Texas, FAU, FIU, and Southern Mississippi. Steal a win on the road against Louisiana Tech, Marshall, or Western Kentucky, and something like 12-6 or 13-5 looks possible in conference.

Middle Tennessee won tonight at Mississippi. They could have an at-large resume if they are not C-USA champions.

(11-30-2016 10:54 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 10:45 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 10:38 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  We've played the 334th most difficult non-conference schedule in MBB thus far. That will improve as we play Tech, SFA, and Pitt, but it still won't be strong.

We are probably a 100-200 RPI team, not a top 100 team.

I'm thinking we'll go 21-9 or so.

Agree our schedule has been very weak but glad the guys are getting some wins under their belt. I believe it definitely is a thing to "know how to win". I was hoping for 20-10 or so at the beginning of the season. 10-3 ooc and then you have to win all of your conference home games and steal a couple against weak teams on the road.

CUSA is only going to be a 1 bid league. Peak in the tourney.

I will be disappointed if we aren't favored at North Texas, FAU, FIU, and Southern Mississippi. Steal a win on the road against Louisiana Tech, Marshall, or Western Kentucky, and something like 12-6 or 13-5 looks possible in conference.

Middle Tennessee won tonight at Mississippi. They could have an at-large resume if they are not C-USA champions.

Always hard to win on the road. WKU is bad this year. Marshall, MTSU, UAB, ODU, LaTech seem to be the tougher ones.

(11-30-2016 09:19 PM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  HBU is #306 in Pomeroy. It's now 50-48. Perhaps Coach 12-20 has an answer after 3 years of beat downs.

What is HBU's Pomeroy rating in cross country? I seem to recall you were pretty pumped after we swept the HBU Cross Country meet.

I will give you credit for being at the game. That's better than a lot of Rice fans. We had a very nice student turnout but I'm not sure if HBU didn't have more Rice fans (it was pretty even between Rice, HBU and neutral fans).

BTW Evans might have had his best game as an Owl (although he and Rice got a lot of calls). 31 points, 8 assists, 3 steals. I thought Letcher-Ellis and Douglas also had really solid games.

The only thing that continues to concern me are our unforced turnovers. I think we sometimes try to play at such a fast pace that we just make bad decisions on passes. HBU's big guys also got a few too many lay-ups - that could be an issue against Texas Tech and Pittsburgh, who I imagine have better big guys than HBU.

(11-30-2016 10:40 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 10:32 PM)DFW Owl Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 10:02 PM)picrig Wrote:  So we're now 6-1. Best start in a long time. In 2004-2005 we started 5-1, then lost in a close game to #11 UConn (@ Tudor...well Autry at that time). Those were the "glory" days (or maybe I"m just saying that b/c I was a student at the time).

ESPN's records only got back to 2001-2002 as far as I can tell, and we haven't started 6-1 in any of those years. Not saying this is our best team (although it could be...we'll see)...but for people who doubt Rhoades has us moving in the right direction.....I think you at least have to give him that we're headed upward. Fast enough? TBD. But I'll take progress for now.

Rice started 6-0 in 76-77 and then lost 9 in a row. Finished the season 9-18. Before that was a 10-0 start in 55-56. Have had several 7-2 or 8-2 starts in more recent years after we became decent in the early 90's. Scheduling cupcakes helps pad the nonconference record.

55-56? A lot of research to make your point that you don't think much of a 6-1 start.

Actually my main point was to follow up the original poster's point about this being Rice's best start in a long time and complete his research in answering exactly how long. It took just a few minutes of my time to find it the Rice Basketball Fact Book.

(11-30-2016 10:38 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  We've played the 334th most difficult non-conference schedule in MBB thus far. That will improve as we play Tech, SFA, and Pitt, but it still won't be strong.

We are probably a 100-200 RPI team, not a top 100 team.

I'm thinking we'll go 21-9 or so.

I hear ya, but how many of our teams since Michael Harris would have this record?

(11-30-2016 09:22 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  Quite the un-Christian play by the Baptists!

HBU fans doing their best Baylor fans impersonation.

(11-30-2016 09:47 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  Solid student turnout. I guess Bailiff decision didn't stop them from supporting the basketball team.

About 90% full in the student section.

(11-30-2016 11:56 PM)texowl2 Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 10:38 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  We've played the 334th most difficult non-conference schedule in MBB thus far. That will improve as we play Tech, SFA, and Pitt, but it still won't be strong.

We are probably a 100-200 RPI team, not a top 100 team.

I'm thinking we'll go 21-9 or so.

I hear ya, but how many of our teams since Michael Harris would have this record?

I can't answer that question. I've only followed Rice athletics seriously since 2013, which was my senior year of high school.

Looking at our 2011-12 team, our worst loss was to a 21-12 Lamar team. That team would probably be 6-1 against this schedule too.