Overall I’m pretty impressed with how the team is coming together in conference. If you would have told me 2 of our road losses so far were on last second shots and we had a pair of home wins I would’ve have been happy 2 months ago. Hope the guys don’t get too discouraged and we continue to improve... 0.500 in conference is still attainable.

We might have Kreider/Linebaugh/Green coaching on Thursday. Wouldn't be shocked if Pera is suspended for a game for going after the officials like he did.

Frustrating that in our four conference losses we’ve surrendered up double digit leads three times.

Thought we had these guys this time. (And I DID expect us to win this one BTW).
I expect to beat them by double digits next time we meet.

I’m less frustrated giving up the game winner before the game is over (as opposed to more than 1.0 sec AFTER the game was over last week).

Big picture — we are right on track with what we need to do to improve to be the best team in Conference by March. But we will absolutely need to make at least the Middle pod.

(01-19-2019 08:38 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  More bad news today is that Middle Tennessee and Charlotte both won. Thursday is pretty much a must win to stay out of the bottom pod (and even a win Thursday might not be enough).

WKU hosts Marshall on Monday. If Marshall wins that game (they beat WKU by only 1 in Huntington on Jan 12), then Rice will be tied with four other teams with 2-4 conference records -- WKU, FAU, Charlotte, MidTenn -- who would be one game ahead of UTEP (1-5).

The bottom pod will have the bottom 4 teams (#11-14).

Our 2 conference wins to date are at home vs two teams with 3-4 records (USM & LaTech). Our remaining home games are vs MidTenn, UAB (4-2), WKU & Marshall (5-0). Our remaining away games are @Charlotte (which beat visiting LaTech by 15 tonight!), @ODU (4-2), @FIU (3-3) and @FAU.

I agree that Thursday's game with MidTenn is pretty much a must-win contest. To make the middle pod of 5 (#6-10), I'd guess that we'd probably also need to win at least an additional two more ... such as our home game vs. WKU, and at least one of the away games @Charlotte and @FAU ... to give us a 5-9 (0.357) record.

Looking at recent years' final conference standings, a comparable percentage out of 18 games (7-11/.389) was good enough for 10th place in the past 2 years and tied for 9th-11th in 2016. However, in 2015, Charlotte & Marshall tied for 11th at 7-11.

Go Owls!! Win a bunch more than the bare minimum!

(01-19-2019 10:27 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(01-19-2019 10:23 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  

(01-19-2019 10:20 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Did not see the game, but it would appear that we went into our old, "we've got a big lead, let's try not to lose it," mentality. When you have a big lead, keep scoring. If they are pressing, don't be satisfied to break the press and then slow it down. The press is an inherently unsound defense. If you break it, there should be an easy score somewhere. So take it.
Keep scoring and don't foul, and it's pretty hard to lose a big lead. Guy V used to challenge his teams. In that situation, up 68-52 with 7 minutes to go, he'd say something like, "If we get to 90, they can't catch us." I always thought that was a good way to look at it. And if you pressed them, that's when you got Phi Slama Jama in your face.

+1 I'd rather lose by missing open shots with 20 seconds left on the clock after breaking the press than by bleeding the clock and settling for contested shots.

Quote:Seems odd that the pressing team amassed one foul while we accumulated ten.

How we got 10 fouls and they got 1 would appear to be that we weren't forcing the action on offense, and we were playing too aggressively on defense. You're up 16, you don't need blocks or turnovers, you just need to keep scoring and keep the clock running.

Watch the replay and you will see that the aggressive defense was by UNT doubling up and bumping the dribblers. A good many of our fouls were on their drives to the basket. I’m sorry but an attacking, hacking team trying to get back in the game commits only one foul....you don’t need to see the game to know that us BS. Maybe if we were only called for one foul too, I could buy it.

Pera may get suspended but I am in his corner on this one. After the complete no apology for the screwup in El Paso and then watching his players completely taken out of this game he has a right to be angry.

And as bad as we started and finished we wound up shooting 49% from the field and 36% from 3.

(01-19-2019 08:17 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  and we lose - of course the refs don't put any time back on the clock this time

I can't blame Pera for going nuts.

Didn't watch it. Can somebody summarize (or detail) what Pera did?

(01-20-2019 08:25 AM)texowl2 Wrote:  

(01-19-2019 08:17 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  and we lose - of course the refs don't put any time back on the clock this time

I can't blame Pera for going nuts.

Didn't watch it. Can somebody summarize (or detail) what Pera did?

From what I can piece together, it sounded like he had to be restrained by his assistant coaches from running down the tunnel to confront the refs (he was already screaming at them). He had been going at them for the entire second half and I think losing the game was the spark that lit the fuse. Pera obviously wears every emotion on his sleeve, probably too much in many instances. Even though I, and many other Rice fans, thought his frustration tonight was justifiable, it did look like a tantrum/meltdown. I get the frustration, and I'm glad it's there because it shows fans and the team that he cares, but he also goes overboard sometimes. Eventually he'll get an ill-timed technical that will hurt the team.

Here's some video that shows pieces: https://twitter.com/JessicaM_Hall/status...5230175234

Look, I love the fire. And if every single player and coach invests this much emotion in getting better, then Rice will be in a good place in a couple of years. But this only plays when you're a winning program. If we're winning 20+ games consistently, I don't care who is running their mouth or when. But you can't have this happening when you've won 7 games and are 2-4 in conference.

Mullins drives to basket and gets a lay-up to put Rice up by 1 with 6.6 seconds to go.

UNT rolls ball to halfcourt, picks it up and their guy scores on a similar play (decent defense by Williams, just couldn't block it) with 0.6 seconds to go. Announcers thought they might move clock back to about 1 second but they kept it at 0.6. It looked similar to UTEP game (where they moved it from 0.6 to 1.5 seconds I think?).

Rice last ditch effort - Martin throws it to Murphy I think who heaves shot at buzzer. A bit of contact but no call. I'm not even sure if they would have allowed a basket even if it went in (it wasn't close). I don't think there was enough contact to call anything myself.

Pera runs after the officials but I couldn't tell what happened after that. I think it was more of a case of a week's worth of pent-up frustration more than a single play. I doubt the conference does anything to him unless there was some contact with an official I didn't see on the TV broadcast.

The call that initially gave UNT the lead was the worst of the calls down the stretch. Rice took a charge and was called for a bogus block. No way was our guy in the cylinder. This was not too long after a Rice guy was called for a charge on an identical play the other direction.

Back at home this week. Maybe we'll get some calls for a change. I thought the guys played well on 2 of the 3 road games. Hopefully they're still confident as a group because they have more wins left in them.

(01-20-2019 10:54 AM)elw4796 Wrote:  Here's some video that shows pieces: https://twitter.com/JessicaM_Hall/status...5230175234

The video doesn't show much to me. But I agree with you that he goes overboard at times. He had that health scare last year and I thought earlier in the year he might have toned down his act a bit, but then later in the season I changed my mind.

(01-20-2019 10:54 AM)elw4796 Wrote:  

(01-20-2019 08:25 AM)texowl2 Wrote:  [quote='Fort Bend Owl' pid='15846985' dateline='1547947048']
and we lose - of course the refs don't put any time back on the clock this time

I can't blame Pera for going nuts.

Didn't watch it. Can somebody summarize (or detail) what Pera did?

From what I can piece together, it sounded like he had to be restrained by his assistant coaches from running down the tunnel to confront the refs (he was already screaming at them). He had been going at them for the entire second half and I think losing the game was the spark that lit the fuse. Pera obviously wears every emotion on his sleeve, probably too much in many instances. Even though I, and many other Rice fans, thought his frustration tonight was justifiable, it did look like a tantrum/meltdown. I get the frustration, and I'm glad it's there because it shows fans and the team that he cares, but he also goes overboard sometimes. Eventually he'll get an ill-timed technical that will hurt the team.

Here's some video that shows pieces: https://twitter.com/JessicaM_Hall/status...5230175234

Look, I love the fire. And if every single player and coach invests this much emotion in getting better, then Rice will be in a good place in a couple of years. But this only plays when you're a winning program. If we're winning 20+ games consistently, I don't care who is running their mouth or when. But you can't have this happening when you've won 7 games and are 2-4 in conference.

What? If you're the underdog you're supposed to sit there and meekly take it when they shoot 26 free throws in the 2nd half while we get 4?

(01-20-2019 12:27 PM)bobreinhold1 Wrote:  

(01-20-2019 10:54 AM)elw4796 Wrote:  

(01-20-2019 08:25 AM)texowl2 Wrote:  [quote='Fort Bend Owl' pid='15846985' dateline='1547947048']
and we lose - of course the refs don't put any time back on the clock this time

I can't blame Pera for going nuts.

Didn't watch it. Can somebody summarize (or detail) what Pera did?

From what I can piece together, it sounded like he had to be restrained by his assistant coaches from running down the tunnel to confront the refs (he was already screaming at them). He had been going at them for the entire second half and I think losing the game was the spark that lit the fuse. Pera obviously wears every emotion on his sleeve, probably too much in many instances. Even though I, and many other Rice fans, thought his frustration tonight was justifiable, it did look like a tantrum/meltdown. I get the frustration, and I'm glad it's there because it shows fans and the team that he cares, but he also goes overboard sometimes. Eventually he'll get an ill-timed technical that will hurt the team.

Here's some video that shows pieces: https://twitter.com/JessicaM_Hall/status...5230175234

Look, I love the fire. And if every single player and coach invests this much emotion in getting better, then Rice will be in a good place in a couple of years. But this only plays when you're a winning program. If we're winning 20+ games consistently, I don't care who is running their mouth or when. But you can't have this happening when you've won 7 games and are 2-4 in conference.

What? If you're the underdog you're supposed to sit there and meekly take it when they shoot 26 free throws in the 2nd half while we get 4?

Should have been more specific that I was talking about the supposed interactions with fans in that last paragraph.

(01-20-2019 12:27 PM)bobreinhold1 Wrote:  What? If you're the underdog you're supposed to sit there and meekly take it when they shoot 26 free throws in the 2nd half while we get 4?

Fire is good, but you can't behave like a child. This is the reality of being a bottom tier joke of a conference - the referees are also bottom tier members of the Peter's principle club.

This is reality. No one is coming to help us. So the onus is on us to deal with this crap and find a way to win - and that means when you're blowing someone out, you go for the jugular, not "play not to lose".

Caught part of the game from travels, but followed it here.
This is the reality we face. Man up or stop playing - Pera or Parliament throwing a tantrum does nothing except somehow mentally justify our position; one that no one else sees or frankly, gives a **** about.

I dont mean to be unduly harsh, but poetic waxing about the unfairness is pointless. This is the hill we have to climb.

It sucks. It is unfair. It is miserable. It is tough. But it is reality.

At the game vs Penn at the Palestra, I sat next to a guy who was a pal of Scott's who knew him during his HS coaching time (I think he was a rival coach). He told me that he was way more intense then. On the whole I'd rather have an intense coach, but obviously it should not go over the line......

Pera was a bit unhinged after the game for sure but I doubt he gets suspended as he never made physical contact with the refs and the staff did a good job of holding him back once he made his move to chase the refs.

(01-20-2019 12:56 PM)Antarius Wrote:  I dont mean to be unduly harsh

Really?

(01-20-2019 02:34 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Pera was a bit unhinged after the game for sure but I doubt he gets suspended as he never made physical contact with the refs and the staff did a good job of holding him back once he made his move to chase the refs.

If anything that should just be a warning from the conference. In reality the conference should apologize for giving us 2 losses on this road trip.

CUSA will probably hand down a 3 game suspension though because they’re morons.

(01-20-2019 02:41 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(01-20-2019 12:56 PM)Antarius Wrote:  I dont mean to be unduly harsh

Really?

Just calling a spade a spade. I mean the refs-are-evil pity parties are fine once in a way. But after a decade of seeing Rice somehow be routinely on the losing end of these, maybe its us.

Did anyone here not expect the exact course of events that transpired in the last 7 minutes? It read like a quintessential "we werent prepared to be up" script.

To rephrase my original statement, it could read "my apologies for the result, but my harshness is not aggrandized."

(01-20-2019 05:57 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(01-20-2019 02:41 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(01-20-2019 12:56 PM)Antarius Wrote:  I dont mean to be unduly harsh

Really?

Just calling a spade a spade. I mean the refs-are-evil pity parties are fine once in a way. But after a decade of seeing Rice somehow be routinely on the losing end of these, maybe its us.

Did anyone here not expect the exact course of events that transpired in the last 7 minutes? It read like a quintessential "we werent prepared to be up" script.

To rephrase my original statement, it could read "my apologies for the result, but my harshness is not aggrandized."

I mean yes a better team gets that win. Duke isn’t going to lose that game on the road at UNT... but

1. Did you watch the game?
2. Did you think the calls were fairly distributed between teams?

If the answer to #2 is no then we can complain on a fan message board.

(01-20-2019 06:29 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(01-20-2019 05:57 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(01-20-2019 02:41 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(01-20-2019 12:56 PM)Antarius Wrote:  I dont mean to be unduly harsh

Really?

Just calling a spade a spade. I mean the refs-are-evil pity parties are fine once in a way. But after a decade of seeing Rice somehow be routinely on the losing end of these, maybe its us.

Did anyone here not expect the exact course of events that transpired in the last 7 minutes? It read like a quintessential "we werent prepared to be up" script.

To rephrase my original statement, it could read "my apologies for the result, but my harshness is not aggrandized."

I mean yes a better team gets that win. Duke isn’t going to lose that game on the road at UNT... but

1. Did you watch the game?
2. Did you think the calls were fairly distributed between teams?

If the answer to #2 is no then we can complain on a fan message board.

Expectations for this team have risen precipitately. I guess that’s a good thing.