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2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
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dragon2owl Offline
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Post: #21
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
(11-14-2020 05:53 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  The schedule is still being fiddled with, but the first one I saw a few weeks ago also had Rice hosting LeTourneau and Incarnate Word (Dec. 21st for the latter game - that's on their schedule too). And then we play a home and home series with Houston Baptist.

Updated the schedule.
11-14-2020 07:21 PM
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Fort Bend Owl Offline
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Post: #22
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
https://riceowls.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule

Schedule has been released. 26 games for now. Who knows how many get played.

Actually 26 regular season games and then the conference tournament (which is 10 days after the last set of conference games - I'm pretty sure the conference has added an extra week in there to get additional games played that were postponed earlier).

I'm sure people will complain about the non-conference games, but we probably have the hardest conference schedule of anyone in the league. The only quality team we avoid is Charlotte, and then we also don't play either Florida team and MTSU (who was last in the league last year).
11-17-2020 04:20 PM
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elw4796 Offline
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Post: #23
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
Wow, Evee got a waiver. That's a pretty huge development. I think you probably slot him in as a starter immediately. Gives us some much needed scoring punch and shooting from the guard spot.
11-18-2020 02:10 PM
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cr11owl Offline
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Post: #24
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
(11-18-2020 02:10 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Wow, Evee got a waiver. That's a pretty huge development. I think you probably slot him in as a starter immediately. Gives us some much needed scoring punch and shooting from the guard spot.

Just saw that, good news. Any leaks from practices this year? From recruiting profiles I could see Evee and Sheffield getting immediate playing time.
11-18-2020 02:33 PM
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Fort Bend Owl Offline
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Post: #25
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
Great news on Evee. It's still really hard to gauge how the Owls will do in 2020-21 for a variety of reasons (so many new players, potentially a tougher conference slate than normal, and then the X factor with Covid), but at least having a full complement of 13 scholarship players to begin with gives us a big edge.

Here's how I see things shaking down. I think we will primarily go with a 3-guard line-up, and then depending on the size of the opponent, we can go 2 bigs to fill out the lineup, or a small forward and 1 big.

Assuming everyone is healthy, I think the main 3 guards will come out of the quartet of Moore, Olivari, Mullins and Evee. I'm assuming Hutchins is the odd one out among the true guards, but if he's ready to play from day one, he could easily displace one of the upper-class guys.

Ondigo is my pick to start at the post. If nothing else, he'll make the all-airport team. But just based on sizing up his potential while watching him in warm-ups last year, he could be Rice's best big man since Kazemi? If I'm way off there, then my predictions on our overall skill level will drop dramatically.

If Lieppert can duplicate his JUCO success at the D1 level, he has a chance to be a starter at small forward (but small forward in the sense that Murphy and Peterson were small forwards). I'm thinking we might get another Austin Ramljak-type player out of him, but with a better supporting cast than Austin had to play with. If it's not Lieppert, then it's probably 1 of the 2 grad transfers? If Sheffield is the next coming of Trey Murphy, then he could immediately start as well. My guess is Poteat, Fiedler and Abercrombie provide back-up help inside, but there will be some games where we need two posts playing at the same time.

I won't make a prediction on our win-loss totals, but I do think if healthy, we're better than people realize.
(This post was last modified: 11-18-2020 05:49 PM by Fort Bend Owl.)
11-18-2020 05:49 PM
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elw4796 Offline
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Post: #26
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
(11-18-2020 05:49 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Great news on Evee. It's still really hard to gauge how the Owls will do in 2020-21 for a variety of reasons (so many new players, potentially a tougher conference slate than normal, and then the X factor with Covid), but at least having a full complement of 13 scholarship players to begin with gives us a big edge.

Here's how I see things shaking down. I think we will primarily go with a 3-guard line-up, and then depending on the size of the opponent, we can go 2 bigs to fill out the lineup, or a small forward and 1 big.

Assuming everyone is healthy, I think the main 3 guards will come out of the quartet of Moore, Olivari, Mullins and Evee. I'm assuming Hutchins is the odd one out among the true guards, but if he's ready to play from day one, he could easily displace one of the upper-class guys.

Ondigo is my pick to start at the post. If nothing else, he'll make the all-airport team. But just based on sizing up his potential while watching him in warm-ups last year, he could be Rice's best big man since Kazemi? If I'm way off there, then my predictions on our overall skill level will drop dramatically.

If Lieppert can duplicate his JUCO success at the D1 level, he has a chance to be a starter at small forward (but small forward in the sense that Murphy and Peterson were small forwards). I'm thinking we might get another Austin Ramljak-type player out of him, but with a better supporting cast than Austin had to play with. If it's not Lieppert, then it's probably 1 of the 2 grad transfers? If Sheffield is the next coming of Trey Murphy, then he could immediately start as well. My guess is Poteat, Fiedler and Abercrombie provide back-up help inside, but there will be some games where we need two posts playing at the same time.

I won't make a prediction on our win-loss totals, but I do think if healthy, we're better than people realize.

I'd mostly agree. And yeah, it's super hard to make any predictions because it's just so difficult to judge what we're going to get from the newcomers. My thoughts:

Guards: I'm super excited about Hutchins. I think he's the guy most similar to Marcus Evans that we've recruited since Evans left. Good handle, good athleticism, good passer, college-ready body and a good enough shooter. I'm not saying he's going to come in and average 15+ PPG. But I want to believe with him. If Hutchins is a little behind, I think Evee and Olivari start. And then I think you have one of Havsa/Clark/Sheffield starting at the 3. Sheffield reminds me a bit of Murphy coming out of HS. Really good shooter, still a bit lanky. But I think he's a bit ahead of where Murphy was. And Lieppert looks a lot what AJ Lapray was when he was healthy. Pretty much a known quantity who, even if he doesn't start, will get his shots.

Forwards: I wouldn't be surprised to see Abercrombie start at the 4 and Ondigo at the 5. We know Pera likes bigs who can stretch the floor (like Jack Williams) and Abercrombie gives us that. I honestly haven't seen enough about Ondigo to be able to tell what his ceiling is, but guys that are 6-10 and athletic generally do well in CUSA. Poteat is the big X factor, because I think we need some minutes from him. He shows flashes of quick feet and offensive skill on his HS tape, but his competition was just so much smaller than him. I assume the staff has been working to slim him down, which might help him reach his potential. But if Poteat isn't quite ready, then Fiedler's gonna have to take some steps.

I'd also agree with your general conclusion. No point in guessing wins, but there's some stuff to play with, especially now that Evee has a waiver. In the end it'll probably all come down to how well we defend, which is why I'm still worried
11-18-2020 06:34 PM
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Fort Bend Owl Offline
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Post: #27
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
Drew Peterson got a waiver to be eligible right away for USC. It sounds like they want him strictly at the guard position, which seems to be the wrong fit for him in my opinion. But I guess we'll see.
11-21-2020 08:08 AM
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waltgreenberg Online
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Post: #28
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
(11-21-2020 08:08 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Drew Peterson got a waiver to be eligible right away for USC. It sounds like they want him strictly at the guard position, which seems to be the wrong fit for him in my opinion. But I guess we'll see.

Why do you say that? He effectively played point forward for us last season. He was our primary distributor once we crossed mid-court.
11-21-2020 08:11 AM
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Fort Bend Owl Offline
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Post: #29
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
He can do it if there is no one putting defensive pressure on him. But no way can he be a primary point guard, handling the man-to-man defense you're likely to see in the Pac 12.
11-21-2020 08:20 AM
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Tiki Owl Offline
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Post: #30
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
Drew Peterson.....who?
11-22-2020 09:03 AM
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Tomball Owl Offline
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Post: #31
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
Anyone know if fans will be allowed at the ICW Thanksgiving Invitational this weekend? If so, I may try to attend one of the games. May be my only chance of seeing the Owls play in person this season with the way things are going (or not going) on the Rice campus.
11-23-2020 12:16 AM
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elw4796 Offline
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Post: #32
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
Somehow Trey Murphy also got a waiver, but Zach Crisler didn't? Can anybody identify something different about Murphy, Peterson, and Crisler's situations apart from playing time? I'm in favor of waivers and these guys playing, so Murphy getting a ruling doesn't bother me. But this sure seems like a situation in which the NCAA decided to reward USC and Virginia, but not Fairfield.
11-25-2020 01:12 PM
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dragon2owl Offline
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Post: #33
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
(11-23-2020 12:16 AM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  Anyone know if fans will be allowed at the ICW Thanksgiving Invitational this weekend? If so, I may try to attend one of the games. May be my only chance of seeing the Owls play in person this season with the way things are going (or not going) on the Rice campus.

Information for tickets:
https://uiw.universitytickets.com/
11-25-2020 01:29 PM
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Tiki Owl Offline
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Post: #34
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
(11-25-2020 01:12 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Somehow Trey Murphy also got a waiver, but Zach Crisler didn't? Can anybody identify something different about Murphy, Peterson, and Crisler's situations apart from playing time? I'm in favor of waivers and these guys playing, so Murphy getting a ruling doesn't bother me. But this sure seems like a situation in which the NCAA decided to reward USC and Virginia, but not Fairfield.

I think you answered the question yourself.
11-25-2020 01:39 PM
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cr11owl Offline
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Post: #35
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
(11-25-2020 01:39 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  
(11-25-2020 01:12 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Somehow Trey Murphy also got a waiver, but Zach Crisler didn't? Can anybody identify something different about Murphy, Peterson, and Crisler's situations apart from playing time? I'm in favor of waivers and these guys playing, so Murphy getting a ruling doesn't bother me. But this sure seems like a situation in which the NCAA decided to reward USC and Virginia, but not Fairfield.

I think you answered the question yourself.

Bingo. That’s why I’m surprised we received waivers. Ondigo didn’t get one last year but the 5 star at UH did (reason was he was upset the NBA draft didn’t go his way out of Kansas).

I’m fine with immediate play if they have any sort of cause to transfer out that isn’t “I want to play for a P5 school”. The NCAA should make it 1 year sitting out going to a P5 and automatic waiver if you’re leaving a P5 (like Juco). Maybe that would fix the developmental league we have now. Of course there is no interest in fixing anything $$$$
11-25-2020 01:49 PM
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elw4796 Offline
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Post: #36
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
Ondigo evidently not with the team for personal reasons, meaning our only true paint bigs are Fiedler, Poteat, and Moffatt (walk-on). We're gonna need Ondigo back or there's very little chance for defensive improvement.
11-25-2020 02:30 PM
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Tomball Owl Offline
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Post: #37
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
(11-25-2020 02:30 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Ondigo evidently not with the team for personal reasons, meaning our only true paint bigs are Fiedler, Poteat, and Moffatt (walk-on). We're gonna need Ondigo back or there's very little chance for defensive improvement.

Preparing his transfer request?
11-25-2020 02:32 PM
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Tiki Owl Offline
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Post: #38
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
Murphy with 21 on 6-8 from 3 in Virginia’s win over Towson.
11-25-2020 05:02 PM
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WRCisforgotten79 Offline
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Post: #39
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
(11-25-2020 05:02 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  Murphy with 21 on 6-8 from 3 in Virginia’s win over Towson.

Never heard of him.
11-26-2020 02:28 AM
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Fort Bend Owl Offline
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Post: #40
RE: 2020-2021 MBB Preseason Thread
(11-25-2020 02:30 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Ondigo evidently not with the team for personal reasons, meaning our only true paint bigs are Fiedler, Poteat, and Moffatt (walk-on). We're gonna need Ondigo back or there's very little chance for defensive improvement.

Curious to hear the update if anyone hears anything. He was my X factor and primary reason we'll be better than people expect. So hopefully it's just a brief time period we're talking about him being out.

We do have the ability to go small - but with the 2 6-5 grad transfers, Sheffield and Abercrombie (and the 3 you mentioned), we're still bigger as a team than last year (Fiedler and Crisler started some games, but generally we went with Murphy, Martin and Peterson as our biggest guys which is why we were out-rebounded on the season).

But as you said, the biggest key will be a better defense. We can't allow teams to shoot 45 percent on the year like last year.
(This post was last modified: 11-26-2020 08:59 AM by Fort Bend Owl.)
11-26-2020 08:59 AM
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