Glad UNT is going to the AAC and that it should still be a quality MBB conference.

Maybe we can improve enough by then to be competitive in AAC.

Sure aren’t there yet.

38-68 now, 2:15 left

Doesn't really matter but Mullins is 2-9 on FTs. Can't have that when he's probably our most effective driver.

43-75 is your final from the Super Pit in Denton

(01-01-2022 07:41 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Doesn't really matter but Mullins is 2-9 on FTs. Can't have that when he's probably our most effective driver.

And 0-5 for Mullins from the floor.

75-43 UNT. Final. UNT finished at 1.31 PPP with 28 offensive rebounds. They turned it over just 6 times. A bad defensive performance, but not our worst and nothing compared to our offense. Perhaps most notable is that they held us to just 14 3PA. Very clear that their entire gameplan on defense was to hug us on the perimeter, knowing that we want to fire away and we don't have the personnel to break them down in the paint.

Not worth rehashing the entire Pera discussion, but if these are the performances we see against the likes of UNT, La Tech, WKU, UAB, and co., you have to give serious consideration to going in a different direction at the end of the year. Right now he doesn't have an offensive system that can compete with good defensive teams (and that's an understatement) and we know his struggles coaching defense. Hard to see a rosy future when you have a coach failing on both sides of the ball.

I guess also worth noting that McCasland is probably the best coach in the conference. Lose Hamlet, Reese, and Simmons, and he still has the team ranked top-100 in KenPom. Crazy good job from him this year and if you like defensive execution, it's a treat watching his teams play.

Didn't for a minute think that at this point in the season I'd be more optimistic about the women's team than the men's.

Terrible.

Out rebounded 56-30. UNT 28 offensive boards resulting in them getting 30 more shots than us. And to throw even more cold water on this performance, we shot under 50% (12-25) from the charity stripes. Just an all-around embarrassment.

Embarrassing is not nearly a strong enough word. Absolute piece of @*%$ more accurate

How can Rice be so consistently bad at the revenue sports that basically drive everything? Other than Wayne Graham and David Hall in baseball, no Rice coach in any of the three major men's sports (football, basketball, and I am including baseball because for Rice at least it has been a major sport) who stayed more than one year has had a winning record since Jess. That is a record of abject futility that is probably not matched anywhere else in the NCAA.

I was going to take my son to see us play UAB on Saturday. Not anymore.

(01-01-2022 11:39 PM)Ourland Wrote:  I’m beginning to think a house cleaning is in order.




was going to take my son to see us play UAB on Saturday. Not anymore.

How about we wait and see what they can do when they can actually practice as a team during the week of the game? There may be a number of factors involved with yesterday's loss.

I think this team still has potential to be a good team and a step forward with the program.

(01-02-2022 10:33 AM)Houston Owl 2 Wrote:  How about we wait and see what they can do when they can actually practice as a team during the week of the game? There may be a number of factors involved with yesterday's loss.

I think this team still has potential to be a good team and a step forward with the program.

1) They did practice (they posted a photo on Twitter the other day).
2) UNT also hadn’t played since 12/18.

(01-02-2022 10:36 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(01-02-2022 10:33 AM)Houston Owl 2 Wrote:  How about we wait and see what they can do when they can actually practice as a team during the week of the game? There may be a number of factors involved with yesterday's loss.

I think this team still has potential to be a good team and a step forward with the program.

1) They did practice (they posted a photo on Twitter the other day).
2) UNT also hadn’t played since 12/18.

They had one practice the day before the game after almost 2 weeks of being in quarantine. Having said that, unfortunately, we have seen absolutely nothing so far this season to indicate that yesterday's debacle was an aberration. It's who we are-- am extremely poor defensive squad particularly vulnerable to opponents with strong post players, that is turnover prone on offense and over-reliant on the 3-point shot.

(01-02-2022 09:04 AM)ranfin Wrote:  

(01-01-2022 11:39 PM)Ourland Wrote:  I’m beginning to think a house cleaning is in order.




was going to take my son to see us play UAB on Saturday. Not anymore.

Yeah this hire doesn't look to be working out either. How does Joe Karlgaard still have a job?

Sorry, I know the answer to that. It's because he works for Rice.

What Rice has is the athletic program that you inevitably have if your two guiding mantras are:

1) Losing is okay as long as you have a good enough excuse, and
2) If you don't care where you are going, the path of least resistance will take you there.

Rice has followed those two maxims for a stream of AD's going back to Bo Hagan, Red Bale, and Augie Erfurth. JK is just the latest in a long string.

Turd Graham was a f-ing idiot and a flaming a-hole, but at least he shook things up a bit. If CDC had stayed, he might have capitalized on the momentum and turned things around. But Ranger Rick was possibly the worst in the string of failed ADs. And JK is hardly an improvement.

I have said before, but if Rice somehow hired me as AD, in my first meeting with the coaches I would say:

"You have three goals, every year:

1) Win your conference
2) Win at least once in post-season
3) Have the highest graduation and academic performance rates in the NCAA

We will meet again in a week. Let me know what you need to accomplish those goals, and give me a plan for how you and I can jointly get you those things you need, and suggested metrics for measuring your progress toward each of them. Don't worry, I don't expect miracles. But I do expect steady and continuous progress toward each of those three goals."

I am fairly certain that no Rice AD in history has ever said anything even remotely like that.

When you are a coach at Rice, and you come in with high goals and expectations in mind, but you quickly realize that 1) you are not going to get the support that you need to accomplish your goals, and 2) you have a job that pays at least decently (that is the one improvement over the last 60 years) and that job is yours regardless of results, as long as you don't make any waves about what you need to compete. That is an environment that pretty much beats down coaches. Some, like Fred Goldsmith, leave before they get beaten down. Some, like Don Knodel and Ken Hatfield, ultimately get beaten down, and it is not a pretty thing to watch. The exception is Wayne Graham, who moved baseball about as completely outside the athletic department as is possible within NCAA and Rice rules and regulations. JK couldn't stand Wayne's independence, and that doomed their relationship from the start.

If we do end up with a coaching search (I imagine it's unlikely), think we should at least kick the tires on Brent Scott and Carlin Hartman. Scott obviously played here (and is in the HOF) and had two assistant coaching stints at Rice. Hartman has actually had three stints at Rice (1996, 2002-2004, 2014-2016). Not fully sold on either's commitment to Rice, because they've obviously left for better jobs a combined five times. But I'm not sure we'd find somebody who fits what we're looking for more than Hartman. Has coached at Rice for 6+ years so he has Texas ties and understands the school. Has coached at Rice, Columbia, and Richmond, and played at Tulane, so he understands the academic side of things. When he was at Rice under Rhoades players loved him. Not sure he'd consider coming back, since he's in his first year as an assistant at UNLV (and clearly is loyal to the Kruger family) and I'm not certain he actually wants to be a head coach.

(01-02-2022 10:41 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(01-02-2022 10:36 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(01-02-2022 10:33 AM)Houston Owl 2 Wrote:  How about we wait and see what they can do when they can actually practice as a team during the week of the game? There may be a number of factors involved with yesterday's loss.

I think this team still has potential to be a good team and a step forward with the program.

1) They did practice (they posted a photo on Twitter the other day).
2) UNT also hadn’t played since 12/18.

They had one practice the day before the game after almost 2 weeks of being in quarantine. Having said that, unfortunately, we have seen absolutely nothing so far this season to indicate that yesterday's debacle was an aberration. It's who we are-- am extremely poor defensive squad particularly vulnerable to opponents with strong post players, that is turnover prone on offense and over-reliant on the 3-point shot.

We haven't had an effective big man since Brent Scott, and that was over 25 years ago. Men's sports at Rice is a dumpster fire, and Karlgaard should be thrown into it. If we have another expected 1-3 start in football next year, Bloomgren and Karlgaard should both be fired.

(01-02-2022 02:34 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  What Rice has is the athletic program that you inevitably have if your two guiding mantras are:

1) Losing is okay as long as you have a good enough excuse, and
2) If you don't care where you are going, the path of least resistance will take you there.

Rice has followed those two maxims for a stream of AD's going back to Bo Hagan, Red Bale, and Augie Erfurth. JK is just the latest in a long string.

Turd Graham was a f-ing idiot and a flaming a-hole, but at least he shook things up a bit. If CDC had stayed, he might have capitalized on the momentum and turned things around. But Ranger Rick was possibly the worst in the string of failed ADs. And JK is hardly an improvement.

I have said before, but if Rice somehow hired me as AD, in my first meeting with the coaches I would say:

"You have three goals, every year:

1) Win your conference
2) Win at least once in post-season
3) Have the highest graduation and academic performance rates in the NCAA

We will meet again in a week. Let me know what you need to accomplish those goals, and give me a plan for how you and I can jointly get you those things you need, and suggested metrics for measuring your progress toward each of them. Don't worry, I don't expect miracles. But I do expect steady and continuous progress toward each of those three goals."

I am fairly certain that no Rice AD in history has ever said anything even remotely like that.

When you are a coach at Rice, and you come in with high goals and expectations in mind, but you quickly realize that 1) you are not going to get the support that you need to accomplish your goals, and 2) you have a job that pays at least decently (that is the one improvement over the last 60 years) and that job is yours regardless of results, as long as you don't make any waves about what you need to compete. That is an environment that pretty much beats down coaches. Some, like Fred Goldsmith, leave before they get beaten down. Some, like Don Knodel and Ken Hatfield, ultimately get beaten down, and it is not a pretty thing to watch. The exception is Wayne Graham, who moved baseball about as completely outside the athletic department as is possible within NCAA and Rice rules and regulations. JK couldn't stand Wayne's independence, and that doomed their relationship from the start.

Spot on as usual. Boosters need to demand another sports forum like they did eight years ago when Ranger was AD. I'd like a chance to tell them how I feel about them.