Rice Season Goes Off Track
Rice basketball got a little negative press from CBS sportline earlier this week:
Rice was supposed to make its NCAA Tournament return after a 35-year absence. The Owls returned four starters from last season's 22-11 team, including potential WAC player of the year Michael Harris, but it's not going to happen. And it's hard to say why. Rice (13-8, 7-5) shoots well from the floor (48.2 percent) and foul line (70.4 percent), has a plus turnover-to-assist ratio and rebounding margin, and has gotten big seasons from Harris and Jason McKrieth. But the Owls have lost four WAC games by five or fewer points and were blown out by 29 at UTEP. It has been an NIT season, which is better than Rice does most years -- but not good enough for this one.
It didn't get any better yesterday, with that brutal loss to Murray State at Autry Court.
I guess I bought into all the preseason press, as I thought Rice would do well in WAC play and compete for an at-large NCAA bid. It's not clear to me that Rice will even make the NIT at this point.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/20/05 09:57 | Sports | Technorati
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And here I was, hoping that that big emotional win over Rockhurst would turn around the season. O forlorn hope!
I'm hoping to make it to the San Jose State game.
Posted by Steve Casburn @ 19:00 on 02/20/05
Growl.
Posted by PvW @ 02:24 on 02/21/05
What really burns about that loss to Murray is that for the most part, Rice played well. Shot well, rebounded well, handled the Murray press well, and still lost, thanks mostly to Murray's 11-for-24 3 point shooting.
I have no idea what happened this season. In some ways, this is worse than the 6-22 years - at least then we knew what to expect going in.
Posted by Charles Kuffner @ 12:53 on 02/22/05
Two words: Lorenzo Williams.
The Owls lost their point guard from last year (and center as well, so CBS Sportsline's assertion that four Owl starters from last season returned is incorrect). Rice really hasn't has a true point guard with much playing time, but Zo Williams is the one guy who manages to kick-start the Rice offense into high gear whenever he's on the court. However, Williams also missed seven games right in the middle of the WAC season with a deep thigh bruise, and during that stretch the Owls played mediocre ball. He came back for the Murray State game but clearly wasn't 100%.
Rice's RPI, like Houston's, right now is too unrecoverably low to merit an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament (an NIT bid is reasonable barring a complete collapse). Rice will have to win the WAC tournament, which is certainly a possibility given the talent on a (healthy) Rice squad but not terribly likely given the fact that conference leader Nevada will be hosting.
Of course, being a Cougar fan, I'm sure you're already well-aware of Williams's importance to the Owls, having witnessed the conclusion of this season's Administaff Cup game.
Posted by Jonathan Sadow @ 02:51 on 02/24/05
RPI is very interesting this year. There are some teams in the 50s and higher that I don't see getting an invite unless they win their conference tourney, so RPI may not be the end-all/be-all this time.
Memphis is getting bubble-talk with an RPI that is near triple digits (like Rice's)! Last night's loss by Memphis may silence that talk, but it was going strong up until last night. With their remaining schedule, I thought Memphis could boost their RPI nicely by winning out. They aren't going to do that after last night's loss, so their RPI is unrecoverably low now in my opinion. Rice's is as well -- just not enough juice left to their schedule to break out of triple digit RPI.
Houston is starting to get some bubble talk, but you are right -- if invites came out today, Houston's RPI (mid 60s on most sites) and conference standing wouldn't get them in I don't think. I don't agree that their RPI is unrecoverably low, though. Two road wins and a win at home against UAB would give them a definite RPI boost. But, that's all talk now. They actually have to get those road wins, and they don't come easy in CUSA.
I'm looking forward to next year's CUSA, actually. Yeah, the conference loses some powerhouses, but I think this city gets a lot more interested in college hoops with two competitive programs in the same conference.
Posted by Kevin @ 10:00 on 02/24/05
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