I think this game should show people that we’re not without talent. Getting Selden back healthy has made this a better team. But we will probably be the underdog in most of our remaining games, so let’s enjoy this while we can.

Go Owls!

Memphis is pissed. "How can we loose against Rice ? "

How far back do we have to go to find an upset this big in a major mens' sport? UT football in '93?

North Texas last year will end up being ranked higher than Memphis at the end of this year.

(02-01-2024 09:12 AM)Barney Wrote:  How far back do we have to go to find an upset this big in a major mens' sport? UT football in '93?

Depends how you want to measure an upset, but we were larger dogs against (+16.5 vs. +14.5 last night) when we won @UNM during the 2015-16 season.

(02-01-2024 09:18 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  North Texas last year will end up being ranked higher than Memphis at the end of this year.

They've almost caught them this year in both KenPom (#75 v #70) and the NCAA's NET rankings (#76 v #75).

Memphis quickly playing themselves out of the tournament.

Also lowkey a great performance from Mason. Played a minute in the first half because of foul trouble. Picked up his 3rd foul after like 30 seconds to start the second half. Then scored 17 playing basically every minute of the second half.

I give credit to this team and the coaching staff for pulling out this win against a clearly more talented team on the road. There was talk in these forums earlier that this team quit on each other and the coaches but that is clearly not the case. They have been close within striking distance in most of the conference games this season (but have only closed out two of them so far).

Dawes is growing up and beginning to make a significant impact after hitting the freshman wall over the past few games. I want the ball in his and at the FT line when the game is at stake. I agree with Ft Bend Owl that Selden is also making a huge positive difference when he is in the game. He is now getting starters minutes even though he is coming off the bench.

Now that we have seen how well Charlotte is playing and recognizing that Rice was able to hang with them (in OT), perhaps we should give this team a bit more credit for being competitive against some of the top teams in the AAC. Overall the game plans have been solid, the team has made in-game adjustments, (not all of them have worked….). and several players have made real progress improving their game during the season (Dawes, Selden, etc.)

They are still defensively suspect, especially in the interior and their 3-point shooting has declined for the past two years, but this team is deeper than last year and is competing in a tougher league.

I am enjoying watching this team compete this season, much more than last year’s team (that had Quincy). They have 10 games left in the regular season. I think they will have a chance to win at least 6 of them (but would guess that 4 more wins will be more likely).

All that being said, it was a great win on the road against Memphis. congratulations to these Rice Owls

How does the AAC tournament work? Do all teams make it?

(02-01-2024 11:36 AM)Kayjay Wrote:  I give credit to this team and the coaching staff for pulling out this win against a clearly more talented team on the road. There was talk in these forums earlier that this team quit on each other and the coaches but that is clearly not the case. They have been close within striking distance in most of the conference games this season (but have only closed out two of them so far).

Dawes is growing up and beginning to make a significant impact after hitting the freshman wall over the past few games. I want the ball in his and at the FT line when the game is at stake. I agree with Ft Bend Owl that Selden is also making a huge positive difference when he is in the game. He is now getting starters minutes even though he is coming off the bench.

Now that we have seen how well Charlotte is playing and recognizing that Rice was able to hang with them (in OT), perhaps we should give this team a bit more credit for being competitive against some of the top teams in the AAC. Overall the game plans have been solid, the team has made in-game adjustments, (not all of them have worked….). and several players have made real progress improving their game during the season (Dawes, Selden, etc.)

They are still defensively suspect, especially in the interior and their 3-point shooting has declined for the past two years, but this team is deeper than last year and is competing in a tougher league.

I am enjoying watching this team compete this season, much more than last year’s team (that had Quincy). They have 10 games left in the regular season. I think they will have a chance to win at least 6 of them (but would guess that 4 more wins will be more likely).

All that being said, it was a great win on the road against Memphis. congratulations to these Rice Owls

We also stayed close against FAU last week until the final minute.

(02-01-2024 11:36 AM)Kayjay Wrote:  I give credit to this team and the coaching staff for pulling out this win against a clearly more talented team on the road. There was talk in these forums earlier that this team quit on each other and the coaches but that is clearly not the case. They have been close within striking distance in most of the conference games this season (but have only closed out two of them so far).

Dawes is growing up and beginning to make a significant impact after hitting the freshman wall over the past few games. I want the ball in his and at the FT line when the game is at stake. I agree with Ft Bend Owl that Selden is also making a huge positive difference when he is in the game. He is now getting starters minutes even though he is coming off the bench.

Now that we have seen how well Charlotte is playing and recognizing that Rice was able to hang with them (in OT), perhaps we should give this team a bit more credit for being competitive against some of the top teams in the AAC. Overall the game plans have been solid, the team has made in-game adjustments, (not all of them have worked….). and several players have made real progress improving their game during the season (Dawes, Selden, etc.)

They are still defensively suspect, especially in the interior and their 3-point shooting has declined for the past two years, but this team is deeper than last year and is competing in a tougher league.

I am enjoying watching this team compete this season, much more than last year’s team (that had Quincy). They have 10 games left in the regular season. I think they will have a chance to win at least 6 of them (but would guess that 4 more wins will be more likely).

All that being said, it was a great win on the road against Memphis. congratulations to these Rice Owls

Rice is kind of a weird team to evaluate. The OOC results were mostly miserable and then the conference season started with Tulane spanking Rice. Everyone around here felt pretty miserable about what they were seeing and then Rice lost to a bad UTSA team.

But looking back, Rice has been in every game since Tulane, with the final score maybe not quite representing some tight games:
276 UTSA - OT loss
119 S. Fla - Rice down 1 with 1:40 left, loses by 8
103 Charlotte - OT loss
245 Temple - 3-point win
22 FAU - Rice down 5 with 5:30 left, loses by 13
164 Tulsa - Rice down 11 with 1:54 to play and loses by 2
70 Memphis - 3-point win

To me, its starting to feel like a team that could find its footing with a couple wins and look decent (but not great) moving forward.

Owls need to follow up on the Memphis win by getting some pay back on Saturday in San Antonio for the OT loss to UTSA at Tudor in early January. Back-to-back road wins would show some real progress.

ESPN giving the Owls a 54% chance to win. Both teams are 8-13 on the season, 2-6 in AAC play.

(02-01-2024 11:47 AM)dragon2owl Wrote:  How does the AAC tournament work? Do all teams make it?

Yes. Top four seeds get a bye through the first two days.

2024 American Men's Basketball Championship Schedule
Wednesday, March 13
Game 1 – No. 13 seed vs. No. 12 seed – 1 p.m. ET/Noon CT | ESPN+
Game 2 – No. 14 seed vs. No. 11 seed – 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT | ESPN+

Thursday, March 14
Game 3 – No. 9 seed vs. No. 8 seed – 12:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. CT | ESPNU
Game 4 – Game 1 winner vs. No. 5 seed – 2:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Game 5 – No. 10 seed vs. No. 7 seed – 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Game 6 – Game 2 winner vs. No. 6 seed – 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT | ESPNU

Friday, March 15
Game 7 – Game 3 winner vs. No. 1 seed – 1 p.m. ET/Noon CT | ESPN2
Game 8 – Game 4 winner vs. No. 4 seed – 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT | ESPN2
Game 9 – Game 5 winner vs. No. 2 seed – 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Game 10 – Game 6 winner vs. No. 3 seed – 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT | ESPNU

Saturday, March 16
Game 11 – Semifinal 1, Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner – 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT | ESPN2
Game 12 – Semifinal 2, Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner – 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT | ESPN2

Sunday, March 17
Game 13 – Championship, Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner – 3:15 p.m. ET/2:15 p.m. CT | ESPN

(02-01-2024 09:12 AM)Barney Wrote:  How far back do we have to go to find an upset this big in a major mens' sport? UT football in '93?

Not sure about basketball but only 2020 for football. Shut out an undefeated ranked marshall.

(02-01-2024 12:09 PM)mrbig Wrote:  To me, its starting to feel like a team that could find its footing with a couple wins and look decent (but not great) moving forward.

It also could be a team that never figures it out, stays in a lot of games, and breaks our hearts over and over. All I am saying is that this team is a couple sneezes from being 4-4 or even 5-3 in conference play ... but also a couple sneezes from being 0-8.

GO right again. Called it in the gamethead on the conference board beforehand.

(02-01-2024 12:25 PM)Grungy Wrote:  

(02-01-2024 11:47 AM)dragon2owl Wrote:  How does the AAC tournament work? Do all teams make it?

Yes. Top four seeds get a bye through the first two days.

2024 American Men's Basketball Championship Schedule
Wednesday, March 13

Game 1 – No. 13 seed vs. No. 12 seed – 1 p.m. ET/Noon CT | ESPN+
Game 2 – No. 14 seed vs. No. 11 seed – 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT | ESPN+

Q: will we have enough room in the trophy case for our participation trophy?

(02-01-2024 02:49 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Q: will we have enough room in the trophy case for our participation trophy?

What trophy case?

(02-01-2024 02:49 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  

(02-01-2024 12:25 PM)Grungy Wrote:  

(02-01-2024 11:47 AM)dragon2owl Wrote:  How does the AAC tournament work? Do all teams make it?

Yes. Top four seeds get a bye through the first two days.

2024 American Men's Basketball Championship Schedule
Wednesday, March 13

Game 1 – No. 13 seed vs. No. 12 seed – 1 p.m. ET/Noon CT | ESPN+
Game 2 – No. 14 seed vs. No. 11 seed – 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT | ESPN+

Q: will we have enough room in the trophy case for our participation trophy?

We're tied for 11/12th place now at 2-6. The 9/10 seeds are 3-5 and the 8 seed is 4-5. Wouldn't be hard to move up to 9/10 and get a first round bye if we show any kind of sustained improvement.