>>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

[RIT Winters]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Good that he is back - even if it is one game later. It will be interesting to see who Coach starts Friday between Watson and Ruby. My hunch is Watson.

I have a hunch that your hunch is correct.

 

[LtPowers]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Personally I think it is mostly better recruiting and conference.

I had thought recruiting was pretty good, given our limitations, until I saw the recruits Union's getting.

Tough opponents and being poorly prepared.

Yeah, Wilson does a stupendous job at shaping these players into stars and getting our teams to gel, but it takes a long time, and it seems the team is often poorly prepared for individual games. Makes me wonder how we pulled off the win in Minnesota and the two in Albany. Sometimes it seems like it's only sheer determination that gets those wins; the Tigers looked lost vs BC in 2008-9 and vs Wisconsin in 2010 and vs Merrimack last year.

We beat up real good on AHA teams but most years we're lucky to win on OOC game. That's gotta change one of these years.


Powers &8^]

 

[komey1]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

I don't know what kind of recruits you expect RIT to draw. RIT does have factors against it.

1. No athletic scholarships. Like it or not, I believe this matters for elite recruits.

2. The league itself. Yes, RIT has had great success in the AHA. But you aren't going to draw great recruits when your schedule has games against the likes of AIC, Bentley, and Sacred Heart.

3. Tougher admission standards. I don't know for certain, but I would expect that RIT's standards are on par with the ECAC and that could discourage some recruits.

Bottom line is that we go through this EVERY year. We all complaing about the start the team is on and doom and gloom. Next thing you know, RIT is in their familiar perch near the top of the AHA standings. I would not be surprised if the same thing happens this year.

Right now, RIT will need to get back to basics. I expect we will see improvement Friday.

 

[Zyklon]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Do you think that RIT can expect any transfers from the UAH team? (I know it's sad to see it go... but this could be a brightside for us)

 

[RIT Winters]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Do you think that RIT can expect any transfers from the UAH team? (I know it's sad to see it go... but this could be a brightside for us)

Seems like a long shot, but not altogether impossible I suppose.

 

[dutchbrowncoat]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Bottom line is that we go through this EVERY year. We all complaing about the start the team is on and doom and gloom. Next thing you know, RIT is in their familiar perch near the top of the AHA standings. I would not be surprised if the same thing happens this year.

Right now, RIT will need to get back to basics. I expect we will see improvement Friday.

amen.

 

[Grenadier]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

http://www.democratandchronicle.com...NCAA-infraction?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home

Sounds like a bureaucratic screw-up. Also sounds like he is out one more game. :-(

 

[jgRIT]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

I was trying to figure out DeMike's situation, and from what I can gather from the ECHL transactions site:
-The K Wings released him on Oct 12
-The Chicago Express picked him up as an emergency backup on the 21st
-the Express released him yesterday

Though I assume this tweet means he already has something else lined up. I hope it works out for him!

 

[LtPowers]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

I don't know what kind of recruits you expect RIT to draw. RIT does have factors against it.

But only one of your three "factors" doesn't equally apply to Union -- and that's ECAC versus AHA. Is it a factor? Maybe; but how much of one?

(And RIT's admission standards are actually on the low side for schools in our class.)

Bottom line is that we go through this EVERY year. We all complaing about the start the team is on and doom and gloom. Next thing you know, RIT is in their familiar perch near the top of the AHA standings. I would not be surprised if the same thing happens this year.

The problem is, being near the top of the standings isn't enough. All it did last year was get us a date versus Jason Torf's best game of the season, and then off to the golf course with everyone else. If we'd pulled out wins in a few of those early games, maybe we wouldn't have had to rely on beating Air Force to make it to the NCAAs.


Powers &8^]

 

[RITProf]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Don't forget that it took Union a very long time in ECAC D1 to get where they are. It's not too much of a stretch to say that RIT has been more successful recruiting if you normalize for years in D1. Now, the question is will RIT get to the level Union is at by the time we rack up as many D1 years as them. If I had to bet, I'd say the chances are pretty good (especially if the new arena and the possible move to ECAC come true).

And while our admission standards are nothing to shout about with respect to the ECAC, we are close and improving rapidly.

 

[TigerFan86-87]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

(And RIT's admission standards are actually on the low side for schools in our class.)

That's mostly because the measures by which those things are judged don't take into account the many different types of colleges RIT has. For those that don't know better, we're thought of as a techie school (for obvious reasons). So the incoming average SAT / ACT / GPA scores aren't nearly what one would expect. Since RIT has Fine Arts, Photography, and Woodworking schools where those metrics (I would assume) aren't nearly as important, that would play a factor. Also there are plenty of "non-tech" schools like the Business and Hotel Management schools where maybe the admission standards could be slightly lower (no offense to those schools, but it just may be the case). Then there's always the Packaging Science majors... just kidding.

 

[blazer777]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

But only one of your three "factors" doesn't equally apply to Union -- and that's ECAC versus AHA. Is it a factor? Maybe; but how much of one?

(And RIT's admission standards are actually on the low side for schools in our class.)



The problem is, being near the top of the standings isn't enough. All it did last year was get us a date versus Jason Torf's best game of the season, and then off to the golf course with everyone else. If we'd pulled out wins in a few of those early games, maybe we wouldn't have had to rely on beating Air Force to make it to the NCAAs.


Powers &8^]

Fair point but does anybody have stats on which AHA team has even made it close to being included in the top 16 PWR rankings?

Would winning those games and losing out in the AHA tourney still allow the Tigers to advance last year?

It seems like the only way to the post season is via the AHA tourney.

 

[burgie12]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Fair point but does anybody have stats on which AHA team has even made it close to being included in the top 16 PWR rankings?

Would winning those games and losing out in the AHA tourney still allow the Tigers to advance last year?

It seems like the only way to the post season is via the AHA tourney.

2011 Do It Yourself Rankings

A win over Merrimack on Jan 1, 2011 (change RIT's 3 to a 6) moves RIT from 29 to 23 in PWR, mainly because their RPI goes from 0.5061 to 0.5134. Merrimack is the biggest loser, going from 5th to 9th. RPI is the biggest gainer, going from 15th to 12th by flipping the Maine comparison.

RIT still would have had a lot of work to do to get into the tournament. For example, I had to flip the UNO and RPI games, in addition to the Merrimack game, to put RIT into the tournament (12th place, BTW). If RIT had gone perfect in non-conference games last year (but still lost in the AHA finals to AFA), then they could've gotten up to 7th (Disclaimer: That's ignoring that flipping the game v SCSU may have changed their match-up on the second day, I forgot whether that was a fixed format or a true tournament.).

The broader point is that since the AHA as a whole does fairly poor in non-conference games and 27 games each season are dedicated to these opponents that will end up having poor overall records, it is difficult to put two teams into the NCAA tournament. It's not impossible, it's just difficult.

.

 

[Ed Trefzger]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Fair point but does anybody have stats on which AHA team has even made it close to being included in the top 16 PWR rankings?

Since the rules were changed to prevent the Holy Cross/Bentley situation mentioned a few days ago, the only time a team has gotten close is by winning the AHA championship. A loss has always dropped the second-place team too far, mainly because the RPI comparison is almost always a loser for the AHA team because of the league's abysmal out-of-conference record.

 

[Tom Naeger]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Yeah, Wilson does a stupendous job at shaping these players into stars and getting our teams to gel, but it takes a long time, and it seems the team is often poorly prepared for individual games. Makes me wonder how we pulled off the win in Minnesota and the two in Albany. Sometimes it seems like it's only sheer determination that gets those wins; the Tigers looked lost vs BC in 2008-9 and vs Wisconsin in 2010 and vs Merrimack last year.

We beat up real good on AHA teams but most years we're lucky to win on OOC game. That's gotta change one of these years.

Powers &8^]

Should we start a fire Wanye Wilson thread?

Look a the schedule and you will get your answer, the games they won were all later in the season. I can understand fans from other conferences needs this lesson, but it been pointed out here many times and Lerchie been talking a lot about it in his Blog. AHA teams play most of their non-conference games with the deck stack against them. Many early in the season and on the road. Also you only have 6 of these games and with the fact an AHA team will need the auto big to get into the NCAAs leaves very little experiment time in conference game, so you will see more werid combos in these out of conference games. How many times do we need to have this conversation.

That being said I have more concerns about this years team then prevoius seasons. The strong part of this team was suppose to be the defensive core. I think a lot of them are having worst starts then they did last year, especially Noyes and Descoteaux have seem a step slower and not so confident with the puck. RIT break out passes have got to get better and the defensive and offensive gap against Union was horrible which is beyond me how that happen in the smaller dimensions of the Ritter. I saw the same game that Wanye describe against Canisius, but I saw a different game against Union. Yes Union is a much better team than Canisius, but I saw much of the same play, same mistakes, and I think the real difference was how much better of a team Union was vs Thursday night. Yes I did think the 2nd and 3rd period were better, but not good as Herb Brooks would say....Road trip can def be a good thing for this team.

On Madolora's situation, just another example of what a terrible organization the NCAA has been for years. What a stupid little thing. My only other thought is I do not think this came from any other school, the NCAA just seems to work this way like the Derek Hahn situation years ago. Just my gut feeling on it...

 

[LtPowers]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Look a the schedule and you will get your answer, the games they won were all later in the season.

So where the games I mentioned that we lost. The BC debacle was the day after the Minnesota win. The Wisconsin game was a week after the Albany miracle. The Merrimack game was in January.

And if you want to talk about early wins, the win against Cornell was in October.

But more than that, I'm not just talking about OOC games. Even in-conference we look bad at the beginning of the season compared to other teams. That tells me the slow start isn't just due to playing better teams and experimenting with the lineups in OOC games; it's also just because it takes a while to get going.

We'll see what happens this year, when four of our seven OOC games are in December and January. The RPI game after Thanksgiving could be a good measuring stick too.

Maybe everyone else is happy with another regular-season AHA banner in the Ritter, but I think we ought to stop making excuses and start pushing for some more OOC wins.


Powers &8^]

 

[komey1]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

I'm not sure if some of you have too high of expectations of RIT.

Coach is doing his best to try and win all the games - OOC or not. He may try a few differant things in the OOC games to see if they work. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Where RIT "makes their money" is in the conference games and put themselves in the best position possible to win the automatic bid. The ultimate goal remains the same - get to the NCAAs.

Winning OOC games are a bonus. But unless they go 5-2 or 6-1 it makes it nearly impossible to get an at-large. And with the teams RIT schedules, they is just not reasonable.

 

[blazer777]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

I'm not sure if some of you have too high of expectations of RIT.

Coach is doing his best to try and win all the games - OOC or not. He may try a few differant things in the OOC games to see if they work. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Where RIT "makes their money" is in the conference games and put themselves in the best position possible to win the automatic bid. The ultimate goal remains the same - get to the NCAAs.

Winning OOC games are a bonus. But unless they go 5-2 or 6-1 it makes it nearly impossible to get an at-large. And with the teams RIT schedules, they is just not reasonable.

It's actually a good idea to experiment in the OOC games because if you win the AHA tourney or get an at large bid, your next game and hopefully the ones beyond that are OOC games and you better have something that works.

 

[MattS]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Maybe everyone else is happy with another regular-season AHA banner in the Ritter, but I think we ought to stop making excuses and start pushing for some more OOC wins.


Powers &8^]

I'm am happy with regular season AHA titles, but certainly not satisfied. I hope the players and coaches are not either.

I'm not sure if some of you have too high of expectations of RIT.

That it. Keep the expectations low. That way you're never disappointed.

I propose that we all adopt the following the following expectations:

1 OOC win every 5 years.
1 OOC tie every three years.
1 AHA regular-season title every 5 years.
1 AHA AHA tourney title every 10 years.

Low enough?


In all seriousness there is nothing wrong with high expectations. Especially after what the program has accomplished in so little time. But for me, that just raises the bar so to speak. Why shouldn't we want "greatness"? Is there something wrong with expecting the program to keep to the past high performance that it has had?

Even the best programs have their down years, so I certainly don't expect every season to be awesome but it doesn't mean I can't have high expectations going into the season. It's my right as a fan! And I certainly reserve the right to whine when my high expectations are crushed!

 

[TigerFan86-87]

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

Re: >>>>> RIT Tigers 2011-2012 <<<<< Dreaming is Done, Time to ROAR

In all seriousness there is nothing wrong with high expectations. Especially after what the program has accomplished in so little time. But for me, that just raises the bar so to speak. Why shouldn't we want "greatness"? Is there something wrong with expecting the program to keep to the past high performance that it has had?

I think this goes right into what I think Komey is talking about. One fabulous weekend in Albany in March, 2010 and suddenly RIT has to forever "...keep to the past high performance that it has had." Guess what... RIT has not at any time (other than that one great weekend) had a history of being very competitive at all in OOC games, their best season being the year they beat Cornell and Minnesota. If I recall correctly, that is the only season that they've won more than one OOC game, including a whopping 1-11-1 regular season record over the past two seasons. So Yes, RIT has set the bar high relative to AHA play, but No, they have not set much of a bar relative to overall NCAA play. Without significant upgrades to the talent level of players recruited, playing for an at-large bid is a pipe dream at best. I don't mean to be harsh. It is just the way it is right now. Maybe a number of years from now that will be different, I don't know. RIT made a huge quantum leap from a D-I independent with mostly D-III players to a perennial power in the AHA in a very short period of time (1 year). But since then, the overall performance of the program hasn't exactly improved greatly, aside from the FF run, of course. I just hesitate to base my expectations on one "miracle" run.