2010 Rhode Island Basketball: Rhody Week

In 1999 Jim Baron was coaching at St.Bonaventure struggling to meet the .500 mark, Delroy James was a 12 year old kid growing up in New York, and The Ryan Center wasn’t even built yet. Fast forward through a boring ten years of NIT appearances and losing records and you’ve reached the year every URI fan has been waiting for.

Rhody is off to a 19-3 start led by the aforementioned Baron and his cast of veteran players. They’re included in everyone’s bracketology and appear to be on their way to their first NCAA tournament appearance in over ten years.

There is room for concern, though. Those ten years I mentioned earlier weren’t boring the whole time. Too many times URI got off to hot starts and let their fans down in the end, slipping out of the NCAA Tournament and ending up in the NIT. I’m sure a record of 19-3 has some Rhody fans already booking trips to see their team play in the big dance come March, but please listen to me and stay off traveling sites for just one more week.

There’s no denying that the Atlantic 10 is the chief of the mid-major conferences this year. It has a legitimate shot at sending more than three teams to the big dance. URI, like every other team in the A-10, has a shot at winning its conference tournament, but with all the good teams up top a resume for an at large bid is a must. Rhode Island starts off February with good computer numbers; RPI-13 SOS-63. They’re record against the RPI Top 50 is only 2-3, but they’ve managed to put together a nice resume of wins and not to many bad losses. Wins against Dayton, Oklahoma State, Providence, and Boston College look nice, albeit a win versus one of the A-10’s elite would be the finishing touches on a good resume.

Now that we’ve got URI’s resume out of the way, it’s time to talk about the biggest week for Rhode Island basketball in a long time. URI hosts Richmond on Wednesday and takes a trip to Temple on Saturday. Both of these teams have a shot at making the NCAA tournament, both of these teams have the same conference record as URI (7-2), and most importantly both of these teams are ranked in the RPI Top 50.

There are so many teams and so many possible outcomes in college basketball. It’s almost a rule that one week can’t completely determine a season, but every rule has an exception. Two wins this week and URI would have to have a New York Mets like collapse to miss the NCAA tourney, which isn’t happening with the veteran players they have. Their record versus the RPI Top 50 would improve to 4-3 and they’d have a statement win on the road against Temple. Even if they were to slip up and drop one or two down the stretch their resume would still be good enough for an at large bid.

Notice how I talk about the RPI Top 50 so much? Well it is that important. Computer numbers mean a lot when it comes to deciding who earns a bid to the tournament, and the most important computer number is RPI. Games against teams with high RPIs really make or break a team’s resume.

Alright, back to the big week. Lose both games and that 19-3 start is about as important as the NFL Pro Bowl. URI’s record against the RPI Top 50 would drop to a horrendous 2-5, and they’d have few chances left to pick up big enough wins to make the tournament. Really, if they lose both of these games their resume isn’t that important because they would be behind Xavier, Temple, and Richmond. I know I said the A-10 has a shot at sending more than three, but it’s highly unlikely. It’s always a bad thing when you’re relying on other teams losing in early March.

Of course there’s the other outcome, URI splitting these two games. One win this week wouldn’t be terrible, and it definitely wouldn’t knock them out of the tournament picture. It would give them some added pressure down the stretch though.

No matter what happens we’re going to find out a lot about URI this week. They’re just starting to surface on ESPN and major college basketball sites, which could be a bad thing. Give the Rams one more week and you’ll be able to decide whether they’re your tournament Cinderella or a one and done. Yes, this week is THAT big.

Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Fans

Big Week For Rhode Island