Rhode Island Now Synonymous With Falling Apart
Keith Cothran and the Rams lost to Temple in the A-10 semifinals. (Icon SMI)
By Ronak Patel
ronakspatel@hotmail.com
Saturday, March 13, 2010
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – With three minutes left in Temple's runaway 57-44 victory over Rhode Island in Saturday's Atlantic 10 tournament semifinals at Boardwalk Hall, the Owls student section began to chant something that has been known about the Rams for a while: they are an NIT team.
The chants of "URI, NIT" reverberated for a strong minute and all the Rams could do was take it in and when Selection Sunday commences, it should be confirmed they will be in the NIT for the fifth time under Jim Baron's regime, which has seen success but the program hasn't been able to broken through and make the NCAA tournament.
Two years ago, the Rams started strong but faded late and this year is déjà vu. The Rams stormed out the gate but once the A-10 season began, the Rams didn't register one – ONE – victory that makes you take notice. They went 0-5 against the conference's three best teams – Temple (0-3), Richmond (0-1) and Xavier (0-1). Temple plays Richmond for the A-10 tournament title Sunday.
Baron believes, with the 23 wins against nine losses, his team has had a successful season despite where it may end up.
"To go to postseason is very special," said Baron, who's led URI to five 20-win seasons. "You hope what you've done all year long, non-conference schedule and I don't have to repeat myself; this team has done a heck of a job.
"They have bounced back and to do what we've done the last week, you lose to a top-20 team coming down the stretch, I think the conference speaks for itself. Two weeks ago, they were talking about six teams possibly being in. So, I think that having 23 wins, that's tough to do playing the way we've been playing and with the non-conference schedule is very special. As a coach, I've haven't had many opportunities to have 23 wins and playing in the Atlantic 10, it says a lot about our players."
But if you use the "eye test" as a barometer at this time of the season, the Rams didn't show mettle and didn't come out with any fight against the Owls. In fact, after Temple's guard sensation Juan Fernandez was done slicing up the Rams for seven quick points to start the game, the Owls student section could've started the "NIT" chant then. The Rams never led, got down by as many as 23 and didn't look like a team on Temple's level.
"From the beginning, we didn't look like it was for the NCAA tournament," said Rams junior forward Delroy James, who went 4-of-11 and finished with nine points. "We play here to win the A-10 Championship. We played them a couple of times but they came out very aggressive."
The Rams did play with some fire in the second half and if you base it on talent, the Rams stack up with the Owls, but what separates them is teams like Temple (28-6) don't get content with settling for any hint of success, they want more. The Owls' 28 wins are the second most in school history, behind 32 wins the 86-87 and 87-88 teams that won 32 games apiece.
"We are aware of things like that," said Temple senior guard Ryan Brooks, who led the team in scoring with 16. "We try and not pay to much attention to it, we try and take one game at a time and that's stuff is for the media and fans.
"We want to win and advance and get as far as we can."
Rhode Island's three leading scorers – James, Lamonte Ulmer and Keith Cothran – combined for just eight points in the first half and the team shot just 7-of-30 (23 percent).
Cothran admitted afterwards the team didn't come out with the same vigor it did in their quarterfinals victory over St. Louis.
"They are a solid team, we came out flat and didn't match their intensity," said Cohtran, who finished with 11 points but shot just 4-of-13. "Yesterday, we were able to match (St. Louis) intensity but couldn't match Temple's tonight."
If Rhode Island, who had everything to play for, couldn't match Temple's focus, then the Rams -- whose best win on the season was a de facto neutral court 63-59 victory (game was played at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Ct.) over Oklahoma St. on Jan. 2 - belong in a tournament that's been their safe haven, the NIT.
RICHMOND'S ANDERSON SHOWS WHY HE'S PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Richmond's 89-85 overtime victory over Xavier that sends the Spiders into the A-10 conference title game against Temple had everything you want from a game in March: guys making big plays, consistent officiating and two teams battling like it was an NCAA Tournament game on the conference tournament stage. They put on a similar show in the regular season when Xavier defeated Richmond 78-76 in two overtimes on Feb. 28 at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati.
"We played the hardest team to prepare for in one day in Richmond," said Xavier coach Chris Mack. "I wonder if we won, would we be playing the Cavaliers or the Celtics. But an incredible game; I take nothing away from Richmond and my team - two teams that are going to represent themselves well in the NCAA tournament.
"We had a couple of chances but my hats off to Chris Mooney and his kids."
In the end, Richmond's spunky junior guard Kevin Anderson showed why he was named A-10 Player of the Year with his performance in the second half and overtime. Anderson, who scored only four points in the first half on 2-of-7 shooting, help rally the Spiders from an early nine-point deficit in the second half to force overtime. Anderson finished with 27 points, eight of which came in overtime. Despite turning it over five times, he did grab six rebounds.
"I was trying to be aggressive," said Anderson. "I didn't come out aggressive really and I missed a lot of shots early. I knew if I kept shooting, they would fall eventually.
"So I wanted to be as aggressive as possible and they went down in the second half when we needed them."
The Spiders were down four with just under a minute left when Anderson's will took over. After Xavier's Jordan Crawford made a tough turnaround jumper where his air time prevailed over the defender, Anderson responded with a lay-up to cut the lead to 73-71. After Dante' Jackson missed a free throw, Anderson, whom had defenders draped over him on several shot makes in the second half, looked like he was setting up the defense to take the 3-pointer and the win, but in a split second, he penetrated and drove in for the game tying lay-in with three ticks left.
"He's a really good player," said Xavier's Jamal McLean. "Some of the coaches voted him player of the year. He did what he was supposed to do and he got into our defense, broke us down and he's a jump shooter, made jump shots. Not much I can say else."
Richmond's win was spearheaded by Anderson and senior guard David Gonzalvez. The bright-eyed, yet confident shooter finished with 26 points, 16 coming in the first half to help keep the Spiders within crawling distance with Xavier at halftime. They went into the locker room trailing by only four (37-33) despite shooting just 33 percent from the field and 2-of-14 on 3-pointers.
"They are up there," said Mack of ranking Anderson-Gonzalvez backcourt with the nation's best. "Kansas St. has a tremendous backcourt but you won't find two kids on an opposing team that are going to bring what those two kids bring to the table for Richmond.
"They scored 53 of their 89 points and Anderson took over down the stretch. The energizer bunny never gets tired; he continues to use ball screens and wears our bigs out."
Comments