The difference between Rhode Island and the SEC

Much has been made the last couple of days about the trials and tribulations of players transferring between schools.

You will likely find nary a writer arguing that the process fair for the players.

Both Matt Norlander and Eamonn Brennan (twice!) have stood on their respective pedestals over the last couple of weeks to rail against the NCAA for issues involving the transfer of Justin Knox out of Alabama and Murphy Holloway out of Ole Miss.

To be honest, both players are getting a bit of a raw deal. Knox will have graduated from Alabama in three years at summer's end, and wanted to transfer to a different school to pursue a graduate degree and finish out his playing days. Alabama told him that was fine, but that he would not be allowed to go to another SEC school (pretty standard), any school on the 2010-2011 basketball schedule (not uncommon), or any school within the University of Alabama school system. That includes UAB, the school most believed that Know wanted to go to.

Alabama believes that UAB pursued Knox before he received his release, so they but the kibash on his attempts to be a Blazer.

Holloway is in a similar situation. Holloway has a daughter in South Carolina that he wants to be closer to while continuing his basketball career. He was looking at Clemson, South Carolina, Winthrop, and the College of Charleston as possible destinations.

Few expected Holloway to be allowed to transfer to South Carolina, as the Gamecocks are also a member of the SEC. But Ole Miss also nixed Clemson, meaning that Holloway is going to have to make a choice -- play basketball at a high major school in a different state than his family (the reason that he is leaving Ole Miss, mind you), or head to a low-major program, where becoming a pro is a much more difficult task.

Ole Miss claims that Clemson tampered with Holloway, contacting him before he he was officially released. In reality, Ole Miss comes off as bitter as a spurned ex-girlfriend.

On the one hand, there needs to be some measure in place to avoid schools recruiting players that are enrolled at another institution. Giving the first school -- the ex-girlfriend, if you will -- the authority to limit where that player can continue his career is a fairly effective incentive. You can recruit this kid from my team if you want to, but if I find out, rest assured he won't be going to your school.

But these are two cases of players looking to transfer for reasons outside of sports. Knox for a graduate degree. Holloway to help raise his daughter. You would think that a school that truly cared about the well being of their student-athletes would try to make things easier for these kids, not do everything in their power to hinder their personal growth.

As much as my fellow bloggers and I like to rail against the problems with the NCAA and its member institutions, we also need to highlight when a program gets it right.

Kyle Cain had signed a letter of intent to go to Rhode Island, but he told Adam Zagoria that "there were some things that were supposed to happen that wasn’t going to happen so I was kind of unhappy", eventually asking for his release from the LOI.

Now, Cain has since drawn interest from schools all over the country, including Kentucky, and it could have been very easy for Rhode Island not to grant him that release. Cain is a hot commodity right now, and regardless of whether that is a result of his talent or the late date, it isn't hard to imagine that Cain would have had an instant impact with the Rams.

Instead, coach Jimmy Baron allowed Cain out of his LOI, and Cain is now choosing between Alabama, Arizona State, West Virginia, and his home-state Fighting Illini.

So go ahead and rail against the NCAA for having too much authority and rip all the schools that abuse their ability to assert control over the student-athletes that represent them. I'll be right there next to you.

But while you sling as much mud as possible, be sure to give credit when credit is due.

Rhode Island did the right thing by Kyle Cain, and they deserve to be acknowledged for it.

Continue reading...

URI gets robbed, UNC goes to the NIT Final

The NIT is what it is.

The NIT.

I don't know how many people were watching the semifinal game last night between UNC and URI, but if you were you got to see an entertaining, if ugly, game. I'm not going to get into the details because, well, its the NIT, but the play everyone is going to be talking about came in the final seconds in overtime.

And it wasn't a buzzer beater.

UNC was up 68-67 with a five second difference between the shot clock and the game clock. URI opted not to foul, forcing a tough jumper from Larry Drew. Drew missed and Lamonte Ulmer corralled the rebound. As he started to go up court, it looked as if he was tripped from behind by Will Graves.

Take a look:



As Fran Fraschilla says (and give him credit for ripping the officials), intentional or not, a trip is a foul. Make your own conclusions, but based on the video it seems fairly obvious to me that Graves tripped Ulmer.

Can you imagine the uproar if this happened in the NCAA Tournament? And we all thought Duke was the team that got all the calls.

Anyway, UNC moves on to the NIT Finals on Thursday night against Dayton. If they win, they will become the first team to win an NIT title the year after winning the NCAA championship.

Give Roy Williams credit. With everything his team has been through this season, its obvious these kids haven't quit playing.

Continue reading...

The team to watch in the A-10 isn't necessarily on the bubble

There has been a lot of talk over the last few weeks about the Atlantic 10 conference and the possibility of six teams from the league making the NCAA Tournament.

Xavier, Richmond, Charlotte, Dayton, Rhode Island, and Temple all could be dancing come Selection Sunday. That said, they each have some work left to do (some more than others) to lock up a bid. While it is much more likely that four or five teams end up making the dance, its not out of the realm of possibility that things break right and all six get a bid. (By things breaking right, I mean teams like Louisville getting smoked by teams like St. John's.)

That list does not include one of the most important teams in the A-10 race.

There are seven teams within one game of first place in the loss column in the A-10. The six listed above, and St. Louis.

St. Louis is 16-8 overall and 6-3 in the A-10. But their most important record is their 12-1 mark at home, which includes wins over Richmond and Nebraska.

You see, the Billikens could end up being the team that decides the league championship, and maybe even determines some tournament destinies, almost by default. They play seven more games this season. Five of them come against the six teams sitting above them in the standings, with four of those games coming at home - Dayton, Rhode Island, Xavier, and Temple while traveling to play Dayton to close the season.

Could a win over URI or Dayton keep the Rams or the Flyers out of the tournament?


Another note on the A-10 - I know that Charlotte was blown out by Dayton last night. I also know that Richmond won at Rhode Island last night. But it is still way, way too early to claim that Richmond is a lock, or that Charlotte may have cost themselves a bid.

Richmond closes the season at Xavier, at home for Dayton, and at Charlotte over the span of seven days. Charlotte still has to play Xavier, at Rhode Island, and at home for Charlotte.

That's a lot of basketball to be played against some good competition.

You don't think Richmond could lose all three of those games, fall into sixth in the A-10, and lose in the first round of the conference tournament?

You don't think Charlotte could win five or six games down the stretch and win the A-10 regular season outright?

If the tournament were to start today, Richmond would be in, and Charlotte would be one of the last few teams to be decided upon.

Beyond that, there's not much you can say.

Continue reading...

Atlantic 10 bubble breakdown

The three best conferences outside the big six are as unpredictable as ever. Unpredictability in sports means excitement, and when you are dealing with conferences where 40% of the league has a real shot at winning the regular season title and/or earning a trip to the dance, you will rarely come across a more unpredictable situation.

Haven't had a chance to watch much A-10 hoops this season? Don't get the Mountain West's channel? Stopped caring about C-USA when Coach Cal left?

Don't worry. We're here to help you parse through it all. Be sure to check back in the next few days as we help you sort out the best leagues outside of the Big Six.

Mountain West bubble breakdown


ATLANTIC 10

Standings (strictly teams that are within reach of the bubble)

• 1. Xavier 15-6, 7-1
• 2. Temple 18-4, 6-1
• 3. Charlotte 16-5, 6-1
• 4. Rhode Island 17-3, 5-2
• 5. Richmond 16-6, 5-2
• 6. Dayton 15-6, 4-3
  

Favorite: Temple

Despite the Owls loss to Charlotte last Wednesday, the Owls still seem to be the favorite to win this league, and its not necessarily because of their talent level. That's not to say that Temple isn't a talented team. Ryan Brooks and Juan Fernandez form an excellent 1-2 scoring punch on the perimeter. Fernandez is a better shooter and Brooks is more adept at driving to the basket and mixing it up in the paint, but in the end both are simply good, smart basketball players. Lavoy Allen is a quality big man that can rebound the ball. Luis Guzman is an experienced leader at the point.

Ryan Brooks has been Temple's leading scorer this season.
(photo credit: ESPN)

But, like I said, Temple doesn't win because of their talent level. They win because they play defense. On the year, Fran Dunphy's crew has allowed just 56.9 ppg to their opponents, and only four teams have hung 70 points on their disciplined man-to-man defense - Western Michigan, Xavier, Charlotte, and Kansas. And if it wasn't for the "concussion-like symptoms" Juan Fernandez was experiencing and Lavoy Allen's foul trouble, the Owls may not have blown a ten point lead to Charlotte.

The biggest reason Temple is the favorite in the A-10? Their schedule. While the Owls will play five of their remaining nine games on the road, only one of those five roadies (Richmond) comes against a team in the top six of the A-10. Overall, they only play three more games against the top six of the league, and avoid Xavier and Charlotte. With that schedule and their ability to defend, Temple has the best shot of bringing home the league title, especially since they own the tie-breaker with Xavier


And if they lose: Xavier

The Musketeers probably are the next best team in the league. This was supposed to be a down year for the Muskies, as the likes of Derrick Brown, BJ Raymond, and CJ Anderson all moved on from X. Early in the season, Xavier looked like they were going to fulfill those expectations as they lost to Marquette, Baylor, Kansas State, Butler, and Wake Forest in the span of 11 games. But as the season has progressed, those losses began to not look so bad. All five teams are in the top 34 according to Kenpom, and with the exception of Marquette (51st), all are also in the top 25 of the RPI. Now consider that all five games were on the road or at the Old Spice Classic, and maybe the writing was on the wall for Xavier's start in league play.

Jordan Crawford could end up being A-10 player of the year.
(photo credit: ESPN)

Clearly, the brightest star for Xavier has been Jordan Crawford, the A-10's leading scorer. Crawford has a penchant for gunning, but he has also shown the backbone to take, and make, some tough shots down the stretch. And while Crawford's back court mates -- Terrell Holloway, Mark Lyons, Brad Redord, Dante Jackson -- all play their role capably, perhaps the biggest reason for Xavier's potential success in the league are their biggest players. Jason Love has become an excellent center, providing a scoring threat in the post, grabbing rebounds, and blocking some shots. Alongside Love is the athletic Jamel McLean and 7 foot Kenny Frease, both of whom have developed quite nicely this season.

Xavier's biggest issue is their non-conference resume, as an overtime win over Cincinnati is their only notable accomplishment. But the Muskies are not done with their non-conference schedule, as they still have to travel to Florida.


Who's Dancing?: As has been the case in year's past, the biggest problem surrounding the A-10 getting four or five bids to the dance is that the top of their conference ends up beating up on one another. There are only so many games that can help boost a profile for these teams, and they can't all win them all ... because they are against each other. So while there are going to be five, maybe six, teams when it is all said and done that merit consideration, my bet is that three, maybe four, of those teams actually get in.

• Temple: 18-4, 6-1; RPI: 16; Kenpom: 32; SOS: 32; vs. RPI top-50: 4-3; vs. RPI top-100: 6-4; Best wins: Villanova, Siena, @ URI; Bad losses: none
  
  Temple is all but a lock to get in. Their computer numbers are great, they have some good wins, they have no bad losses, and their schedule has been tough. The question is where they will get seeded. Temple plays three games against the other top six teams in the league. If they can go 8-1 or 7-2 down the stretch, winning the A-10, I think they have a shot at a top four seed. The A-10 is that strong. They might be able to move up another line if they can win the A-10 tournament as well.
  


• Xavier: 15-6, 7-1; RPI: 21; Kenpom: 19; SOS: 10; vs. RPI top-50: 4-5; vs. RPI top-100: 5-6; Best wins: Cincinnati, Rhode Island; Bad losses: Marquette
  
  Xavier is in the same boat as Temple. They should be all but a lock barring a collapse. This difference is that they don't have the non-conference resume that Temple as. Xavier didn't get a win against a Villanova. Xavier has a tough schedule the rest of the way, playing six of their final nine games on the road, including trips to Dayton, to Charlotte, and a non-conference game at Florida. X probably should win at least one of those three roads contests and clean up against the rest of their schedule if they want to feel safe. If Xavier can win the A-10 regular season, they are probably looking at around a five or six seed, which may get bumped up to a four seed if they can win the A-10 tournament as well.


• Charlotte: 16-5, 6-1; RPI: 42; Kenpom: 79; SOS: 99; vs. RPI top-50: 3-5; vs. RPI top-100: 3-5; Best wins: Temple, @ Louisville, @ Richmond; Bad losses: By 42 to Duke, by 33 to Old Dominion, by 17 to Tennessee
  
  Charlotte is in by far the worst shape of the three one-loss A-10 teams. They played eight games against teams with an RPI of 200 or worse (three against 300 or worse), and while they did play, and win, some games against good competition - beating Louisville on the road by 22 is impressive regardless of who was injured for the Cardinals - they also have to account for embarrassing losses to Duke and Old Dominion. Charlotte is probably in if the tournament started today, but they will want to win at least one, preferably two, of their four games against teams in the top six of the league (@ Dayton, Xavier, @ URI, Richmond). Of course, if they win the A-10, than they are going to be going to the dance.


• Rhode Island: 17-3, 5-2; RPI: 12; Kenpom: 66; SOS: 45; vs. RPI top-50: 2-2; vs. RPI top-100: 6-3; Best wins: Oklahoma State, @ Dayton; Bad losses: @ VCU
  
  Rhode Island definitely as the look of a team that belongs in the NCAA Tournament, and they have the computer profile as well. They have no losses outside of the top 100, and some of their wins have fallen out of the top 50 as teams like Northeastern, Boston College, and even VCU have lost a few games of late. Simply put, Rhody has done everything that they can with the schedule they had to earn themselves a bid to the dance, but they don't have much room for error. They have a fairly easy schedule the rest of the way, getting Richmond and Charlotte at home and heading to Temple. If they can take care of business against the Spiders and the 49ers, and avoid tripping up against a team like La Salle, the Rams should be ok.
  


• Richmond: 16-6, 5-2; RPI: 38; Kenpom: 68; SOS: 67; vs. RPI top-50: 2-2; vs. RPI top-100: 4-5; Best wins: Missouri, Old Dominion, Florida; Bad losses: @ St. Louis
  
  Richmond is in an interesting spot. They scheduled tough, and picked up some good wins, in the non-conference, but they could end up being hurt as some of their losses (William & Mary, South Carolina, VCU) begin to look worse as those teams struggle. The Spiders have a couple good non-conference wins, but have lost to Charlotte at home already and dropped an ugly one to St. Louis. The good news for Richmond is that they play each of the other five teams in the top six of the league one more time before the season is done. Richmond is going to earn or lose their bid in their last three games - at Xavier, Dayton, at Charlotte.
  


• Dayton: 15-6, 4-3; RPI: 40; Kenpom: 50; SOS: 40; vs. RPI top-50: 2-5; vs. RPI top-100: 2-5; Best wins: Georgia Tech, Old Dominion; Bad losses: @ St. Joe's
  
  Hard to believe that the preseason favorite is currently sitting in sixth place. As of today, Dayton is probably out of the tournament. They don't have enough quality wins, they have that ugly loss to St. Joe's, and they simply haven't played enough top tier competition. The Flyers are really going to have to do some work over their final nine games. They get Xavier and Charlotte at home, but they must travel to Richmond and Temple. I have a feeling that, at the end of the season, Dayton is going to need a good performance in the A-10 tournament in order to earn themselves a trip to the dance.
  
  

And here is the rest of it. Continue reading...

College Basketball Week in Review: The SEC Could Be Really Bad

GAME OF THE WEEK:
Duke 82, Rhode Island 79
The Rhody Rams were up for most of the game, and Jimmy Baron did his best Stephen Curry imitation in the second half, but the Blue Devils were too much down the stretch. It took a while for Duke to wake up at the start of the game as Rhode Island built up a 12 point lead in the first half, but the Devils used suffocating defensive pressure to force URI out of its offense rhythm and make an 11-0 run to end the half. The Rams were able to keep a slim lead for most of the second half, mainly due to Baron. As Duke started to get it going offensively, it seemed like Baron would respond to every Duke basket with a three (he hit seven of them in the second half). It was an incredible performance by the coaches son, who hit some ridiculously tough shots during that stretch. Duke was down 79-78 with 19.4 seconds left when Kyle Singler knocked down two free throws for the lead. Baron air balled a tough, fade away jumper, and Jon Scheyer hit two free throws for the final margin. Baron finished with 24 points, while Delroy Jones added 21 for the Rams. Singler had 21, 5 boards, and 5 assists, while Scheyer poured in a team-high 23.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Manny Harris, Michigan
Harris, who despite averaging 16.1 ppg last season as a freshman, flew under the radar nationally. Harris was phenomenal in his first two games of the Coaches vs. Cancer pre-season tourney. Against Michigan Tech, he went for a career high 30 points, while also grabbing 7 rebounds. Harris was even better the next night against Northeastern, coming up two assists shy of his first triple-double. All told, Harris finished the night was 26 points, 10 boards, and 8 dimes. For the week, Harris posted averages of 28.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg, and 5.0 apg while shooting 67% from the floor, 57% from deep, and 87% from the line.

TEAMS OF THE WEEK:
VMI and Mercer
For the second straight year, Kentucky lost to an unranked, low-major conference opponent on their home floor. Last year it was Gardner-Webb. This season it was VMI. The Keydets used terrific three point shooting and forced Kentucky into 13 turnovers in the first 11 minutes as they built a lead that at one time grew to 26 points. The Wildcats would come all the way back and take a lead late, but the Keydets would make a run at the end to win it 111-103. VMI finished the week 1-1 after losing to Virginia on Sunday, 107-97. Mercer went 2-0 on the week, with their big win coming Sunday against Alabama, the second straight season that they have beaten a major conference opponent (USC). The Bears got a lay-up from Calvin Henry with 13 seconds left to take the lead, and James Florence stole the ball on the next Tide possession, sealing the win. Florence finished with 23 points. Mercer beat Piedmont 89-63 in their first game.

MATCH-UPS OF THE WEEK:
11/17 - Miami OH @ Pitt: Miami OH gave UCLA all they could handle in a defensive battle in Pauley Pavilion. This one should be another slugfest, as Pitt plays slower and more physically than UCLA.

11/17 - UMass @ Memphis: Not only is this game the first game of the college basketball tip-off extravaganza, but it is the homecoming of former Memphis assistant Derek Kellogg, who left Memphis this off-season for the head coaching job at UMass. Both teams play the same style, so expect a fast pace and a lot of scoring.

11/18 - Kentucky @ UNC: Kentucky is coming off of a loss to VMI where Patrick Patterson failed to show up. But UNC is depleted by injuries (Hansbrough, Ginyard, Frasor's coming off a sore ankle). It would have been great to see Patterson and Hansbrough mix it up.

11/18 - Tennessee-Martin @ Tennessee: Definitely worth it to watch stat-stuffer Lester Hudson from the UT-Martin Skyhawks play.

11/20 - UCLA vs. Michigan; Duke vs. Southern Illinois: A couple intriguing match-ups in the CvC semi's. It will be interesting to see Manny Harris go up against a vaunted Bruin defense. And coming off a near-upset from Rhode Island, Duke will face Southern Illinois and their stingy defense. The finals the following night will pit the winner's against each other.

11/21 - Winthrop @ Davidson: Two mid-major powerhouse programs do battle. Winthrop has dominated the Big South this decade, while Davidson ran through the Southern Conference the last two years. Continue reading...

Monday Morning Shootaround

Duke 82, Rhode Island 79: What a game. I got a chance to see this one, and I was not disappointed. It had the feel of a late February conference game (although maybe it was URI's Carolina Blue uniforms in Cameron). The Rams came out aggressive, attacking Duke's pressure defense and crashing the offensive boards. Athletic wings Delroy Jones and Lamonte Ulmer were the guys making the plays early on. Jones did most of his damage (career-high 21 points, 11 of which came early in the first half) on pull-up, mid-range jumpers, while Ulmer gave the Rams some great energy off the bench, getting 7 points and 7 rebounds, 4 offensive.

But Duke made all the plays down the stretch. Jon Scheyer was fantastic in the second half. I've said that the key for this Duke team was whether or not Scheyer could become a go-to scorer, and if he plays all season like he did in this one, then Duke will have nothing to worry about. Scheyer was aggressive attacking the basket, finishing two drives with beautiful, lefty reverse lay-ups. He didn't settle for jumpers, and when he drove he drew fouls and he would also attack a gap and draw an extra defender. Kyle Singler also played very well down the stretch, making a lot of big shots and big plays.

Greg Paulus only got 11 minutes for Duke. Nolan Smith is a much better fit for this Duke team. He can blow by just about anyone on the perimeter, he is a much better distributor, and he is a tenacious defender. Smith proved that on two specific plays that stand out in my mind. On one, he came up with a loose ball on the wing and was double-teamed by two Rams, but split them and swooped in for an up-and-under lay-up. A few possessions later, when the Rams were trying to press, Smith just dribbled right past the Rams defense and all the way to the rim, just missing a three-point play. Both were plays that Paulus cannot make.

Baron was fantastic shooting the ball in the second half. He hit a ridiculous number of tough three's. Duke kept rotating players on him (Scheyer, Smith, Paulus, and McClure all got a shot before Singler finally was able to slow him down), but Baron kept hitting off-balance, pull-up three's with a hand in his face. The problem was, Baron was the only one doing anything in the second half, and eventually the play of Singler and Scheyer was too much.

On a side note, I came away pretty impressed with this Rhode Island team. They were a 7-9 team in the A-10 last year and lost Will Daniels, but they return one of the best shooters in the country in Baron, a bunch of long and athletic wings, and a couple solid interior players. The only issue is PG play, but the group Keith Cothran, Marquis Jones, and Stevie Mejia played pretty solid ball last night. This was kind of a fluke game in a sense that Baron is not going to shoot like this every night and the Rams are not going to match up as well with everyone as they did with Duke (both teams rely heavily on their perimeter play). But, as they showed tonight, when Rhody puts it all together, they will be able to play with anyone in the country.

Other notable scores:

• Holy Cross 73, St. Joe's 69 OT - Ahmad Nivins had 17 and 12 for SJU, but Holy Cross scored the first 7 points of OT and never looked back. Adam May had 15 for the Crusaders.
• Clemson 76, Temple 72 - Clemson improved to 3-0 as they beat Temple in the finals of the Charleston Classic. Terrence Oglesby led the Tigers with 16, while Trevor Booker added 15 and 16.
• Mercer 72, Alabama 69 - Alabama was supposed to be a surprise team coming out of the SEC, but did not look terribly good getting upset by Mercer. The good news here is that Ronald Steele, Bama's oft-injured PG, had 25 points and looked healthy.

Best of the night:

• Josh Akognon, Cal-St. Fullerton - Akognon had 41 in a 90-76 win over Hawaii.
• Luke Harangody, Notre Dame - 'Gody picked up where he left off last year, posting 30-14 in a blow out win.
• Yancy Gates, Cincinnati - Gates had 16, 11 and 3 blocks in just 20 minutes in a win over South Dakota.
• Chavis Holmes, VMI; Mike Scott and Sylvan Landesburg, Virginia - Holmes had 31, 5 boards, 3 dimes, and 2 steals and Landesburg had 28, 8, 8, and 3 steals. Scott also added 26 and 18 for the Cavs. 
• Hamady N'Diaye, Rutgers; Alphonso Dawson and Marc Egerson, Delaware - N'Diaye had 26, 8 and 3 blocks in a eight-point Rutgers win. Dawson had 28 and 6 boards while Egerson had 28 and 12 boards.
• P'Allen Stinnet, Creighton - Stinnet had 30 in a comeback, 82-75 win over New Mexico.

Continue reading...