First Semester Grade - URI Rams: F
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Today we continue with our first semester grades for our local college basketball teams. Yesterday, the PC Friars graded out well earning a “B+” for their first semester efforts. Today, we take a look at the Rhody Rams who have struggled this season. Here we go:
URI Rams: F
And we don't mean "Fabulous!" An “F” may seem like a harsh grade for Rhode Island but we call them like we see them and what we saw through the first ten games (1-9) was downright ugly!
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTYes, Rhody did have a rather ambitious start to the season with road games at George Mason, Texas and Nebraska where they went a collective 0-3. But, nobody was criticizing the team after those 3 losses because they were very competitive in two of them and we chalked up the Nebraska blowout loss to it being their third game of a rigorous trip.
It’s what has happened since that 0-3 start that has been very disturbing. After beating Hofstra for their one and only win, URI lost to Boston University and then got thumped by Cleveland State at the Ryan Center.
Okay, BU has some talent as do the Vikings of Cleveland State. But surely the Rams would get back into the win column against Brown and Maine. Not! The Rams lost to both the Brown Bears and the Black Bears which must have made Jim Baron like a Grizzly Bear to be around in recent weeks.
Rhody followed up those two setbacks with a solid effort in a home loss to Virginia Tech which made you believe that the team might be coming around. However, they then traveled to Atlanta where they got smoked by Georgia State to drop to (1-9).
What’s the problem with URI? Where do we start?
Part of me feels bad for head coach Jim Baron because he clearly does not know what buttons to push with this group. He tried to light a fire under their collective rear ends by benching the starting five at Brown but that didn’t work. Sadly, he now has a group that does not play hard for him all the time like his past ten teams in Kingston have.
Junior forward Nikola Malesevic has been as much of a problem for the Rams as he has been a help to the team. For most of the season, his attitude has been terrible.
This has helped contribute to what appears to be some on the court dysfunction where players are either sniping at one another or they demonstrate the body language of a team that doesn’t seem to care.
The Rams also rely on a lot of freshman and sophomores to be big time contributors which is a dangerous formula for a head coach unless your name is John Calipari and your freshman are future NBA lottery picks.
But while we defend Baron to a certain extent, we also agree that he needs to share in some of the blame for this team’s awful start. First off, their full court press couldn’t stop a CYO team this season. It has resulted in lay-up after lay-up for most of their opponents. Why he has yet to back off of that and go back to being a half court team is beyond me.
Secondly, this team’s perimeter shooting (.265% as a team from three) has been abysmal. They need to be less reliant on the three and try to work the ball better offensively for some higher percentage shots.
Finally, this is year 11 of Jim Baron’s tenure at URI and still no NCAA Tournament appearances. With none likely coming again this year, Rhody fans aren’t showing up to the Ryan Center in droves like they once did. Apathy is not a good thing for a program which the athletic department relies on to generate the bulk of its revenue.
The only saving grace for URI may be the arrival of transfers Billy Baron and Andre Malone in a couple of games. Malone will give the offense a second legitimate scorer to go along side Jamal Wilson while Baron will hopefully prove to be a settling influence on the floor and someone who will show his teammates how hard they need to work.
If those two guys can deliver for URI, maybe the Rams can do the reverse of what we have come to expect from them in recent years and have a strong season in the A-10 following a disappointing non conference showing.
Tomorrow we take a look at the Brown Bears here on GoLocalProv.com.
