Rhode Island NCAA Tournament Projections
Written March 5, 2009 by Jack Jones
One of the things we love about college basketball is how late in the year teams can start to make a push for an at-large bid. One such team this year are the Rhode Island Rams, who have won 10 of their last 11 games. This is the same team that started off last season at 19-3 but failed to make the Big Dance as they faded to a 2-9 mark down the stretch. So, is this year’s Rams team headed back to the NIT or are they headed to the NCAA tournament? If they are getting into the field of 65, are they going to contend or be a quick out? Let’s turn to handicapping expert Steve Merril to find out the answers.
The odds on Rhode Island winning the national championship are not on the board at BetUS, but you can request them along with a $500 bonus on a $500 deposit by telling them BetFirms sent you!
Rhode Island is 0-3 against ranked opponents this season, losing by 3 to Duke in the second game of the year, losing by 13 points to Villanova, and by two points at home to Xavier. They have yet to be a team that is ranked in the top 50, and the main reason for their struggles has been the play of their interior defense.
The Rams are giving up 51.5% from two-point range this year, but have been able to overcome that disadvantage by lighting it up from behind the arc (hitting 41% of their attempts). That lights out shooting has enabled Rhode Island to average 80.4 ppg, but the team ranks 278th in scoring defense.
The key player for this team is Jimmy Baron, who shoots 46% from 3-point range and scores 16.7 ppg. There are three other Rams that score in double digits including Keith Cothran. Cothran is putting up 14.4 ppg while Kahiem Seawright adds 14.1 ppg and 7.1 rebounds and Delroy James chips in 10.2 points and 6.1 rebounds.
This all boils down to Rhode Island being on the outside of the NCAA tournament bubble looking in. This team is going to need to win the Atlantic 10 tournament to get into the NCAA tournament. While the Rams are an explosive team who can score a lot of points, their weak record against top teams will prove to be their down fall.
If you want quality college basketball picks to help with your basketball betting this March, look no further than Steve Merril. He stays one step ahead of the NCAA basketball odds makers so you only get the best plays on the board each day!
If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
- 2009 Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Tournament Predictions
- SEC Tournament Predictions & NCAA Projections
- Florida Gators 2009 NCAA Tournament Bubble
- 2009 NCAA Tournament Projections
- NCAA Tournament Picks & Predictions: UCLA vs VCU
5 Responses to “Rhode Island NCAA Tournament Projections”
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Mr. Jones,
You make a lot of great points here about Rhode Island’s season and their chances to get in. You did say they have zero wins against the top 50, but they did just beat Dayton who was top 25 the week before, and did have top 25 votes at the time of play. Also, their loses were all to good teams except for 2 in conference to St. Joes and I believe Fordham. They’ve lost to Duke, OK St. Nova and Xavier who are all top 50 teams, 3 of which top 25, and three of those 4 were very close games. My question to you is, if they do make the conference final and lose to say Xavier, are they in? (considering they get some help from bubble contenders losing). Also, Dayton is currently down 12 to Xavier right now, if they lose to Xavier, with URI ahead of them in the A10 standings, could a better run in the A10 tourny get URI in ahead of Dayton? Let me know what you think, Thanks.
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Jack Jones Reply:
March 5th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Vinny – I wish I could take credit for this piece, but it’s written by one of our handicappers in Steve Merril.
You are correct about Dayton, but he meant top 50 in the power rankings. You can see Rhode Island here: http://kenpom.com/team.php?y=2009&team=Rhode%20Island where they have beaten one top 50 team. (Temple is 50)
I think you are right about their losses, triple overtime to St. Joe’s is bad and Richmond isn’t great. Dayton played a weak schedule so they are on the outside right now as well. If Rhode Island makes the finals and plays Xavier tough there is a chance they get in, but I find it very unlikely.
Mr. East doesn’t even talk about the Rams in his projections at: http://www.betfirms.com/2009-ncaa-tournament-projections/ which shows how off the some people’s radar this team is, which I think is a shame.
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URI walked into duke and gave Mike Krzyzewski a heart attack. they beat dayton, lost to providence by 1 after their star player was sick. they beat penn state. they haven’t had a bad loss save villanova all year, and even were in that game at points in the second half (and it was nova’s home tournament).
xavier is a top 18 school in the nation yet they will finish with the same record in the A10 and will lose the title tie break only because of a 2 point loss to xavier. so xavier is considered top 15 when the new polls come out, yet URI can’t be in the top 62 or whatever? makes no sense.
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and how can they beat dayton head to head and finish ahead of them in the standings, yet dayton get in and URI doesn’t?
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I’m not sure why everyone thinks Dayton is getting in. I think they are out.
Xavier on the other hand has wins over Memphis and Missouri.
Rhode Island is a good team. They would be one of the best 65 if the NCAA didn’t get out automatic bids to shit schools from weak conferences. That’s how it works though.
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