Low expectations for URI men's basketball as Rams picked 9th in Atlantic 10 this season
NEW YORK — Atlantic 10 men’s basketball coaches and media members expect a transition year at the University of Rhode Island.
The Rams were selected ninth in the league’s preseason poll, which was released Thursday morning at Barclays Center. Transfer guard Brayon Freeman was the lone player named among the conference’s elite, picked to the third team.
It’s the first season back in the league for Archie Miller, who enjoyed a successful tenure at Dayton before a four-year run at Indiana. URI signed Miller to a five-year deal in March, replacing David Cox after increasingly diminishing returns in his time at the helm. The Rams closed 10th and 11th, respectively, in the last two league seasons — they were just 12-22 in conference play since the start of 2020-21.
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“I want to build a championship program,” Miller said. “I want to build a program that can play with anybody on any night. I want the opportunities to be able to put ourselves in a situation where March — that's the path.
“It can be done. It has been done.”
Freeman is a second-year player from George Washington who earned all-rookie team honors in his lone season at Foggy Bottom. He averaged 10.3 points and 3.7 assists for the Colonials in 2021-22 before departing. Head coach Jamion Christian was fired and URI secured Freeman’s commitment through the transfer portal — assistant coach Kenny Johnson served as his lead recruiter.
“He’s got a lot of gifts,” Miller said. “From an offensive perspective, he can be one of the best offensive guards in the Atlantic 10.”
The Rams will begin as something of a mystery — just five returning players and a combined 37 starts last season between Abdou Samb, Sebastian Thomas, Jalen Carey, Ishmael Leggett and Malik Martin. Leggett accounted for 30 of those appearances and Carey played in all 24 of his games off the bench. Samb has yet to take the floor at URI — he was a redshirt in 2021-22.
“We haven’t set in on, ‘This guy is clear head and shoulders above this guy,’ ” Miller said. “We’re not there yet.”
According to the Field of 68, the Rams will take part in a pair of closed-door scrimmages against Yale and Penn State. URI will then host its Blue-White game at the Ryan Center on Oct. 29 before tipping against Quinnipiac on Nov. 7. The Rams will play three straight at home before matching up with Kansas State at the Cayman Islands Classic on Nov. 21.
“I hope to get hit in the mouth a bunch,” Miller said. “Our players have got to get some proof. We have to get some real feedback right now about who can do what. And then we have to be able to help them do what they do well.”
Dayton, Saint Louis expected to be class of the league
The Flyers and Billikens split the 29 first-place votes cast prior to Thursday. Dayton garnered all but seven to assume the favorite’s role entering the 2022-23 campaign.
Anthony Grant’s club is coming off a 24-11 overall mark and an appearance in the NIT. Some damaging nonconference losses in November scuttled what likely could have been another NCAA Tournament berth. The Flyers closed 14-4 in league play, even with VCU and a game behind regular-season winner Davidson.
Saint Louis finished 23-12 overall and booked its own NIT appearance despite playing without the injured Javonte Perkins. The gifted veteran wing is back after missing all of 2021-22 rehabbing a torn ACL in his left knee. Travis Ford is seeking a second March Madness berth in his seventh season with the Billikens.
Big gap after top 3
VCU was voted a solid third before a considerable gap to the remainder of the field.
Conference newcomer Loyola Chicago slotted into fourth place. The Ramblers are in from the Missouri Valley and have reached three of the last five NCAA Tournaments. Loyola Chicago is no stranger to deep runs in that event — a Final Four in 2018 and a Sweet 16 in 2021 serve as evidence.
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George Mason, the Wildcats, league tournament champion Richmond and Massachusetts occupied the four spots ahead of URI. St. Bonaventure, Fordham, George Washington, Saint Joseph’s, La Salle and Duquesne make up the expected strugglers.
The conference’s 15 teams will vie for supremacy before making a return to Brooklyn in five months. The league tournament begins here March 7 and a champion will be crowned on March 12, which doubles as Selection Sunday. The sixth-seeded Spiders were the seventh team among the last eight winners to sit lower than the No. 2 spot entering the event.
Several players honored
Dayton (three), Saint Louis (four) and VCU (two) all earned multiple selections among 18 players nominated to the preseason all-conference teams.
DaRon Holmes II (first team), Toumani Camara (second team) and Malachi Smith (second team) each were recognized from the Flyers. Holmes and Smith also claimed slots on the all-defensive team.
Yuri Collins (first team), Gibson Jimerson (second team), Perkins (second team) and Francis Okoro (third team) made up the Billikens contingent. Collins and Okoro both were selected to the all-defensive team.
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Ace Baldwin Jr. (first team) and Jayden Nunn (third team) give VCU one of the league’s premier backcourts. Baldwin is the final member of the all-defensive team after collecting 2.5 steals per game last season.
Foster Loyer (Davidson), Josh Oduro (George Mason) and Tyler Burton (Richmond) rounded out the first team. James Bishop IV (George Washington) and Noah Fernandes (Massachusetts) took the final two spots on the second team. Darius Quisenberry (Fordham), Braden Norris (Loyola Chicago) and Erik Reynolds II (Saint Joseph’s) joined Freeman and Okoro on the third team.
The Bonnies, Explorers and Dukes were each shut out of individual recognition.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: URI men's basketball picked 9th in Atlantic 10 this season
