Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Rams of Rhode Island

2010 has been very kind to the A-10 + many. One of those teams having a good season is the Rhode Island Rams. The Rams have a solid RPI of 29 and a SOS of 62. They're only non-conference win of stature is over Oklahoma State on a neutral court. All of their losses have come in conference, including a donkey effort against a weak St. Bonaventure team.

KenPom has them at 69 (teehee) overall and 145th in AdjD, oof, and 27th in AdjO. And they have earned that defensive ranking. They get outrebounded, give up oodles of buckets (249th in scoring d), easy buckets (321st in FG % d!) and long buckets (285th in 3pt % D!). They do block shots (34th) and force turnovers (27th in steals). Still, plenty of big, bad red flags on the Rams defense.

Offensively, they score plenty (31st) on okay/marginal/weak shooting (81st FG %, 205th 3pt FG %). Like on defense, they help themselves with ball security (37th in turnovers, 40th in assists, 6th in turnover margin).

If you believe in upper classmen leadership, this is a team for you. The three best players are Seniors Keith Cothran, Delroy James & Lamonte Ulmer.

Brian in his latest bracket has them as a 13 seed versus Jerry Palm's 9. Looking at them, I think Brian is way closer (Lunardi has them as a 13, too).

1 comment:

Tubby in Gopher land said...

This guy is right on. All the time!