When most people were talking about the Atlantic 10 before the season, the talk centered around VCU and Dayton. They were looked at as the clear best teams, and understandably so. The Rams brought back much of last season’s NCAA Tournament team, including a fully healthy Marcus Evans, while Dayton brought back a lot as well, including a guy most had on their breakout list in Obi Toppin. There was some talk about Davidson and a little less about Saint Louis, the latter more as a possible sleeper as they try to defend their conference tournament title.
Rhode Island was not really in that discussion. Nor was Richmond or Duquesne, but Rhode Island is the one standing out more now, especially after they handled VCU 87-75 on Friday for a season sweep in the battle of the Rams and an 8-1 record in Atlantic 10 play.
Why not Rhode Island? Well, they were 18-15 overall and just 9-9 in conference play in down year last year. They brought back a good deal of that team, including their top three players, but would they make a leap into contention in a better conference?
The Rams have been a better team at the defensive end, including on the glass, which has certainly helped. Tyrese Martin, who had 18 points on 7-12 shooting as one of four players in double figures on Friday night, has made a nice leap to complement the big three from a year ago. And Fatts Russell has become a star, including 30 points and five assists on Friday night. With the emergence of Martin, Cyril Langevine’s drop in scoring isn’t an issue as he continues to be a horse inside and almost averages a double-double.
Rhode Island never trailed on Friday night, breaking the game open in the first half with 11 unanswered points starting a 17-2 run, and a late 8-0 run put them up by 27 before VCU got the halftime difference down to 49-27. But that was simply too much to overcome. VCU shot 55.6 percent from the field, but badly lost the possession battle as Rhode Island had a 38-22 edge on the boards (including 16 offensive boards) and also shot just over 49 percent from the field while making more free throws (26) than VCU attempted (18).
With the win, Rhode Island is a half game back of Dayton, and they have two meetings still to come with the Flyers starting with a trip there in less than two weeks. With UMass at home on Tuesday and George Washington on the road next Saturday being the only two games in between, it’s certainly possible that game will have first place on the line.
In the bigger picture, what does this mean for their NCAA Tournament chances? The conference has been viewed as a multi-bid league, but that was before VCU, Richmond and Saint Louis all came down to earth a bit in Atlantic 10 play. Well, Rhode Island has a top 50 NET which may well get into the 30s after Friday night (VCU was just outside the top 30), and their resume does have one wart – an 85-75 loss at Brown to start the new year. They lack a big resume win, but they haven’t beat up on a bunch of cupcakes, either – their wins include Alabama, Conference USA leader North Texas, Providence, Conference USA contender Western Kentucky, and now two over VCU in Atlantic 10 play. With what is likely to be an incredibly soft bubble this year, a resume like that just might do the trick if they avoid any bad losses the rest of the way.
As February beckons, one prediction that has held true is that the Rams are in the running for the top spot in the Atlantic 10. The part that hasn’t held up is that it’s the Rhode Island Rams in that spot and not the ones from VCU, who are now two games back of second place.
Side Dishes
The Ivy League back-to-back weekends are underway, and already things are getting interesting. Yale blew out Columbia 93-62 and Princeton blew out Dartmouth 66-44 to each go to 3-0. In the game of the night, which was expected based on the matchup, Harvard rallied in the second half and got a buzzer-beating jumper to force overtime, then host Penn held off the Crimson in the extra session for a 75-72 win. That drops Harvard to 2-1 in Ivy League play and ends two other streaks: an eight-game winning streak and a ten-game overtime winning streak, the latter of which was the longest active streak in Division I. In the other league game, Brown pulled away from Cornell 74-63 in Providence.
Two teams solidified their spot atop their respective conferences on Friday night. Bowling Green rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to edge Buffalo 78-77 and go to 8-1 in MAC play, while Wright State held off Milwaukee 65-61 to go to 9-1 in Horizon League play. Northern Kentucky rallied in the second half to beat Green Bay 71-62 on the road and keep pace.
There was some talk that North Carolina freshman Cole Anthony could have returned earlier in the week, though the sense was it was a long shot. He is now practicing, though he is limited, and could play on Saturday against Boston College. If he is able to return without any pain or issues trusting the knee, it would certainly boost the Tar Heels significantly just as they have won a couple of games to snap out of a funk.
Michigan will get Zavier Simpson back after suspending him for Tuesday night’s game, meaning he will play against Rutgers on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Simpson took responsibility for his actions and agreed the suspension fit what he did, though he wasn’t specific. The suspension ended his streak of 135 consecutive games played.
Transfers have been a hot topic for years now, and in college basketball, that subject rose up again a while back when Michigan State coach Tom Izzo resigned from the NABC board of directors after Joey Hauser was denied a waiver to play right away in East Lansing. On that note, the Big Ten athletic directors are now in support of a one-time transfer exemption for all sports, allowing a player to not have to sit even if not a graduate transfer. Such an exemption currently exists in all but the five big sports – baseball, football, men’s ice hockey and men’s and women’s basketball – but the Big Ten is in support of changing that and hopeful that coming out publicly like this will get the NCAA talking on a bigger level.
The NCAA will get more help from the FBI’s key informant in their investigation of corruption once he has been sentenced. Marty Blazer, a former financial planner who pleaded guilty in September 2017 to five counts of various crimes against him, became a cooperating witness after that. The NCAA sent a letter to the sentencing judge noting that he has been helping them in their investigation and has agreed to help them after he is sentenced next Thursday. The letter was one of many provided to the judge in hopes of leniency in sentencing.
Tonight’s Menu
As usual, Saturday is full of action from start to finish, and this one has a lot of good matchups on tap to make for a fun day.
- It starts bright and early with the first Big East game of the day as Xavier, who is desperate for a win and some momentum, visits white-hot Seton Hall (11 a.m.) All of the Big East games will be done early, as Villanova hosts Creighton at noon, while Providence visits Butler and DePaul visits Marquette at 2 p.m.
- The ACC slate is highlighted by Louisville visiting an NC State team that needs a quality win (2 p.m.), Virginia Tech hosting Florida State (4 p.m.) and Syracuse hosting Duke (8 p.m.)
- A key game in America East comes up in the evening as Vermont visits Albany (7 p.m.)
- American Athletic Conference games are highlighted early on by UConn going to Memphis (1 p.m.), then two at once as Houston goes to Cincinnati and Tulsa hosts Wichita State (6 p.m.)
- A full day of Big 12 action starts with Kansas State visiting West Virginia and Texas hosting Iowa State (2 p.m.), then a big rivalry game as Oklahoma hosts Oklahoma State (3 p.m.), TCU travels to Baylor and Kansas hosts Texas Tech (4 p.m.)
- A rivalry game is on tap in the Big Sky as Montana State visits Montana (9 p.m.)
- In the Big Ten, Indiana visits Ohio State (noon), then Wisconsin hosts Michigan State (1 p.m.), and Michigan
- The CAA has a couple of big games on tap as Towson hosts College of Charleston (2 p.m.) and Hofstra visits William & Mary (4 p.m.)
- The big matchup on the back end of the first Ivy League weekend is Princeton hosting Harvard (6 p.m.)
- The MEAC has a first place showdown on tap as North Carolina A&T hosts Norfolk State (4 p.m.)
- The best games in a full day of Missouri Valley Conference action look to be Southern Illinois at Drake (6 p.m.) and Bradley at Loyola-Chicago (8 p.m.)
- A couple of good ones are on tap in the Mountain West with UNLV visiting Colorado State (4 p.m.), then Boise State hosts Nevada and the big one tips off at the same time as Utah State visits San Diego State (10 p.m.)
- In the Pac-12, Oregon visits Stanford (6 p.m.), then Arizona has a dangerous one at a Washington State team that has picked off a couple of contenders at home (8 p.m.), Colorado goes to USC and Washington hosts Arizona State (10:30 p.m.)
- SEC action is highlighted early on by a key matchup with Mississippi State hosting Tennessee (2 p.m.), then the big one comes up in the early evening as Kentucky visits Auburn (6 p.m.), while Arkansas visits Alabama with a tip time of 6 p.m. as well.
- There’s a big game in the Southern Conference as East Tennessee State tries to bounce back from a loss to Mercer in hosting UNC Greensboro (4 p.m.)
- The Southland also has first place on the line as Stephen F. Austin visits Sam Houston State (6:30 p.m.)
- In the SWAC, Alcorn State visits Southern (6:30 p.m.)
- West Coast Conference play has Gonzaga hitting the road to visit San Francisco (4 p.m.), then a showdown between two teams chasing them as BYU hosts Saint Mary’s (10 p.m.)
