The Jimmy Barons win this award by default. Although Jimmy the son will not be able to match his father's coach of the year award with a player of the year (Greg Paulus will be taking that home), this season will be quite a memorable one for the Rhody Rams.I was going to wait a few weeks to make sure this little run of theirs was legit but the team has started to garner some national attention so here is my shameless alumni gloating.
At 10-1, this is best start for the Rams since the Dustin Hellenga days. Probably even before that, I don't care enough to look. They should be 11-0 but they choked against Boston College in what could have been the team's marquee win come resume time. In the five games since the BC meltdown, Rhody has blown out Toledo and Northeastern, won convincingly against UNH and Providence, and prevailed in a thriller at the Carrier Dome against Syracuse.
It was that last win at Syracuse that started drawing some interest. ESPN.com has URI at #5 in their Mid-Major Top 10 while Andy Katz designated the Rams as his team of the week. Katz has also praised the A10 as a whole fairly regularly this season. The AP poll has URI at #31 and the ESPN/USA Today puts them at #29. Not that I put much stock in RPI rankings before February, but URI comes in at #20 there while they play in the 6th ranked conference.
Want more? How about the picture up above - taken directly from SI.com's College Basketball front page. The attached story is a Seth Davis piece about the rise of the A10, a good read if you have the time.
Oh and who could forget - Dan Shanoff calls out URI as a mid major team to watch.
Where was all this attention during my four year tenure in Kingston, RI? Dickie V came to campus once but only to witness St Joes finish off a perfect regular season. Other than that, I think the ProJo sent a few interns down a couple times a year but that's about it. I feel robbed.
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