When Charlotte and Temple tip-off on Wednesday night, it will be a game between two teams that are struggling in their own right.  We are all well versed in the Niner’s struggles this season, including losing four of the last five, the last three without Phil Jones. On the other hand, the Owls sit at 13-5, having dropped two of their last three, both on the road to the two undefeated teams in conference, Duquesne and Xavier.

Guard Juan Fernandez

Temple Head Coach Fran Dunphy had this to say about his team’s recent play, ”I’m not sure who we are at this point, we’re stuggling a little bit.”

Up to this point in the season the Owls have lacked the consistency to retain the “elite” tag they had placed on them in the pre-season, when they were the choice to win the Atlantic 10 and ranked 22nd.  There have been games when Senior Lavoy Allen has been contained by foul trouble, while Junior Juan Fernandez has been nursing a knee injury of late.  In the games where Temple has struggled, they didn’t have a player step up and take over the game offensively. When players do step up, it never seems to be the same guy twice.

Junior Ramone Moore joins Fernandez in the back court and are Temple’s two leading scorers at 14.9 and 10.4 points per game, respectively.  They are joined by sharpshooter Khalid Wyatt(43% 3-pt.) off the bench, but Fernandez tends to be a chucker, launching 75 from behind the arc and only knocking in 21(28%). One of Charlotte’s strengths this season has been defending the 3-point shot, holding opponents to 30.3%, good for 28th in the nation. On the other side of the equation Temple is only making 31. 8% of their 3-pointers, 254th nationally. If Major’s 2-3 zone can lure the Owl’s into throwing up too many ill-advised 3-pointers, Charlotte can keep the score from getting out of hand. Inside, Lavoy Allen(10.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and Michael Eric(6.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg) will give Chris Braswell and KJ Sherrill a handful, the Niners will have to attack them both offensively to put them in foul trouble(hopefully using drives by Wilderness and Barnett), having those two on the bench is a sound way to stop them.

“They’re like a lot of teams in our league, anybody can beat us, there’s no question about that. You watch them play a team like Tennessee and they do such a spectacular job, then they’re ready to throw that at you at any moment,” said Coach Dunphy, who won’t be taking Charlotte lightly, also adding, “A great match-up for us, at a very opportune time to say to ourselves ‘We better get our act together because we’re gonna get a great challenge on Wednesday.”

But when it comes to playing defense, Temple remains master of its domain.  The Owls are 17th nationally in defensive efficiency per KenPom’s rankings and have held teams such as Texas A&M, Georgia and Seton Hall under 60 points so far. Coach Major is well aware of the reputation Dunphy led teams have when it comes to defense.

“They’re just extremely well coached, when you think of them anytime, even Fran’s teams back at Penn, disciplined and sound are words to come to mind,”also adding, ”Temple has been a team that wants to play great position defense, they really are on a string together in terms of playing together defensively.”

Whether or not Charlotte has played a good defense or not, turnovers have been an issue the entire season. When there is an actual good defense facing the 49ers, such as the case Saturday at Duquesne, the end result is much like the 26 turnovers seen in the last game. It’s no secret to Major, or anyone else, what part of the problem is, “The next thing is just continuing, when we do drive the ball, to be under control and play off two feet. We had a handful of those that were on us, and that were our fault.” If Charlotte can’t shed the turnover the bug, this may get out of hand quickly, but should the Niners take care of the ball this could be anyone’s game.

If it turns out to be a close game, Coach Major knows it will still be up to Charlotte to make the necessary plays to win the game, “The A10 is a fine line conference, as we move forward we just want to get our guys to understand that we’ve had some positive play and it’s just a matter of sustaining it for longer stretches. Three or four plays in this league isn’t going to make a difference.”

Keys to the game:

• Restrict the number of turnovers offensively, this can’t be repeated enough, so please read it out loud…right now, “Restrict the number of turnovers offensively.”
• Put Allen and Eric in foul trouble early, neither of them can take the game over from the bench
• Force Owls, Fernandez specifically, into ill-advised 3-Pointers, but stay tight on Wyatt.

Preview from the bad guys at Owlified.net

Green Tinted Glasses Presents: Atlantic 10 Schedule Breakdown Part II

If you’ve been paying attention, at this point of the Atlantic 10 season, Green Tinted Glasses expects a 4-4 record, if not please refer to Part I.  Now let us continue.

Quarter Three:

Saturday February 5th- vs. George Washington(7-6): After showing some promise last year, by making their first A10 tournament in three years,  the Colonials have taken a step back this season.  Their best game was something the Niners couldn’t do, which was a win at Oregon State.  The Niners loss at Corvallis was when we hit rock bottom, while, unfortunately for George Washington, their win was when they were at their best.  They have an embarrassing 35 point loss at UAB as well as a neutral court loss to Navy in the BB&T Classic.

Wednesday February 9th- Atlantic 10 Bye #2

Saturday February 12th- at Rhode Island(9-5): Normally at this point of the year Rhode Island has only one or two losses against a mediocre schedule with a couple of strong victories.  Then like clockwork the Rams would struggle in Atlantic 10 play, eliminating their NCAA chances and landing in the NIT.  This is not one of those Rhode Island teams, the Rams started the season by nearly knocking off the Pitt Panthers at home, and have actually tested themselves.  They have a questionable losses to Illinois-Chicago on a neutral court(a team that also won at Illinois), at Quinnipiac and a 25-point blowout at Florida(that will leave a sour taste in their mouth).  Wins against Top 100 teams like Drexel, Davidson and Boston College have challenged the Rams so that maybe this time they are prepared for the stretch run in the A10 instead of caught off guard by it.

Saint Louis Head Coach Rick Majerus

Wednesday February 16th- vs. Dayton(12-3): The Flyers did not handle being the Atlantic 10 favorite very will last season, but are doing okay in their underdog roll.  They’ve tallied a lot of wins, most against chumps in front of the GREATEST FANS IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL, with three strong wins, at Mississippi and Seton Hall plus a home win against George Mason.  Dayton got absolutely drilled at Cincinnati and followed that up by a home loss to East Tennessee State, so the jury is still out on the Flyers.  Since they host Temple days before coming to Halton, the 49ers will again have a vulnerable Dayton team to beat up on at home.

Saturday February 19th- at Saint Louis(5-8): Rick Majerus’ squad started the season by giving the boot to two of his most talented players for getting into trouble with the law.  Saint Louis opened the season with a disappointing loss at home to Austin Peay, and since then have lost the games they should have and won the games they should have.  No strong victories and no killer losses(unless by 37 to Duke counts).  The could have trouble getting wins in the A10 with the middle of the conference up combined with travel partners like Xavier and Dayton.  What was supposed to be the Billikens breakthrough year in the Atlantic 10 will become a struggle to finish .500.

First of all, George Washington is terrible, and deservedly so. They’ve lost 3 straight in Halton, and that streak should continue. Rhode Island will be a tough road get for our boys.  We will beat Dayton, because losing in Halton Arena is Dayton’s trademark.   This Saint Louis team is very vulnerable, the players they suspended were team players, just not great citizens. A rare Niner win at Saint Louis is within reach, but history(aka resident downer J Felt) has taught us to assume otherwise. 49erFanatics 3rd-quarter prediction: 2-2

Quarter Four:

George Washington Head Coach Karl Hobbs

Wednesday February 23rd-  at George Washington(7-6): The rematch with George Washington could well be amidst a horrendous losing streak as the Colonials will have just played road games at La Salle and Massachusetts after hosting Richmond and playing at Charlotte.  Luckily for the Colonials, Fordham and  Saint Joseph’s will give them a run for the money as to who sits out the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Saturday February 26th- vs. Richmond(11-4): Our home game with the Spiders will be with a team that could be rolling by winning six out of seven(or more).  Charlotte will be three days removed from a trip to Washington D.C. while Richmond will have been resting for a week after hosting St. Bonaventure.  This Kevin Anderson led squad has a chance to be the first time EVER, other than the 49ers, to win four in a row at Halton Arena. George Washington is only other team to win three in a row in 2003, 2006 and 2007.  The 49ers will need to impose their will and force the tempo to take down the Spiders in this one.

Wednesday March 2nd- at Xavier(8-4): Considering that nobody other than Xavier wins in the Cintas Center, don’t count on the Niners coming back with a victory.  In Xavier’s 4 previous games they have easy wins at Saint Joseph’s then at home against Fordham and La Salle before traveling to Dayton.  The Flyers will push the Musketeers to the edge, with any luck Charlotte will be facing a tired AND demoralized Xavier team.

Saturday March 5th- vs. Saint Joseph’s(5-8): Due to slight changes in Atlantic 10 opponents, we get to host a pitiful Saint Joseph’s team at home two years in a row.  Since starting conference play in 2009 at 7-1, Phil Martelli’s Hawks have suffered a Niner-esque 3-7 collapse followed by an 11-20 season and a not-so-hot start to this season.  Saint Joseph’s will struggle to gain any momentum throughout conference play(as in absolutely NONE), and will be coming to Halton Arena after hosting Richmond.  The Hawks may have already turned their TV’s on to watch the Atlantic 10 Tournament from home before taking the flight down from Philly, while the Niners will be looking for a impressive showing leading up to the A10 Tourney where, of course, they will go 4-0 on their way to the NCAA’s.

Once again, George Washington is terrible, and their home court won’t help them. Richmond, at home, before traveling to Xavier will be a test for the Niners, although this could be the year Charlotte’s defense can shut down Kevin Anderson but the Cintas Center is never an easy place to play.  Remember how when the ground was falling out from underneath the Lutz era and we still beat Saint Joeseph’s by 37 points? 49erFanatics 4th-quarter prediction: 3-1

Here’s the best part, you don’t have to know math to figure out Green Tinted Glasses’(very biased)  A10 Prediction for the 49ers, it’s 9-7.  After extensively going over the rest of the Atlantic 10 calender, here are a predicted order of finish along with predicted record, overall in parenthesis only counting D-I games.

Green Tinted Glasses Atlantic 10 Projection:

Coach Major has a chance to make some noise in his 1st A10 Season1. Temple 14-2(23-4)

1. Temple 14-2(24-6)
2. Richmond 13-3(24-7)
3. Xavier 12-4(20-10)
4. Rhode Island 11-5(20-10)
5. Dayton 10-6(22-9)
6. Charlotte 9-7(17-13)
7. St. Bonaventure 8-8(15-14)
8.  Massachusetts 8-8(15-13)
9. Duquesne 6-10(13-15)
10. Saint Louis 6-10(11-18)
11. La Salle 5-11(13-18)
12. George Washington 4-12(11-18)
13. Fordham 3-13(9-19)
13. Saint Joseph’s 3-13(8-22)

Green Tinted Glasses Presents: Atlantic 10 Schedule Breakdown Part I

As members of THE Niner Nation, we’ve been relying on the use of Green Tinted Glasses since the very first buzzer sounded to end the Gardner-Webb game.  However, a new season starts with conference play.  An at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament has been a pipe dream since the Charleston Classic, but we are a very different and much improved team from the one that walked off the court after playing two overtimes against Coastal Carolina to no avail. Since then Shamari Spears was removed from the roster, the Hornet’s Trophy was lost and Charlotte helped send the 7^th ranked team in the nation into a tailspin.  With Charlotte’s 4-game win streak, including 2 BCS scalps, the Green Tinted Glasses can be taken off and the 49ers momentum going into A10 play is still very visible.

The Atlantic 10 is having a… different year, to say the least.  Temple is still the class of the league, Richmond and Xavier have  some questionable losses, but they did last year too.  Dayton has loaded up on home-wins over scrubs,  Rhode Island nearly knocked off Pitt in their season opener, Saint Louis has struggled as you would expect a team too after sitting 2 great players, while Massachusetts came back to earth quickly from their quick start.  The rest of the Atlantic 10 teams aren’t setting the world on fire unless you consider Fordham getting more than 3 wins an explosion.  But their are a lot of questionable losses considering how strong the conference looked going into the season.

Let’s break this 16 game slate down into quarters, equal quarters no less, of…4 games apiece. The Atlantic 10 season is broken down into 18 “mini-weeks” of a Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday or Saturday-Sunday combination, each team receiving two byes, some of which are used for non-conference games.

Niner Nightmare: 2010 A10 POY Kevin Anderson

Quarter 1

Wednesday January 5th- at Richmond(11-4): The Spiders come into conference play looking vulnerable , dropping a contest to Georgia Tech by 13-points in the Bahamas, and a stunning 1-pt loss at home to Bucknell on Sunday. Richmond has one of the Atlantic 10′s three wins over Top 10 ranked teams, with an 11 point win over then  #8 Purdue in the Chicago Invitational final.  Also among their strong wins are a road wins at Arizona State and  Seton Hall as well as a home win over CAA contender VCU.  The other 2 losses come on the road at another CAA contender, Old Dominion, and at the early MAAC favorite, Iona.

Saturday January 8th- at St. Bonaventure(7-5): Charlotte will be the A10 home opener for the second time in four days when they travel to Olean to face St. Bonaventure.  The Bonnies have gotten out to an above average start, by St. Bonaventure standards, highlighted by a road win against the Steve Lavin’s Saint John’s squad.  Andrew Nicholson has been downright dominate so far, and will be a real test inside for Phil Jones and Chris Braswell.  The Bonnies still dropped a couple of questionable decisions on the road to Canisius and at home to Niagara.

Wednesday January 12th- Atlantic 10 Bye

Saturday January 15th- vs. Fordham(6-6): For a team that was only able to muster five wins TOTAL in the last two seasons, the only thing to say about the Rams is For-DAAAAAAAAAAMN.  Most of these wins are fluff wins, although games they would have dropped the last two seasons, but Tom Pecora was also able to lead his team to a win over Saint John’s at home.  The Fordham Rams will still be a welcome sight for the 49ers who could lose a lot of the momentum from non-conference play by playing two on the road to open Atlantic 10 play.

Wednesday January 19th- vs. Massachusetts(8-5): The Minutemen come to Halton Arena to close out our two game road stand, and hopefully Coach Major’s game plan only involves using only 5 players at a time to beat them.  Massachusetts got off to a 7-0 start, included a non-D1 game, before crashing down with four straight losses.  None of their wins have much strength and the losses at home to Maine and a shellacking at the hand of Central Connecticut State to close the non-conference schedule show that the Minutemen are far from contenders.

The Niners will have to battle if they want to steal a road win or two to open up the A10 season.  A win at Richmond might be too much to ask for, and Olean provides a much tougher environment than Georgia Tech’s Thrillerdome.   The team absolutely must take their first 2 home games, which they will easily. 49erFanatics 1st-quarter prediction: 2-2

Quarter 2

Saturday January 22nd- at Duquesne(7-5): The Niners will go on the road to face a Dukes team that has so far gone 6-5 against D1 competition, with 2 non-conference games yet to play.   Duquesne’s record lacks any type of a signature win, their best performance being a moral victory in losing by 3 at home to West Virginia.

Tu Holloway(aka The Artist Formerly Known as Terrell Holloway) has filled a majority of the hole left by Jordan Crawfor

Wednesday January 26th- at Temple(9-3): The Owls are back to their old tricks again, having only dropped 3 of their non-conference games to date with matches against Penn and Duke forthcoming.  Temple has collected 4 BCS scalps so far, included another one of the A10′s 3 Top-10 wins at home against then #10 Georgetown.  They Owls came close to getting a second Top 10 win at Villanova, but the Wildcats finished strong.  None of their losses are horrible, the worst being to Cal, and they are expected to be one of the teams who run away with the conference this season, and will in all likeliness run away with this game.

Saturday January 29th- vs. La Salle(Operation La Sellout)(7-7): The Explorers come into conference play with a .500 record against an okay schedule, back-loaded with losses.  La Salle will be desperate to create momentum in A10 play, which could be difficult as they start on the road at George Washington before hosting Richmond.  This will be a must-win game for Charlotte, as they will need to take care of all the mid/low-level A10 teams at home to have a decent seeding for the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Wednesday February 2nd- vs. Xavier(Whiteout)(8-4): Chris Mack’s Musketeers will becoming into Halton Arena just a few days after a trip to Richmond, which will be a tough out, so the Niners might have a shot at Xavier while they are down, which worked to our favor a couple of years ago.  Xavier’s best non-conference win was over 2010 National Finalist Butler in the confines of the Cintas Center, a rematch of the infamous “stopwatch game” of a year before.  Xavier did drop one to Miami U on the road, but have taken care of everyone else they should have on their schedule.  The Musketeers play Cincinnati on Thursday before beginning A10 play.

The only one of this bunch that is out of reach would be the game at Temple.  The Niners are capable of beating this Duquesne team on the road and a Xavier team that has struggled when leaving the confines of the Cintas Center. I would not be surprised if this team won one of those, but 2 is a stretch. The Explorers shouldn’t have a chance with Operation La Sellout in effect at Halton Arena. 49erFanatics 2nd-quarter prediction: 2-2

Check out Part II tomorrow for 3rd and 4th quarter breakdowns as well as an official(and biased) Green Tinted Glasses prediction of the Atlantic 10 standings.

As conference play draws near, GTG took the opportunity to briefly review the other 13 A10 teams, in no particular order.  Seriously.  I used random.org to generate the order by which I reviewed each team.   First group today, next group tomorrow morning.  I like to spread out the e-meth to keep you guys coming back.

Temple Owls (7-2)

Despite the loss of three starters; Dionte Christmas, Sergio Olmos, and Semaj Inge, the Temple Owls look like a team in the early mix to contend for an A10 title.  Lavoy Allen has been solid on both ends of the court averaging 12.0 ppg. And 9.4 rpg.  Stepping up to replace the loss of scoring with the graduation of Christmas are Sr. Ryan Brooks (13.7 ppg) and So. Juan Fernandez (10.6 ppg).  The Owls have performed well against a pretty tough schedule, battling Georgetown to the wire before losing by 1 and a 7 point loss to St John’s at the Palestra.  Temple’s managed solid road wins @ Miami(OH) and Western Michigan, and got a very tasty BCS scalp whipping VT 61-50.

Despite being a not-so-stellar team shooting the ball, Temple is outstanding on defense, forcing opponents into shooting just 37% from the field, and limiting possessions by excelling at taking care of the basketball.  At this early juncture it’s hard to gauge how strong a contender Temple might be for the A10 crown, but upcoming contests against Villanova, Seton Hall, and Kansas will us plenty about the Owls and their post-season chances.

Fordham Rams (2-5)

You know a season is off to a rough start when just weeks after ending the university’s administration sent a letter of support for its basketball programs. Despite managing to hold-off the transfer of Jio Fontan, the Rams began the season with a listless 1-5 start including losses to powerhouse programs Maine and Hartford.  That auspicious start (your sarcasm meter should be exploding) prompted Fontan to leave the program a second time, finally securing his release from the Fordham administration.  The next day zombie-in-training Dereck Whittenburg was finally canned by the AD, ending 7 years of frustration.  Although Whittenburg had some nice moments (2005-2006 season where he lead an inexperienced team to a winning season) the mood has steadily deteriorated.  Despite the firing of Whittenburg, one has to wonder how committed the university’s administration is to its sports programs, particularly basketball.  One look at Fordham’s lack of success and its stagnant facilities are all one needs to question if the A10 is really the right league for Fordham.

In more positive news, interim head coach Jared Grasso lead the Rams to a suprising 93-77 victory over a respectable Stony Brook team.  Word has it Grasso intends to play at a quicker tempo than his recently deceased, I mean departed, predecessor, something that worked well for Ron Everhart in his first year at Duquesne.  Despite the departure of highly regarded Fontan, the cupboard isn’t completely bare at Fordham.  Chris Gaston is a terrific young forward, averaging 17.3 ppg, 11.6 rpg, and 2.7 bpg in his freshman season.  Sr. guard Brenton Butler is also scoring the ball well (13.3 ppg) , however, this is coming with a stagnant 31.8% from the field.  Fordham has a roster loaded with youth, however it’s a bit early to weigh in on their performance, particularly with a recent coaching change.  With upcoming games against Saint John’s and Villanova coming up, things do not get any easier for the Rams; however, there are a few winnable road games to close out the non-conference slate against Hampton and Kennesaw State.

Saint Louis Billikens (5-3)

Not so svelte coach Rick Majerus has a roster full of young talent in Saint Louis, though the prize of the class is yet to play for the Billikens.  In a move reminiscent of several 49er signings past, the NCAA has yet to clear Cody Ellis to play this season.  Across the first eight games, the Billikens have performed as you’d expect  many young teams; winning at home and losing the road/neutral contests.  Saint Louis is led by a pair of sophomores in Willie Reed and Kwamain Mitchell.  Reed has been excellent in his second season averaging 14 ppg and 10.6 rpg.  His best performance came against pre-season All-American Luke Harangody with a 20 point, 15 rebound performance in a loss.  Another forward, Brian Conklin, has also posted quality performances in the early season with strong games against Nebraska and Iowa State.

The task to compete in the A10 will be tough for Saint Louis relying on such an inexperienced roster (the only upperclassman is out for the season).   Things though are looking up for Saint Louis and I would not be surprised for them to play spoiler for an A10 team looking to get a conference tournament bye or NCAA tournament bid.  The Billikens are  young, dangerous, and likely on the rise, especially if Cody Ellis gets eligible sooner than later.  That’s if Majerus can focus on coaching and not complaining about the geography of the A10 conference.

Saint Bonaventure Bonnies (4-3)

Saint Bonaventure gets a lot of flack on Ninernation.net, and I don’t think it’s all deserved (I like to pick on them, but that’s mostly because of Olean, NY… dreadful town).  The Bonnies are a respected program that’s given the Niners more trouble than we’d like to admit, and has done a good job of rebuilding from the ashes of Weldergate under the direction of Mark Schmidt.  In early season action, St. Bonaventure has posted a 5-3 record with losses against Saint John’s, Illinois State, and Mississippi State.  The only surprise thus far was the magnitude of the loss in Starkville, a 52 point thrashing at the hands of the Bulldogs.  The Bonnies return to action against DII Le Moyne tonight, a game they should easily win.  As a side-bar, the A10 should not be permitting regular season games against DII schools, particularly when the mascot is not indigenous to the region.

The Bonnies are led by a pair of transfer seniors, Chris Matthews (12.1 ppg and a crowd-pleasing 48% from behind the arc) and Jonathan Hall (12.1 ppg, 2.9 apg) and a very talented So. big man Andrew Nicholson.  Nicholson has improved both his scoring (14.6 ppg) and rebounding (8 rpg) without sacrificing his shooting (still above 60%).  Pretty impressive for a Canuck (had to get a dig in on J Felt).  Top reserve Michael Davenport has also played well averaging just over 9 ppg on 54.9% shooting.  Overall the Bonnies are one of the best shooting teams in the country thusfar (field goal percentage-wise) and have rebounded the ball quite well.  This though has come against somewhat weak competition and after tonight’s game the non-conference slate gets tougher with games against Syracuse and Niagara.  They also need to do a much better job defending the perimeter.  Regardless, the Bonnies continue to improve under Schmidt and could be a middle-of-the-pack A10 team once conference play begins.  Oh, and check this out.

Richmond Spiders (7-1)

I hate Richmond.  A lot of us hate Richmond.  They seem to have had our number since joining the A10.  It’d be easy to blame style and the Princeton, er, Richmond offense but the Spiders are more than a frustrating offense.  They’ve got players and one heck of a young coach.  So far this season, they’ve played in my opinion the best basketball in the league, particularly over the last three games.  Following an early season hiccup against William & Mary, the Spiders have turned it up, with wins against Mississippi State, Missouri (very impressed by that one), and upcoming Niner opponent Old Dominion. Perhaps most impressively for the Richmond Spiders has been their defense.  According to statsheet.com the 36% opponents FG percentage ranks in the top 10 in the country.

Richmond is led by a terrific backcourt pairing Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez.  Anderson is leading the Spiders in scoring with 17.1 ppg and Gonzalvez second with 12.6 ppg.  Despite Anderson’s ability to fill the basket, he’s still a bit of a liability behind the arc, again shooting below 30% from 3 point land.  But where Anderson struggles, Gonzalvez thrives, again hitting more than 40% of his long distance attempts.  What’s really scary about Richmond is they’re playing well despite Dan Geriot’s sluggish return from injury last season.  The post player with the normally deft shooting touch has seen his scoring drop below double figures (8.5 ppg versus 14.3) and his shooting has dropped nearly 10% (38.7% versus 47.3%).  Should Geriot start rounding into form, Richmond could go from scary good to downright terrifying, and in my opinion thus far is the team to beat in the A10.

Rhode Island Rams (6-1)

What’s with the A10 and horned animals?  Anyway, Rhode Island… yeah, these guys aren’t too bad.  Despite the loss of a large chunk of their scoring from last season (Jimmy Baron and Kahiem Seawright) URI has managed a 6-1 start with a nice win over Providence and a defeat of the champions of moral victories, Davidson.  The lone loss comes to a stout Virginia Commonwealth team by 2 points on the road.  The schedule to date hasn’t been particularly difficult, but some tests are ahead including a road game at Boston College (who lost to Harvard again) and against Travis Ford’s OSU Cowboys at the Mohegan Sun.

The roster is a nice blend of returning players who are stepping up and some new pieces that could be very good contributors down the road.  Delroy James (12.4 ppg ) and Keith Cothran (16.7 ppg) are a nice inside-outside pair that lead the Rams in scoring, though both would well served to improve their rebounding and assist-giving respectively.  Lamonte Ulmer has seen nice gradual improvement throught his time at URI and provides another option for the Rams in the low post.  New addition Akeem Richmond is a familar name for Niner fans as a former recruiting target and has played well thusfar for URI, averaging 8 ppg in just 15 minutes/game of action.  Rhode Island is a fairly deep team (9 players getting more than 10 minutes/game), which serves them well given their usual up-tempo style.  Though the Rams are still a bit unproven this season, they could definitely make noise in A10 play.  Picked to finish 8th overall, it would not be too big of a stretch to see them compete for a conference tournament bye, though I think they are more likely to finish somewhere between 5th and 8th.

George Washington Colonials (6-2)

Following a dismal 10-18 season (4-12 in league play) that was their second losing season in a row, Karl Hobbs has perhaps started to turn things around in Foggy Bottom, and in turn cooling off the hot seat a bit.  Ironically the improved play comes with a tougher non-conference schedule than GW has been accustomed to under Hobbs, and may be a prognosticator of a better performance once league play begins.  The key for the Colonials so far this season has been strong defense, in particular, dominating rebounding (almost +10 versus their opponents).  Upcoming road games at Fat Pat’s Towson Tigers, ECU, and Harvard should give a clear indication of whether the quick GW start is for real or a fluke.

The Colonials are led by Sr. forward Damian Hollis (14.6 ppg, 5 rpg) and impressive Fr. guard Lasan Kromah, who in his first season is putting up 14.5 ppg. on 53% shooting from the field and 47.6% from beyond the 3 point arc.  In just 23 minutes per game.  Not bad at all.  Aaron Ware, Tony Taylor, and Tim Johnson are a trio of guards that also see significant playing time for George Washington with Joseph Katuka getting the starting nod at center, despite playing just 11 minutes per game.

Click HERE for Part 2.