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Scouting Rhode Island!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
2/19/2013
The Muskies play the URI Rams Wednesday nite in Kingston(7PM-Fox Sports Ohio). It's a Pink-out at the Ryan Center. Rhody's on a mini-roll with back to back wins over Dayton(75-72 on a late Xavier Munford FG) and at Duquesne(67-62). The Rams are 8-16 overall,3-8 in the Atlantic 10 and 5-7 on their cozy home floor. URI sits 14th in the conference-1 GB of St Bonnies and Dayton for the final A-10 Tournament slot in Brooklyn.
Making the postseason would be a strong achievement for the new Rhody braintrust head coach Danny Hurley(Seton Hall) and assistant Bobby Hurley(Duke). They replaced fired Jimmy Baron who's done a strong job at Canisius(17-10-a close third in the MAAC behind Niagra and Loyola MD).
Baron has exacted a bit of revenge on the A-10 with non-conference wins over St Bonnies and Temple. Son Billy Baron is a Canisius star after winning immediate elligibility from the NCAA in the wake of his father's dismissal. Baron had a rough go at URI last season(7-24) but put together some great seasons coaching there. His teams always were uptempo and entertaining. Getting stops was the problem.
Baron left the Hurley's with some talent. They have the roster playing better defense passionately. Rhode Island has been a tough "out" all season despite some offensive challenges. They beat St Louis in OT at the Chaifetz Center where SLU is 14-2 including recent blow-out wins over Butler,Dayton and Charlotte.
Rhody's lost 7 at home but by an average of just 3 points. They struggle shooting the ball and lack size inside. The Hurley's turned around Wagner College(NEC) quickly(25-6 last season-losing NCAA bid to LIU).
They grabbed JUCO guard Xavier Munford(6-2,180) and he's become indispensable(17PPG). He's scored heavily and drained huge 3 pointers with regularity. They signed 6-10 Frosh Jordan Hare and he's evolved into a strong shot blocker and rebounder.
Holdover Nikola Malesevic averages 10PPG and at 6-8 is hard to guard at 3 point range. Mike Powell(5-11) is a sharp shooting guard. 6-6 Senior Andre Malone has stepped up inside. The bench is thin but URI has gotten more and more competitive.
XU will need a maximum effort to win this on the road-very unlike their laid back reactive performance at Dayton.
La Salle is the target. They have a ball buster Thursday nite at Temple. If XU wins and LaSalle loses,they're tied for 4th at 8-4 and the Muskies own the tie-breaker over the Explorers.
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