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Rhode Island Looms Large!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
2/15/2008
To be honest, I did not get the chance to watch the Xavier-Charlotte game (no local TV), but I did hear the last few minutes through mega-interference over a car radio coming back from Columbus. 55KRC does not have much of a signal. Kudos to the Muskies for finding another way to win a tough game in conference. Sooner or later you just knew Stanley Burrell would encounter foul trouble. It happened as expected on the road against a high profile senior Lee Goldwire. X survived.
Give credit to Drew Lavender for playing 30 plus minutes despite a sore thumb and tweaked ankle. Hope he's near full steam for Rhode Island Monday night!!
And plaudits to Josh Duncan who put together a career night - 25 points - with unbelievable efficiency (7-7 from the floor, 5-5 from outside the arc, and 6-8 in free throws).
The last three wins have been tight, but that's 7 in a row overall for a 21-4 record and a rise to 10th in the RPI. X is 9-1 in the Atlantic 10 with a 2 game lead on Saint Joe's (7-3),a 2 and a half game bulge on Temple (6-3) and a 3 game advantage on Duquesne and Rhode Island (both 6-4).
URI is up next - Monday night at their place (Ryan Arena - capacity 7,700). The Rams have NCAA credentials at 20-5 with a RPI of 25. And they own home court advantage where they are unbeaten (11-0) with conference wins over Duquesne, GW, Richmond and Dayton.
Rhody badly needs a resume building victory to enhance their NCAA at large chances. They managed only 3 top 100 RPI wins in the non-conference portion of their schedule (UAB, Providence, Syracuse). None of those teams are currently in the Top 50.
The Rams are experienced and talented and deep. They have big guards which causes match-up problems for X. And they beat Xavier decisively last March in the A-10 tourney semifinals, outrebounding the Muskies, 40-32.
Almost all those URI Rams are back, a year older and a bit better. Rhody starts 6-2 senior Parfait Bitee at point Guard (14). He is playing his best basketball right now. His assist to turnover ration is 2 plus to 1 and he makes a remarkable 53% of his 3 pointers.
His running mate at shooting guard is the coaches' son 6-3 Junior Jimmy Baron(20). He scores 15 ppg and is one of the top 3 point marksmen in the country, plus he is not a gunner. He seldom forces his offense and remembers to feed their bookend forwards (25) Will Daniels - 18 ppg, 9 rebounds - and (33) Kahiem Seawright - 9 ppg and 9 rebounds.
The 5th starter is Juco transfer Jason Francis (54)-6-9, 280. He's a screener and rebounder. URI brings 6-7 Joe Mbang off the bench for instant offense. He's a streak scorer.
Two large talented guards play alot of minutes. Keith Cothran (22) is 6-4 and averages 8 ppg. Lamonte Ulmer (15) is 6-6 and scores at 8 ppg also.
Coach Jim Baron plays 9 guys 9 minutes or more. Rhody may have more tactical depth than Xavier. URI will try to target Lavender, test his ankle and wear him down with traps and pressure.
XU freshman guard Dante Jackson played so well against St Joe's and their physical style. He might be a good fit for extra minutes in this game.
Stanley Burrell will probably be matched up against Jimmy Barron a lot on the perimeter but the other guard, Bitee, is dangerous from long range.
Both Seawright and Daniels go to the glass like tigers. XU needs to match their hustle and battle inside.
URI shoots it well, They get to the foul line a lot. They like to run. They have the grit to defend. It should be a terrific game. URI might even be a slight favorite at home.
And, as an extra treat Pete Gillen is doing the color on the CSTV broadcast.
A Xavier win would go a long way toward cementing an A-10 regular season title and continue the drive toward a high NCAA seed.
X has little room for error in this one.
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