An Interrogatory With: Rhode Island

We searched far and wide for someone knowledgeable of the Rhode Island Rams basketball program.  Sure enough, we found ourselves a real, live, credentialed journalist named Paul Kenyon.  Paul covers sports for The Providence Journal and knows the Rams intimately (he's seen Jim Baron shirtless).  He was kind enough to take some time from his busy schedule and entertain some of our juvenile questions.

BR: Nearly all early season prognosticators had Rhody pegged for the bottom half of the A-10, yet halfway through the season they've only suffered 3 losses with nary a bad loss in sight (@VCU, Temple, and @Xavier).  While they do have some some nice victories (OK State, middling BC and a mediocre Providence squad), they've also failed to capture the mid-major white whale, the marquee win that'll have Jay Bilas wax poetic on their tournament potential.  Will they be exposed in conference, or do you believe them to be legit?

PK: As to URI, the ocean theme fits nicely in the Ocean State. But there are no whales off Narragansett Beach near the URI campus. And there have not been any whales on their schedule, either. You can't catch a whale if there are none around.

I was among the many who picked URI in the second division of the A-10 this season. I expected them to drop back a level or two. The elusive marquee victory.But the team has earned its 15-3 record.   The Rams have played much better than expected, in large part because  they have played their best in the clutch. They have been in 10 games decided in single digits and won eight. Good foul shooting in the clutch has been huge for them. Their pressure defense has been effective, for the most part.

Still, they are a shooter short. If they had anyone remotely like Jimmy Baron, they would be a major threat. Freshman Akeem Richmond has been a big help in that respect, but the lack of consistent 3-point shooting will hurt them before the season is over.  That said, I like their chances for a top four A-10 finish. After Tuesday night, the schedule turns in their favor. I don't think an 11-5 A-10 record is out of the question at all. If I was being asked to pick a conference mark for the Rams right now, 11-5 would be my guess.

BR: Jim Baron's got a sagging mantle of hardware (4 A-10 Coach of the Year awards), but yearly his teams are written off.  Each year he plugs in another player or two and he keeps churning out the wins.  Why does the national media gravitate to the Martelli's and Brian Gregory's of the world when the mustachioed Baron clearly has the chops?  Why is there such little buzz about him each offseason?  And will he please just leave URI already?

PK: Part of Jim Baron's problem getting recognition is that he does not seek it.

He is atypical as college coaches go. He is not at all a self promoter. He prefers to be at practice working with his players. He's the most hands-on head coach, at a practice, I've ever worked with. He prefers working with his players to being at press conferences. He is not as articulate as some coaches, to the point where he openly says, "Please clean up my Brooklynese when you put it in the paper.''

The other thing that keeps his name on a lower level is that for all his A-10 success, including his four A-10 Coach-of-the-Year Awards, he has never won an NCAA Tournament game. At URI, he has yet to get the Rams into the NCAA Tournament.

A couple weeks ago, one of the New York papers had speculation about what would happen if St. John's and Rutgers needed new coaches. Baron's name was mentioned in both cases. But I think his lack of public relations image would hurt him in a big market. His second son, Billy, will join the team next season and the chances are strong that he will be coached for all four years at URI by his father.

BR: Out go Jimmy Baron and Kahiem Seawright and, just as sure as the sun rising in the East, Keith Cothran and Delroy James step up their games.  Two years ago it was Will Daniels and Parfait Bitee.  Is it the system the Coach Baron employs that allow him to utilize his players like Legos?

PK: No, it's definitely not the system. He has changed the system several times, which is one of his strengths. Instead of telling kids they have to play his way, he sees what his players can do besCoach Baron's charges.t and adapts to them.  He has played a fast-paced, pressing system for three years now because of guys like Cothran, James and Ulmer.

Those three all arrived at URI as great athletes but not great basketball players. Like Daniels and Seawright and so many others, they have gotten better every year under Baron.

 

Some URI fans question Baron's in-game strategy decisions. But no one can question how much his players improve when they are on his team. Cothran, James and Ulmer were support players last season and in the previous two years. This time around, all three have made huge strides. Cothran is having an all-conference season. He couldn't shoot from 10 feet when he arrived in Kingston. Now he is making threes as well as driving to the hoop. Ulmer was just a leaper. Now he has a nice mid-range game, is stronger and a better rebounder, and a terrific defensive player. James was wild and out of control. He still is at times, but he is getting much more consistent with each passing week. He is as versatile a player as there is in the conference. He is a senior academically but has another year of basketball eligibility. If he returns, he will be a big-time star next winter.

BR: While scanning the Rhode Island roster I noticed a peculiarity.  Nearly every player on the roster, save transfers, has spent a year at a prep school.  Does Baron request players attend a year of prep school or does he recruit prep schools more heavily than traditional high schools.  More importantly, is he on the payroll of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council?

PK: I guess it's a regional thing. In the Northeast, it is simply taken for granted that kids go to prep school. Most of the D-I rosters are like URI's.

Anyone who excels in the interscholastic leagues in any of the Northeast states finds himself being wooed by the preps. There is a very, very strong network of prep schools throughout New England, schools that supply many Division I prospects every year. Kids are told that the interscholastic leagues are so weak they will not improve enough if they stay there. So they go to the preps, where they can play year round and get the D-I scholarships.

 

Baron did it with both his kids. Billy Baron graduated from Bishop Hendricken, the high school power in Rhode Island, and is now at Worcester Academy for a post-grad year where he is averaging about 25 a game. Jimmy Baron did the same thing. Many others do not wait until they graduate from high school to go prep. They go as 9th, 10th and 11th graders, as well.

BR: Jimmy Baron and his conference record for three-pointers made has thankfully graduated.  But to my great disdain I see that an even younger spawn of Sir Baron seems to be matriculating to Kingston next season.  How does young Billy's game compare to Jimmy's at this stage of his career?  Was it Papa Jim's intention to give B.B. the most sinister sounding name possible?  Are there anymore lil' Barons on the horizon?

PK: Billy Baron's situation has been an interesting one.. Everyone assumed he would go to URI. But it almost did not  happen.

 

As great as Jimmy Baron's career was, he talked openly in his senior year about how there were struggles involved in playing for his father. He felt - and I can vouch for - that his father pushedStart your hate now.  him harder than everyone else. Rather than favoritism for his son, Jim Baron is so straight laced that he went in the other direction and pushed his son more than anyone else. It was only last year, when Jimmy talked about it, that the two got it out in the open and the two made peace with each other.

 

Because of what he went through, Jimmy told his brother he might be better off going somewhere else. Billy visited and was offered by Rutgers. He visited Davidson when URI played at Duke. This summer, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and Stanford, among others, recruited him when they saw him playing AAU ball and were told he was not sure about going to URI. Only in November did Billy decide to stay with his dad.

 

Billy is very different, both personally and on the court, than Jimmy. Where Jimmy is as conservative as his father off the court, Billy has more of the little-brother syndrome. He's looser, more outgoing, funnier and a bit wilder. Billy is an inch or two shorter than Jimmy. He is a better athlete, a better handler. He can be a combo guard and play the point, which his brother never did. He is a good shooter, but has a long way to go to get into his brother's class in that area. Jimmy truly is a special shooter. 

 

And no, there are no more on the way. Jim and Cindy had only the two sons.

What fun we've had.  We chatted up an old friend, talked a little whaling, learned a bit about URI (more from Blackburn tomorrow), and even introduced someone likely to haunt the next four years of your lives.  Billy Baron.  I don't think I can speak that name without ruefully shaking a fist in the air.  And I don't even know him yet.  Here's to hoping we take it out on his Pops tomorrow night.

Comments

[John]

I will never forget Dustin Helenga hitting a three in the corner right in front of the student section at the buzzer (I am in the front row) he turns around, flicks us off, yells fuck you and runs in the tunnel ... no handshake needed for Mr. Helenga.

I hated him all night as a drowned my sorrows with 4 dollar Coors Light pitchers at Flanagan's ... but as I look back at it ... how fucking bad ass.

[Ghetto Shopper]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=240632168

Great box score with W and Marshall. The only problem was the result and Hellenga giving the bird. That was dick slap he gave the crowd. Remember a time when we were ahead of X for a day.

[Secaur]

"No, it's definitely not the system. He has changed the system several times, which is one of his strengths. Instead of telling kids they have to play his way, he sees what his players can do best and adapts to them."

Brian Gregory will learn to speak Klingon before he comprehends those 3 sentences.

[Doug Hauschild]

@ secaur

i just got yelled at in class for laughing, thanks for keeping my education worthwhile.

[Doug Hauschild]

on a completely different note

http://bit.ly/7n0TyG

Likely that Flyer fans consumed at least 80% of the 10.7 million gallons of booze bought in ohio in the past year? pretty damn high

[DiSab]

I find it hilarious that both Kamchatka and Korski are both on that top-10 list. Long live cheap-ass vodka!

[Secaur]

Does anyone else even get the fake Doug Hauschild name? Too clever for your own good, my friend.

[Adam]

I get it, but only because my dad knows him.

[Tom Blackburn]

I get it, but only because Adam's dad knows him.

[Oliver]

I'm not sure if it was an error or a glimmer of inspiration, but once he posted under "Dough Hauschild". If he's fat, that's funny.