There are bad losses and then there are soul-crushing defeats. Tonight was a soul stomper. The Rhode Island Rams, the owners of a 0-6 conference record coming into tonight’s ballgame, came into the Arena and lit the Flyers up for 85 points and a four-point road victory. The Flyers, looking for an undemanding victory, failed to take down what amounts to a wounded animal. The loss pulls the Flyers back down to reality, now just 4-3 in the Atlantic Ten.
In March, G.C. Cager fans will have either one of two recollections of tonight’s defeat:
“Once we lost to Rhode Island, I totally knew the season was over, bro.”
“Dude, I thought the season was over once we lost to Rhody. Can’t believe UD made the tournament. How horrible is college basketball this season? Still shocked that Obama came out of the closet.”
81 points, on an average night, should be more than enough to beat the likes of Rhode Island. The Rams were 0-9 in games when they allowed 75 points or more. Make that 1-9.
URI was averaging 68 points per game coming into the game tonight. They blew past that number with five minutes to go – eventually eclipsing that mark by 18 when all was said and done.
The fuck?Dayton doesn’t have to play defense like Ohio State to contend in the Atlantic Ten. In fact, just mediocre defense alone would likely have the Flyers at 16-5/17-4 overall, probably 5-2, maybe even 6-1, in the league. Instead, UD is allowing 77 points in conference play. Seventy…seven. The Washington Generals think the Flyers have a long way to go defensively.
The loss muddies solid performances from both Chris Johnson (20 points, 12 rebounds) and Kevin Dillard (12 points, 13 assists). Even ol’ Luke Fabrizius managed to kick in 17 points on the night. Usually, these factors equal a victory.
What else can you say about Paul Williams? PW followed up one of the worst performances these gorgeous bedroom eyes have seen with yet another bed-shitter. In 29 minutes, Paul Willie shot 1-for-6 from the floor, finishing with three points and three turnovers. There isn’t a white woman alive who could do that much damage to a black man. Maybe an underage girl? I don’t want to speculate.
Dillard, so consistent during the season, had a bit of a breakdown during the closing minutes of the contest. Two turnovers on back-to-back possessions gave Rhody all the breathing room it needed to take down the Flyers. Luke Fab’s two late three-pointers merely put some fancy wrapping on an otherwise unsightly gift.
Rosceaux adds his two cents:
That was a shitty loss. The thing you have to remember about Baron and his A-10 Coach of the Year awards is that he got them by shitting the bed in OOC play each year, and then stringing together great conference runs. He is the anti-Gregory in those regards. He lowers his own expectations, and then his teams come on strong.
How does this relate to tonight’s fiasco? Baron teams take a long time to gel. He just got his two best players onto the team in December. They’ve been playing better each successive game. Just as UD was lucky to catch a break with Eric out for Temple, they were unlucky to catch Rhody after the team began to play better. They just took the Bonnies to OT in their last game for Christsakes.
Is Coach Archie the new BG? Absolutely not. Is he the new John Wooden? Not. Would I love to bang his wife? Totally.
And yes, this is awesome:
The Flyers get back to business on Wednesday when the Dukes come into town. We don’t like to use the phrase “must-win” around here (ahem), but let’s just say a win against Duquesne is vital to UD’s fluttering postseason hopes.
Rhode Island is not the best team in the conference. In fact, they are not even the best team called the Rams in the conference. They are 3-18 overall, 0-6 in conference, and have already lost a game at Fordham. After the second half pantsing delivered by the Hawks, they are just what Doctor Willie ordered.
Given the firing of Bobby Lutz and the misguided razor taken to Fran Dunphy, the only thing that Jim Baron has been winning this year has been the battle of the moustache. On the court? No, not so much. Baron built a respectable team and stayed there. In 10 years, he has been to the NIT 5 times, and has won 20 games 6 times. He even has won the A-10 coach of the year award 3 times at URI (2003, 07, and 09) and once in 1995 at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure (is he giving his peers free mustache rides?) Baron’s most recent graduating class has collected the most wins by a class in URI history. And, of course, he has led the Rams to the NCAA tournament a grand total of zero times. Each season has been termed a success. And where has all of this mediocrity landed him? Right here in this shit-show.
We’ll spend this week looking at the travels of Rhode Island’s shooting guard, Billy Baron. Billy heeded big brother Jimmy’s warnings and spurned his father to play at the University of Virginia. He had been averaging over 11 minutes per game as a freshman in the ACC while putting up 3 ppg. Not lottery numbers, but not too bad for a halfway decent league. Yet, prior to the start of his second semester, he transferred back to his father’s crumbling kingdom in Kingston. Why? With a tip of the cap to any UD students needing to come up with a theme for their latest lit projects, we here at the BR propose a few possible themes:
Avenging the father
Perhaps the most enduring literary theme has been that of the son avenging the father. From Orestes to Samurai Jack, from Inigo Montoya to Batman, the son seeking vengeance has been a powerful theme. Maybe none as enduring as Hamlet. In his case, Hamlet is driven mad by his father’s ghost and sets on a course to kill his Uncle Claudius who has not only murdered his father, but is also nailing his mother. A lot of other stuff ensued that were not in the Cliff notes, and I’ve never made it through a whole movie since Ophelia never shows her titties. Let it be known, however, that if you make a few bad choices in life, have a strong jawline, and want to be taken seriously as an actor, you will eventually be looking up the definition of the words “nunnery,” “forsooth,” and “perchance” in the dictionary.
Young mssr. Baron may be trying to forestall or even proactively avenge the inevitable canning of his father. Is the move from Charlottesville, Va. to Kingston madness? While Virginia is certainly in the South, it is more of a border state on the poon scale. However, whatever talent is there tends to apply to UVA. I’d say one part madness.
Building upon the legacy of the father
This doesn’t have as much punch in literary circles, but we can find a few examples. While Michael Corleone certainly used ruthless tactics, his killings were done to consolidate power, not just for vengeance. Even the bullets pumped into Sollozzo and McCluskey were “strictly business.” Donald Trump built upon his father’s legacy in real estate and having bad hair to climb to the top of the ladder in both worlds. A more appropriate sporting metaphor might be that of Bobby and Barry Bonds. Bobby Bonds was a very good outfielder who played most of his career for the Giants. He was a sometimes all-star who averaged 29 homers and 90 RBIs over a 14 year career. To build upon his father’s legacy, son Barry shrank his balls to the size of frozen peas.
Making the father’s legacy look good in comparison to the son’s own bumbling travails
The examples are even fewer, but it is possible for the offspring to be so ridiculously inept as to make the father look good in comparison. Off the top of my head, I’d look at Chaz Bono and Lethal Weapon2 as unduly inflating the relative competence of their predecessors. Then again, I am aware of one character who gloriously tried to redeem his father’s legacy by his own colossal misunderineptitude. Saddened to see that his father was placed on a list of the ten worst presidents in American history, George W. Bush sought to right that wrong. By staking a claim even further down the list, he attempted to push his father into a higher range. I haven’t seen proof myself, but W. must also have been distantly related to Millard Fillmore. How else could one explain a second term? Clearly, he tried to push Fillmore out of the bottom five. It’s the only reasonable way to explain Katrina, corporate bailouts, the subprime clusterfuck, the Plame affair, John Bolton, and the emergence of the “Real Housewives of…” franchise.
Before you dismiss this as being an implausible justification of Billy’s actions, check out the last 5 seconds of Rhody’s loss at Fordham
So who is Billy Baron? I have no idea. Is he trying to save his father’s job by returning to Rhode Island as the prodigal son? Does he think he can carry on as a local hero and redeem the Jim Sr/ Jimmy Junior legacy in Kingston? Or… is his mother so MILF-alicious that he is taking the Oedipal off ramp in a misguided courtship that includes striking down his father?
While we all finish reflecting upon how we each measure up short in comparison to our own fathers, let’s turn our attention to our nextest opponent. It’s a much easier dragon to slay.
Meet and Greet: You can’t spell turible without URI.
The Rams currently sit at RPI 277. They have not beaten a single team in the top 200, and have gone 3-3 against teams rated 200 or higher. Why are they so putrid? It’s all about defense. Rhode Island gives up more than 75 points per game (ranking 322 in Division I), allow opponents to shoot over 48% (333), and allow more than 14 assists per game (329th).
Their ranking is slightly better in conference play, as they had two key players become available in December. The First is Billy Baron. Billy heeded big brother Jimmy’s warning…. Oh, right, we’ve been there already. Baron is averaging 13.5ppg in conference games. He is shooting 46% from the field and 36% from behind the arc. Baron was recently joined in the backcourt by Andre Malone, who also started playing in December after transferring from Auburn halfway through last year. He’s averaging 12.7 ppg in conference play and is shooting 45% from the field and 31% from three. Both of URI’s remaining fans were eagerly awaiting the spark that these two would provide the otherwise moribund team. If possible, things have only gotten moribunder. The Rams are 2-8, with one of those wins coming against the Boston College debating team, who apparently switched uniforms with the basketball team this year.
Jonathan Holton is a freshman power forward who clocks in at 6-9/ 220. He will be a solid player someday. If LuKKKe is given the defensive assignment, that day will be Saturday. He’s seems to be one of the few players left who gives half a shit. He’s averaging 10 and 8, and when he eventually grows into his frame, may lead the league in surliness. On the other end of the spectrum is Orien Outerbridge. (“Orien” is the Aramaic word for “enigma” or “lost opportunity.”) He’s 6-9/225, averaging 11 and 7. I thought that he would be eating up the conference by his senior year, but his play has been consistently inconsistent. He sat out the first part of his junior year to “focus on academics,” which has led to a nomination for a MacArthur Foundation grant.
Nikola Malesevic is a 6-7 three point specialist who adds another 12 points per game on 34% 3-point shooting (after averaging 46% last year). Levan Shengelia is a 6-9 bruiser looking to add some color to the milky white appendages of the Ivory Towers. He hails from Georgia. Not the pussy Georgia where pussies come from. The Georgia that sends hungry foreign-exchange KGB agents – I mean students - to upset an otherwise gentlemanly game.
Prediction: I predict that everyone will get theirs. Even Paul Williams should get a couple of points off the porous Ram defense. Coach Archie will continue look like Steve from Blue’s Clues dressed for a funeral, and commentator John will now post from fake names on someone else’s computer. This is the kind of defense that will allow Chris Johnson (and possibly Dennis Williams) to shine. Flyers by 11.
Sidebar: Last week, tman quoted my writing from this site and used it for a self-serving post on another board. Now I know how Robert Oppenheimer felt at Los Alamos.
Not the URI logoWith the road victory over La Salle behind them, the Flyers continue on their East Coast Tribute Tour with a trip to Kingston, Rhode Island. This game, like all of the upcoming games really, can make or break the Flyers season. Win this game and there is some good momentum going into Saturday's game vs Temple. Lose this game and your team will continue to be NIT-bound. True story, ESPN.com has a fun "Bubble Watch" link on their scoreboard section. I found it quite depressing that the Dayton/La Salle game was not part of the "Bubble Watch." But if the Flyers win this game vs the Rams, Saturday's game will definitely be a "Bubble Watch" game, only because Temple is playing.
To help us with this preview of the Rams is Paul Kenyon, who writes for the Providence Journal-Bulletin(or the "Pro Jo" to the hipsters). Paul helped us out earlier this year with our pre-season preview of the Rams and foolishly agreed to help us out again. A class act all the way, Paul stated that Brian Gregory did such a wonderful job on this week's conference call, that he (Paul) doesn't have to do much this week in terms of scouting the Flyers for his column. Oh Paul, you'll find out the hard way that what BG says is pretty much wrong.
Overview. As you already probably know, Rhode Island is the smallest state in the U.S. of A. The URI is located in some magical place called Kingston, which I would assume is somewhere near the Atlantic Ocean. Despite their logo looking like either an elephant or the bicep flyer from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia," the school mascot is the Ram. Since that was common knowledge, let me throw down some truth bombs on you all.
The reason for URI's struggles?Much like Dayton, the Rams are desperately hanging onto the good ol' days. URI made the Elite Eight in 1998, losing in ball-punching fashion to Stanford in the waning seconds. That team featured Lamar Odom, Cuttino Mobley, and Tyson Wheeler which still remains this editor's all-time favorite A10 team to watch. A return trip to the big dance the following year was the last time that URI played with the big boys in March. URI alum JT Walsh died in 1998. Coincidence? Probably not, but it does make you want to watch Breakdown, which is an incredibly underrated movie.
Completely off topic and has nothing to do with URI, but I love the name "Dunkin' Donuts Center" in Providence. It is right up there with Boise State's Taco Bell Arena and Louisville's Papa John's Stadium. I asked Paul if he could name a stadium/arena, what would it be, besides "The Arena at Paul Kenyon Place," of course. The reason I ask is because I think the Rams and Friars could heat up their rivalry by seeing who has the better arena name.
Paul: You obviously haven't been to Rhode Island. There is a Dunkin' Donuts on every street corner, enough so that every college in the state could have a Dunkin' Donuts Center. I occasionally will refer to the Ryan Center as "The Pharm." It is named, you might know, in honor of the school's biggest donor, Tom Ryan, the president and CEO of CVS Caremark. He is a URI pharmacy grad and pharmacy is one of the school's most prominent majors. And, of course, URI is a land grant institution that began as an agricultural school. I kind of like The Pharm. But my editor doesn't so it only gets in on his days off.
The Flyers come into Kingston to face a Rams team that has had an up and down season. The Rams currently sit at 14-9 overall, with a 5-4 record in the conference. Paul, what do you think of the Rams season so far? What wins stand out to you as good wins, and what are some losses that got away from this club?
Paul: The team has had so many personnel losses that it simply is not as good as it has been the last several seasons. The team won 89 games to set a school record in the last four years. But transfers, academic issues, and injuries have taken their toll.
The best wins were at Richmond and at home over Boston College, both close games that Marquis Jones (Dayton fans know him well) helped pull out with clutch plays at the end. The worst of the losses probably were at Quinnipiac, where they were beaten badly, and home to LaSalle.
Meet and Greet. As Paul mentioned above, you might not be familiar with this Rams team. The New Haven, Connecticut tandem of Keith Cothran and Lamonte Ulmer no longer run the court for James Baron's Rams. Honestly, nothing excited me more than when Mr. James Baron, Jr. FINALLY graduated from URI. Even though he was not on the team last year, it seemed like he was because I still have nightmares. Life was great until a few days ago when it was reported that Billy Baron left the University of Virginia to come to play for daddy. Seriously, FML. Paul, is it fair to say that the Flyer Faithful will have another Baron enemy?
Paul: As I am sure you know, you likely will have to wait another year to see him, but yes, he does hope to be playing in 2012-13 and have three years of eligibility. Billy Baron is more of a combo guard. He is not a pure shooter as his brother is. He was beaten out for playing time by two other freshmen guards at UVA so last week he decided to return home and join his father's team. He should be a good player, but likely not as big a star as his brother was.
Flyer fans, I'm coming after YOU!Two key seniors are leading the way. Delroy James and Marquis Jones are leading the Rams in scoring and rebounding. Nikola Malesevic has quietly had a solid 2nd season in Kingston and has to be the most pleasant surprise of the season so far. Paul, what say you? And please tell me this Serbian has a fun nickname. If not, please give him one right now.
Paul: You are right, the most pleasant surprise for URI in what has not been a pleasant season has been Nikola Malesevic. He is a 6-7 wing from Serbia who was a non-factor as a freshman. He had 15 points on the season. He was pressed into action because of all the personnel losses, and he's done a great job. He is averaging 10 a game and has crazy numbers.
He is one of only a handful of players in the country shooting 50 percent from the floor and behind the 3-point arc. He also is barely shooting 50 percent from the foul line. The URI people are trying to get him to back up a couple feet on free throws so he can make more of them.
The other guy who is dangerous is Orion Outerbridge (editor's note: What an AMAZING name). He might be the closest forward in the league to having Chris Wright athleticism. But his season has been hurt by academic issues and more recently, a knee injury. If URI is going to finish strong, it likely will be because Outerbridge becomes a bigger factor.
And another thing about Malesevic, he really has been a lifesaver for them, especially since Akeem Richmond and Delroy James have not shot the 3-pointer well. His teammates, and his coach call him Ni-ko-lai. His name does not have an "I'' on the end, it is Nik-o-la. But everyone refers to him as Nikolai. I asked him why and he shrugged and said he didn't care. He's just happy to be playing.
Do not feed Martell.Will Martell intrigues me, only because he stands at 7'0." Considering Dayton has no real center presence, this guy could have a big day vs. the Flyers. That is, of course, he can stay out of foul trouble. He has fouled out 3 times this year and it obviously has effected his minutes. Paul, is he that bad of a defender or do the A-10 refs key on him because of his height? Who are we kidding? Of course they do!
Paul: Martell, who is one of my all-time favorite players at URI. He is a Dean's List student in international business and also happens to have the best sense of humor on the team. Unfortunately, he is one of the reasons URI is not as good as some expected because he is not having a good season at all. He has gone backwards because on injuries. He is playing through knee and ankle issues and simply can't move as well as he would like. He was never fast, but he is downright slow now because of his injuries. Reaching for guys as they move past him has led to his foul problems.
Numbers game. "Failure is success if we learn from it."
PPG
FG%
FT%
3P%
RPG
ORPG
DRPG
APG
TPG
SPG
BPG
FPG
UD
68.5
40.5
67.7
33.5
39.6
13.8
25.8
15.6
12.3
5.1
3.0
19.6
URI
68.8
42.1
70.0
33.1
34.6
11.6
23.0
11.9
11.8
6.8
3.9
17.8
UD Opponents
65.1
40.7
67.8
31.2
35.0
10.7
24.4
12.9
12.5
4.4
3.5
18.8
URI Opponents
68.0
42.8
68.5
31.2
37.6
12.1
25.5
13.7
14.5
5.8
3.1
18.5
The vomit that you see above is what your basic mid-major schools across the country average. They don't score in bunches, they shoot like shit, their free throw percentage is dreadful, and they only do one thing well, in Dayton's case it is rebounding and in URI's case it's being the home to "Family Guy." I have not seen much of the Rams this year, so I have no idea this team does well and what are some things that they don't do well. From looking at the stats, it doesn't look like they do anything amazing on offense or defense. Sounds like Dayton, right? Paul, what do you think?
Paul: As all A-10 fans know, URI has been run and gun for the last few years with Cothran and Ulmer and Seawright and Bitee and Daniels and so many other speedsters. This team is not nearly as fast. And, since it has lost so many bodies (Tashawm Mabry, PJ Lockridge, Kyle Cain, Levan Shegalia, Daniel West) it has had to call off the press much of the time.
Jim Baron believes in man-to-man. He has played zone only reluctantly. I think they'd be better if they played more zone. The team also is down to two guards, Jones and Richmond. it has used a big lineup occasionally when it doesn't want to go with walk-on Anthony Baskerville. I'm a fan of going bigger. I'd love to see Malesevic at the two, or even James there, and go big.
Prediction: The Rams have won 6 of the last 8 vs the Flyers, the last two being BRUTAL heart breakers for the Flyers. The games are always close, so I expect the same with this game. I am going to predict a 61-50 victory for the Flyers, who will be lead by Chris Wright's ho-hum double-double and Big Dog's 2 points in 3 minutes of play. Paul, let's hear what you have to say. And if you are not allowed to give predictions (some newspaper men are not), what do the Rams need to do to win and what do the Flyers need to do to win?
Paul: This game is the start of a three-game homestand that likely will determine whether it finishes as high as fifth or as low as eighth. The bad news for the Flyers is that it is "Pink Out Night," to raise money for breast cancer, so the crowd should be pretty good. The team that can make the most 3-pointers will win. As a reporter, I love a good story. Like a basket at the buzzer by Marquis Jones, just like he's done the last two years, to beat the Flyers for a third time, Make it 65-64, same as last year.
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.
January 28, 2012 
There are bad losses and then there are soul-crushing defeats. Tonight was a soul stomper. The Rhode Island Rams, the owners of a 0-6 conference record coming into tonight’s ballgame, came into the Arena and lit the Flyers up for 85 points and a four-point road victory. The Flyers, looking for an undemanding victory, failed to take down what amounts to a wounded animal. The loss pulls the Flyers back down to reality, now just 4-3 in the Atlantic Ten.
The fuck?Dayton doesn’t have to play defense like Ohio State to contend in the Atlantic Ten. In fact, just mediocre defense alone would likely have the Flyers at 16-5/17-4 overall, probably 5-2, maybe even 6-1, in the league. Instead, UD is allowing 77 points in conference play. Seventy…seven. The Washington Generals think the Flyers have a long way to go defensively. 
