Projo College Hoops

By Paul Grimaldi

PROVIDENCE, RI -- March could prove to be the time Rhode Island begins an economic rebound as the capital city and surrounding communities play host to hoop hounds from around the country.

Thousands of basketball fans are due here in mid-March for the opening rounds of the NCAA's men's college basketball tournament. It's the first time since 2000 that Providence has been the site of a college-level tournament when it was the site of the Frozen Four -- the NCAA's hockey tournament and the first time since 1996 that it was part of March Madness -- the tourney that drives basketball fanatics and casual fans into a frenzy.

Business, government and academic groups have been working for months on the details of hosting the games, which will take place on March 18 and March 20, amid a week when Providence also hosts a St. Patrick's Day parade and road race, a cheerleading competition, two business conventions and top-flight performances at the Providence Performing Arts Center and Trinity Rep theater.

"This is a huge opportunity for us to play on the national stage," Kristen Adamo, vice present of marketing for the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau, told attendees at tourney planning session Tuesday morning in Providence.

Gauging the economic impact at this point is tough, convention executives said, as it depends on which teams are chosen to play in Providence. And, one team with a fair shot at playing in the city could come from right down in South County -- URI sands at 19-3 and third in the Atlantic 10 as the regular season comes to a close.

It looks like Keno Davis is remaining busy on the recruiting trail with an eye towards next season.

The Friars signed three high schoolers and do not currently have an open scholarship for 2010-11 but Davis and his staff continue to explore their options in case there is some movement on the roster later this spring. Towards that end, PC welcomed John Wilkins, a 6-foot-9 native of Belgium who is now enrolled at Southeastern Iowa Community College, to town over the weekend. Wilkins attended PC's home loss against Marquette.

"I haven't spoken to John yet. We're just about to go out to practice," said Terry Carroll, the coach at Southeastern. "But, yes, he did go out to Providence."

That, in itself, is a bit of a surprise. Wilkins signed to attend Bradley back in the fall of 2008 but never enrolled there. He is still being actively recruited by the Braves, but is looking at other schools.

"He did not re-sign at Bradley so he is open," said Carroll.

Wilkins is currently ineligible to play Juco ball because he appeared in five professional games in his native country four years ago. Wilkins will likely have to sit out five games wherever he enrolls next season. Since he has not played any junior college games, Wilkins could have four years of eligibility left.

He is now showing his skills in practice and Carroll said coaches from PC, Marquette, Kansas State, Tennessee and others have stopped by for a look. Providence is the only college he's visited this winter. Southeastern, a former national junior college champion, is ranked 21st this year. Carroll said that if he had Wilkins in his lineup, "we might be the number one team in the country. He's a perimeter-type big guy, probably a four-man (forward) at the next level. He needs to get tougher but he's very talented."

Wilkins isn't the only potential 2010 recruit on PC's radar. Another big man they are checking in on is Kadeem Jack, a 6-8 forward from Rice High in Manhattan. He's become one of the city's top spring recruits. The Friars are also poking around with guards and they have been in contact with Bryon Allen, a 6-2 point guard at St. Thomas More in Connecticut. Allen, a Maryland native, is a power-type guard who is very strong yet creative with his passing skills. He played very well at the National Prep School Invitational at URI's Keaney Gym over the weekend.

Allen was set at one point to sign and play for Bob Huggins at West Virginia but there is no longer an open scholarship at WVU. Schools like Maryland and George Washington are now mentioned for Allen, who also could return to prep school for another year. Yet judging by his play over the weekend, he is more than ready to step in and help at a Big East/ACC level school.

PC already has three recruits slated to enroll next fall: guards Gerard Coleman and Joe Young and power forward Ron Giplaye. PC will also add Kadeem Batts, the 6-8 freshman who is redshirting this season.

Kevin McNamara says increase the field for the NCAA basketball tournament.

Bill Reynolds says keep it at 65.

I'm all for expansion - on one condition: Eliminate the conference tournaments.

Most people, I acknowledge, like 'em. I hate 'em.

For one thing, I firmly believe that a conference's automatic bid should go to the team that finishes first during the regular season. A body of work compiled over the course of a couple of months is far more significant than what happens in one weekend.

Expanding the NCAA tournament field to 96 easily would encompass any team deserving a chance to play for the national championship, and the opening rounds could be played the weekend of the conference tournaments that too often - especially in the mid-major conferences - provide entrée for a team that got hot at the right time, at the expense of a team that proved itself best during the regular season.

I concur with Kevin that the once important, but now virtually meaningless, NIT should expire following an expansion of the NCAA tourney to 96 teams. If you're not in the top 100, who cares?

I've seen the NCAA tourney field expand exponentially in my 30-plus years in the sportswriting business -- to 32 teams in 1975; to 40 in 1979; to 48 in 1980; to 53 in 1983; to 64 in 1985, with Big East commissioner Dave Gavitt a driving force behind the growth.

Bigger has, so far, turned out to be better. Going to 96 teams could be a good thing. And what would be best of all would be the elimination of the conference tournaments, which, in the case of some leagues, render the regular season meaningless.

I quote from the first thing I read every Saturday in the Journal:

"You know that cultural Armageddon is fast approaching, Bunky, with the word that Reggie Bush supposedly has hired six bodyguards for Kim Kardashian for the Super Bowl.

"Then again, the very idea that we know who Kim Kardashian is suggests it's already here."

Everybody knows Kim Kardashian is Lamar Odom's sister-in-law. Is there really any other reason she's famous?

As the losses pile up both in and out of the Top 25 these days, it's getting harder and harder to weigh just how much to penalize teams for defeats.

A good example this week is Temple. The Owls are a good team. Very good in fact, good enough to pin one of only two defeats on Villanova. They were No. 19 in last week's poll and now are coming off a loss at a good Richmond team. One of the proven axioms of college basketball is that you will lose games on the road. It's that simple.

With that in mind, we let Temple slide to No. 23 this week. What's unique about this poll is how much we seem to like the Mountain West. We have UNLV, New Mexico and BYU in the poll this week. It's very tough to figure out which team is best but Vegas looks good. They have split with BYU and won at New Mexico.

One note to note: the PAC-10 has zero teams, and the ACC only two (Duke, Wake). The Big East has four of the top 7 but those teams have begun to beat each other up. So will the 5 Big 12 teams.

Finally, let's end all pretense here. Rhode Island WILL be in next week's poll (maybe even into the teens) if they can go 2-0 this week. These next 2 games are the two biggest of the season for the Rams.

1. Kansas
2. Syracuse
3. Kentucky
4. Villanova
5. Purdue
6. West Virginia
7. Georgetown
8. Duke
9. Wisconsin
10. Kansas State
11. Ohio State
12. Michigan State
13. Tennessee
14. Texas
15. Gonzaga
16. Baylor
17. Texas A&M
18. Pittsburgh
19. UNLV
20. New Mexico
21. Butler
22. UTEP
23. Temple
24.BYU
25. Wake Forest

It got sloppy in the second half, but the University of Rhode Island basketball team won another one Saturday afternoon.

The Rams used their pressure defense to build leads as high as 24 points and went on to a 93-85 victory over Massachusetts. URI moves to 19-3, 7-2 in the Atlantic 10 while UMass falls to 8-15, 2-7.

Freshman Akeem Richmond had six 3-pointers and 19 points to lead five Rhody players in double figures. The six treys were the most for a URI freshman since Dustin Hellenga had seven in 2001. Lamonte Ulmer had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Keith Cothran had 10 points and a season high seven assists.

Ricky Harris had 32 for UMass.

Rhode Island led 69-45 with 9:40 remaining before Massachusetts rallied behind the shooting of Harris and Anthony Gurley, who had 15 points.

URI forced 21 turnovers, 17 in the first half. The Rams had 11 steals, five by Cothran.

The URI press has caused problems for a number of teams over the last several seasons, but never quite like what just happened in the first half of the game against Massachusetts at the Ryan Center.

The Rams have hounded the Minutemen into 17 turnovers on the way to building a 46-29 lead at the half.

Rhode Island has caused so many problems that it has been able to take twice as many shots as the Minutemen, 35-17. UMass has as many turnovers as it has shots taken. The Minutemen are shooting 59 percent from the field. They simply have not been able to get shots.

URI has 10 steals and 19 points off turnovers.

Will Martell leads URI with 13 points and Lamonte Ulmer has 11. Those two are a combined 10-for-12 from the field. Ricky Harris is doing his best to keep UMass in the game. He has 17 of his team's 29 points.