Projo College Hoops

If the discussion during today's Atlantic 10 basketball conference call is any indication, there is good news on the way for Ahmad Nivins, not such pleasant news for the URI basketball team.

One of the main topics was all-conference honors and an unofficial vote for player of the year. Ray Cella, the A-10 associate commissioner who runs the call, asked each of the coaches which of their players they would recommend for all-league honors and who they would vote for as player of the year.

Ahmad Nivins, Saint Joseph's senior forward, appears to be a runaway winner as the top player.

``I love his mannerisms. I love how he competes,'' St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt said of Nivins. ``He's a difference maker. He rebounds. He blocks shots. The amazing thing about him is that he stays out of foul trouble. He's a smart player.''

Virtually every coach mentioned Nivins, who leads the conference in a half dozen categories, including both scoring and rebounding.

Duquesne coach Ron Everhart made a strong pitch for his star, Aaron Jackson. Perhaps the most surprising name mentioned was B.J. Raymond of Xavier. He was mentioned by a couple coaches as a player who does not receive as much recognition as some others, but who does much to help his team win.

``I think Nivins is a guy you have to think about,'' said GW coach Karl Hobbs. ``The guy to me who is having a terrific year in B.J. Raymond at Xavier. He's one of those unsung hero kind of guys. . . He does all those little things, then he makes the big shots.''

The talk carries a lot of weight. Unlike the pre-season polls held by the conference in which the media votes along with the coaches, the vote for season-ending honors is done only by the coaches.

Jimmy Baron was mentioned by a couple coaches as a top contender. But the attitude among the coaches as typified by Saint Louis' Rick Majerus. When he spoke about the Rams, he said it was hard to single out one player because the team was a ``three-headed monster,'' referring to Baron, Kahiem Seawright and Keith Cothran. URI is the only team in the league with three player in the top 15 in scoring. Baron is sixth, Cothran 11th and Seawright 12th.

The comments about URI as a team were not as positive as Rhody fans would want. The Rams have won 10 of their last 11. They have clinched a first-round bye and moved into strong position to be the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament in Atlantic City. They are 22-8 overall and 11-4 in the conference. But the Rams still appear to be on the outside looking in as far as the NCAA Tournament is concerned.

Saint Joe's coach Phil Martelli was among those addressing the issue. He made it obvious that he feels the A-10 currently has only two teams, Xavier and Dayton, is strong position for an NCAA berth.

``I was looking at it this morning,'' Martelli said. ``It's a year, so to speak, when not enough non-BCS schools are having big enough seasons.''

There is ``not a second at large candidate today,'' from the A-10, Martelli said. ``Obviously the cards have been shuffled. The at-large bids for non-BCS schools are shrinking. . . the BCS schools listened to the committee (about improving non-conference schedules) and they've reacted.

URI has been hurt by its schedule. While the schedule appeared reasonable before the season, a number of teams _ FDU, Hartford, Brown and Toledo, among them _ have had poor years, hurting URI's chances.

``In the case of Rhode Island, with 10 of their wins being against teams with more than 200 in the RPI. . . '' that hurts the Rams, he said.

Based on performance, URI's schedule turned out to be the 12th most difficult among the 14 A-10 teams. Five of URI's opponents are above 300 in the RPI. That is dragging down the Rams chances.

Rhody coach Jim Baron spoke from Pittsburgh, where his team spent an extra night because of travel problems caused by the snow storm. Baron did not get into the NCAA discussion, but instead spent his time boosting his players for all-conference recognition.

He lavishly praised Kahiem Seawright, Jimmy Baron and Keith Cothran as all-conference candidates, boosted Cothran as a candidate for the league's most improved player award and went on at length about how he felt Delroy James should win the award the A-10's top sixth man.

 Tags  B.J. Raymond Jim Baron Jimmy Baron Kahiem Seawright Keith Cothran Mark Schmidt Phil Martelli Ray Cella URI

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