Rhode Island Hoops Saved

Billy Baron is coming home. Questionable as to whether we have to wait a year to see him play. Elliot Williams was able to transfer from Duke to Memphis and got an NCAA waiver to be with his mom who was allegedly sick. He then one and doned the program so it's unclear how sick she truly was. We can certainly make the agurment that Jim Baron is a bit mentally unstable and needs his son nearby.

"Virginia is a great place, but I want to go home, be with my family and play for my dad," Baron said in a statement released by the university. He's transferring this semester.

Billy Baron, from East Greenwich, R.I., played in 17 games and averaged 3 points. He had a game-high 19 points in Virginia's victory over William & Mary in the season opener and 14 points in a win against USC Upstate in the next game, but has played sparingly since.

"I knew when Billy decided to come to Virginia he had a very hard decision and labored over it," Bennett, who played for his own father, Dick, said in the statement.

"Obviously we're sad to see him go and appreciate his contributions to our program, but the desire to play for your father is very strong, as I can personally attest.

"We'll miss him and wish him well."

- From Boston.com

Baron Agrees Contract Extension With URI

Jim Baron and URI have agreed in principle to a one-year contract extension. The additional year to Baron's pact would extend his contract through the 2013-14 season. I have called for him to be fired for awhile now, but I really can't say that I am surprised they did this, especially when you read things like this...

"Jim Baron, his staff, and the teams he has put on the floor have won more games in the past four years than any other four-year class in URI basketball history," said Bjorn. "Jim continues to develop players and his teams continue to achieve success on the court and in the classroom."

I am torn about this. On the one hand we know URI will put a "good" team out there year in and year out, but on the other hand I just don't see Baron getting them to the next level (NCAA tournament, unless of course the expand the field). So basically I am indifferent to the idea, until near the end of next year when URI chokes and misses the NCAA Tournament again.

Baron does it again!

Jesus' take on last night's URI-UNC game.

UNC 68 - URI 67

Let me just start by saying this. I was very impressed with the efforts from the Rhody Rams in the last few games. Delroy James played like a man among boys throughout this tournament, making big play after big play, and even getting Raftery to draw comparisons to the great Sly Williams. Beating a good Nevada team and winning in Blacksburg in a hostile environment against VaTech was no small feat. That win against VaTech was arguably the best Ram performance of the Baron era. The Hokies were 19-1 at home going into that game, and both teams were playing to win. They came from behind and looked poised. But just when things were starting to turn for ol' friend Jim Baron, the same problems reared their ugly head.

Most of the readers (if not all) don't know this about me, but I grew up a mere stone's throw from Keaney Gym and was raised as a Ram season ticket holder. I attended Skinner's, Harrick's and DeGregorio's basketball camps (3 pt champ for my age group at Harrick's!). To say that I am a huge Ram fan would be an understatement. I remember vividly the days of Kenny Green, Jeff Kent, Andre Samuels, Antonio Reynolds-Dean, Abdul Fox, Preston Murphy, Cuttino Mobley, Tyson Wheeler, Zach "one man army" Marbury, Lamar Odom, Brian Woodward, Dustin Hellenga, Jimmy Baron and the current squad. I've seen a great number of NBA players make their way through Keaney Gym - Eddie Jones, Aaron McKie, David West, Jameer Nelson, Delonte West, Mike James, Yinka Dare!, Smush Parker and many others. Never, in all those years though have I been as frustrated as I am now.

I know it was the NIT (Not Invited) and maybe a lot of fans don't care, but that game last night would have been great for the program, and perhaps helped Baron get over the hump with that one marquee victory he has been looking for since he got to Kingston. His body of work is impressive enough, but it is when you look at specific games, and all the big wins they have choked away under his reign, that is just too much to stomach. Last night, we saw why Roy Williams is a different class of coach than Jim Baron. I didn't actually think the talent level was that much of a disparity. Cothran was getting to wherever he wanted on the court, Ulmer was as athletic a guy as there was out there, and James was at times the best player on the floor. With URI leading and the game waining down in regulation, Williams knew exactly what was going to happen and he had Baron in his crosshairs.

Having 4 timeouts to play with (too many college coaches waste these) he let his team play through a rough patch, and when it got close he threw that full-court pressure on the Rams, and Baron was caught with his pants down. How do you not have a go-to inbounds play against full-court pressure in a tight game?! They turned it over once that I remember, but had no effective possessions in the last two minutes. The free-throws didn't help, but his failure to draw up inbounds plays led to the wrong guys shooting FT's. It really is inexcusible, and just proves that Baron is not the X's and O's coach this team needs. I feel bad for the boys, who played pretty hard but didn't have a coach to get them in a position to be successful. I think Baron is a good motivator, and a decent recruiter (in the East esp) but just can't hack it in game-time adjustments.

Hopefully, this will be the last of the Jim Baron era. I don't wish the man any ill-will, as he did a lot to rebuild this program back to respectability following the debacle that was the DeGregorio era. In the end though, I think he has gotten us as far as he can. Let's get a young, dynamic personality in here. Someone who can steal a few recruits from the east coast dynamos and get this team back to the tournament with some consistency.

I'm Rhode Island born and Rhode Island bred...

Jesus.Out.

So What Now For The Rams

Let me preface this post by saying I absolutely do not believe URI will fire Jim Baron once they are bounced in the 2nd round of the NIT. They simply do not have the balls or the money to blow paying off the rest of his salary. He renegotiated his contract during his first couple seasons in Kingston to a 10 year, 4.5 million dollar deal which does not expire for another three of seasons (after the 2012-2013 season). If he were to be relieved at the end of the current season, URI would be stuck paying him some 1.3 million.

Here’s the problem – the state of Rhode Island is broke. They are too broke to pay someone who’s no longer employed and they are too broke to hire anybody decent at today’s wages. Most D1 coaches are taking home at least $750k/year – far more than Baron is making in his current deal. Add in the money the school and the state would still owe Baron and we are talking about paying over $1 million per year for a basketball coach. Not going to happen in Rhody. In Indiana? Yes. North Carolina? Absolutely. Anywhere in the Northeast? Nope.

Let’s say Baron resigns or by some act of God, Rhode Island actually holds a state employee accountable for sub par performance. Who’s next?

One astute commenter pointed out Ed Cooley, current men’s coach at Fairfield. He’s done a solid job down there by most accounts and he’s got a solid resume as an assistant working for many years under Al Skinner at BC. His current salary is less than Baron at around $250k/year and he’s a Rhode Island native so the hometown discount could come in to play. The biggest drawback – he was also an assistant coach under Jim Harrick at URI and we all know how hard the school has tired to distance itself from that era.

At the end of the day, this is the type of guy Rhody will have to settle for. Somebody relatively unknown that would work for cheap. Our best hope is that they find a diamond in the rough, like Memphis did with Josh Pastner, who can come in and start recruiting right away. There are plenty out there, the trouble is identifying them.

The other option is to take a scandal tarnished coach desperate for a shot to reclaim his reputation. The first name that comes to mind there is Quin Snyder, former head coach at Missouri where he led them to their highest ranking ever and an elite 8 berth in the NCAA tournament. He was dismissed after 3 scandalous seasons with accusations of paying players and forging academic transcripts. He’s currently coaching in the NBA D League where he’s allegedly happy but I’m sure he’d like another crack at the college game.

Outside of that it is anybody’s guess. URI is in a real bind here with no money, a shitty recruiting class (especially with Billy on the way to UVA) and not much to build on. In all likelihood, Jim Baron will finish out his contract before slipping off into the night and the URI basketball program will be set back 15 years. It’s unfortunate but also the standard for state schools in professional sports markets.

Just for kicks, top 5 candidates for the URI job –

Quin Snyder
Tommy Amaker
Chris Collins
Steve Wojciechowski
Nate James

In that order.

The Writing is On The Wall

It is on the floor and the ceiling too. Time to say good night to the Jim Baron era in Kingston RI.

His welcome first wore out back in 2004, then again in 2005 and pretty much every disappointing February and March since. Just when we thought we were stuck with four more years of an overrated father/son combo, the former retaining his job through some sort of reverse nepotism, it looks like the youngest Baron is off to play with the big boys in the ACC.

According to the Projo and Scouts.com, Billy Baron is considering or has already accepted a scholarship to play for Virginia in the fall of 2010. Coach Baron has acknowledged as much saying when the ACC comes calling, you have to listen. It's safe to say that is not a problem the elder Baron will have in the near future...or ever.

Since Jim Baron is an employee of the school, Billy never had to sign a letter of intent to play for the Rams making the Virginia decision a litte easier.

It has always been my belief that JB Sr maintained his job during the middle of the decade due to the prominence of JB Jr who almost single handidly put URI in Lunardi's bubble watch year in and year out before Sr destroyed it. When rumor had Billy coming to campus, it looked as if the Rams were back to square one. Now that he's taking his game (which isn't half bad, 3 star recruit, 37th best PG in his class), it's time his father packed up the moving van and moved along with him...not to coach of course, that would be crazy. But it sure would be nice seeing a familiar face in the stands as Duke wipes the floor with the Cav's over the next four years.

h/t The Sporting Blog

Fuck Jim Baron

Sorry, URI I spoke way to soon. Remember, when I wrote this? Let me go from eating crow to tearing down that faggot who coaches URI. Does Jim Baron realize that February games mean a lot. Every single year, URI struggles late and relies on the A 10 Tourney to make the tournament and choke. I actually had faith in this team and thought they were going to make the tourney, but they fucked me and all of us once again. They lost to St. Louis last night in a game that made me want to puke. There were literally zero adjustments being made the whole second have. They run an offense that reminds me of a elementary team. All they do is run to the ball and hand it off until they feel pressure from the shot clock and heave up a reckless shot, which leads other teams to run a transition offense and take advantage of URI's lack of defense. In all of their losses this has been the trend, and as of right now, they don't deserve to be considered a fucking bubble team. Jim Baron needs to go, I'm sick of constantly being let down every year and hopefully URI sees that too. I don't care about his regular season accolades, he can shove em.

Die

Defending Coach Baron

I went to URI, I led the Fire Baron chants, I constantly trashed him on BMack and my radio show. Now, I'm humbled.

You know what. Jim Baron is an above average coach. URI let me down year after year, because of their hot starts and second half failures. However, Coach Baron is about to take our Rams to the big dance, and is sitting pretty with a 17-3 overall record. Figuring he has done this without a premier player is pretty amazing. If you mentioned the names Keith Cothran, Delroy James and Lamonte Ulmer, no casual fan would know who they are. But he figured a way to get the most success with his players by using full court press and run an offense that thrives on quick-hit baskets and always crash four players to the glass.

Baron has a career record of 336- 320 overall, and a 131- 118 record with the Rams. Not bad for a program that was haunted with sanctions from the NCAA thanks to Lamar Odom and Jim Harrick. Do I think this URI can go deep in the tournament? No. Do I think an opening round win is inconceivable? No. (maybe that is being a little too optimistic) But this year will mean a lot to recruits who are in the New England area and wants to get immediate playing time and doesn't feel like riding the bench at UConn or Temple.

So yes, I admit I was wrong about him. Go Rhody.

Fire Jim Baron!!!

URI had their chance once again this year to make the NCAA tournament. They teased me, it seemed possible, all they really had to do was beat a UMass team that only had 12 wins all year!! Once again URI chokes down the stretch, and I know they will choke in the A-10 Tournament. Baron is great at somehow getting to 20 wins, but every year his team chokes down the stretch, and I am fucking sick of it. It is time to fire him, and bring back the one guy that knows how to get it done...Mr. Dustin Hellenga!

For Our URI Alums and Students

The New York post wrote an article about how the Barons hate each other and if it wasn't for mom Baron, son Jimmy would have been a drug dealer and quit basketball a long time ago, and how his father would have sit their and watched the whole thing take place. She also said that the father Jim Baron used to be an abusive father and turned to booze over coaching. Actually, the article was too long for me to pay attention to and I hardly read it, but it may include that stuff. Who knows.

To get your take on it click here

Is Jimmy Baron the Worst Coach Ever?

Yes. (See the recap of last night's game for some background).

How is it even remotely possible for a team up 12 with 3 minutes left to lose on a last second 3. This isn't CYA ball or JV or some shit, this is Division 1 NCAA hoops we are talking about. I didn't watch a lick of this game and I didn't have to. Frankly, I've watched enough URI choke jobs this season to know where the problem lies. It's the coaching. Jimmy Baron is the worst in-game coach in the college game. His substitution methodology is senseless and his decision making makes Lloyd Carr look like a genius. When you are up 12 with 3 to play how do you not instruct your guys to run clock. All you have to do is hold the ball for 35 seconds and even if you don't convert, you've made it that much harder for the other team to make up ground. Turning the ball over and rushing shots with 20 seconds left on the shot clock is not what smart teams do and its not what smart coaches teach their team to do.

I'm really at a loss of words for this one.

Is Tim Welsh available? We need a new coach.