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.
