Why I Have a Problem with Rhody MBB Playing Holy Cross

I had an intriguing discussion with Colby Roussel on May 1, 2017 about Rhody MBB's non-conference schedule. (We are all awaiting Roussel's return to the blog and he better have a bunch of articles ready.) After talking about the good job that Dan Hurley has done with scheduling the likes of Alabama, Iona, and Florida Gulf Coast, we talked about the games that will likely be boring.

The first team that came to both of our minds is Holy Cross. I understand that Holy Cross is a cheap option for any D1 college basketball team to purchase for a buy game or to agree on a home-and-home series with. With that said, the Crusaders and watching them play against URI for the past two seasons has never peaked my interest in the slightest bit. I think the criticism that I am giving in this article is better than the first and only other time I mentioned them in a Runnin Rhody article.

In their matchup on December 2, 2015 in the Ryan Center, URI trounced Holy Cross 74-56, even without the services of E.C. Matthews and with Kuran Iverson re-acclimating himself to Division 1 basketball. How can you tell that this game was a blowout even if you were not in attendance (I was in the front row)? Walk-ons Shane Plunkett and Rory Temkin were able to fit in playing time for URI. Last season, in a game in which Matthews played just 18 minutes due to an injury and scored 0 points, Rhode Island rolled again. With a minimal attendance of 3,537 and the game being broadcasted on MyRITV, URI never trailed after going down 8-3 with 16:42 remaining in the first half. Eventually the Rams won 65-54, with relative ease.

As much as I hate to see Hurley's squad matching up against an extremely porous Holy Cross team, I tried to find the positives of this matchup. Evidently, the perks of these two teams playing is few and far in between. Before a miracle run and A LOT of luck in their conference tournament in the 2015-2016 season, they won the Patriot League's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. In the first real game of the tournament, they were blown out by number one seeded Oregon, 91-52. Before this miracle berth into the Big Dance, they had not been in the NCAA tournament since the 2006-2007 season. Holy Cross can do almost nothing but damage Rhode Island's resume. When Rhode Island beats Holy Cross, their computer numbers will still likely take a hit. In a disaster where Holy Cross would upset Rhode Island, the Rams would have an unfixable error on their NCAA tournament resume.

Finally, let's never forget when Kuran Iverson nearly ended a Crusaders' player's life in their matchup on Wednesday, December 2, 2015. Kuran Iverson dunked on this kid so bad that there is a YouTube video of the dunk, as well as several gargantuan photos of the dunk.