Attendee's Evaluation of the 2014-2015 Season
Considering this extremely young team that was picked to finish 6th in a strong Atlantic 10 conference, URI exceeded expectations and matured out of infancy real quick. Given the strong play of incoming freshmen Jarvis Garrett and Jared Terrell and sophomores Hassan Martin and E.C. Matthews coupled with veteran leadership and grit from T.J. Buchanan and Gilvydas Biruta, the Rhode Island Rams finished with a solid 21-9 overall record, going 13-5 in conference, which was good for T-2nd in the A10.
Unfortunately, the Rams were not chosen for an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament even though there were plenty of teams that they would have outperformed. For example, the A10 regular season champion Davidson Wildcats (a 10 seed) got their behinds waxed 83-52 in their first game in the tournament by a 7th seeded Iowa Hawkeyes. In their time in the postseason, URI accepted their bid into the NIT and won their first round game at home against Iona before falling in the second round at Stanford in a very oddly officiated affair.
An obvious highlight of the season was URI's win over Nebraska at the Ryan Center, giving the Rams their first victory over a ranked opponent since 1998 against the Utah Utes. The 66-62 overtime win is the kind of program-changing win that Dan Hurley will want to build off in the coming years. In addition, a 59-55 home win over GW in front of a packed crowd was big in the middle of the conference race. Finally, in the A10 tournament, URI picked up an admirable 71-58 win vs. GW before falling at the very end to the Dayton Flyers in the semifinals at the Barclays Center, 56-52.
The low points of the season were pretty massive for the Rams. The main reason behind Rhody not making the NCAA's despite their great conference record was their strength of schedule of 145 and their RPI was right on the cusp of where they desired, as it ended at 65. Losses to a mediocre GT team on a neutral court and at Saint Joseph's were bad losses on their resume that they could not afford. Meanwhile, losses at PC, home vs. VCU, home vs. Davidson, and at Dayton were not only tough pills to swallow but they were key missed opportunities, as well.
Given everything that was accomplished by the young, inexperienced team in the 2014-2015 season should only help them going forward.
