Early Trends to Watch from Rhody MBB
As we head towards Thanksgiving, I thought it was high time to point out a few trends to beware of, regarding this season's iteration of the Rhode Island MBB team.
1. Does everyone believe me when I kept repeating on Twitter that E.C. Matthews should always shake all of the officials' hands after pregame introductions?
I don't care if you believe in a concept like karma or not but I hope that everyone still believes in having good manners and following proper conduct. Personally, I am not taking it as just a coincidence that E.C. Matthews has such as an awful injury history while at URI and he rarely ever shakes the officials' hands, following URI's program introductions. Throughout Matthews entire career, I have watched him do this throughout all of his games and I know that a good amount of the Rhode Island fan base sees it to. If you disrespect the game of basketball, it can come back to bite you. Just ask Mr. Matthews...
2. What happened to Rhody MBB's calling card, known as defense?
Maybe it's just me but seeing Nevada score 88 on Dan Hurley's team physically hurt me. Currently, teams are averaging 71.3 points per game, which does not initially seem that bad. However, the fact that teams are shooting 36.7% from beyond the arc is alarming. When URI went on a massive nine game winning streak before dropping to Oregon in the Round of 32 in the 2017 NCAA tournament, they completely shut down opposing team's three pointers. Moreover, the Rams rebounding margin is only +3.3 over their first three opponents.
3. Rotations and lineups need altering.
Nicola Akele, Ryan Preston, and Daron "Fatts" Russell deserve more playing time, based on their play during this current season. As some people are well aware, I am not Akele's biggest fan but I will be his advocate to start this season off due to the 3.7 rebounds per game that he averages in just 10 minutes per game. Meanwhile, his counterpart, Ryan Preston may still be acclimating himself to Division 1 college basketball but he has averaged 4.3 rebounds per game in just 8.7 minutes per game. In other words, while only playing 8.7 minutes per game, Preston averages more rebounds than any other Rhode Island Ram. Next, Fatts Russell has been a clear spark plug off the bench, even though his stats may not exemplify that. Finally, Michael Layssard and Michael Tertsea should seriously be considered for more playing time while E.C. Matthews is out with his fractured left wrist and Cyril Langevine is underperforming.
