Rhody MBB's Reasons for Concern in the 2018-2019 Season
The following points are the reasons why Rhody MBB fans should be concerned about their favorite college basketball team during the 2018-2019 season.
1. This team is extremely young and relatively inexperienced.
The future is bright for Rhode Island MBB but going into this season, there is not a lot of experience that is returning. Besides Jeff Dowtin, Daron Russell, and Cyril Langevine, none of the players have played significant minutes in NCAA tournaments. Moreover, Christion Thompson is returning to college basketball after taking an entire season off. Meanwhile, the team adds in four freshmen that have relatively high expectations.
2. The group of freshmen are likely going to be relied upon for a significant amount of production.
While they are both capable players, Jermaine Harris and Dana Tate will be expected to contribute from the outset and that can be too much pressure for some people. All the while, Tyrese Martin and Omar Silverio could eventually supersede someone like Christion Thompson for minutes.
3. There is a huge lack of consistent and accurate three-point shooting on this team.
Statistically, the most reliable shooter from deep on this team is Jeff Dowtin and he shot 38.7% from beyond the arc last season. Meanwhile, Russell shot under 30% last season from deep. Furthermore, in his sophomore season, Christion Thompson shot 26.3% from the perimeter. Even with the four incoming players, Omar Silverio is the only one with a track record of being a good outside shooter. Significant improvements need to be made in this area.
4. Ball handling will be a question mark when Jeff Dowtin and Daron Russell get breathers together.
As of now, Jeff Dowtin and Daron Russell will be starting backcourt mates and handle the majority of the ball handling together on the court. However, whenever they are both on the bench, the ball handling duties will be in the hands of Christion Thompson (who is not a natural ball handler), as well as freshmen Tyrese Martin and Omar Silverio.
5. David Cox will be thrown right into the fire in his first season as a head coach in college basketball.
The new head coach of Rhody MBB will have many question marks to deal with when it comes to setting his lineups from day one and if that was not enough, he will have to lead his young team through an assortment of tough games throughout the season. If the Rams want to be at the top of the conference again, Cox will need to be able to rely on consistent production from his experienced players and integrate his freshmen in a timely fashion.
