Rhode Island Basketball: Rams a dark horse in 2019 Atlantic 10 Tournament

The favorites to win the 2019 Atlantic 10 Tournament are obvious. But if you’re looking for a dark horse pick, start with the Rhode Island Rams.

The 2019 Atlantic 10 Tournament gets underway on Wednesday afternoon, and the favorites to win it all are pretty clear. You don’t even need to consult KenPom. VCU, the regular season conference champs, could obviously cut down the nets. Davidson and Dayton are also heavily favored to contend. But after that? It’s hard to spot a true dark horse. Unless you look to the hottest (fine, second hottest… sorry, VCU) team in the conference. The Rhode Island Rams. And they certainly have the ability to make a nice little run in Brooklyn.

Rhody will come into their opening round game winners of four straight, which just so happens to be their longest winning streak of the season. Their offense — which has been their Achilles heel — is all of a sudden red hot. And it’s led by reigning A-10 Player of the Week Fatts Russell. The sophomore averaged 34.0 points and 4.5 steals per game last week, and URI is getting him going at the right time. Add in big man Cyril Langevine and steady guard Jeff Dowtin and Rhode Island’s ‘Big Three’ can handle anybody.

Additionally, the eight seeded Rams have a pretty favorable first round match-up in La Salle. Rhody knocked off the nine seed Explorers 78-67 in Philadelphia earlier this year thanks to some dominating play inside. If URI can get past La Salle, the one seed — VCU — will be waiting. That’s not a great draw for sure. But Rhody was the last team to beat VCU this season, thanks to a 71-65 victory in Kingston. Plus, Rhode Island bounced VCU from the A-10 Tournament last season. And the season before. History might just be on Rhody’s side.

Which brings up one last point: URI is used to making A-10 Tournament runs. The Rams have been in the Championship Game in each of the past two seasons, winning one of them (2017). Granted, a lot of the star power that led those squads has since graduated. But between Dowtin, Langevine, Russell, and red-shirt junior Christion Thompson, Rhode Island has enough guys that know what it takes to make a run for the crown.

One thing’s for sure… team’s aren’t going to be excited to square off against Rhody. The A-10 Tournament begins Wednesday afternoon with a pair of games. Rhode Island will play in the first of four contests on Thursday afternoon. Tip-off between the Rams and Explorers is slated for noon.