Rhode Island Basketball: 2019-20 season review for the Rams

The 2019-20 campaign of Rhode Island Basketball was highlighted by a lot from transfers, senior leadership, big Wins, bad losses and a guy named Fatts.

There was a lot of unknown for Rhode Island Basketball as they entered the 2019-20 season.  In the midst of the year, David Cox and his Rams saw various departures which ultimately left the team with just eight scholarship players and to say that Cox was able to maximize the results would be underselling it.

The general consensus was that the Rams gave themselves no room for error with scheduling, and this year’s slate of games was one of their five toughest schedules of the KenPom era.

Had anyone questioned the Rams and where they would fall heading into the year, most seemed encouraged afters wins over Alabama, North Texas, Providence, and Western Kentucky.  By the time 2020 arrived, the Rams sat at 8-3 with their losses being to Maryland, West Virginia, and LSU.

Not awful.

Despite a rough loss to a plucky Brown Bears squad followed by dropping their A10 opener against Richmond, the Rams saw March in their crosshairs and ripped off 10 consecutive wins including a win over Davidson and a season sweep of VCU including a 22-point romping at the Ryan Center.

Then the cracks began to show and the 8-man rotation felt smaller than it was.  The Rams, who some media outlets were projecting to be as high as an 8-or-9 seed, limped to the finish line going 3-4 with two poor outings against National Title contender Dayton, a 2 point loss to Davidson, and a 10 point loss at home to Saint Louis.

To add extra perspective, the Rams beat Fordham and UMass by a combined two points.

As the season came to a close, the Rams went from a can’t miss At Large to the 3rd seed in the A10, and a group that had to have won out to hear their name called.  The season trended downward, and simply put, the NCAAT was no longer in the picture despite finishing 21-9.