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Rhode Island Basketball: Why Fatts Russell returning to Rams is right move

By Caleb Hightower

COLLEGE PARK, MD - NOVEMBER 09: Fatts Russell #1 of the Rhode Island Rams dribbles by Ricky Lindo Jr. #4 of the Maryland Terrapins during a basketball game at the Xfinity Center on November 9, 2019 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - NOVEMBER 09: Fatts Russell #1 of the Rhode Island Rams dribbles by Ricky Lindo Jr. #4 of the Maryland Terrapins during a basketball game at the Xfinity Center on November 9, 2019 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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Rhode Island Basketball
DAYTON, OH – FEBRUARY 11: Fatts Russell #1 of the Rhode Island Rams (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Fatts Russell is coming back to Rhode Island Basketball for one more season.

One of the toughest decisions that many ambitious college basketball players have to make is, whether or not they are ready to leave school and pursue a professional career. For URI guard Fatts Russell, this decision wasn’t exactly a no-brainer, but at the end of the day, he announced that he would be returning to URI for his senior season on May 20th via Instagram. To me, this is absolutely the right decision for Russell.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAbdTkdFzLz/

Before making that difficult decision, Russell announced that he would be entering his name into the 2020 NBA draft on March 27th via Instagram.

This came after an impressive junior season, in which he averaged 18.8 points, 4.6 assists, and 2.9 steals per game. Last season, he definitely showed that he is closer to playing in the NBA than many people may think, but there is no doubt that he still has some work to do.

Before I get into why Russell needed to return to school, I think that it would be helpful if I highlighted his many strengths first. The name of the game for Russell is speed, and he is an extremely difficult player to defend because he knows how to effectively change up his speeds.

I’m sure that Russell is fed up with defenders hand checking him just about every time he drives, but when you are able to accelerate the way he is, you almost have to start expecting that to happen. When defenders try to keep him out of the paint, he does a great job of staying low and continuing to attack the rim. He is also able to use his off-hand to shield defenders off when they are riding him to the basket.

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