Busting Brackets
Fansided

Atlantic 10 Basketball: 2020-21 power rankings heading into conference play

By Benjamin Zacher

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 15: The Atlantic 10 logo on the court before the game between the George Washington Colonials and the Richmond Spiders at the Charles E. Smith Athletic Center on January 15, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 15: The Atlantic 10 logo on the court before the game between the George Washington Colonials and the Richmond Spiders at the Charles E. Smith Athletic Center on January 15, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
10 of 15
Next
Rhode Island Rams  Fatts Russell Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports
Rhode Island Rams  Fatts Russell Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports /

6. Rhode Island Rams

  • 2020-21 record: 4-5 overall, 1-1 A-10
  • Previous ranking: 3rd

Let me say this before anything else: the teams ranked from 6-3 could all be swapped around and that would be completely reasonable.  URI gets the raw end of the deal after being third in last month’s rankings, having gone 1-3 since their 3-2 start that included wins over USF, San Francisco, and Seton Hall.  Since then, the Rams have dropped games to Wisconsin, Western Kentucky, and Davidson – all good losses – while defeating St. Bonaventure.

The Rams are an NCAA Tournament-caliber group, but they have been unable to seal the deal against other tourney-qualified teams.  They struggled to close the gap against Wisconsin in what was a spur-of-the-moment scheduled game and dropped a heartbreaker to Western Kentucky by three – in a game that was all tied up with 47 seconds left.  While their losses to Arizona State and particularly Boston College have not aged particularly well, URI’s latest outing – the win over St. Bonaventure – might have been their most important victory yet.

That win came with Fatts Russell – again, still one of the most underrated players in college basketball – having an uncharacteristically bad game, going 2-9 from the floor while finishing with six turnovers.  Russell, despite struggling to find his shooting stroke all season, leads the team in scoring with 13.8 points and assists with 3.8.  Joining him in double-digits is Jeremy Sheppard at 10.1 – while Antwan Walker has been flirting with a double-double at 8.4 points and 7.6 rebounds.

Russell’s offensive struggles correlate with URI’s woes as a team.  They are 234th in three-point shooting at 31.0% and 243rd from the charity stripe at 67.2% – but they do rank in the top 100 in 2P% (52.8%).  The defense is what has kept them in games, with stellar defensive marks in 3P% (31.9%, 125th), 2P% (44.7%, 52nd), and effective FG% (45.8%, 60th).

Where they struggle is on the boards, getting an offensive rebound on just 24.5% of their attempts (242nd) while allowing teams to snag an offensive board on 30.8% of their attempts (250th).

The Rams should be able to build upon their win over St. Bonaventure when they take on Saint Joseph’s on Sunday – but they follow that up with two key road duels against Richmond and VCU throughout the week.

Home/Atlantic 10