Rhode Island Basketball: 2023-24 season preview for the Rams

Overall Outlook and Expectations for the Rams

Many people do not rank the Rhode Island Rams very high at the conference level or even nationally this year because of their poor performance last season; however, they will surprise a lot of college basketball fans and could end up making a push toward the top half of the Atlantic 10 standings.

One of the most amazing things about college basketball is that anything can happen on any given night, which means it’s way too early to think URI won’t turn many heads in 2024 and maybe even return to contending into March. For example, if you take Fordham’s team from last season, who was projected to finish in the lower half of the A10 and ended up placing third in the final standings. My point is that preseason rankings do not mean anything and are almost always never aligned perfectly with the outcome of the college basketball season.

The Rams were chosen to finish 14th in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll. Still, with an improved roster and all members of Coach Miller’s staff returning for a second consecutive season, it is hard to believe they will repeat their performance from the previous season. While the Rams did lose a significant amount of players to the portal last season, they have a fresh group who are willing to learn and do what it takes to win.

There are still a lot of unknown questions as we approach tipping off the 2023-24 season, but what we do know is the Rams are determined for an Atlantic 10 Championship. It has been six years since URI took down VCU at the PPG Paints Arena to punch their ticket to the Big Dance and five years since the program was A10 Regular Season Champions; with that said, it’s time to go back to their winning ways, and this very likely could be the group to do it.