URI's Improved Depth Has Improved The Team's NCAA Chances?

Umm, how 'bout...NO! I have to disagree with the premise of this article, via ProJo Sports:

There’s no doubt that this year’s edition of the University of Rhode Island basketball team belongs to Kahiem Seawright and Jimmy Baron. They are the co-captains, the two seniors who are completing outstanding careers. Both already have done enough to earn a prominent place in the Rhody records books. Still, if the two are going to achieve one of their biggest goals — get to play in the NCAA Tournament — it will be because they’re carrying less of a load, not more. While thinking about the big dance didn’t seem like a realistic goal even two weeks ago, it’s very much back in the picture because Baron and Seawright are getting more help than ever. URI, 15-7 after three straight wins and 4-3 in Atlantic 10 play entering Thursday night’s contest at Charlotte, has become a more well-balanced team as the season has gone along. It’s not that Seawright and Baron are doing less; it’s that their teammates are doing more.

There's a couple reasons why I disagree that URI's depth has improved their NCAA chances. The first reason is because that so-called "depth" has all it's value on the offensive end of the floor. It's a well known fact that URI has no problems on offense, since they are ranked as the 18th best team in the nation in offensive efficiency and have been ranked highly all season, regardless of their depth. No, the offense is not the problem, the defense is and the depth they've showed of late has NOT improved the defense or are we forgetting that URI pissed away an 11 point lead in the last 2:36 of their last game at home against LaSalle? Sure, they won the game in OT, but playing defense like that is not going to end with a win in most games.

The other problem I have with URI is that they haven't really beaten anyone that was all that good. Their best wins were against Temple(45), Penn State(57), VCU(59), and Northeastern(75) and unfortunately for them, their rematch against Temple is the only game they play the rest of the season against a team ranked as one of the top 80 teams in the country. In fact, the Rams have 9 wins against teams ranked worse than 200th, which means they are just 6-7 against teams that are not absolutely horrible. Most of the teams in the A-10 are not that good and without a signature win, I have a hard time believing the Rams can make the NCAA Tournament at this point unless they win the A-10 Tournament and get the automatic bid.

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