The Rams will also have to adjust this season to losing one great player to graduation as he set the tone for the style of player this program would play.  Chet Jaworski is gone to graduation and greener pastures but his contemporaries, Stan ‘Stutz’ Modzewleski and Ernie Calverly, are still ‘rolling’ up and down the court in Kingston.  These kids are legends in the smallest state in the union but have had a hard time of adjusting to the more physical style of play since joining the A-10.  These guys can still run the court and score but could not defend against the bigger, stronger new breed.  Stutz is a five foot eleven foot wing who used to be able to run by players but now is a matchup problem on the defensive end.   Don’t get me wrong Stutz can still score and runs like the wind but he is not going to guard Julius Erving anytime in the near future.  Calverly is only five nine but plays point and made it througg the season still starting.  He lost time to a pair of very solid and much quicker underclassmen and this year he had no ‘shot heard round the world’ in his bag of tricks.  His 62 footer two years ago tied the NIT game versus Bowling Green in which they ended up winning and made him a legend in Kingston.  Calverley is a gamer and a good passer and he does like to shoot but his percentage like most of his fellow upperclassmen needs to get better.  Keaney is not a big proponent of shot selection but he is a huge pusher of shooting.  As he says you cannot score if you do not shoot!   Fellow Senior Steve Chubin was able to fend off the young guy competition and stayed in the rotation for the first part of the year until he was ruled ineligible due to bad grades at the mid-term.  He is a complete player at least on the offensive end who played a lot of wing in Keaney’s three guard sets but passes like a point guard, helps on the boards and can really light it up.  ‘Chube’ is popular with the fans and does not mind where he is playing as long as he is playing (Have ‘gun’ will travel is his motto).  This New York City kid has a much better game than you would expect than when you see him and this endeared him to the locals.  He will be replacing Jaworski in the starting lineup and those are pretty big shoes to fill as he formed one of the great scoring trios in college basketball history with Stutz and Calverley.  The threesome, dubbed the Kingston Trio, was responsible for many a win for the Rams but more importantly really made the modern running game that Keaney had developed popular on the East Coast.  The Rams have never won any titles with this trio around and probably won’t this year but they did change the way the game is played.    

Coach Keaney has a fresh group of studs ready to go and he let them loose in his pattern of wave replacement.   Sophomores Carlton ‘Silk’ Owens, Horace ‘Pappy’ Owens (no, they are not related) and Tom Garrick increased their playing time as the year progressed. They were suited for the turbo offense of run and gun and have some fun. Garrick is a gamer who really loves to go to the hole and is tough as nails.  Owens is another in the long line on this team of incredible back court players.  He can score and pass and defend and score but is not great at anything.  He is good at everything, however.  He also had the touch of a painter.  This dynamic duo was made to play together as they complement each other so well though neither one is really a two guard they do not have to be in the Rams system as much.   This trio teamed up for most of the year on the JV and only got called up when it was obvious this program was not going to make the post season. They should have played more on varsity but that is the problem with a program like this and a Coach like Keaney who sometimes let his old school guys play too much. They were winning early so it is hard to argue though it was against pretty weak competition (the Rams played many teams from the American East as the New England state schools do have a history that carries over from the old Yankee conference).  Silk Owens’ can also shoot the three but has a hard time getting the shot off at only 6’0 (though he will try) and is better suited as a drive and dish guy.  Pappy goes 6’3 and might have the best future here of the three with a little more size at 6’3 then his namesake teammate.  The Rams played three guard sets often as Keaney loves to run so many of these combos played together with others at times in some weird arrangements. Sometimes there were three point guards on the floor at the same time.  This philosophy has worked in the past but as much as Keaney and the Rams helped shape the game towards that fast-paced style, they are now behind the curve of innovation.  At times there were matchup problems and the Rams always have the issue of not having anyone to guard athletic threes, not enough rebounding (you cannot break if you do not get the ball) and not having enough basketballs to shoot in the back court though in Keaney’s approach they definitely got enough shots (the Rams averaged the most shots taken on the Eastern Seaboard).  Senior wings Claude English, Dennis McGovern and Earl Shannon did get some time on the varsity with mixed results. English brings some defense to the fray and at 6’4 helps out inside.  McGovern goes 6’3 and can score and should get more minutes.  Shannon is another old school Ram who is too small at 5’11 and might not get on the court much this year.  Juniors Jiggy Williamson and Stephen Rowell are moving up from JV full time after playing back and forth last year.  Both can score but this team needs size and rebounding. 

A few veterans on the team that have been manning the front court will be challenged with some incoming recruits.  Art Stephenson, Bill von Weyhe and John Fultz are perfectly suited for the fast-paced style but are just not big enough.  These three, who were anchors in the paint in the past, saw a new group of much bigger players getting the majority of minutes.  Fultz barely played after the first few games, von Weyhe missed a bunch of games with an ankle injury and Stephenson, though he still was solid on the boards, had a hard time guarding big guys at only six five.  It would have been worse if the A-10 had a few more studs in the post.  Stephenson still played most of the year in an annoyingly decreasingly fashion (the young bigger guys slowly took over) until Keaney shut things down for the Seniors. He had a solid career in Kingston as he can really jump and is the best board guy on the team (especially for his size).  He like, most of his Senior teammates will have a hard time keeping their jobs as they are all undersized and not really athletic though Stephenson can jump and all of them can run (you have to if you are going to be a Ram). An entire group of players got chances to play and they proved they could play in the paint and in the constantly moving offense.  Junior Sly Williams (yes that is his name) and Sophomore Kenny Green are the two primary carryovers down low and they have specific roles and should start.  Green could be the most important Ram as he is the anchor in the middle defensively and is one of the best shot blockers in the country.  There is no way the ‘Firestorm’ offense can go wild if you do not have a great shot blocker back playing goalie.  When you rush the court on one end you leave yourself open to the onslaughts of the other team then you better have someone hanging back who can defend.  Green is that guy.  Even at only 6’8, Green averaged almost 4 blocks a game and many of his blocks led to fast break points for his guards.  He is also developing a decent offensive game beyond big dunks and putbacks.  He has three years left to dominate the paint for the Rams and to become a much better offensive force.   Fellow Sophomore Jim Wright will get a chance as he has some size at 6’8 and will help inside.  He was terrific on the JV last year and should get some major minutes unless some of these recruits are as good as advertised.  They need his size down low and he could potentially team with Green to be a formidable front line for the next three years. 

Now for the never-ending drama of the most talented front court player on the team!  Williams was a highly sought after High School player who went through the recruiting wars.  Williams had originally signed with rival Providence but switched to the Rams at the last minute and the fans have loved him ever since.  When he is on the court he is one of the finest offensive forwards in the A-10 if not the East Coast.  He can score inside and out and boards and runs well.  He handles the ball like a guard and has that showmanship and charisma of the street ball legend he is.  He also played too many games at the four which he did a solid job (he can post up) but he is a tougher matchup and a better overall player with his skill set at the three.  The unorthodox lefty’s ability to handle the ball from the angle and take his guy to the hoop with one of his great spin moves is pure magic to watch.  He is not only the street ball king (of New Haven) but he loves the life on the street.  Almost more than this game he is so good at. That is the problem.  Keeping him on the court.  Williams missed 4 games this season due to disciplinary action by Keaney or by the league.  He has got himself into trouble for a variance of reasons none of which are good. He also has a short fuse.  He got kicked out of two games for being out of control.  On the other hand he led the Rams potent offense with over 14 points game and is solid on the boards.  He has a solid mid-range and low post game and can produce in the clutch.  The pros are coming looking for his talent and this might be it for him in Kingston.  If he does decide to leave early for the pros this kid had one heck of a ride here.  He is too talented not to get a shot but like going back to Vietnam called to the other Sly in Rambo II, the streets always call to Williams. But it is on the court where he belongs.  That is where his demons rest (and all of his outside interests are put to bed) and he plays this game like it is supposed to be played.          

The Rhode Island Rams had one of the craziest years of any team in the country and it showed in their record.  Coach Frank Keaney is transitioning his patented ‘Firestorm’ fastbreak offense from his undersized Upperclassmen to his highly recruited Underclassmen (sometimes too highly recruited).  After all, when you try to outscore everyone in a three-guard set you are going to have a hard time defending the other team especially when your two post front court offensive players miss way too much time and are in reality just too dang small.  The Rams have talent.  And they have a great offense and a fun coach.  Now they just need to find more than one guy committed to playing defense.  And perhaps grab a board or two once in a while.