Sure, Election Day is next week.
It’s also the start of college basketball season.
With everyone buzzing about the total makeover at Providence College, I asked Hall of Fame hoops expert Kevin McNamara to catch us up on what to expect this season.
McNamara also hosts the KevinMc Sports Hour every weeknight on WPRO. You can listen to all of his shows here, and you can read all of his coverage at KevinMcSports.com.
Q: Between recruiting, transfers, and a new coach, there are incredibly high expectations for Providence College this season. What’s the ceiling, and what’s the floor for this team?
McNamara: The excitement around Bryan Hodgson’s first team at Providence is exactly what the Friars hoped for when they hired him to replace Kim English. There’s nothing like the allure of the Next New Thing and the Friars have a highly-touted new coach and a roster that retained only one (Ryan Mela) player.
PC spent big in the transfer portal/recruiting game and its (reported) $15 million roster has some serious talent led by forward Miles Byrd, center Arrinten Page and guards Malik Mack and Devin Vanterpool. This is a deep squad.
The problem is this is now the cost of doing business in the Big East where UConn and St. John’s are setting the bar, both on the court and financially. Villanova, Creighton, Marquette, and Xavier are also all spending big money on talent, but the Friars have a roster that can finish in the top five of the conference and get back in the NCAA Tournament.
Q: This is becoming a perennial question, but is Archie Miller on the hot seat at URI?
McNamara: The new financial challenges in college basketball have slowed any chances for the Rams under Archie Miller to make major gains over the last three seasons. Dayton, VCU, and Saint Louis lead the A-10 in spending and in wins. It’s no secret why. Miller retained some key pieces in Jonah Hinto, Jahmere Tripp, and Jalen Harper, and paid up to bring in a proven point guard in Dylan Williamson (Towson transfer) and Lithuanian scoring big man Matas Deniusas (Tenn-Martin).
New AD Pat Lyons is in evaluation mode for the program and with Miller in the final year of his contract, some significant progress forward appears mandatory.
Q: Let’s play a game. Under or over 1.5 men’s and women’s teams from Rhode Island will qualify for the NCAA Tournament this season?
McNamara: I’m going under. Besides the Providence men, no other team appears poised to make a run at a conference title.
Q: Moving beyond Rhode Island, give us a men’s Final Four prediction.
McNamara: I like Illinois (PC transfer Stefan Vaaks will be a key), UConn, Florida, Texas.
This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, links to interesting stories, and more. If you’d like to receive it via email Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him @danmcgowan.