ATPTourFan wrote:Do it! That would be hilarious. Post it here.
In his 7th year at Rhode Island University in Kingstown, RI, it looks like the older brother of Bob Hurley and youngest son of Dan Hurley, Jr. is finally starting to gain some traction. Hard-pressed to match the kind of win totals of the Jim Barum era, it looks like the Rams are threatening to emerge as one of the elite programs in the state.
With a win over the marquee big brother steamroller in Providence this year, the Rams find themselves propelled to a potential tournament berth for the first time since 1968.
So, how did she do it?
The first thing Don did was to seek advice from the coach up in Providence. Ed Cooley, the long-time coach of the Friars was eager to help out the little brother program down by the beaches. And, while Ed declines to reveal what he shared with Don – and in fact denies he ever spoke to him - there can be no doubt that the URI program would not be where it is today without the input of Easy Ed. In fact, it might just be Ed’s presence in the state that has provided the biggest boost.
After 3 seasons of losing records, the team finally reached mediocrity in Herley’s 4th season…a short-lived highlight, before a major stumble when he couldn’t clear the hurdle of injury to DC Mathew, one of the clue guys on the squad. Many questioned whether O’Hurley had what it took to thrive in this basketball crazy sailing state. Now, finally, in his 8th season, Stan Hurley looks like he has the RIU poised for a possible NCAA bid, which would be their first since 1962….by far the longest drought.
Where to start…?
Coach Dick thought the first thing he needed to do was bring in someone from the New York City area that he was so familiar with…welcome Xavier McDaniel. But, the real first key was the aforementioned DC Matthieu, a power forward from the Minneapolis area. That was soon followed by Harvey Martin, a rough tough Cowboy of a power forward from Block Island. Then, when he was able to convince OK State forward Jason Garrett to turn down the Cowboys to be a Ram, along came Jaron Terrell, who spurned Miami (OH) and brought his talents down from Falmouth, MA.
None of these are guys you’ve heard of…so, how could Bob take such a collection of misfits and mediocrity and make them into a team that won games? Well, the jerry is still out on that one. There’s still plenty of season left, and it’s too early to talk about actually making the NCAA’s. But, still riding the high of that miraculous, lucky win over national power PC, Don Thule’s team has already had a dream season. Any Ram fan would have to be satisfied with where this team is now, even if they didn’t win another game until 2020. Anything else, like a run in the A-10 tournament, or - yes, I’m saying it – a potential NCAA first four game – would be just gravy on the cake.