FanNation - The Republic of Sport

   Around mid-January, this looked liked a banner basketball season in my home state. The possibility of the Biggest Little State in the Union sending three teams to March Madness looked pretty realistic.

   Providence was 12-5, 3-2 in the Big East with some solid nonconference wins, including a demolition job on UConn in Hartford. URI had ascended into the national rankings for the first time since the days of Jim Harrick and Lamar Odom (and the Ram program paid for those good times, eventually). And Brown, coached by Craig Robinson (possible First-Brother-in-Law if the junior senator from Illinois goes all the way), was a contender in an Ivy League thrown wide open by the decline and fall of Princeton and Penn.

   As February ends, we're looking at catastrophe. It makes me feel a bit relieved that my father was not around to see his two alma maters (Providence undergrad and Rhode Island MBA) implode like 20-year-old Vegas or AC casino properties.

   First, well...let's deal with the Rams first. Just three weeks ago, they were on cruise control at 20-4, perhaps number two among what looked like five NCAA teams from the A-10. Today, they sit at 20-9, each defeat more embarassing than the last. After blowing a 16-point lead at Temple, they came home for a three-game homestand and proceeded to lose a tough one to A-10 king Xavier, choke in the last two minutes at UMass and phone one in against St. Joseph's. Then last night, on the road, they were blown out by also-ran George Washington.

   Was the A-10 just a bunch of hype? Looks like the Rams were. They forgot how to play defense, sharpshooter Jimmy Baron has turned into just another slow white kid who can't create his own open shots, and Jim Baron is looking just as befuddled on the sidelines as his counterpart 30 miles up Route 1. Now guys are blowing classes and getting suspended - discipline's breaking down. Will Daniels still gets my A-10 Player of the Year vote (or my vote in a nonsupport case against his teammates), but the NIT bid is slipping away, fellas.

   The Friars, meanwhile, have won just once since smoking UConn (and the Huskies have lost once since). Sure, point guard Sharud Curry had to redshirt, but that's just not an acceptable excuse. Guys show up one game and e-mail in the next. Geoff McDermott has gone from superstar in the making to big bag of wasted potential (not all his fault, since he has no business being asked to bring up the ball half the time). Tim Welsh is dead man in an expensive suit walking The Dunk sidelines. This team will not make the Big East tournament (as if showing up in New York and being dispatched home with some lovely parting gifts after a first-round slapping would save his tuckus, anyway).

   Oh, and by the way, Rob McKiver, a one-and-off recruit in the Friars' '04 class, threw down a Division 1 season-high 52 points for Houston last night.

   There have been all kinds of excuses made about the Friars' lack of recent Big East success. Funny, the school's small size, middling facilities and lack of a natural recruiting base didn't stop Rick Pitino, Rick Barnes or Pete Gillen from winning. We don't expect a big winner every year, but the opportunity was here this year, with a veteran team and the conference in flux (probably the first time in my adult life Syracuse will have missed the NCAAs in back to back years).

    It's called underachieving, people. Get off your duffs and do something about it.

   Finally, Brown's NCAA hopes died last week in a loss at Cornell, which looks poised to run the Ivy table. But I wouldn't bet against the Bruins in a matchup with PC or URI right now - at 15-9 with four games left, three wins will give Brown a new season record for victories.

   PS: Some of you may be wondering why I haven't been around here so much lately. Much of it has to do with my plans tomorrow night. Along with some of my fellow Providence Newspaper Guild members and a few ringers (we need that little smidge of professional entertainment skill to go with our amateur energy and enthusiasm), I'll be participating in Rhode Island's annual rite of winter. I can't promise that this blogger's attempts at singing, dancing and comedy will wind up on YouTube (you'll have to wait for the DVD along with me), but I'll tell you about it over the weekend, hopefully.

   And if you're ever 'round Swansea, Mass., please check out our gracious hosts, the Venus de Milo. Whether it's the Follies or an 80th birthday party, the food is awesome - the cast will be ready to attack the buffet 'round 10:30 or so.