'^
How could
one
characterize the \n^-ll URI basket-
'^
ball season?
imagine a wild, out-of-control roller coaster, cardiogram indicator that goes haywire, a bobbing yo-yo all rolled up into one, and that what the 1976-77 Ram quintet was like.
to
Try an
electric
and was
season had more peaks drops than the Rocky, Appalachian, and Sierra-
Indeed, the rocky Ram hoop and
Nevada Mountains combined.
Having
shaken
Conference
loose from the shackles of Yankee
play,
the
independent Rams gambled
and matched guns with the iron of collegiate basket ball in the long-awaited 76-77 campaign. The result
that they came away with a 13-13 record disappointing to many. Why disappointing?
was was
The
season
had started out
so
that
promising. URI got Haven, Conn, high
unexpected gift when New Sylvester "Sly" Williams switched gears schools and decided Kingston would be his collegiate basketball home instead of Providence. Then there was the highly-touted and multi-talented transfer from Tennessee, Irving Chatman, who was to be the center the Rams desperately needed. Nine lettermen, including four starters, were return ing from the 14-12 team of the year before. Who an
school star and
could ask for more? the exception of Chatman's ineligibility until February 11, the early season was no letdown. The Rams, amid upsets over then 17th-ranked Washing ton State at Keaney Gym, and ECAC playoff qualifier Hofstra University on the road, streaked out to a 7-0
With
record, the school's most successful start in 30 years.
skeptics, critics, and even their own fans were play in those first seven games. a 17-point lead in the last 13
Yet
wary of the Ram's Hadn't they blown
minutes of the
season
opener to Brown which
won
only six games all season? Weren't they losing to lowly New Hampshire at friendly Keaney Gym with eight minutes remaining? Weren't they trailing Robert Morris College (who?) of Pittsburgh, an ex-junior college which moved into Division One for the first time ever in 76-77, by 11 points at halftime? One
writer cleverly put the label of "consistent inconsistency" on the Rams' early-season play, and Coach Jack Kraft said URI's early season efforts were deceiving. even
"It
was a
the teams schedule
got
some
misleading 7-0," admitted Kraft. "Some of we hit early weren't as strong as our overall indicated. I think maybe our ballplayers false hopes.
with that first defeat entered
mostly-downhill
a
lost, 95-85, and
new
phase
of its
roller coaster ride.
'They thought they were better than they were and stopped working. They found out you have to keep working to improve yourself."
The consolation game with Texas was next and the psychologically-upset and unprepared Rams were humbled, 76-66, by the Longhorns.
To its credit, Rhody "worked" its hide off against number one ranked Michigan in the Industrial Na
Things didn't get much better for the Rams either. A 70-61 Civic Center victory over LaSalle College on January 3rd was the only side track in a skid, starting with the Michigan loss, where URI lost six of seven
tional Classic after Christmas at the Providence Civic
I
deficit, only to turn the tide in the second half and outscore the Wolverines 45-39. URI
Center. Admittedly caught "in awe," said Kraft, of the top-rated Wolverines, the Rams fell prey to a sneakyquick Michigan fast break and a 16-points halftime
games. After the LaSalle success, the midst of a 13-game slate away from
Rams, in the
Keaney Gym