The conversation goes back four seasons ago, to the night of Nov. 22, 2006. The University of Rhode Island basketball team was getting ready to play Boston University in an early-season contest and one of the assistant coaches was relaxing near the team bench as he supervised the players warming up.
URI, coming off seasons in which it had gone 6-22 and 14-14, had six new players and playing time was very much up for grabs. The coach was asked about the newcomers and how much he thought they might be able to help. He spoke about three of the new guys in particular ? Keith Cothran (who was still awaiting NCAA clearance to begin playing), Lamonte Ulmer and Delroy James.
?They?re very athletic,? the coach said. ?They?re not refined players yet, but they have a lot of ability. If they work at it, they can become basketball players. They could really help us. They could have good careers.?
Now, fast forward four years.
Wednesday night, Ulmer and Cothran will be the guests of honor as they complete their home careers when the Rams hold their annual Senior Night festivities as they host Charlotte at 7 p.m. Ulmer and Cothran have, indeed, turned in excellent careers.
The numbers best explain how far they have come. They have been part of 83 victories in their four seasons in Keaney Blue. The school record is 85, held by Preston Murphy and Antonio Reynolds-Dean, who graduated in 1999.
?That?s special for them to be in this position,? said coach Jim Baron. ?In this day and age when you don?t have as much control over your schedule, when you have to do so many things, they?ve done very well. You want them to go out the best way they can.?
Normally, when players are on the verge of breaking a school record, it becomes a big issue. However, in keeping with the way the two best friends from New Haven have carried out their careers, their chase of the record has gone relatively unnoticed.
As flashy as they are while playing, Ulmer and Cothran are both quiet and almost shy off the court. Their career paths have mirrored what the team has done. They have gotten better every season.
They have expanded their games on the court and their lives off the court. Baron notes that both come from difficult backgrounds, but both are on course to graduate.
?They both have something to look forward to,? Baron said. ?You?d like it to be in basketball, but whether it?s in basketball or getting another job, they will have a degree to help them with their lives, great opportunities ahead of them.?
Cothran has scored 1,177 points, placing him 38th on the school?s all-time scoring list. He is in position to finish in the top 30. He has scored at least 15 points 33 times in his career ? and the Rams have won 29 of those games. He recently passed Tommy Garrick into second place in career steals, with 195. He needs 10 more to catch the leader, Tyson Wheeler.
Ulmer needs just 35 points to become the 49th player in school history to reach 1,000. He needs to play four more games to tie Reynolds-Dean for playing the most games in a Rhody uniform, at 131. He also needs three blocked shots to reach 100 and join Reynolds-Dean as the only players in school history to score at least 900 points, have 600 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 steals and 100 blocked shots.
Cothran and Ulmer are able to say what few others anywhere can boast: That is, that their coach changed his team?s style of play because of them. They are two of the prime reasons Baron went to an all-out running and pressing style three years ago and the team has won at least 20 games each of those seasons.
They will be the only two players honored in Senior Night ceremonies. The third member of their three-amigo group, James, still has another year of eligibility since he did not qualify to play that first season. He is on pace to graduate with Ulmer and Cothran, but he plans to return and take advantage of his final year of eligibility.
Ben Eaves, the Connecticut transfer, is on pace to graduate, too, but he also expects to return next season to make up for the season he had to sit out after transferring.
The Rams hope the special night will be better than previous ones. URI has lost on each of the last three Senior Nights.
Rhode Island (20-7 overall, 8-6 Atlantic 10) comes in having lost four of its last five. Charlotte (19-9, 9-5) also has lost four of its last five after an excellent start. Both teams are sliding off to the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble and need to win to maintain any real hope of being under consideration by the selection committee a week from Sunday.
URI, coming off seasons in which it had gone 6-22 and 14-14, had six new players and playing time was very much up for grabs. The coach was asked about the newcomers and how much he thought they might be able to help. He spoke about three of the new guys in particular ? Keith Cothran (who was still awaiting NCAA clearance to begin playing), Lamonte Ulmer and Delroy James.
?They?re very athletic,? the coach said. ?They?re not refined players yet, but they have a lot of ability. If they work at it, they can become basketball players. They could really help us. They could have good careers.?
Now, fast forward four years.
Wednesday night, Ulmer and Cothran will be the guests of honor as they complete their home careers when the Rams hold their annual Senior Night festivities as they host Charlotte at 7 p.m. Ulmer and Cothran have, indeed, turned in excellent careers.
The numbers best explain how far they have come. They have been part of 83 victories in their four seasons in Keaney Blue. The school record is 85, held by Preston Murphy and Antonio Reynolds-Dean, who graduated in 1999.
?That?s special for them to be in this position,? said coach Jim Baron. ?In this day and age when you don?t have as much control over your schedule, when you have to do so many things, they?ve done very well. You want them to go out the best way they can.?
Normally, when players are on the verge of breaking a school record, it becomes a big issue. However, in keeping with the way the two best friends from New Haven have carried out their careers, their chase of the record has gone relatively unnoticed.
As flashy as they are while playing, Ulmer and Cothran are both quiet and almost shy off the court. Their career paths have mirrored what the team has done. They have gotten better every season.
They have expanded their games on the court and their lives off the court. Baron notes that both come from difficult backgrounds, but both are on course to graduate.
?They both have something to look forward to,? Baron said. ?You?d like it to be in basketball, but whether it?s in basketball or getting another job, they will have a degree to help them with their lives, great opportunities ahead of them.?
Cothran has scored 1,177 points, placing him 38th on the school?s all-time scoring list. He is in position to finish in the top 30. He has scored at least 15 points 33 times in his career ? and the Rams have won 29 of those games. He recently passed Tommy Garrick into second place in career steals, with 195. He needs 10 more to catch the leader, Tyson Wheeler.
Ulmer needs just 35 points to become the 49th player in school history to reach 1,000. He needs to play four more games to tie Reynolds-Dean for playing the most games in a Rhody uniform, at 131. He also needs three blocked shots to reach 100 and join Reynolds-Dean as the only players in school history to score at least 900 points, have 600 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 steals and 100 blocked shots.
Cothran and Ulmer are able to say what few others anywhere can boast: That is, that their coach changed his team?s style of play because of them. They are two of the prime reasons Baron went to an all-out running and pressing style three years ago and the team has won at least 20 games each of those seasons.
They will be the only two players honored in Senior Night ceremonies. The third member of their three-amigo group, James, still has another year of eligibility since he did not qualify to play that first season. He is on pace to graduate with Ulmer and Cothran, but he plans to return and take advantage of his final year of eligibility.
Ben Eaves, the Connecticut transfer, is on pace to graduate, too, but he also expects to return next season to make up for the season he had to sit out after transferring.
The Rams hope the special night will be better than previous ones. URI has lost on each of the last three Senior Nights.
Rhode Island (20-7 overall, 8-6 Atlantic 10) comes in having lost four of its last five. Charlotte (19-9, 9-5) also has lost four of its last five after an excellent start. Both teams are sliding off to the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble and need to win to maintain any real hope of being under consideration by the selection committee a week from Sunday.
