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A rainy Friday night in November brought us a little local basketball on ESPN+. The Bryant Bulldogs were visiting the Ryan Center to take on the Rhode Island Rams. Bryant had the lead for most of the game, and the second half was URI's flood gate opening. The Rams closed it out at home, but the contest was chippy, aggressive, and it was fun to watch. There needs to be more consistent state college matchups in Rhode Island. The talent pool is rising and the national coverage is at an all-time high as well.
Bryant is obviously an up-and-coming squad, with hopes of capturing their first ticket to the Big Dance this spring through winning the NEC. URI is a staple amongst the A10 and most recently made it to the tourney in 2018. Brown is an Ivy so humble brag, and PC is PC. They are the top of the food chain in the small state and they produce talent (i.e. Bryce Cotton, Kris Dunn, David Duke Jr., Nate Watson). Wouldn't it be nice to watch these four teams battle it out for an Ocean State classic?
Back in 2015, the 10-1 Friars faced off against the Bulldogs, narrowly winning the game 74-67. Brown's Brandon Anderson knocked down a game winner against Bryant back in 2019 to win their opener. Brown almost took down PC back in 2017, in another close matchup resulting in a 77-72 game. URI kept it very close to Providence back in 2019 as well.
Moral of that long story is that no matter the conference, no matter the players and coaches, it could be an even matchup amongst Rhode Island residents. Our friends over at SSBT tweeted the idea earlier today, and the thought just makes so much sense.
You would have alumni from all over the country rooting for their respective alma maters.
Huge publicity for the state, and you can make it a huge weekend event.
Generate some business for all of the restaurants, bars, and breweries in the post-COVID, post-summer lull.
I only see positives. If Providence College thinks they are the crème-de-la-crème, then show it out on the court. This is an awesome opportunity for some cross-state rivalry to begin brewing, and the ability for players to get some media exposure and
At House Enterprise, we'd be happy to sponsor, but honestly Cardi's Furniture or Citizens Bank will probably snag it up. Either way, we need to make this happen for 2022!