URI basketball coach Archie Miller speaks ahead of Wednesday’s game
The Rams will host the Dayton Flyers on Wednesday night as the Atlantic 10 regular season is winding down.
- University of Rhode Island Men’s basketball coach Archie Miller believes the NCAA tournament field should be expanded to give basketball-centric conferences more at-large bids.
- The Atlantic 10 conference is on pace to receive only one bid for the NCAA tournament, despite multiple teams having strong records.
- The A-10 has seen a decline in the number of NCAA tournament bids it receives, going from an average of 3.3 bids per year from 2006-2018 to 1.8 bids per year from 2019-2024.
SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Men’s college basketball coaches aren’t just looking to win on the floor this time of year.
Selection Sunday on the horizon means some politicking for NCAA Tournament berths. Archie Miller did his share during his Monday media availability at the Ryan Center, and he’s not alone.
The University of Rhode Island coach stumped for the Atlantic 10 and an expanded field in general. Miller would like to see the current March Madness number of 68 teams grow by an undetermined amount in the coming years.
“The best thing that could happen is the field needs to expand in the NCAA Tournament,” Miller said ahead of a Wednesday night visit from Dayton. “That has to happen for our sport to continue to be at its best, especially as the conferences continue to super-load in these football leagues.
“Basketball-centric leagues like the Atlantic 10, the (West Coast Conference), the Mountain West, those leagues that aren’t in the Power 5 — how do you continue to get multiple-bid leagues? You have to expand a little bit.
“It’s the right thing to do for college basketball, especially in the landscape we’re in now with (name, image and likeness) and the tournament being so big for platforms of guys who get out there and play.”
VCU received the conference’s lone bid in 2023 after sweeping regular-season and tournament titles. The Rams are on pace to do so again, according to Bracket Matrix, which issued its most recent update on Monday. VCU was named in 97 of the 105 brackets put forward, a healthier position than the 22 of 105 that included George Mason.
“Right now VCU is 12-2 and it’s like they’re eighth out,” Miller said. “What? That’s crazy. That’s absolutely insane to think VCU navigating our league or Mason navigating our league with two conference losses heading into the back two weeks aren’t in the field.
“So much is put on nonconference, and I think that plays a pivotal stance in terms of where our league comes in March. I’m hopeful it works out for the best for the teams in our league who are on the line or headed for the line.”
VCU (22-5, 12-2) is currently 31st in both the NET and KenPom rankings. George Mason (21-6, 12-2) is 66th in the NET and 72nd in KenPom. Neither currently holds a Quadrant 1 win — a victory over a top-30 NET team at home, a top-50 NET team on a neutral floor or a top-75 NET team on the road.
That’s the biggest sore spot for the league currently, and it’s not limited to the Rams or Patriots. The Atlantic 10 entered Tuesday just 3-30 against Quadrant 1 foes, with the Flyers (2-3) and Saint Joseph’s (1-2) accounting for the only success. Both Dayton and the Hawks have stumbled too frequently elsewhere to currently merit at-large consideration for the field.
“It’s not what we can do,” Miller said. “It’s what we’re not allowed to do. I think what I mean by that is the college landscape — with the growing power conferences, the growing league schedules — diminishes the opportunities for games for our league to play against them in home and away settings, and maybe, in some cases, neutral settings.
“Exempt events are shifting to smaller tournaments. They’re shifting to Power 5 fields in these tournaments. They’re starting to phase you out at such a level — I’m not sure how to create those games that are Quad 1 opportunities, which is what our league has always banked on.”
URI (17-9, 6-8) has reached the field only twice since 1999, and one of those bids came thanks to a second conference tournament title in 2017. The Rams slipped off the bubble in multiple seasons under Jim Baron but haven’t come close to replicating the four at-large selections the program received from 1988-98. Access to the field from the conference currently isn’t the same, and that might not change in the near future. The current postseason media rights deal between the NCAA, CBS and TNT Sports runs through 2032.
The league earned multiple bids in every season from 2005 to 2023, with George Washington and VCU bracketing a period of sustained success. But that number has been shrinking in recent seasons — an average of just 1.8 bids from 2019-24 after a period that saw an average of 3.3 bids from 2006-18. Xavier and Temple leaving the conference, Phil Martelli being pushed aside by a new administration at Saint Joseph’s, Bob McKillop retiring at Davidson, coaches like Miller (Indiana), Dan Hurley (Connecticut) and Shaka Smart (Texas, then Marquette) leaving for bigger jobs — it’s all had a cumulative effect alongside greater media rights and NIL riches available for players elsewhere.
“At the end of the day, let’s see where the chips fall,” Miller said. “I know this much: I wouldn’t want to see Dayton in the NCAA Tournament with their schedule and some of their wins.
“Maybe they had a rough patch, but that’s the thing about the A-10. You’re not allowed to have a rough patch. You’re just not allowed to have a rough patch anymore in the Atlantic 10.”
On X: @BillKoch25
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