Providence Journal story

[moville]

If this has been posted already, my apologies:

http://www.providencejournal.com/art...50309721/13933

But how's this for the lead: DAYTON, Ohio — The cauldron of noise and college basketball tradition that is UD Arena swallowed the University of Rhode Island whole on Tuesday night.

No road atmosphere in the Atlantic 10 can compare to the Flyers’ home floor, where perfection was maintained with a share of first place in the conference standings on the line.

	Rhode Island RHODE ISLAND The University of Rhode Island was chartered as the state's agricultural school in 1888. The school became the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1892. Located in southern Rhode Island, URI is a quintessential New England campus - rural in feeling yet close to the city of Providence, the state's capital. Linked to the city, the beaches, and nearly every corner of the state by both rail and public transit, the campus is easily accessible from Boston and New York URI currently offers 100 majors in seven degree-granting colleges. There are more than 12,000 students on the Kingston campus, about 3,000 in Providence, and a complement of about 700 faculty. Fellow members of the A10 Conference. Nickname is the Rams.

[ud69]

What a great opening 2 paragraphs of the story! Those words jump off the page and need to be repeated far and wide.

This writer is really good. Here is his twitter. Some pretty good lines from last night. Special props to the UD students and arena. Apparently, it was his first trip to UD Arena - and he was suitably impressed.

Here's one - "Pollard - too big for the smalls, too quick for the bigs."

Another - "This has a big time college basketball feel"

https://twitter.com/billkoch25

[College B-Ball Fan]

Mo, thanks for that......and how 'bout this from Hurley about the Arena and crowd!

“This was a hell of an environment today,” Hurley said. “That crowd was electric. They were a huge factor. It affected our communication early. It affected our communication on defense. It was hostile.”

Classic!

[Angry John]

I met Bill Koch Monday night at the Marriott. He is friends with my old UD roommate Dan Yorke, who is Rhode Island's PA announcer. I enjoyed talking to Bill because he has good knowledge on college basketball and has a passion for sports journalism. Just a flat out nice guy. Another guy I met was Rhody's AD, Thorr Bjorn. He joked with me that he would buy my drinks all night if I spilled the beans on UD's weaknesses. Very positive and charismatic. I enjoyed talking to him about the world of college athletics.

	Rhode Island RHODE ISLAND The University of Rhode Island was chartered as the state's agricultural school in 1888. The school became the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1892. Located in southern Rhode Island, URI is a quintessential New England campus - rural in feeling yet close to the city of Providence, the state's capital. Linked to the city, the beaches, and nearly every corner of the state by both rail and public transit, the campus is easily accessible from Boston and New York URI currently offers 100 majors in seven degree-granting colleges. There are more than 12,000 students on the Kingston campus, about 3,000 in Providence, and a complement of about 700 faculty. Fellow members of the A10 Conference. Nickname is the Rams.