The following article is an opinionated preview of the upcoming men’s basketball season.

Archie Miller was a darling at the University of Dayton, taking the Flyers to four NCAA Tournaments in six years before leaving to coach Indiana University Bloomington in the Big Ten Conference.

After four seasons with the Hoosiers, he found himself fired. Miller walked away with a $10.35 million buyout and, after spending a season away from coaching, returned to the Atlantic 10 Conference with the University of Rhode Island in 2022.

Miller’s reputation in the A-10 brought promise and anticipation to his hire; however, Miller’s time at URI has brought failure and calls for him to be fired.

But is this truly a make-or-break season for a head coach entering just his fourth season? After all, Miller has only seen improvement in each season following an abysmal 9-22 debut with the Rams.

Still, Rhode Island men’s basketball has a long way to go before returning to its first NCAA Tournament since 2018 under Dan Hurley. Although Hurley and Miller share similarities in their behavior on the baseline, their team’s results have not.

There is an abnormal number of unknowns entering the season opener against Stetson University on Monday at the Ryan Center. The Rams roster includes just one returning scholarship athlete who played last season, with the rest transferring or graduating.

Fifth-year forward Drissa Traore returns after serving as a team captain in his first season with URI, starting in two games. Seeing that much roster turnover makes it difficult to gauge what this team will be.

How long will it take this new roster to click on the court? Off the court, can they establish a culture to build on in the future? Perhaps the biggest question is, can this team win on the road?

A 5-27 road record under Miller has become a glaring issue year after year. Last season’s 1-10 record on the road helped turn a 9-0 start into another season short of expectations.

URI’s roster remake features two in-conference transfers: third-year swingman Jahmere Tripp from Fordham University and fourth-year guard Jonah Hinton from St. Bonaventure University.

Tripp averaged six points per game across two seasons with Fordham. He started in last season’s A-10 Tournament opener to help eliminate his new team, securing four rebounds in 13 minutes during an 88-71 win over URI.

Hinton had his only season at the Division I level with the Bonnies last season after redshirting at Division II’s Northwest Missouri State University as a freshman and playing at the junior college level with Panola College for his sophomore season. In his single season, Hinton started in 24 games for the Bonnies, averaging 8.4 points per game.

Outside of the conference, Miller’s recruitment focused on experience, with three transfers combining for over 350 games played at the collegiate level. All three have averaged double-digit scoring in their careers.

Each enters Rhode Island as a graduate student led by seventh-year guard Tyler Cochran alongside two sixth-year guards, Myles Corey and RJ Johnson.

Cochran was a defensive presence in the Mid-American Conference, winning the MAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2024 with the University of Toledo. Cochran is entering his seventh year of college basketball after missing last season due to a foot surgery while at the University of Minnesota.

Corey managed to score over 2,000 career points across four years with William Jessup University at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics level and a season with the University of South Alabama. Corey averaged 13.8 points last year with South Alabama, starting in all but one game that he played.

Johnson rounds out the three veteran transfers with five years spent between the College of the Holy Cross and Charleston Southern University. Across Johnson’s last two seasons with Charleston Southern, he averaged 14.3 points per game.

The Rams were picked to finish 12th in the A-10 preseason poll after finishing 10th last season. Recent struggles are also reflected in URI’s national broadcast schedule. After having seven nationally televised regular season games last season, Rhody has just five scheduled this year, with only one at home.

Former URI Head Coach David Cox was let go after four seasons despite two winning seasons and three conference tournament wins. Last season saw Miller’s lone winning season with the Rams; he is still in search of his first during conference play and a tournament win after three disappointing first-round exits.

So, is it a make-or-break season? I sure hope so.

The post MBB Season Preview 2025-26: Make-or-break time first appeared on The Good 5¢ Cigar.