URI’s Kahiem Seawright helped his team win a gold medal in the Empire State Games this summer.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — When a college basketball team announces its schedule for a new season, the focus usually is on the home games. Yesterday was an exception at the University of Rhode Island.

The Rams released their men’s hoop slate for this winter, and the buzz clearly is about the places the team will visit.

URI will play in perhaps the No. 1 campus arena in the country, Duke’s Cameron Indoor. It will compete in the most hallowed arena in the East, The Palestra in Philadelphia. And it will take part in the oldest college in-season tournament in the nation, as well, the All-College Classic in Oklahoma City.

Coach Jim Baron reacted the way Rhody fans are likely to. He spoke about the challenge his team will face on the road, especially going to Duke.

“It’s a great place,” Baron said. “It’s going to be a great opportunity for our team to play there.”

URI will visit Cameron Indoor on Nov. 16. The game will be televised on one of the ESPN family of channels. It will be the second regular-season game. URI opens on Nov. 14 against Brown. The Duke game is a “buy” game, meaning URI will be paid to make the one-time trip without a return from the Blue Devils. A clause in Baron’s contract allows him to be paid the proceeds from one game, and that likely will be the one for this season.

When the Rams return from Duke, they will play in the Philly Classic. That is an eight-team event hosted by Villanova. URI will play at Monmouth as part of the tournament, host Hartford at the Ryan Center and then play two games at The Palestra, where possible opponents include Penn State and Villanova.

On Dec. 20, the Rams will go to Oklahoma City to take part in the four-team O’Reilly’s All-College Classic. That event will be in its 73rd year. URI played in it in 1965.

The current format is just one game. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State both play each year in the event at a neutral site, the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. URI will meet Oklahoma State and its new coach, former UMass pilot Travis Ford. Oklahoma State will repay the trip by playing URI at the Mohegan Sun Arena in 2009.

One more nonconference game is to be added. Rhody officials hope it will be Virginia Commonwealth, as the first part of a home-and-home series.

While URI was announcing the nonconference schedule, Atlantic-10 officials were releasing the conference slate for all teams.

For that part of the season, the highlight clearly will be the slate at the Ryan Center. The Rams will visit Saint Joseph’s for the league opener on Jan. 10, another contest that will be played at The Palestra. The Hawks will not have the use of their home gym, Alumni Hall, because of renovations.

Rhody’s first home contest will be against league power Xavier on Jan. 15. That game, as well as Fordham three days later, will be played during the semester break, when students will not be on campus.

Overall, though, it will be hard for URI to complain about the league schedule. The team never plays more than two games in a row at home or on the road. It does not have to visit any of the three league members farthest from Kingston. Dayton, Xavier and Saint Louis all will visit the Ryan Center.

Temple, Massachusetts and Fordham are the partners for this year, the three schools URI will play both home and away. The two games against UMass will be played late in the season, Feb. 18 at Amherst and March 7, the regular-season finale, at the Ryan Center.

A coaching void

The Rams also have yet to officially fill the vacant assistant coaching job that opened when Pat Skerry left to join Keno Davis’ staff at Providence College.

It is expected that Momir Gajic, a Serbian who coached last year at powerful Patterson (N.C.) Prep, will get that job. Gajic is in Rhode Island, but Baron said he could not comment on the issue. Apparently, paperwork must be completed and approved before the hiring can be announced.

Summer success

It was a busy and successful summer for Rhody players.

Among others, Kahiem Seawright helped his team win a gold medal in the Empire State Games, Delroy James took part in the Rucker League in Harlem, Jimmy Baron went to a couple camps, including one in Los Angeles where he spent time competing at UCLA, Keith Cothran had a strong season playing in the Hartford Summer League, Jason Francis did rehab work on his injured knee and is healthy again, Ben Eaves returned to his native England and did his work there, and Will Martell spent time at the famed Pete Newell Big Man Camp.

The three new recruits — Jamal Wilson, Orion Outerbridge and Steve Mejia — all took summer classes to get a headstart on their schoolwork.

Two of last year’s graduates, Parfait Bitee and Will Daniels, are set to play in Europe. Bitee has signed a contract to play in Belgium while Daniels is sifting through offers, including ones to play in Turkey and Israel.

A number of former players also returned to help with the summer camp, Baron said, including 2007 grad Darrell Harris.

“He was the MVP in his league in Portugal and he’s going to Spain to play this year,” Baron said.

URI 2008-09 MEN'S HOOP SCHEDULE

Nov. 3 -- Concordia (exhibition)

Nov. 7 -- Rhode Island College (exhibition)

Nov. 14 -- Brown

Nov. 16 -- at Duke

Nov. 20 -- at Monmouth (Philly Classic)

Nov. 25 -- Hartford (Philly Classic)

Nov. 28-29 -- Philly Classic (two games at The Palestra)

Dec. 3 -- at Northeastern

Dec. 6 -- at Providence

Dec. 9 -- New Hampshire

Dec 13 -- Central Connecticut

Dec. 20 -- vs. Oklahoma State (O'Reilly's All-College Classic)

Dec. 30 -- at Fairleigh Dickinson

Jan. 3 -- Akron

Jan. 6 -- at Toledo

Jan. 10 -- at Saint Joseph's

Jan. 15 -- Xavier

Jan. 18 -- Fordham

Jan. 21 -- at Richmond

Jan. 24 -- at George Washington

Jan. 28 -- Temple

Jan. 31 -- La Salle

Feb. 5 -- at Charlotte

Feb. 8 -- at Temple

Feb. 11 -- St. Bonaventure

Feb. 14 -- Saint Louis

Feb. 18 -- at Massachusetts

Feb. 21 -- at Fordham

Feb. 25 -- Dayton

Feb. 28 -- at Duquesne

March 7 -- Massachusetts

March 11-14 -- A-10 Tourney, in Atlantic City

pkenyon@projo.com