2021-22 Providence College Hoops: The Boys Are (Mostly) Back in Town

Mloaf71

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Beating #15 Seton Hall qualifies as a Quad 1 win, even if they had a few COVID absences. Friars keep rolling.

Let’s beat DePaul on New Year’s Day!
Really only one guy out for SH, one starter and a guy or two who don’t really play.

Great win and this team continues to show they are tough as nails. Love the way Bynum looks the last 2 games.

Get a win in Chicago and crack the top 15!
 

NoLastCall125

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They played like a ranked team should today. It feels like for as long as I’ve been a Friar fan, they have always played up or (especially) down to the quality of their opponent. They blew the doors off of DePaul. At Marquette scares me next week, but hopefully they can keep the momentum going and keep rising in the polls.
 

CouchsideSteve

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Today was validating — 17pt road win, when we were actually mild underdogs. As the post above alludes to, even in the 2016-17 season when the Friars were last ranked, they dropped some baffling games, including a road loss to DePaul.

Friars are 3-0, Marquette 0-3 to start conference play. This is a game we should and need to have.

Damn, it’s fun to root for a good and well-coached team.
 

CouchsideSteve

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Welp, the kids got absolutely rolled against a desperate Marquette team Tue night in Milwaukee. The vibes were awful from the very start. Burn the tapes — no one expected 20-0 in Big East play, anyway.

Today’s noon tip-off hosting St. John’s is a different story. Gotta have it, even with Reeves out due to a broken finger on his non-shooting hand. Watson took himself out of the game against Marquette by going right at their double team; he just needs to play smarter and more efficiently. When you have arguably the strongest, most experienced post player in the conference, he can’t have 4 for 11 nights around the rim.
 

CouchsideSteve

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Wasn’t pretty, but an exceptional response in the second half without the team’s best shooter.

Justin Minaya played all 40 and was phenomenal on D, with some clutch shots too. Durham and Horchler barely sat and weren’t super efficient, but hung tough. And Watson redeemed himself with 21-10.

Until Reeves is back, it’s Minaya, Durham, Watson, and Horchler for as many minutes as they can handle. Bynum and Breed plug in at guard. Croswell subs when Watson needs a blow. 7 dudes, that’s it. Definitely a departure from how Cooley has managed rotations in the past, but the right call.
 

Mloaf71

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CouchsideSteve

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Did what they had to do, beating a disappointing Georgetown team at home after a week-plus COVID pause.

Friars should be 6-7pt favorites hosting Butler at noon on Sunday, in another game they really ought to have. Hold serve and Providence will be 6-1 through the first third of their conference schedule, leaving some buffer if they slip against the likes of Nova, Xavier or Seton Hall.

Noteworthy that AD Bob Driscoll announced he will retire at the end of the school year. He deserves as much credit as anyone for the improvement of the basketball program — not to mention a men’s hockey national championship and numerous other distinctions — over the last two decades. The new practice facility is truly a game-changer. Between Fr. Shanley and Driscoll, it’s hard to imagine an administrative duo more committed to winning, within the framework that PC operates. Cooley frequently mentioned that he planned to stay as long as those guys stayed put. It does worry me somewhat that the next AD, if it isn’t Nap, might have a different agenda. Some are more focused on fundraising, program image, and personal career advancement. With Driscoll, that was never a concern.
 

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I don’t know anything about Fr. Sicard but having your A.D. “retire” 18 months after your new boss arrives doesn’t speak well to Sicard’s choice being a Cooley guy. If ever Ed decides to take the next step it could very well be coming real soon especially if we make a deep run this spring.
 

CouchsideSteve

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I don’t know anything about Fr. Sicard but having your A.D. “retire” 18 months after your new boss arrives doesn’t speak well to Sicard’s choice being a Cooley guy. If ever Ed decides to take the next step it could very well be coming real soon especially if we make a deep run this spring.
Agree.

The optimist’s take would be that Driscoll (college class of ‘74) is nearing his 70th birthday, despite having the look and energy of a guy 10 years younger. From Belichick to Boeheim to Coach K and practically our entire government, we’ve normalized that people in high profile jobs just tend to want to keep going well into their 70s. But I think a more normal impulse is the one Driscoll is following: He’s had a hell of a run, presumably a decent nest egg, and can go out rooting for one of the best basketball teams in his tenure, having helped the school through the pandemic.

But to your point, there is a non-zero chance the next basketball coach is hired because he looks the part, sounds like an upstanding and God-fearing family man, and will work for half of what Cooley is making.
 

moretsyndrome

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Walking into the civic center (I’m old) right now. Agree that a win here is a good hedge against the upcoming schedule. Worried it’ll be a little dead inside. I’ll try to help, but again, I’m old.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Walking into the civic center (I’m old) right now. Agree that a win here is a good hedge against the upcoming schedule. Worried it’ll be a little dead inside. I’ll try to help, but again, I’m old.
You did well! Friars took care of business in a take-care-of-business type of game that many teams lose.

16-2 and 5-1 in conference. The more I think about how many veterans are on this team the more I’m thinking this is Copley’s farewell tour. I’d sure love to see it end with another improbable Friar Final Four.
 

Mloaf71

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You did well! Friars took care of business in a take-care-of-business type of game that many teams lose.

16-2 and 5-1 in conference. The more I think about how many veterans are on this team the more I’m thinking this is Copley’s farewell tour. I’d sure love to see it end with another improbable Friar Final Four.
I had thought this year could be Cooley's swan song then saw someone lay it out somewhere. He currently makes $3M+ (https://briefly.co.za/106888-list-top-20-highest-paid-college-basketball-coaches-2021.html) which puts him 18th in the country.

So you'd need a school willing to pay the same or more with additional prestige. Suffice to say there aren't that many out there in total. How many of those teams have job openings after this season (I don't think Maryland is one of those teams for instance)? I also think his tourney resume makes him a risk for an AD at one of those schools. For him to get the shine of a guy like Shaka when he left VCU he'd have to take this team to an Elite 8 or Final Four this year.

I don't know which of the brand names are struggling that might be looking for a guy like Cooley. Love to hear where you think would be in the running?
 

HomeRunBaker

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I had thought this year could be Cooley's swan song then saw someone lay it out somewhere. He currently makes $3M+ (https://briefly.co.za/106888-list-top-20-highest-paid-college-basketball-coaches-2021.html) which puts him 18th in the country.

So you'd need a school willing to pay the same or more with additional prestige. Suffice to say there aren't that many out there in total. How many of those teams have job openings after this season (I don't think Maryland is one of those teams for instance)? I also think his tourney resume makes him a risk for an AD at one of those schools. For him to get the shine of a guy like Shaka when he left VCU he'd have to take this team to an Elite 8 or Final Four this year.

I don't know which of the brand names are struggling that might be looking for a guy like Cooley. Love to hear where you think would be in the running?
* I think there are more schools out there than you are giving credit to who would be willing to make an investment in a quality person with Cooley’s reputation. His work in recruiting into the portal last year only adds to his resume. After all, who would have thought a decade ago (or even more recently) that a small little college in the Elmhurst area would have the nations 17th highest paid head coach in the nation?

* Cooley is unique in the coaching industry……like really really unique. Not only is he a RI guy with close ties to the area but he’s never even lived more than 90 min from RI since at least HS. Played at Stonehill, assistant at UMass-(one of the hyphenated towns) and under Skinner at BC, then HC at Fairfield prior to Providence. Despite having much international and other travel experiences I am going to read between the lines to feel that now isn’t the time in his life he’d be looking to move cross country to say an Oregon should that job open up.

* So narrowing down the possibilities I’d range him for a truly elite job like a Kentucky, Kansas or similar……..to something regional like a BC, UConn, etc who would be willing to ante up. I haven’t put enough work into seeing who the AD’s are, coaches on thin ice, etc but that’s my take……only leaving the area for super duper big time gig or something regionally as close to RI as possible. I would think there would be someone regionally that would want to land him if it became known he was available.

* Then of course there is D, Providence has a new President who hires an AD where they put egos aside to recognize the program is in great hands and they are able to monetize it to justify Cooley’s salary. Sadly, this doesn’t occur more.
 
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Mloaf71

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Fair take.

it would be a fit punch if he left for BC/UConn/etc. likely BC invests next to 0 in their basketball Program and booted his mentor Al Skinner to the curb. Will be an interesting next couple of offseasons.

Hopefully Sicard promotes Driscolls #2 (Steve Napolillo) or explores Gavitt’s kid and all is well. Hopefully this tweet is a hint of where the school is going:

View: https://twitter.com/BillKoch25/status/1485285042662383625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1485285042662383625%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F247sports.com%2Fcollege%2Fprovidence%2Fboard%2F102629%2FContents%2Fbig-east-games-178656700%2F%3Fpage%3D20
 
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Mloaf71

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Man, that’s a huge win. No Reeves, 0 points from Watson. Huge game from Durham and Bynum. This team is special. Could have 20 wins in early February…Unreal!
 

CouchsideSteve

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I love this team. There is just so much to feel good about.

Croswell and Bynum took huge development leaps over the summer, which usually doesn’t happen with fourth year platers. Durham is so clutch handling the ball and from the stripe. Minaya is just a badass: 40min in three of the last for games, playing fantastic D. Horchler rebounds like a maniac and hits enough 3s to keep the opponent honest.

Credit Cooley for the right 7 man rotation while Reeves is out. It’s all we need.

Big one Saturday at the Dunk vs. red hot Marquette.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Guard-heavy, veteran team, great coach……this is the recipe for deep NCAA runs. I love this team and my Final Four dreams are very alive!
 

bsan34

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The Athletic has been writing some great and entertaining stuff about our tourney resume lately.

(17-2)

Providence! Yep. Providence. We sort of can’t believe it either.

We’ve written a lot about Providence in the past, oh, decade or so. The Friars are a Bubble Watch fixture, one of our favorites, famous among regular readers of that column for doing some of the most reliably crazy stuff in their annual pursuit of the NCAA Tournament. They’re liable to lose a handful of terrible games early in the season, start 5-7 or something awful, and then go on a legendary run through the Big East to end up easily in the field. There are multiple seasons in the past five or six in which Providence had the weirdest, most linearly confounding at-large resume in the field.

So pardon us if it’s taken us a while to process this new reality, a reality in which Providence is apparently just … really good? True story.

After Wednesday night’s thrilling victory at Xavier — decided on this perfectly executed open-play push by Al Durham that got Jared Bynum a wide open game winner — Providence is 17-2, their best start since the 1970s, with wins at Wisconsin, at UConn, versus Texas Tech, versus Seton Hall and at Xavier. Durham had 22 points in Cincinnati; he’s having a nice post-grad year after transferring from Indiana, while Bynum has transformed his offensive game and stretch four Noah Horchler has come good in his second year under Ed Cooley. The Friars are excellent at generating (and making) free throws and don’t give many away, and thus have a bit of a points buffer built in against almost every opponent. But, mostly, they’re just a very solid basketball team all around.

Really, the only quirky thing about them is their underlying numbers. KenPom.com still ranks Providence 48th in the country. The NET’s number is only slightly higher. The best explanation for this is that when Providence has lost this season, it has really lost, in blowouts at Virginia (58-40) and Marquette (88-56). When it wins, even against teams the algorithms think it should beat, those margins tend to be close. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. We don’t margin-shame here, bro. But it does help explain that analytical gap.

Anyway: That’s as weird as these Friars get. Otherwise, it’s just consistent, sustained, high-level success, of a type that we’re still not quite used to see from the Friars. Yep. Providence. Go figure.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Fortunately we are in a position that we don’t need those wins. It’s much more important to be fresh for our two post-season tournaments……and specifically the final one. I’m good with this in yet another weird college basketball season.
 

HomeRunBaker

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12:30 start vs Marquette today. AJ Reeves is in uniform and out on the floor for warmups.
 

CouchsideSteve

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What a game, what a week!

Minaya planned the full 40 again, doing a little bit of everything to keep the Friars in it while the offense sputtered. Durham and Horchler made plays when it mattered. And, of course, Watson with the punctuation marks in the final possessions.

Really sloppy with the ball for most of today, but as has been the case all season, they sharpened focus in the final 5 minutes to seal the W. Exciting times in Friartown.
 

Mloaf71

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Unchartered territory! Can’t wait to take over the Capital One arena on Sunday.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Another gritty win against a ranked opponent. Could be Top 15 this week.
How do you know that your team is for real?

You come out flat for a noon game against a nationally ranked opponent, manage to hang around in the 1H while getting their legs, and closing out a win down the stretch. One of the most impressive wins on the year for these reasons.
 

NoLastCall125

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Providence moved up to #15 in the AP poll. There’s a chance they could be a top ten team when they face Nova. Three games in the next two weeks against St. John, Georgetown and DePaul. Teams ranked 6-14 will face at least one ranked opponent over the next two weeks with the exception of Houston and Duke so if PC can take care of business they should continue to ascend and hopefully be 21-2 by February 15th.
 

CouchsideSteve

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The #15 Friars were actually road underdogs tonight against St. John’s in a hostile Carnesecca Arena. The Johnnies play an extremely physical pressing style, and drew even at multiple points in the second half.

It felt like it could get away… but Jared Bynum made a huge, long distance 3 late and PC stamped out their rally. 19-2, oh my.

Georgetown is a trap game at noon on Sunday. Don’t fall for it.
 

Mloaf71

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I can’t remember PC ever having a closer from the line like Durham. He couldn’t find the basket from the field but the man steps to the line with ice in his veins.

This team's special. Look forward to being there Sunday.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I can’t remember PC ever having a closer from the line like Durham. He couldn’t find the basket from the field but the man steps to the line with ice in his veins.

This team's special. Look forward to being there Sunday.
The last guy I recall who could just get you a basket or to the line whenever you needed to was Eric Williams. Maybe Jamel Thomas too but his teams kinda sucked. Austin Croshere? Either way it’s been awhile for sure.


Durham 1-10 FG, 12-13 FT. 8 for 8 in the last minute.

19-2 for the first time since the 1973 Final Four team.
I haven’t listened to this in almost 50 years (LOL that’s just stupid to even say) but I recall enjoying this very much as a kid. I must have listened to this album every day for two weeks straight. Hope you guys enjoy…..

View: https://youtu.be/EWlwrMgpeSA
 

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That was a big road win last night as the Johnnies play tough. This team is fun to watch. I will give EC the coach of the year right now. Go Friars!
 

HomeRunBaker

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That was a big road win last night as the Johnnies play tough. This team is fun to watch. I will give EC the coach of the year right now. Go Friars!
He’s def in the conversation. ACC guys are surely saying same about Steve Forbes at Wake and the job Ben Johnson is doing at Minnesota is pretty incredible too in that “how are they doing so well” group.
 

Deathofthebambino

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The last guy I recall who could just get you a basket or to the line whenever you needed to was Eric Williams. Maybe Jamel Thomas too but his teams kinda sucked. Austin Croshere? Either way it’s been awhile for sure.
Hey, hey, hey, Jamel Thomas (interestingly, the older brother of Sebastian Telfair) was on that Elite 8 team with Croshere and Shamgod. I won't let you disparage him. Eric Williams was a friend of my roommate, and I remember him coming back after he got to the Show to pick him up in his new, weirdly green, Mercedes after Williams graduated.
 

NickEsasky

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Hey, hey, hey, Jamel Thomas (interestingly, the older brother of Sebastian Telfair) was on that Elite 8 team with Croshere and Shamgod. I won't let you disparage him. Eric Williams was a friend of my roommate, and I remember him coming back after he got to the Show to pick him up in his new, weirdly green, Mercedes after Williams graduated.
Sure, Jamel rode the coattails of Austin and Shamgod to the Elite 8 but when they left and he had to carry the team himself he was nothing but a volume scorer who did little else and his teams did suck. I should know, they were my years and I went to about 90% of games.
 

Deathofthebambino

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Sure, Jamel rode the coattails of Austin and Shamgod to the Elite 8 but when they left and he had to carry the team himself he was nothing but a volume scorer who did little else and his teams did suck. I should know, they were my years and I went to about 90% of games.
Oh, I know, I was there from 94-98 with @RG33 so I know Jamel wasn't the engine that made that Elite 8 team go, by any means. I just wanted to crap on HRB for indirectly crapping on one of my favorite teams ever. All in good fun.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Hey, hey, hey, Jamel Thomas (interestingly, the older brother of Sebastian Telfair) was on that Elite 8 team with Croshere and Shamgod. I won't let you disparage him. Eric Williams was a friend of my roommate, and I remember him coming back after he got to the Show to pick him up in his new, weirdly green, Mercedes after Williams graduated.
Ha! Lol. A friend of mine I played ball with was an assistant at the time and told me the summer before Williams freshman year that he was going to be an lottery pick he was that good. Without looking I think he was pretty close somewhere in the mid-1st round. Teams tried zones it didn’t matter…..whichever side the double came from, Williams spin move would beat them the other way. He could post from either block. One of the better offensive players we’ve ever had.
 

Humphrey

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The last guy I recall who could just get you a basket or to the line whenever you needed to was Eric Williams. Maybe Jamel Thomas too but his teams kinda sucked. Austin Croshere? Either way it’s been awhile for sure.




I haven’t listened to this in almost 50 years (LOL that’s just stupid to even say) but I recall enjoying this very much as a kid. I must have listened to this album every day for two weeks straight. Hope you guys enjoy…..

View: https://youtu.be/EWlwrMgpeSA
Too bad Marvin hurt his knee in the semis- I think a rematch with UCLA would have been one hell of a game. Of course if Walton played as well as he did against Memphis (20 out of 21 or something crazy like that, and dunking was illegal then) no one was going to beat them.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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Leaving in a bit to the studio :)
Our younger son passed along that Minaya was named Big East Player of the Week earlier this week.

Sounds like a bunch of the local kids who are in school near Philly are hoping to head over to Villanova when PC visits at the end of the month.
 

CouchsideSteve

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The wife and I flew down to DC this afternoon impromptu. Dinner with a friend tonight, noon tip off against Georgetown tomorrow.

Classic trap game. Georgetown doesn’t draw fans, so maybe the Friars will hear me cheering. Potential to push the record to 20-2.
 

Mloaf71

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Just keep on winning! Got to sit in row 3 behind the Friar bench. Seeing Cooley in action is amazing.

AJ benched in the 2nd half bc Cooley was sick of him getting beat off the dribble. Cooley’s locked into this team. Amazing fun season.
 

Deathofthebambino

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Just keep on winning! Got to sit in row 3 behind the Friar bench. Seeing Cooley in action is amazing.

AJ benched in the 2nd half bc Cooley was sick of him getting beat off the dribble. Cooley’s locked into this team. Amazing fun season.
And Minaya didn't even have to play 40 minutes in this one (36 was all they needed from him).

Nice time to give Reeves a lesson, with Bynum going 11/15 (7/8 from deep) for 32 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 steals.

This team just finds guys to step up every game. It's awesome.
 

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Up to #11 in the polls. Light week, only game is Saturday at home vs DePaul. Then comes home vs Nova (Tue), at Butler (Sun) and at home vs X (Wed). Then Creighton at home and at Nova to finish the season.

Figure if they go 3-2 and 2 of the wins are over Nova/X...they may be in contention for a 2 seed, heading into the BET! Not to mention maybe winning their first ever