December 2008
104 posts
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Friars Start of Big East with a Bang
The Friars started off their Big East season with a 75-54 win over the St. John’s Red Storm. They had their typical slow start and found themselves down 11-0 early on. However, Sharaud Curry stepped up and scored a few consecutive baskets. The Friars grabbed the lead at 18-17 and did not look back.
St. John’s made a ton of mistakes in the first half, comitting 13 turnovers of...
WatchWatch PC-St. John’s through Friarblog’s webcam!
Warning: The quality is awful
There will be some random programming (Penn St. Northwestern on ESPN2 right now) leading up to the game.
Go Friars!
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A New Year's Resolution
Guest post by Brian Hodge Tearing away a month of the calendar, revealing fresh art, blank weeks, clean afternoons and evenings is a small, simple pleasure. The unveiling of a new calendar year is infinitely better – a whole new year, unveiled in a single turn of a page. With these blank dates come blank slates. Fresh wishes, dreams, and aspirations. Change breeds optimism (see: Barack Obama) and...
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And then the Friars were 0-0
4 out of conference losses? Don’t sweat it! The real season starts today for the Friars as they take on St. John’s at 4PM at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center for their Big East opener.
It’s a snowy morning in New York on this New Year’s Eve. My guess it’s also cold up in Rhode Island. Who cares? The Big East is heating up!
Let’s give you some info for...
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“We don’t really know what to expect. We came into the year with really high...”
– Sharaud Curry via Projo.com
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St. John's Scouting Report by the "East Coast...
Guest post by Pico Dulce of “The East Coast Bias” blog (which focuses on St. John’s Basketball)
Pico’s writing can also be found at the St. John’s supersite “Johnny...
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Katz: Big East looking top-heavy
Big East looking top-heavy heading into league play
The NCAA tournament selection committee will slice apart each member’s résumé, like they will for every other at-large candidate. Beating up on the bottom six — projected as Seton Hall, Providence, St. John’s, DePaul, Rutgers and South Florida — is a must as a first step, but if there aren’t quality wins among the...
Providence Friars Outlook Versus St. John's
OVERVIEW The Providence Friars head into Big East play against St. John’s with an 8-4 record. After expecting to make some noise with a new coach, a good returning point guard who missed last season, and an experienced team from top to bottom, the Friars were barely heard from in out of conference play. PC only lost one game they really shouldn’t have (the opener at home against...
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Katz: In Big East games "nothing will go as...
Andy Katz, on Georgetown’s 74-63 upset of Big East favorite and #2 ranked UConn
Big East on lookout after Hoyas’ statement victory
Get used to two months of unexpected results just like the season opener Monday night in Hartford, Conn., where Georgetown led from start to finish against No. 2 UConn. The reason is that nothing will go as planned when the projected top 12 teams in this...
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BLACK OUT The Dunk vs. Syracuse on January 28th!
posted by Friar Dom, the Friar Mascot
Hey Friar fans!
First I’d like to thank all of you for coming out to the Dunk and following PC during the first half of the season. Now comes an exciting time of year, and that is the Big East schedule. While every game is a big game and a step closer to March, I wanted to take a second to highlight one game for our fans to put in the extra effort to...
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Yahoo!'s Providence Team Report 12/29
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2008-ncaab-pas&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
The Friars enter the Big East schedule as the unofficial state champions of Rhode Island, with victories over Rhode Island, Brown and Bryant. Unfortunately for first-year coach Keno Davis, the Big East has better competition from neighboring states awaiting in the coming...
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Friars once again back to #12 in NBE Big East...
Poll for 12/29/08
1) Connecticut (7): 142 points. 2) Pittsburgh (2): 137 points. 3) Georgetown: 122 points. 4) Syracuse: 115 points. 5) Notre Dame: 98 points. 6) Villanova: 97 points. 7) Louisville: 90 points. 8: West Virginia: 89 points. 9) Marquette: 82 points. 10) Cincinnati: 58 points. 11) Seton Hall: 50 points. 12) PROVIDENCE : 43 points. 13) St. John’s: 42 points. 14) Rutgers: 28...
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Vincent Council will be visiting Rutgers for their...
Providence recruiting target Vincent Council will visit Rutgers for their New Year’s Eve opener against #3 Pittsburgh at the RAC.
According to ZagsBlog.com
Vincent Council, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound point guard from New York, will visit Rutgers this week and will attend the Pittsburgh game on Wednesday at the RAC.
“I’m going on the 30th,” Council, who plays for Chris Chaney at The Patterson...
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CuseCountry's Big East Conference review Part 1...
Big East Conference review, part 1
CuseCountry.com (a good blog about Syracuse sports) takes a in-depth look at how the bottom half of the league fared in their out of coference play.
Here is their analysis of the Providence Friars:
Verdict: Providence has made a habit in recent years of being a fashionable dark horse pick in the Big East, and then completely disappointing the pundits by...
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Apparently Has Never Heard...
Analysis: Big East Basketball ‘08-‘09
Ray Fittipaldo scouts the largest conference in the land as its 16 teams set off on the rugged road to March Madness
The only Providence blurb:
The bad
Providence lost to Northeastern and Saint Mary’s at home: That’s a sure-fire way to drag down the rest of the conference in the RPI.
First of all, Providence did not play Saint...
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Poor Rutgers
To nobody’s surprise, Rutgers lost to #1 ranked UNC tonight 97-75.
Who do they play their next two games? #3 ranked Pittsburgh and #2 UCONN. Yikes. According to NJ.com
It marks the first time in history that one team will face the top three teams in the country consecutively, let alone in one week.
Hey, at least the Pitt game is at the RAC. Last year Rutgers inexplicably beat #13...
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Late Christmas Present: Wolves Win a Game in...
Since Austin Croshere don’t get any run on his team, Ryan Gomes is the only former Friar in the NBA who gets any serious playing time. So, I am going to try to give a little Gomes update after each Timberwolves game.
The holiday week was pretty busy for Friarblog, so let’s catch up with the Minnesota Timberwolves. They played three games this past week, the most important being their day...
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Tim Welsh Joins SNY's Big East Studio
According to the Daily News, SNY has announced more changes to their hosts of various shows.
Included in these changes are new hosts of their Big East Basketball Studio.
Charles Smith, who played with the Knicks for three seasons during his nine-year NBA career, moves into SNY’s Big East basketball studio. He will be joined by Tim Welsh, the former Providence and Iona coach.
Welsh will...
Streaky Shooters + New Three-point line + No Dwain...
Last year the Providence Friars were 3rd in the Big East (and 64th in the nation) in three-point field goal percentage (37.6%).
This season through 12 games, the Friars are 2nd to last (28.6%), only behind DePaul who is just terrible all around. However, PC has seen the worst decrease in 3FG% in the Big East from last season (-9%).
Here is a chart from StatSheet.com taken on December 26th,...
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Providence isn't dead yet, buuuuuuut.....
With league play just around the corner, ESPN has an article looking at each conference so far.
Andy Katz takes on the Big East in his article.
“Big East: UConn and Pitt are teams to beat heading into ‘09”
Not surprisingly, Providence is barely mentioned in any of the honors. They were obviously not good enough to be considered a top (UConn) or “most surprising...
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Comment on Posts Using Your Facebook Account!
The commenting software used here just recently put out an update that will allow people to post comments using “Facebook Connect”…
Facebook Connect is new technology that allows websites and blogs to plug into the Facebook platform. This holiday season, Disqus will enable all websites with Disqus-powered comments to easily integrate with Facebook Connect.
Wait a tick… What...
Happy Holidays from Friarblog.com!
Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday! Friarblog will spending Christmas Eve and Christmas driving around various places throughout the tri-state area, so it’s going to be quiet around these parts until Friday most likely. Not much else going on around Friartown until New Year’s Eve when the Friars face St. John’s in their Big East opener.
Hopefully everyone gets what...
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PC pursuing unsigned Forward Victor Rudd
VICTOR RUDD A TOP SPRING PROSPECT [NBE Basketball Report]
Marquette, Rutgers and Providence among interested schools in unsigned 2009 forward
He’s a 6′8 G/F that can be a college two thru four,” says coach Simon. “For us he plays all five positions. Bob Gibbons had him the #2 shooting small forward but for us he has been an unbelievable defender/rebounder and high basketball IQ guy that can...
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Andy Katz Chatwrap (12/22/2008)
ESPN Chatwrap
Some Big East tidbits:
Joe (Cuse): How badly will the loss to Clev. St. hurt the Orange come selection Sunday and how much noise can the Cuse make in March? Andy Katz: Not at all if the Orange keep winning road games like Memphis.
——————————
Steiny (NYC): Which of the following is the best basketball conference? ACC,...
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Andy Katz on Northeastern
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3789510&name=katz_andy
In most normal years, beating Providence and Indiana would be quite a coup for a program like Northeastern, especially if both were true road games. PC still may get its act together in the Big East and make some noise but Indiana is looking at a last-place finish in the Big Ten. Still, for Bill Coen, knocking off these...
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“I remember when people were talking about us saying we weren’t a good...”
– Keno Davis via Projo.com
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McDermott at the Charity Stripe Since the URI Game...
Geoff McDermott had a 7-9 night from the line against Bryant on Monday night — clearly his best night of the season from freebie land. Did he get any confidence after he hit two clutch foul shots with 17 seconds left with his team down by 1 to beat URI? It seems like he’s been better at the line, but *anything* had to be better than his bricking during the first half of OOC play. ...
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The Friars are CHAMPIONS....of Rhode Island! [Game...
…and Champions of the Sun…and masters of karate, and friendship….for EVERYONE!
Uh AHH AHHHHHHHHHH!
Sorry, but Friarblog REALLY misses new episodes of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”
Anyway, the Friars finished up their out of conference schedule on Monday night and beat up on fellow Rhody school Bryant 91-64. After soundly defeating Brown, and narrowly...
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“Every time I see your team we look better. I think we’re going to be a...”
– Keno Davis via Projo.com
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Hey, at least they're still better than Oklahoma...
Since Austin Croshere don’t get any run on his team, Ryan Gomes is the only former Friar in the NBA who gets any serious playing time. So, I am going to try to give a little Gomes update after each Timberwolves game.
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ have lost again. Nothing to see here, move along.
TWELVE losses in a row.
In their latest game played on Saturday night, The Houston Rockets had...
Final: Friars 91, Bryant 64
The Providence Friars improved to 8-4 with a 91-64 victory over fellow Rhode Island school Bryant University (1-9).
Bryant, playing their first season in Division I basketball, hung with the Friars for the first 10 minutes or so, but just didn’t have the size or depth to compete with Providence.
In the second half, PC shot an incredible 16-20 (80% FG, 93% eFG%) from the field. They shot...
Half-assed Providence vs. Bryant Preview
Providence will face fellow Rhode Island school and new Division I team Bryant University tonight at the Dunk at 7PM.
Friars.com Gamenotes
Bryant enters the game with a 1-8 record. In their most recent game, the Bulldogs were defeated at Rutgers, 67-37, on December 20. The team is led by junior forward Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.). The 6-5 forward ranks fi rst on the Bulldogs with 15.0...
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Friars Stand Pat at #13 in NBE Power Poll
Poll for 12/22/08
The bottom teams are dropping like a rock, but the Friars are close to the Johnnies after they both lost over the weekend. Should be a good opening Big East matchup!
1) Connecticut (6): 111 points. 2) Pittsburgh (1): 106 points. 3) Georgetwon: 92 points. 4) Syracuse: 90 points. 5) Villanova: 77 points. 6) Louisville: 76 points. 7) Notre Dame: 74 points....
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Warning: Game may kontain traces of misst bunneh...
The dreaded missed bunnies problem reared its ugly cute head Saturday afternoon in Providence’s 81-76 loss to Boston College. Providence shot a putrid 36% from the field, with a lot of those missed shots coming on super close layups.
One of the last offensive plays of the game pretty much summed up the Friars night. After rallying back from a 14 point deficit with 4 minutes left, the...
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“Our guys were trying so hard that they maybe haven’t learned quite yet how to...”
– Keno Davis via Projo.com
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WatchPC-BC Video Highlights [necn.com]
Boston College defeated the Providence Friars 81-76 at the Conte Forum on Saturday, December 20th, 2008
Friars Can't Make Layups, Still Almost Pull Off...
The Providence Friars lost to Boston College today by a final score of 81-76. Strangely enough, the defense wasn’t that bad. The offense was the culprit today, as the Friars couldn’t buy a basket (when they were not committing turnovers left and right). Layups, jumpers, threes…open, contested…you name it. Couldn’t make anything. Especially close layups.
PC dug...
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WatchLIVE BLOG PC-BC! 4PM. Friarblog won’t be able to watch so he needs some readers in RI/MA who are watching on NESN to talk about what they see! Looks like I’ll be finally purchasing Friars.com All-Access so I can just listen to John and Joe.
RESOURCES
TV: NESN
RADIO: No free broadcasts!! Fuck!
Gametracker: Link
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Friday Night Line Has PC +5 for Game Tomorrow...
Thanks to StatsTweet!
Providence has been pretty bad against the spread this year, sporting a 2-5 record ATS.
They only covered versus Charlotte (PC was getting 3 pts and they won outright) and Brown (PC was favored by 16.5 and won by 26).
I think it’s going to be a real tight game tomorrow, so IF I condoned gambling, I would recommend taking PC and the points. Cuz you know, gambling is...
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Some Weekend Links
While we anxiously await Saturday at 4PM for the BC game (and for those of us in NY, start to shovel and break our backs), here are some links from around the Big East Blogosphere to help pass the time (and ease the back pain)
Big East News & Notes - NBE Basketball Report
Kevin McNamara Audio Preview of PC-BC - Projo Hoops Blog
Another Game, Another Homoerotic Photo - Troy Nunes Is An...
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Deadspin on the "Civ Scream"...A Shocking college...
PC mention on Deadspin.com!
Some female writers wrote about “Shocking college sporting traditions”
Waxing Off: Undie Run, Naked Pogo-Sticking, And Darth Vader’s Boobs
Jess Mac:
I love Providence College with all my heart, but it is a sorry excuse for a Division I school. We don’t have a football team or a baseball team. We don’t have any chants besides...
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PC-BC Gamenotes Showdown
The “Good Guys” Version
Today’s game marks the 103rd all-time meeting between the Friars and Boston College. PC defeated the Eagles, 98-89, in overtime last season as part of the Hartford Hall of Fame Showcase played at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. The Friars have won the last two contests between the two teams. In the all-time series, Providence holds a 57-45 lead. PC is...
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Get Your Providence Stats from Twitter with...
Don’t know what Twitter is? Get with the times! From their website:
Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?
So basically you can send short messages of up to 140 characters and follow people so you can receive their messages. It works through the...
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Timberwolves Keep on Truckin', Lose 11th Straight...
Since Austin Croshere don’t get any run on his team, Ryan Gomes is the only former Friar in the NBA who gets any serious playing time. So, I am going to try to give a little Gomes update after each Timberwolves game.
Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night 97-70. 70 fucking points? It just keeps getting worse and worse. Kevin McHale is...
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“I can’t say that on TV. I’ve never seen him talk like that, but it got us fired...”
– Jeff Xavier via NewportDailyNews.com
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"Boston College" as Defined by Urban...
Ah making fun of Boston College. I really do miss them in the Big East. At least we still have been playing them once a year.
Don’t know what Boston College is? Let Urban Dictionary help you out!
I’ve picked out the good ones :)
BOSTON COLLEGE
Definition #9
A university (not college) located outside just outside of Boston where only 95% of the stereotypes regarding the...
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2 PC-BC Tickets: $0.99 on eBay [Auction Fun]
Boston College Eagles vs Providence Friars Tickets
For anyone still looking to get tickets to Saturday’s game at the Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill…2 Tickets…there are no bids on this yet and the minimum is 99 cents (shipping is $10). 11 hours left in the auction (as of 11am EST).
Tickets are also available on StubHub for about 8 bucks.
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The Associated Press Loves Sounding Out Efejuku in...
I don’t know why I find this so amusing. I guess I’m just so used to Wey’s name that I don’t realize how difficult it must look to pronounce the first time you read it.
Every time Efejuku has a great game and his name is mentioned first, the Associated Press articles always sounds out the name for you. If he had a smaller role in the game, theres only a 50/50 chance that...