February 2010
48 posts
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Curry Was Pissed No One Else Got Back on D
Here is the explanation for play that led to the technical foul on Sharaud Curry at the end of the game, leading to the 5 point play that sealed the victory for South Florida
Asked after the game to explain the play, Curry didn’t flinch. He said he was upset that he was the only Friar who hustled back on defense and caught Jones. His frustration clearly got the best of him at the most...
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Q+A with Ken from the USF Blog "Voodoo 5"
Ken DeCelles runs the South Florida sports blog “Voodoo 5”. We did a question exchange for the Saturday rematch between the Friars and Bulls.
You can follow him on Twitter @astrobull
Head on over to his site to see my answers to his questions
Friarblog.com: First of all, I don’t think we ever got any formal thanks for starting your little run that to many big wins and loads...
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Famous Not Starting, Dominique Jones Sick
According to the USF Sports Bulletin, junior forward Jarrid Famous will not start against the Friars after being snowed out in New York.
Famous snowed in, won’t start vs. Friars
Fatherhood and mother nature have conspired to keep Jarrid Famous away from Tampa, as the junior center was stuck in New York with weather canceling his scheduled flight back to campus after spending time with...
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Links 2.25.10
FriarBasketball.net: Year 2 Blues
So we know this year has been a big pile of suck so far. Do you remember that it was even WORSE in year 2 of Timmy Welsh? I didn’t remember either, because I was a sophomore in Aquinas Hall studying the effects of Busch Lite amongst an entire floor of lunatics (2 SOUTH 4EVA!). Well, things got better right after that horrendous 11-19 season.
A year...
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Friars Should Have Pulled a Costanza at Halftime
With a 99-85 loss to #4 Syracuse last night, the Providence Friars drop their 7th game in a row, and their 4th in a row to a team ranked in the TOP EIGHT. It’s been a brutal stretch, with some brutal stretches of bad play leading to these losses. This time, it was a poor 2nd half against Syracuse after quite the offensive performance in the first. Even though PC lost and looked quite over...
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Kyle Wright, A Friar No More
Kevin McNamara of the ProJo just reported on his blog that JUCO guard Kyle Wright has left the team.
Kyle Wright leaves PC team
A release from the PC sports info department quotes coach Keno Davis as saying “Kyle is an outstanding young man with a bright future ahead of him. I appreciate Kyle’s efforts this year and understand and support his decision. We wish him nothing but the...
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Dime Magazine Interview with Greedy
Here is a nice insight into the mind of Greedy from the folks over at Dime Magazine.
Providence Human Highlight Reel Jamine Peterson
Dime: Talk about the Syracuse dunk. JP: Well, they came at me, and I was trying to pass it to a teammate but he was already guarded. I saw A.O. (‘Cuse center Arinze Onuaku) coming towards me and I saw I had a nice angle off the glass … It was like, “Why not try...
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What To / Where To: Game #15 vs. Syracuse
Fear not Friar fans, the end of the GAUNTLET is almost here! Sure, we’ve gotten a big fat ZERO points along the way, and nothing but bruises all over our bodies, but hey it looks like we will make it out alive. That’s not enough though. To make it through the rest of this season in Friartown, we need to be like Jack Bauer. We need to persevere and not give up. What did Jack do this...
This Is Awesome, Too Bad We Don't Have Any Content...
So I just came across the NCAA Vault, which has FULL GAME VIDEO, highlights, and history of all the Sweet 16 games and on from 2000-present. At first I went to the team dropdown list and was confused as to why Providence was not listed. Oh, 2000-2010. I see what you did there. It’s a shame they didn’t include the 90’s, since I would have loved to relive the Providence Elite...
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It's Never Too Early to Talk BET Bracketology
With only 4 more conference games to go and no other post-season tournament in sight, it’s only natural for us Friar fans to start looking ahead to the BIG EAST Tournament more and more each day. For all that has gone wrong this year, a solid performance to go along with a win in the first round would go a long way in my eyes.
As it stands right now, Providence would be the 14th seed in...
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KMac: Council is Questionable for Tuesday
After more than a full day of wondering what the heck happened to Vincent Council (come on old media!), we finally have an official story on the matter.
PC’s Vincent Council questionable for `Cuse game
Friar coach Keno Davis just said that Council fell driving to the hoop late in a practice on Saturday
There have been rumors on some PC fan message boards that Council hurt his hand in an...
Syracuse Game is Black out the Dunk and....Lady...
Before Sean from “Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician” gets wind of this, I am going to do a preemptive strike. So I’ve heard that the Syracuse game on Tuesday night at the DUNK is going to be another BLACK OUT game. That’s cool. While I think a WHITE OUT might have a better visual effect, anytime there is an effort to get the fans to do something like this, I’m all...
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Council Getting X-Ray on Hand?
No details have emerged on how this occurred, but according to his Facebook status, Vincent Council hurt his hand somehow and is getting an x-ray today.
Not good at all. Even if X-Rays are negative, you think he would most likely miss the Syracuse game on Tuesday and who knows what else. More details to come hopefully.
UPDATE: He is in a soft case right now. It may be broken or a just...
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“The good news is we’ve already played Syracuse so we know what to expect. The...”
– Keno Davis via MyCentralJersey.com
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Greedy Gets SportsCenter Top Play Again, This Time...
Check out Greedy on SportsCenter again after his nice put back slam off the missed three pointer.
Why Did the Friars Lose? Let This Simple Picture...
Devin Ebanks caused problems for the Friars on all ends of the court, especially on defense against Sharaud Curry. Dude is a full foot taller!
(Photo Providence Journal)
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What To / Where To: BIG EAST Game #14 vs. West...
Another ranked team comes to town. What else is new? Hey, if RUTGERS can beat Georgetown (really Georgetown, REALLY?) that means anything is possible in Friartown. PC has not played West Virginia well over the past few years (I remember getting absolutely rained on by threes in the BIG EAST Tournament a few years ago), but this one is at home. Speaking of Rutgers again, the Scarlet Knights...
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Rush the Court: Greedy Peterson Most Underrated...
Ten Tuesday Scribbles…
2. Big East: Jamine Peterson, Providence- This high-flying Friar might be the most athletic player in the Big East outside of Stanley Robinson. I witnessed his athleticism first-hand during the late stages of a win at Northeastern early this season when, inbounding under their basket, Peterson leaped over two Huskies on an alley-oop dunk that iced the game for the Friars....
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Doug Shows, More Like Doug Blows [Game Recaps]
The Providence Friars lost another tough one to another tough team, this time against #4/#5 Villanova at the Wachovia Center. Despite losing their 5th game in a row, and dropping to below .500 on the season (12-13), Providence is showing improvement and fight. The Friars hung tough until referee Doug Shows decided to shorthand PC by giving a ridiculous foul and unnecessary technical to Sharaud...
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Bilal Dixon's Dunk is SportsCenter's #2 Top Play
Bilal Dixon had a thunderous one handed dunk against Villanova on a nice feed from Vincent Council. He came down hard as Yarou fouled him.
The play was featured on SportsCenter as the #2 play of the day. Congrats Bilal! You only need 3 more to catch up with Greedy!
Here is a nice still from the AP Photos.
(AP Photo/Michael Perez)
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Calhoun is Back, Wastes No Time Creating Awesome...
Yeah, so UConn lost yet again, and Jim Calhoun isn’t happy about it. It was his first game back after missing some time for health reasons, and it seems like he didn’t miss a beat. Here is his post-game presser.
via TheUConnblog
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Providence-Villanova Highlights
via BigEast.org
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“As a team, we’re definitely getting better. I think we’re playing a lot harder....”
– Marshon Brooks via Projo.com
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Pat Forde on the Curry Call
Pat Forde of ESPN weighed in on the Curry call in his Saturday Observation blog post.
The loss cannot be blamed completely on that T — but for a team with virtually no margin for error on the road against a top-five opponent, losing Curry for the final eight minutes was a huge factor in Providence’s sixth straight defeat. While admittedly having no idea what Curry might have said or done...
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Move Over Tim Higgins, There's a New Hated Ref in...
Friar fans are accustomed to getting royally screwed with the officiating of Tim Higgins, but this afternoon against Villanova, Doug Shows decided to try to one up the white haired, red faced zebra.
With around 8 minutes to go, Providence trailed 64-60 in a back and forth game at the Wachovia Center. The Wildcats had the ball when Scottie Reynolds and Sharaud Curry got tangled up in the corner. ...
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“As I watch Villanova’s team, that’s kind of who I’d like to be. I’d like to play...”
– Keno Davis via Projo.com
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Q + A with Chris from "I Bleed Blue and White"
Chris runs the Villanova blog “I Bleed Blue and White”. We discussed our upcoming game on Saturday by exchanging questions and answers about our teams.
You can read my answers to his questions over on his site.
Friarblog.com: SCOTTIE REYNOLDS IS GRADUATING! SCOTTIE REYNOLDS IS GRADUATING!!!111one (*cartwheel*, *cartwheel*, *backflip*, aand landing). When I heard last year that he withdrew...
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2nd Half Once Again Dooms Friars [Game Recaps]
The third leg of the GUANTLET proved similar to the first few — the Friars played pretty well in the first half, but struggled offensively only to fade late in the second. Thankfully for some lucky fans, they did not have to witness the momentum changing Georgetown 14-1 run, or the inability to score late, thanks to the fan with the sign below.
Despite only being down as little as three...
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Providence-Georgetown Highlights
via BigEast.org
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PC Loses to Georgetown: Instant Reaction
Why Georgetown Won: Midway through the second half, Georgetown really put the stranglehold on with their defense. However, like ESPN announcer Len Elmore put it, “Providence was really cooperative in being strangled”, putting up countless ill-advised shots, many contested long threes, and missing a crap load of foul shots. Georgetown didn’t play particularly well, and just...
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Keepin' it Casual: Q + A with Casual Hoya
The folks over at the Georgetown blog “Casual Hoya” reached out for a Q and A session about the Friars Tuesday night matchup with the Hoyas.
You can read my answers to his questions over on his site.
Friarblog.com: You guys could be developing a trend of amazing wins followed with games you have no business losing (although ask me how I feel about USF after losing a 9 point lead with...
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Vincent Council, Welcome to the BIG EAST
Early in the second half against Marquette, Vincent Council tried going coast to coast for a quick layup after a Golden Eagles basket. Council would have had an easy hoop, if not for getting the ball absolutely stuffed back by Friar killer and senior forward Lazar Hayward. Check out the nasty block below.
Ouch.
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Siamese Timberwolf: Gomes' 20 First Half Points...
I haven’t been keeping up with the play of Ryan Gomes too much this season, but I saw his name pop up in my Minnesota Timberwolves game notification. Ryan has been doing pretty well lately, scoring in double-digits in six straight games. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he was conjoined at the hip with teammate Corey Brewer, creating an uber-basketball player?
(Photo by...
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Another Tough Loss [Game Recaps]
So PC got to face the weakest Gladiator (I may be incredibly dating myself here, but didn’t Mr. Dewey from “Saved by the Bell” try out for them at one point?) they will see amongst the six-game GAUNTLET, and they came up short despite some really great performances. If there are any positives to take out of this loss, it’s that Greedy keeps improving and is awesome, and...
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Marshon: "Never in my life I've been so...
Marshon Brooks: Never in my life I’ve been so uncomfortable on the basketball court…smh
Books posted this via Facebook this afternoon after the rough 82-79 loss to Marquette. Marshon has had his ups and downs this year, and whenever he seemed to start really heating up offensively he would hurt his ankle or get a real nasty case of the flu. This game was definitely one of his...
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Providence - Marquette Highlights
via BigEast.org
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PC Loses to Marquette: Instant Reaction
Despite two Friars getting double-doubles (Jamine Peterson 28 points, 11 rebounds and Bilal Dixon 13 points, 14 rebounds), the team lost a tough one late to Marquette 82-79 at home.
Why Marquette won: The Friars had control of the game for the first 30 minutes, but Lazar Hayward stepped up, and Marquette used excellent ball movement to create lots of open looks and easy baskets. Providence kept...
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What To / Where To: BIG EAST Game #11 vs....
So after the first round of THE GAUNTLET, the Providence Friars were promptly stuffed in the face with a big puffy foam thingy by the likes of the American Gladiator TURBO. Thankfully, the Friars get a “breather” (compared to the other 5 games, no disrespect to our opponenet) for round 2 when Marquette comes to town for a rematch. This is definitely the most winnable game of the six...
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Two Friars Make LostLetterman.com's Top 10...
The site “Lost Letterman” (a sports alumni site with a big database of players) compiled a list of college basketball stars who disappeared and became untraceable after their big success. Two beloved Providence Friars made the list, along with one of my personal favorite players from my childhood, Walter Berry of St. John’s.
Basketball Players’ Top 10 Disappearing Acts
6. God...
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Dwain Williams Suspended Indefinitely...
This will not surprise any Friar fans familiar with the antics of Dwain Williams (tranfered in ‘08), but Hawaii has suspended the former Friar sharpshooter for the second time this season, this time indefinitely. Why, you may ask?
So Williams took offense at being suspended indefinitely from the University of Hawaii basketball team for missing one Samoan language class. He says...
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Keno and Staff Go Hard After Top Prep...
The NBE Basketball report has a great update on the top prep underclassmen. If you’ve been keeping an eye on FriarBasketball.net’s recruiting updates, some of these names will seem familiar as big PC targets. Obviously, Ricky Ledo has been mentioned here several times, but nice to see this quote from his coach.
“Ricardo is accepting his challenges and he’s done OK. He knows he’s...
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Links 2.04.10
BigEast.org Mid-Year Report
If you do only one thing for me today, IT’S VOTE FOR VINCENT COUNCIL FOR ROOKIE OF THE YEAR!! Obviously, we fans do not determine the eventual winner, but we gotta get word out now. If order is any indication of where they think the race currently stands, here it is
Lance Stephenson
Vincent Council
Brandon Triche
Maalik Wayns
Alex Oriakhi
Here is Vincent...
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Friars Overmatched Against Syracuse [Game Recaps]
As original members of the BIG EAST, Providence and Syracuse have a long history. Aside from the win at the DUNK last year, the Orange have pretty much owned the Black and White recently. We need to become better rivals. Why, you ask? So a blog like Hoya Suxa can create videos like this when they beat us. You may have seen this floating around the web a few weeks ago when Syracuse beat...
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Greedy's Self Alley-Oop Is SportsCenter's #2 Top...
Greedy, sick of the ‘ol plain monster dunks off missed shots and whatnot, decided to create a little bit more fancy dunk by passing it to himself off the backboard WITHIN traffic. How this was not the #1 play is beyond me.
The video is also on ESPN Mobile’s IPhone site as the “DUNK OF THE DAY” (3GP file)
Well, at Least We Had the Greedy Dunk
I’m going to brief here, since I almost have enough LOST on the DVR to start watching without commercials. The Friars hung tough in the first half with great rebounding and inside play, but Syracuse at home was just too much to handle for 40 minutes. The Orange outscored Providence 22-5 over the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half, and PC wouldn’t get much closer for the rest of the...
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Previewing Syracuse-Providence as Guest on "Troy...
In lieu of the regular preview around these parts (I’m just swamped with work and won’t have time to put anything together), here is the grand PODCAST DEBUT of yours truly. Syracuse bloggers Sean from Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician and Brian from Orange:44 were kind enough to invite me on their podcast last night to discuss tonight’s game, our teams, and other BIG EAST...
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Links 2.01.10
Potential Impact of Providence’s 2010 Class
We know Gerard Coleman and Joseph Young are supposed to really really good. But how much can we expect them to produce next year as freshman?
While Coleman and Young have put up huge scoring numbers at the prep and high school levels, scoring over 12.3 ppg next season would place either of them in the top 3 in the history of Providence...
Guest Post: The State of Friars Basketball is...
This is a guest post by Ryan M., the proprietor of the sports blog “The State of Friars Basketball” “RI Sports Coverage”. After PC’s latest loss to Cincinnati, he wrote this piece in as a way of letting out some of his frustrations. While you will occasionally see me try to make funnies out of our bad performances this season, I consider myself a Keno Davis...