Big East Preview: Interview with Rumble in the Garden

Chris Torello —  August 14th, 2013 8:57 AM —  Comments

As the final days of summer begin to wind down it is time to start turning our attention to Friar Basketball and the 2013-14 season. We will be taking a closer look at the teams in the Big East and we focus on St. John’s. Last season St. John’s finished at 17-16 (8-10) and did not make postseason play. For a look at this upcoming season, and what we can expect from the Red Storm, we have two St. John’s bloggers helping us out for this edition.

Quinn Rochford: Editor/Writer, Rumble in the Garden; @QSTJHoops

Norman Rose: Editor-in-chief, Rumble in the Garden; @ecoastbias

1. In 100 words or less describe St. John’s 2012-13 season.

Quinn: If you were to ask me to do it in one word, I would have said “chaotic.” Aside from the up-and-down season on the court, where the Red Storm found themselves losing its final four conference games after starting 8-6, St. John’s endured a lot off the floor as well. Between Steve Lavin’s father, Cap, passing away in February, Orlando Sanchez’ legal fight for 2013-14 eligibility and D’Angelo Harrison’s season-ending suspension, the Johnnies lit enough fireworks to light the sky. So, when you look at the body of work that culminated in an NIT berth, the result wasn’t terrible but still shy of expectations.

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Final Four. That Has a Nice Ring to it.

dave@friarblog —  August 8th, 2013 9:13 AM —  Comments
terrell_and_abu

(Image from New England Recruiting Report)

Well, this is escalating quickly.

Florida, UConn, Miami, St. John’s, UCLA, Xavier — you have been kicked off of the Jared Terrell island. Sorry St. John’s, UCLA, Iowa State, Miami, Kentucky and Kansas State, but you have been fired from Abdul Malik Abu’s boardroom. Late last night (why does all of this recent recruiting news happen late at night?) their AAU coach Ty Boswell announced that the two 2014 prospects each cut their list to 4. The one little school that is on both of their lists? Yep, that would be Providence College.

Adding even more fuel to the incredible buzz around Friartown is the fact that both of these players will be at Providence this weekend for Ed Cooley’s Elite Camp. Several big recruiting targets will be attending the second annual Elite Camp hosted by Cooley and staff, but all eyes will be on Terrell and Abu. There have been previous rumors suggesting the two could be a package deal. Given the speed that everything has happened at thus far, and the general awesomeness of Ed Cooley, nothing would surprise me at this point. The event on Saturday already makes for a great day in Friartown. Who is down for something epic?

UPDATE: Scout.com is reporting that Terrell and Abu will be announcing their decision together at a press conference in September. Oh man.

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2014 Recruiting: Tracking the “Friar Five”

UndercoverFriar —  August 7th, 2013 11:00 AM —  Comments

What’s Up Friartown!? @UndercoverFriar has become a part of Friarblog and will be providing recruiting updates and analysis in columns posted to Friarblog intermittently. I intend to provide Friarblog readers with in depth recruiting information and analysis. Hope you enjoy! Go Friars!

2014 Recruiting: Tracking the “Friar Five”

Since Coach Ed Cooley’s arrival at Providence College, the excitement regarding recruiting has risen to a level never before seen in Friartown. From Ladontae Henton shortly after his hire to a top ten class in Kris Dunn, Ricardo Ledo, and Josh Fortune to this year’s recruiting class of Brandon Austin and Rajay Bullock in addition to transfers Carson Desrosiers and Tyler Harris, Ed Cooley has certainly left an impression on the world of recruiting. With that being said, avid followers of Friar basketball recruiting have looked forward to the 2014 recruiting class as where Ed Cooley could leave an even bigger mark. Given the inroads Coach Cooley made early on with 2014 recruits and the number of available scholarships (five), the 2014 recruiting class had the makings of a great one from the start.

By now most Friar fans know the potential “Friar Five” consists of 2014 recruits F Jalen Lindsey, G Jared Terrell, G Kaleb Joseph, C Paschal Chukwu, and F Abdul-Malik Abu. Coach Cooley along with associate head coach Andre Lafleur and assistant coach Bob Simon have been hard at work on the recruiting trail for a long time for each of these prospects. Each of these recruits is a consensus top 100 player nationally and has had many other schools hard after him as well. Friar fans have anxiously been waiting for lists to be trimmed and interviews to be recorded mentioning Providence as a likely destination for any of these recruits. Any combination of these five prospects would make for a great recruiting class, but the “Friar Five” or anything remotely close to it would be an incredible statement for the state of Providence College basketball and it could very well happen. Let’s take an in depth look at the recruitment of each of these players and where it stands in regards to lists and decision timelines. While four of these 2014 prospects are still deep into their recruitment, one prospect has made a decision and decided to take his talents to Friartown, forward Jalen Lindsey.

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Kaleb Joseph Has Friars in Final Three

dave@friarblog —  July 29th, 2013 8:23 AM —  Comments

Another big 2014 recruit has listed the Providence Friars among his final choices of schools. Last night, news came out that Kaleb Joseph, a point guard ranked #51 overall by ESPN for the class of 2014, cut his list down to Providence, Syracuse, and West Virginia (Hey, that was all the BIG EAST once!). Just another day in the life of Ed Cooley.

From ESPN

“Each of the three schools on his final list also has unique things to offer, and Joseph discussed each of his final choices.

Providence stands out not just because it is local but also because the Friars will be looking to replace their leading scorer and starting point guard in 2014.

“Bryce Cotton is graduating and so I would have an immediate opportunity to fill those minutes from Day One,” Joseph said. ”

Mr. Joseph, I want you to pick PC and all, but NO ONE CAN REPLACE ICE COTTON’S MINUTES.

Anyhoo, much like the rest of these 2014 targets Ed Cooley and staff have been all over Joseph for quite some time. He’s visited a bunch since last summer, and has been seen at several games.

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10 Spot: Abdul Malik Abu and Jared Terrell Have PC in Final 10

dave@friarblog —  July 25th, 2013 9:17 PM —  Comments

Big prospects from the class of 2014, power forward Abdul Malik Abu and shooting guard Jared Terrell, have had numerous suitors over the past year plus. During the busy recruiting periods, it seemed like they would both pick up offers from the top schools around the country every other day. Ed Cooley and his staff have been on both of these young men from the very start, and it has definitely paid off.

Tonight, each recruit announced their top 10 list of schools, with the Providence Friars making the cut in both cases. It has been rumored for quite some time that the Massachusetts natives and Expressions Elite (AAU) teammates would be a package deal, creating a fantastic inside / out combo for any recruiting class.

Here are their lists of schools (via @HoopdreamsMag)

Abdul Malik Abu

NC State

Florida

Kansas State

Miami

Kentucky

Iowa State

UConn

Providence

UCLA

St John’s

Jared Terrell

Florida

UConn

Cincinnati

Providence

Miami

OSU

St Johns

UCLA

URI

Xaiver

Interestingly enough, the only teams involved from the New Big East are the Friars, St. John’s, and Xavier (for Terrell only).

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Jalen Knows: Things to do at Providence College

FriartownMayor —  July 16th, 2013 11:20 AM —  Comments

If you are about to read this and are unaware of Jalen Lindsey’s commitment to Providence College, then Friarblog is most certainly not the site for you.

If you want to read about why he chose the Friars, Dave Telep of ESPN wrote a great piece here. College basketball Insider Reggie Rankin believes he has some Andre Iguodala in him and that he will be the first of a few commitments for the Friars 2014 class.

Lindsey put his trust in Ed Cooley’s staff over the likes of Rick Pitino, sorry slick, Thad Matta, sorry Brutus, and Billy Donovan, still love ya kid.

His father Walt, an Ocean State native, made it clear that it was how much the Friars wanted him that made Providence College stand out from the rest, including his home state Vols and Memphis Tigers.

We have all defended Providence basketball at one time or another, and it didn’t take long for Jalen to join the club.

Something he has already gained is respect from his elder Friars, one LaDontae Henton in particular.

 

Well Jalen, now that you have put your faith in Coach Cooley and the Friars, I want to put my faith in you that you will do and see these things during your time in Friartown…

{more to come soon}

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The End of the End: The Ledo Saga Concludes

Daniel "The Warrior Friar" James —  June 28th, 2013 12:48 AM

I’m not happy about writing this. I want to make that very clear right now. I – like most of my fellow Friar journalists – didn’t even want to write about Ledo in the draft this year. If we could have it our way we all would’ve been watching Ledo next season in a Friar uniform. Obviously that didn’t happen, so instead we all wanted to write about Ledo beating the odds – to be the exception to the proverbial rule – and get drafted in the first round. Shake the commissioner’s hand, put on the hat, having highlights of…some game he was in play while all the analysts say their bit.

This was a particularly good highlight of Ledo's ball handling skills.

This was a particularly good highlight of Ledo’s ball handling skills.

There might’ve been some sort of redemption in that story, right? But instead we’ve ended up with the brilliant kid in high school who could get into Harvard no problem if he just was patient and applied himself, but instead chose to believe he was a shoe in based on what he was told.

Guess what? He didn’t get in. He got called at 43 overall, with talent that people have barely heard of going well before him. He’s going to be playing on the Bucks next year (or the Mavs. Or the Sixers. Or the Hawks. Look I have no idea honestly, it’s chaos right now. But I think it’s the Mavs.) and that’s assuming he makes the team. We all know the story of second round picks.

But you know what? I want to look at this from a different perspective. All we’ve heard since April 15 is “Ledo, Ledo, Ledo, Ledo, Ledo, Ledo…Ledo.” What about us? The fans? The coaching staff? The program? The Ricky Ledo saga is officially over, but what’s this mean for everyone else?

Let’s talk about it.

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Getting to Know our New Friends (3-3): Xavier Musketeers

Daniel "The Warrior Friar" James —  April 10th, 2013 10:34 AM —  Comments

What up Friartown!

I know we’re all bummed over the Ledo news yesterday (and believe me, an article on that is coming like a bat out of hell) but for now it’s best to distract ourselves from the tragedy and focus on the good. And the good is we’re still going to a new conference with a TON of opportunity for us to compete, with our without Ledo.

It’s this conference. I know, confusing if you haven’t been paying attention to how it all works.

So we should probably know who we’re competing against.

In our last entry in the three-part series we talked to Banners on the Parkway (@BannersParkway), the Xavier Musketeers blog that represents all things Ohio (you know, since we gave the other Ohio brethren the boot). Brad and Joel took the time to answer some of our questions about all things Xavier, so let’s see what they had to see after the jump!

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Getting to Know Our New Friends (2-3): Butler Bulldogs

Daniel "The Warrior Friar" James —  April 4th, 2013 12:06 PM —  Comments

Happy Thursday Friartown!

We’ve made it past hump day (a word I’m becoming more familiar with as I work in an office) and sights are now set on the weekend, but why should the next day and a half drag on? We’ve got another interview with another blog on another new team in the Big East!

In the second of our three part series we got in touch with Butler Bulldog blogger David McConnell. He writes for Victoryfirelight.com, and can be found on Twitter with his handle @butlervictory. Butler is best remembered for kicking ass and taking names, specifically in 2010 and 2011 when they surprised everyone with their back to back trips to the NCAA championship game. Their performances earned them conference umps – first from the Horizon League, to the A-10, and then finally to the Big East.

Pictured here is the Butler bulldogs negotiating their admission to the Big East with the Georgetown bulldogs. Yes this is real.

Check out our interview after the jump!

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Getting to Know Our New Friends (1-3): Creighton Bluejays

Daniel "The Warrior Friar" James —  April 3rd, 2013 11:53 AM —  Comments

In case you missed the news (somehow) the Big East is kind of changing.

No, it’s not getting a new tournament site. No, records aren’t getting cleaned out – we still own those. I like to think of it more as a “return to the roots” type of change. We’re going back to what the Big East was built on. We’re going back to the vision that Dave Gavitt had so many years ago. We’re going back to basketball.

And we’re not doing it alone either. We’ve added quite a few buddies to come along for the ride. In addition to the “Catholic 7″ Creighton, Butler, and Xavier are all joining us next year in pioneering a basketball-only, high major conference.

So it seems only right that we should get to know our neighbors.

You knew this was coming. As soon as you saw the word ‘neighbor’ you knew it was coming and you LOVED IT.

In this three part series I interview the bloggers from the Creighton, Butler, and Xavier sites. First up is Creighton. CTO of White and Blue Review Patrick Marshall (@wildjays on twitter) got us in touch with Max Univers (@polyfro) to answer a couple of our questions about the Blue Jays. Give both those guys a follow on Twitter and bookmark the White and Blue Review for future reference guys – we’re going to be seeing Creighton a lot more! And after you’ve done that read our interview with them here, right now, after the jump!

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