Q & A with Rhody Rampage

dave@friarblog —  December 5th, 2012 6:39 PM — Leave a comment

20121205-184725.jpgIn prep for tomorrow’s big rivalry game against URI, I exchanged some questions with Dave Ascoli who runs the URI Blog “Rhody Rampage“. Stay tuned for my answers to his questions on Thursday.

Friarblog: In one word, describe the Jim Baron era at URI.

Rhody Rampage: Interminable.

Friarblog: Speaking of Jim Baron vs. new head coach Danny Hurley. What’s been the most significant between the two so far?

Rhody Rampage: Organization. I wasn’t as big of a Baron hater as most Rhody fans (not a Baron lover either), but Baron’s basic MO was to recruit raw athletes and have them run on offense and press on defense. Ram fans soon realized that he did this to sort of mask that he couldn’t coach a half-court offense or a half-court defense, which led to a very hectic brand of basketball. Hurley is more organized, they’re getting into offensive and defensive sets, running plays, ball screens, pick n rolls, you name it. Might be a little more boring to the casual fan, but it’s also a whole lot less frustrating.

Friarblog: In 2009, The Rams beat a young Friars team (that would eventually go 11-19) at the Ryan Center. Although URI was favored by 5 and half points, the fans decided to storm the court. How did you feel about that?

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Video: God Shammgod Feature on WPRI News

dave@friarblog —  December 5th, 2012 1:40 PM — Leave a comment

A nice look into the studious life of God Shammgod, including his role on Ed Cooley’s staff.

Shammgod back at PC as a coach

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Friartown News and Notes 12.3.12

dave@friarblog —  December 3rd, 2012 10:00 PM — Leave a comment

All the notable news, links, pictures, and video in and around Friartown and college basketball all in one digestible, tasty place

picture Kadeem Batts Instagram

Here is a nice pic of one of Kadeem’s pin blocks from Saturday against Mississipi State. Maybe this should be on PINTEREST? AMIRITE?!

battsblock

notes For his efforts that also included a career high 32 points, Kadeem Batts was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll this week. Bryce Cotton made it two weeks ago.

link Mississippi State Game Recaps: ESPN (AP), Friars.com, GoLocalProv, Sun Chronicle, Woonsocket Call, Friar Basketball

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Bryce Cotton Doubtful for URI Game, Kris Dunn Unlikely (UPDATED)

dave@friarblog —  December 3rd, 2012 3:12 PM — 4 Comments

Anyone else got a case of the Moondays? The latest news in Friartown regarding the Friars next game against URI on Thursday surely will not help. Adam Zagoria spoke with Ed Cooley today, and apparently Bryce Cotton is going to be out of commission for a week with a really sore knee. Considering how serious the injury could have been, that is actually really good news. However, Ice will still miss the big rivalry game against the Rams leaving the team with no point guard yet again. There was speculation that Kris Dunn would make his PC debut considering the dire roster situation, but Zagoria also tweeted that Ed Cooley said only 6 players (The “Sexy Six”) will be available. Looks like Cooley is playing it safe regarding Kris Dunn’s shoulder, and he will give it another two weeks for a likely debut in the first game of the 2nd semester (December 18th against Colgate).

There hasn’t been much about when Vincent Council is expected to return, but there are rumblings that the injury may be a little worse than expected.

UPDATE: Apparently Cotton has NOT been ruled out, and neither has Dunn. *Throws hands up in the air*

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Video: Brandon Austin: The Journey Episode #1

dave@friarblog —  December 2nd, 2012 1:15 PM — 2 Comments

Check out this video by Jaime Boyer featuring Friar signee Brandon Austin in his preparation for his upcoming senior season. Yeah, I noticed the UConn shorts in the beginning too. Can’t we send him some Friar shorts or is that an NCAA violation?

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Bryce Cotton: No Knee Damage

dave@friarblog —  December 1st, 2012 7:20 PM — Leave a comment

According to Kevin McNamara on Twitter, Bryce Cotton has no knee damage from his awkward land during the Mississippi State game today. Breathe a sigh of relief for now, Friartown.

Word is Providence's Bryce Cotton does not have knee damage. Will be evaluated all week in advance of URI game Thursday.
December 1st, 2012 8:01 PM 8:01 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@KevinMcNamara33
Kevin McNamara
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Providence Beats Mississippi State, Cotton Injured

dave@friarblog —  December 1st, 2012 3:38 PM — 4 Comments

misstSaturday afternoon’s 73-63 win over Mississippi State was a roller coaster of emotions. From the get go, the Friars dominated the Bulldogs and it looked like they would coast to an easy victory in the Big East / SEC Challenge. We did this for you, BIG EAST! Then, Bryce Cotton was fouled on a three pointer late in the 1st half (seriously, do you know any player who gets fouled more on threes than Cotton??), and came down awkwardly hurting his knee. Ice didn’t return for the 2nd half, and is going to get an MRI to see what’s up according to Ed Cooley in the postgame. Without Cotton, the “Sexy Six” held down the fort and the laugher continued on strong with Providence leading by as much as 26 points. However, Mississippi State woke up late in the game, and came ridiculously close to a monster comeback that would have just kicked Friartown while they were down. In the end, PC held on to beat a very terrible Mississippi State team, but may have to deal with a serious injury to their best player to date.

Why Providence won: In the pregame, I mentioned that Kadeem Batts needed to produce and be more aggressive in order to take some of the pressure off of Cotton. Batts must be an avid reader of Friarblog (READER COUNT UP TO 4!), because he was fantastic from the get go. Long range jumpers, aggresive drives to the hoop, baby hooks — you name it, Batts was scoring. Mississippi State didn’t have an answer for him, and they dug themselves into a big hole. The PC defense showed a lot of hustle, and forced their opponent to rely on long range shots they couldn’t hit. When the Bulldogs came roaring back in crunch-time, the Friars held it together and executed under pressure while shorthanded once again.

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Video: Bryce Cotton Tweaks Knee In First Half

dave@friarblog —  December 1st, 2012 1:03 PM — Leave a comment

In the first half of the game against Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon, Bryce Cotton was fouled taking a three pointer and came down awkwardly on his knee.

He stayed in to hit his foul shots, but asked to be taken out of the game immediately after. A couple of minutes later, he headed to the locker room to be evaluated.

UPDATE: Cotton will not return for the 2nd half.

Here is the play.

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What To / Where To: Providence vs. Mississippi State Game Preview

dave@friarblog —  November 30th, 2012 6:20 PM — 1 Comment

mississippi-state

On Saturday afternoon, the Friars will be taking on an inexperienced and rebuilding Mississipi State team as part of the SEC / Big East Challenge. Overall, there are 11 other games occurring over Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, giving us an opportunity for some well timed conference pride! Hey, the conference is going down in flames and nobody can be trusted, might as well try to band together to collectively kick the arses of a bunch of schools down south! Oh, you stabbed us all in the back and left us for dead? No worries, at least we can still agree that we all hate Kentucky.

The Bulldogs lost most of their top players from last year, and are in a rebuilding mode after coach Rick Stansbury was “fired” after last season. Maybe he had a tough time juggling coaching Mississippi State and running a prestigious but fake University of his namesake in Saved By the Bell land. “If Stansbury is that hypocritical, they’ll just have to do without Jessica Spano!” You are not the Harvard of the west, Stansbury…North, south, east, or west, there’s only one Haaar-vard!!

In is another Rick, a fellow named Rick Ray. He’s a former assistant coach who spent time at Indiana State, Northern Illinois, Purdue, and Clemson. Unlike Ed Cooley last year, Ray doesn’t have a Vincent Council type player to lean on in order to consistently stay competitive. The team is young and banged up, and have yet to win away from home so far this year. PC should be able to give the Big East a notch in the win column if they continue their smart and resilient play, but it remains to be seen if the Dunk will be rockin’ after Coach Cooley made his plea to the students to support the Friars who have worked hard this season.

WHAT TO: KNOW

Game Time: Saturday, Noon

Opponent: Mississippi State (2-4)

Location: The Dunk

Spread: Providence -12.5

Ken Pomeroy Ranks: Providence #70, Mississippi State #227

TeamRankings.com Projection: Providence 72, Mississippi State 62.5

Four Factors

Hit up the rest of the preview after the jump.

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T.G.I.F: Thank God It’s Friartown 11.30.12

@FriarFrenzy —  November 30th, 2012 10:05 AM — Leave a comment

TGIF-ABCThe Friars are 5-2, with the two losses coming on an acrobatic tip in at the buzzer and in overtime. As they say ‘close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades’ but given the circumstances these are very positive results.

Beyond the record, it is clear this group has benefited from a full off season in Ed Cooley’s program. They are physically and mentally stronger. The defensive statistics are telling and that is what many will focus on throughout the year given past ills, but there is clear advancement on the offensive end in terms of organization and execution as well.

Yes, there are turnovers and forced shots but show me any sampling of college games that do not have these.

We will see what happens as the caliber of opponent increases but, no matter what, if this team is going to be competitive in conference play they are going to need to get better on the defensive glass.

Sidiki Johnson should help in that department.

Bill Reynolds had a great feature in the ProJo this week on Bryce Cotton’s emergence and how he taught himself to remake his jumper between his freshman and sophomore years.

The Legend of Ice continues to grow.

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