FriarBasketball.net: The Week Ahead: Opening the Dunk

On Saturday night, the Friars take to the Dunkin Donuts Center floor for the first time in 2010-11 in an exhibition against Division II power Bentley. With a slew of freshmen making their Dunk debut, highlighted by Boston native Gerard Coleman, positional battles will be in full force as this is a roster littered with unanswered questions. Only three weeks into practice, Davis will soon have to determine how to incorporate seven new players into the rotation, and if any should be redshirted for the season.

WCBD-TV2: After Tough Summer, Providence Moves on

“In the past we’ve had some one-way players,” Davis said. “But this year, with recruiting, we made sure to focus on guys that can play on both ends of the court.”

KDSK.com: College Basketball Preview: Big East Conference

The squad is still comprised mostly of underclassmen, which means it will have some growing pains this year, but in the future it should pan out much more favorably.

Go Friars: Friar Freshman Lee Golsbrough and Dre Evans

Cox posted this little interview video of Lee Golsbrough and Dre Evans (with a little Keno Davis sprinkled in). Imagine that English accent at Louies?

Twitter.com: Keno’s Trivia Gets Tougher

For the life of me I couldn’t track this down.  Yes I spent almost 30 minutes at work Googling and researching like crazy and still came up empty.

BigEast.org: The Biggest Fan of the Big East. Vote for Matt!

The Big East and Volvo have teamed up for a campaign to find the biggest fan.  Here is Providence’s candidate Matt.   Louisville and St. John’s already have a hefty lead, but let’s get our PC alumn some votes!

The unique sponsorship engages alumni that are “social media influencers” from each of the Big East’s 16 member institutions. A selected representative from each university attended Big East Basketball Media Day in New York City on October 20th to officially launch the promotional campaign for his/her school. Following the event, each school representative will now responsible for providing daily posts on a custom micro-site – mybigeastvolvo.com throughout the upcoming basketball season. All 16 alums will also win a weekend trip back to their alma mater where they will be provided an all-new Volvo S60 to drive around campus, take to basketball game and enjoy throughout their stay. Officials of the Big East and ISP Sports, the exclusive multimedia rights holder for the conference, will monitor all postings over a four-month period and then select one fan who will win an all-expense paid trip to New York for the Big East Championship Tournament.

SportingNews: Marquette goes from Big East boon to burden

The news of the BIG EAST deciding to expand to 10 football schools was everywhere you looked yesterday.  Here is an interesting take on how Marquette fits into the conference.  Yeah so they produced a bunch of NBA players, went to the NCAA Tournament almost every time blah blah blah.  They are screwing up the balance! Who invited these guys anyway??

And Tuesday, the day the Big East gathered and decided to pursue somehow expanding its membership to 10 football-playing schools, the conference’s longstanding members must be regretting adding the Golden Eagles a short while back.

FriarBasketabll.net: To Redshirt or not to Redshirt

As always, a great from Kevin on PC’s recent red shirting results.  I always love a good Jeff Parmer reference to make me want to bang my head on the keyboard on a Monday morning.

With a potential frontcourt glut, (a dangerous assumption considering four of the six have never played D1 basketball and Ray Hall hoisted a grand total of nine shots a season ago) and Keno Davis’ history of redshirting freshmen at PC, talk will heat up over the next two weeks about who will be redshirted this season.

Examiner.com: Providence College Friars basketball preview

Peterson’s productivity cannot be replaced.  Senior swingman Marshon Brooks will be relied on to be the Friars top scoring threat.  The 6’5” Brooks averaged 14.2 points per game last year.  He reminds me in many ways of NBA player Josh Childress.  Brooks will need to become more aggressive and not just rely on his outside shooting in order to be a legitimate threat.

Twitter: Keno Davis Trivia Question

Some Friar fan I am.  I incorrectly guessed that Kadeem Batts was the youngest scholarship player on the roster  - even though he redshirted last year, I could have sworn I read somewhere he was still the youngest.  Good work by those Friar Tweeps who were correct. 

Projo: PC to play a closed scrimmage Saturday at Stony Brook

I’m posting this article from over the weekend that was put out before the scrimmage, because that’s pretty much the only details available on the internet.

No media or fans are allowed in to watch or chronicle what happens. Davis cannot say who or when he’s playing, but the Friars will spend Saturday afternoon playing at Stony Brook in Long Island, N.Y. 

From various stalking sleuthing on Social Media, I can report that the Friars did beat Stony Brook.  A source also told me that sophomore guard Duke Mondy did not play due to the same injury that kept him off the court for the Mal Brown game.  However, he was back practicing Sunday so I’m guessing he will be ready to go for the other exhibition game next weekend.

LA Clippers Lose, Again

The Clippers are now 0-3 after their latest loss on Sunday. Ryan Gomes started again, but only put up 7 points and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes.

Gomes is averaging 5.3 PPG and 3.7 RPG so far.

(Photo Yahoo! Sports)

Jeff Goodman: Top freshmen to watch in 2010-11

Unfortunately Gerard Coleman didn’t make this list, but I asked Goodman on Twitter how he stacked up against those guys.

Clippers Drop Opener in Ryan Gomes’ LA Debut

Griffin didn’t just make his NBA debut Wednesday night, exactly one year later than scheduled. He muscled and flew and stretched and finessed his way to 20 points and 14 rebounds in L.A.’s 98-88 loss at Staples Center.

Gomes started, but had an off game in 28 minutes of play.  He went 1-6 from the field, including 0-3 from downtown for a total of 2 points.  Unfortunately, he had a game worst -17 plus/minus rating.  Did he watch too much Greedy Peterson last year?

FriarBasketball.net: Roster Preview: Vincent Council

Where he and Council could really connect is the instinctual side of the game.  While both are blessed with obvious physical skills, what could make this duo a handful isn’t sheer athleticism, but their basketball instincts. While the open court opportunities will make Providence fun to watch on many nights, their basketball IQ could one day make this team both exciting and very good.  Both are capable of making good decisions while playing at a frenetic pace, and like Council before him, Coleman’s instincts become more impressive the more you watch him.

VUHoops: Big East Preview – Prologue

Comments: Gerard Coleman is clearly the cream of the crop of new recruits and shooting guard was one of the Friars’ biggest needs. Coleman and Joseph Young figure to be the most-likely freshmen to see significant minutes in their first season. Brice Kofane may also fight his way up the rotation int he front-court.

You don’t know how much I want this paragraph to be true.  Damn you Joe Young’s dad! Damn you to hell.

Jay Williams (fomer Duke player and ESPN College Basketball Analyst) Heading to PC Today

The Sun Chronicle: Friars need to get stingier

“We have to be able to find guys that aren’t one-dimensional,” added Davis, “and to develop some guys to be able to step to another level. We need our guards and our frontcourt, not just one area. From our development as a team, some players are really good offensive players, but on the other side are not good defensive players “We have more talented guards and a deeper frontcourt, we have more bodies. Last year, if somebody got hurt or got into foul trouble, we dropped a level, or late in the game we ran out of gas, we were in trouble. To have a deeper team will show on the defensive end of the court as well.”

Friars.com: Men’s Basketball Holds Annual Mal Brown Game And Fanfest

The Providence College men’s basketball team held its annual Mal Brown intra-squad scrimmage today at PC’s Alumni Hall. The White Team, led by senior Marshon Brooks’ game-high 19 points defeated the Black Team, 86-70. In addition to Brooks, freshman Gerard Coleman had a productive game for the White Team, scoring 14 points after shooting 7-14 from the floor. Sophomore Vincent Council added 12 points, nine assists and five rebounds Freshman Dre Evans led the Black Team with 18 points and five assists.

Projo Hoops Blog: PC nets recruit; Brooks leads way at Mal Brown scrimmage

We talkin’ about PRACTICE

 The Providence College Friars made their debut before the home fans Sunday at Alumni Hall but not to great reviews.

ESPN: Michael Chandler Commits to Xavier

He announced it on his Twitter page Sunday morning.  So those keeping track at home, Recruits announcing on Facebook 1 (Kyan Anderson), Recruits announcing on Twitter 0 (Michael Chandler). OMG THIS DOES NOT BODE WELL BECAUSE TYLER HARRIS USES TWITTER!!11one

By landing Chandler, Xavier jumps up to No. 10 from No. 19 in the class rankings. The Musketeers also have 2011 commitments from point guard Darwin Davis (Bloomington, Ind./South) and power forward Jalen Reynolds (Stevenson, Mich./Stevenson).

Bleacher Report: College Basketball Preview: Big East Conference

A little more in depth team previews than their one last week.  Nothing we don’t know about our Friars though.

Prediction: This team is a couple years away from being any good. A nucleus of Council, Dixon (a sophomore) and Coleman could be solid in the future, but not now. They should finish with a similar record, if not worse, and challenge DePaul to make it out of the basement of the conference.

Projo Hoops Blog: Hoop items for coming weekend

PC continues its search for recruits for next season. The Friars lost Ryan Boatright to West Virginia a few days ago so there is another point guard on his way to campus this weekend. Kyan Anderson, a 6-1 guard from Ft. Worth, Tex., is expected to arrive today. Anderson scored 48 points in a game last year for North Crowley High and is regarded as a high-major, scoring point man. He is receiving some Big XII interest, mainly from Oklahoma.

NJ.com: Big East Men’s Basketball Preview: A crash-course from conference media day

What you need to know: Had F Jamine “Greedy” Peterson not bolted for quick cash in Europe, the Friars could have been a big sleeper. Instead, Keno Davis will once again have to make lemonade out of Marshon Brooks (14.2 ppg), Vincent Council (10.3 ppg) and double-double-in-waiting Bilal Dixon (8.2 ppg) of Jersey City.

Hmm, well I think we all know that Greedy is not gone because he wanted to play Pro in Europe.  Unless “quick cash in Europe” is some weird euphemism for inappropriate actions with high school recruits.  Does Dell’s make Marshon Brooks lemonade?

Bleacher Report: Big East Basketball: 2010-2011 Season Preview

The sad part for Friar fans?

Things probably won’t get much better this season. Coach Keno Davis has a lot of work to do, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Providence finished in the basement of the Big East this year.

The sad part for the Bleacher Report? Making an article as a stupid 16 part slideshow.

Friars.com: Providence College Athletics Set To Host Fanfest 2010 On October 24

Providence College will hold its annual Friar Fanfest at Alumni Hall on the Providence College campus on Sunday, October 24 from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The event is free for all Friar fans.

This includes the annual Mal Brown scrimmage at 1:30.  I know NotKenoDavis will be on the edge of seat awaiting detailed statistical analysis.

Keno Davis Blog: The Start of the Season

Five practices into the season finds us optimistic for our future success at PC. Our talent is evident in our backcourt as well as our depth in the frontcourt. The question mark for this year’s team is youth and inexperience. (Fortunately, a team’s youth is taken care of by time and great effort on the court.)

FriarBasketball.net: Roster Preview: Kadeem Batts

Batts will not be expected to replace Peterson on his own, which is actually part of this new identify.  A dimension Batts can give PC that they lacked a year ago is size at the power forward spot.  Gone are Peterson’s 19 points and 10 rebounds per game, but also gone is a 6’5, 220 pound power forward.

EBay: Providence Friars Black “Starter” Mat

The Friars need to win some games this year so they don’t become the BIG EAST version of Bill Simmons’ Rams / League Doormat joke.

*Sigh*

The Cowl: The Sports Boss

The Cowl takes a look at Keno Davis heading into the new season.  I’M DA BOSS!

In the latest installment of Late Night Madness, Coach Davis took center stage and owned Joe Mullaney Gymansium. He wanted the fans to know just how much he and his team appreciated their support. He said proudly, “We don’t knock off No. 1 Pittsburgh at the Dunk. We don’t storm the court after we put 100 up on Syracuse. Without you, we don’t kick UConn’s butt last year at the Dunk.” It was pure magic.

FriarBasketball.net: Roster Preview: Gerard Coleman

Kevin previews the incoming player who will likely have the most impact on the young Friars.  Coleman has the talent to be a great player, but the history of frosh putting up great numbers year one is very rare.

Putting caution aside, Coleman will be ready to play, and start from opening night for the Friars.  While neither is a great shooter, the backcourt duo of Vincent Council and Coleman gives Providence their most athletic, and exciting, guard duo in quite a long time. 

FriarBasketball.net: Roster Preview: Marshon Brooks

Make no mistake, the Friars will rely heavily on Brooks this season, as both a scorer and a trend-setter defensively.  With a lack of proven scoring options on this roster, he’ll be relied on heavily offensively, but for this Providence team to surprise they will need to win games with defense and Brooks has to help set the tone on that end of the floor. 

ESPN: 2010 BIG EAST Media Day

Dana O’Neill breaks down some of the big story lines for the upcoming season. Nothing about PC, but each team has a small quotable from a player or coach.

Providence: “Kids want to win and go. We’re able to go. Now we need to win.”
— Coach Keno Davis on the recruiting strategy he’s using at PC

Fanhouse: Big East Have-Nots Struggling to Become Haves, Make NCAA Tournament

“In order to have a successful season by a lot of people’s measurements, we’ve got to take care of business in our non-conference schedule, then try to be in the top half (of the Big East),” Davis said. “And if we take care of business in the non-conference, then we’ve had a great year. There are a lot of teams that are picked in the second half of this conference that are gonna surprise people.”

Cox Sports Video: Interview with Keno Davis on BIG EAST Media Day

“We don’t have the holes that we had last year defensively” *COUGH GREEDY COUGH*

Cox Sports Video: Interview with Marshon Brooks on BIG EAST Media Day

So I was a little MIA for the final weekend of the BIG EAST regular season, and it appears I didn’t miss much.  From what I have been reading about the SHU game on Saturday night, it was a flat performance and a subdued atmosphere at the DUNK.  With the Friars finishing up at 4-14 in the BIG EAST, they get the #15 seed and the right to rematch Seton Hall on Tuesday night at 7PM at Madison Square Garden.  Let’s start to get back into the final week of PC basketball season with a few links.

BigEast.org: 2010 BIG EAST Tournament Bracket

2010 Tournament Bracket

FriarBasketball.net: Gerard Coleman wins MVP as his team wins NEPSAC Class B Championship!

We may have lost 10 games in a row and counting, but at least we have some good news from one of our incoming players.

Coleman wins the Class B title for the second time in two years and takes home the MVP in 2010 after a 20 point finale (15 in the first half).  This game was not vintage Gerard though, as Marianapolis played a zone, negating his slashing drives to the basket.  He struggled to get his outside shot going, scoring a majority of his points in transition.

Stub Hub: Looking for Tickets for PC-SHU?

You’ll probably pay around $20-25, and you’ll also get access to the 9PM game of Rutgers and Cincy.

Friars.com: Final Keno Davis Radio Show Of Season To Air Monday At P.J. Clarke’s

This is part of the BIG EAST fundraiser event at P.J. Clarkes (55th st. in NYC).  The minimum donation to attend the event is $500.

The final Keno Davis Radio Show of the season airs Monday, March 8 at 7:00 p.m. live from P.J. Clarke’s in New York City. Located at 205 E 55th Street, the show takes place on the eve of the 2010 BIG EAST Championship.

Projo: Awful finish leaves URI and PC down in the dumps

The other reason the Friars carried some disappointment into their practice Sunday night was the news that leading scorer and rebounder Jamine Peterson did not make any of the three all-league teams. Instead, he was one of three players who were tossed honorable mentions. Peterson certainly deserved more respect based on his statistics. He recorded eight double-doubles in Big East games and finished fourth in scoring (19 ppg.) and second in rebounding (10.0).

YouTube: PC-Pitt Finish

You may have noticed (like commenter Bob who called me a “joke” haha) that I didn’t post anything after the Pitt heartbreak.  Well, let’s just say that I couldn’t bring myself to post anything on Thursday night.  After a long 3-day weekend away from the computer, it was probably best I couldn’t watch or follow the SHU game (hence no updates for several days).

I know this hurts to watch, but someone posted the last play on YouTube, so here ya go.

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 later that team was in the tournament after shooting 44% from the field and 40% from 3 as a team, scoring an amazing 17 more points per game in conference play than they did a year before.  No one saw it coming.

Two freshman who couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn turned into reliable shooters as sophomores, two late signees from overseas helped, and John Linehan went from a 23% 3 point shooter in his last full season (played only 6 games the previous season) to a 44% shooter from 3 in the tournament year.

Go Friars: Wright’s Decision Opens Up Scholarship

With Kyle Wright opting to focus on graduating (good for him!), Keno and staff have a big decision coming up on what to do with that open schollie.

The most obvious option is to look to sign the best available player.  ESPN listed a few possibilities in their rumor section today including Kadeem Jack (an athletic 6′8″ power forward from Rice High School in NY), Jon Horford (a more skilled and versatile, but less athletic, 6′8″ forward from Grand Ledge High School in Michigan), and Joel “Air Jamaica” Wright (another forward and New York native with explosive athleticism who was previously committed to Fordham).

Friars.com: Keno Davis Radio Show Returns March 1 At The Abbey

Even though they changed the name to the Abbey when I was a senior at PC, it will always be “Gravity” in my heart.  You know what else is in my heart?  Over a thousand wings I consumed at 25 cent wing day at Gravity during my 4 years.  I still dream about those wings.

The Keno Davis Radio Show returns on Monday, March 1 at 7:00 p.m. live from The Abbey, located at 686 Admiral Street in Providence, R.I. The show will air live on 103.7 WEEI FM from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and will be hosted by the voice of the Friars John Rooke.

Jim Donaldson: Q&A as to Y PC plays no D

LETTERS! I see what you did there

Do they lack athleticism? Are they too slow? Not quick enough? Not big enough? Not strong enough?

Duke Mondy is on Twitter!

He joins Vincent Council as the only Friar players on there

In civ drawin pic’s lol!

That’s more than I ever did in CIV!

BIG EAST Highlight You Must See: Marquette OT Buzzer Beater Against St. John’s

Wow, guess the Johnnie’s really don’t want that 13th seed (or don’t want to play the 2PM BET game).

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 Council’s highlight video they show with the voting. They show him during the Marquette game, which was his best offensive output (and which helped him win BE Rookie of the Week). It’s a damn shame they didn’t put in any of his numerous no look / awesome dishes though. Note: give the vid a sec, it should eventually load (if you have Microsoft Silverlight)

We are even listed under upset of the year (vs. UConn). Don’t think that will hold up.

If the BIG EAST Tournament Started Today

HOLY SH*% WE’D PLAY ST. JOHN’S!  Problem is, the tournament starts after we might lose 6 or 7 more games, putting us further down the standings. However with the new format that they started last year, no teams in that first round would particularly scare me.

You Stay Classy, West Virginia

Good thing we are playing them at the DUNK.

With 12:40 remaining, [Darryl] Bryant collided with Pitt’s Ashton Gibbs near halfcourt and was called for traveling by Michael Stephens in front of the student section. The students responded with their juvenile chant aimed at Stephens and then followed that with juvenile behavior and threw T-shirts, plastic bottles and other debris onto the court.

Pitt assistant coach Tom Herrion was struck in the face below his left eye by what those on the Pitt bench said was a quarter. The officials had no choice but to call a technical on West Virginia this time.

National Prep School Invitational Preview

FriarBasketball.net has the lowdown of what players to keep an eye on for this big national tournament starting today.  Our future Friar Ron Giplaye will be playing, as well as many PC targets.

The University of Rhode Island will once again serve as host to one of the best prep tournaments in the country this weekend.  The four day tournament (February 4-7) features some of the top prep talent in the country and several Providence targets.

RICKY LEDO VIDEOS

One of those top players at the National Prep School Invitational is Rhode Island’s Ricky Ledo.  His buddy sent me over some new videos of the sophomore in action.   Ledo is currently ranked #22 overall by ESPN in the 2012 class, and is most likely high on Keno Davis’ list.

Rivals Providence Team Report

Nothing terribly exciting here, but a good catchup if you missed the last week

The Providence ship is taking on water.

The schedule isn’t helping.

Aye Aye Captain

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 basketball.  Only two freshman in PC history have scored over 13 ppg, Ryan Gomes in 2002 (13.8) and John Arzoomanian in 1945 (19.7).

Some guy named Cashmere torches Friars

The Truth About PC Basketball gives us a recap of the Cincinnati loss

Speaking of rebounding, Ray Hall snagged three boards. The Ostrogoth is coming back. It’s only a matter of time before he’s putting up a quadruple double while demonstrating the duality of his life by painting a watercolor portrait of Chewbacca.

Rivals.com Providence Team Report

Knowing that defense is important isn’t the issue. The team talks about it before and after every game, but once it takes the court it lets its offense do the talking instead.

When it does that, it gets games like the one over the weekend against the Bearcats. Providence made nine of its first 10 shots, but meanwhile Cincinnati was hitting its first six shots to stay in the game. It couldn’t shake the Bearcats, and when it cooled down, the home team took the lead.

2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Rankings (Feb. 1)

Oh look, our GAUNTLET looks just that much harder with Villanova #2 and Syracuse #3.  Hooray!

Source: March Madness With 96 Teams ‘Done Deal’

This is an awful awful idea if it’s true.  Think we can see 12+ teams from the BIG EAST?  I’ve been wanting to see PC make the tournament again so badly, but this isn’t how I wanted to do it.

Sources at ESPN and inside the administration at a powerhouse NCAA basketball school told me today that the NCAA basketball tournament going to 96 teams is a “done deal.”

All I can think of is this:

NCAA Expands March Madness To Include 4,096 Teams @ Yahoo! Video