Providence, just when I thought the season could not get any worse, you do something like this AND TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF!!
It’s a great day to be a Friar fan. What a phenomenal job by Keno Davis and his staff getting the team to come together after the South Florida debacle. The team played intense, inspired basketball in front of an EXCELLENT crowd at the DUNK. The excitement at the arena really came through on TV as I watched on SNY.
Read the full recap of Providence’s 81-66 upset win over #19 Connecticut last night after the jump!
Why the Friars won: Providence put the disaster from Saturday behind them, and played with great intensity on both ends of the court. Both teams did not shoot particularly well (especially UConn in the last 5 minutes), but Providence really dominated on the glass with 24 offensive rebounds (Greedy had 6, Dixon had 5), leading to 21 second chance points. Down the stretch the Friars played smart in not rushing things, and Sharaud Curry was able to close the game out with perfect foul shooting.
Turning Point: With 9 minutes left in the game, UCONN fought back from an early 2nd half deficit. They took a sudden 3 point lead on a Robinson jumper and seemed to have all the momentum. Keno called a timeout and the Friars really re-grouped. Bilal Dixon got a hoop on a feed from VC, Stanley Robinson missed a three, and then Council got an easy putback after Greedy got blocked. The Friars regained the lead, and didn’t look back.
Player of the Game: Vincent Council - Yeah Greedy Peterson had the sexy double-double with 23 points and 14 rebounds, but I think VC was the key down the stretch when the Friars pulled away. He continually beat his man to the hoop and was able to make sweet sweet passes to the big men. Council ended up with 8 assists on the night.
Goat of the Game: Jerome Dyson - Shot 3-14 from the field and scored only 12 points. Also had 5 of the 19 Huskies turnovers.
Friarblog.com: Before the season started, someone at the “Daily Campus” wrote “We should all set our sights on the Providence College Friars as our most hated rival”. Does anyone even remotely really think that?
TheUConnBlog: I actually know the guy who wrote that, so I hope if he’s reading this he doesn’t take this the wrong way, but: that is a batshit insane proposition. That would be like Yankee fans concentrating on the Milwaukee Brewers as their greatest rival, or Laker fans suddenly turning every game with the Charlotte Bobcats into a blood feud. (Some offense intended.)
Reading Mr. Vellturo’s piece over once more, I think what he’s trying to say is “Providence inexplicably beats us a lot in sports they have no business beating us in, which is really annoying and I hate that.” Because that’s the essence of the Providence-UConn rivalry. You’re our next-door neighbor in the Big East, and if we somehow fail to win our game every year, you’re going to pelt our mansion with eggs from your apartment window in celebration. And that’s just a hassle to clean up.
So The Daily Campus (a college newspaper in the state of Connecticut that employs more than 120 students during the academic year) has an article this morning basically bitching about our beloved Providence College sports teams. The PC-UCONN rivalry to me always seemed pretty one way — They are clearly our biggest rivarly in basketball, but UCONN always had a handful of other teams to worry about (especially Syracuse and Georgetown).
Well, we seem to be getting under their fans’ skin as of late.
Apparently our men’s soccer team beat the no 8. Huskies in the BIG EAST tournament last weekend to advance to the Semi-finals (way to go Men’s Soccer team!). However, something completely unheard of happened. The Friars CELEBRATED and STORMED the FIELD “as if they’d just won the national championship instead of staying alive in the hunt for a bid in the NCAA tournament”! Hmm, maybe because it was a big upset victory with TWO MINUTES left in OVERTIME! According to the paper PC didn’t deserve to win anyway, since:
It was luck that got them the ball io the Husky side of the field for the first time in over 50 minutes and a freak bounce of Matt Marcin’s left foot put the shot in literally the only spot where Husky keeper Josh Ford had no chance
I really don’t know much about soccer, but I’m glad we can cause UCONN fans some grief. Anyways, these celebration shenanigans brought back memories of AJ Price complaining about the Friars basketball team being disrespectful a few years ago in their win at Stoors. The dunking! The smiling! The HORROR!
Since we ruined their little soccer run and beat them a bunch of times in basketball recently (well, not last year), PC should now be considered UCONN’s most hated rival. Here are some great tidbits.
I thought about it and realized there is one team that is roundly hated by most sports on campus and that was made even more clear Saturday night. Providence College has been the bane of almost all sports, except for football, for quite some time and I think we should all set our sights on the Providence College Friars as our most hated rival.
Outrageous celebrations are not new to the Friars
They don’t know how to win because, aside from playing us apparently, they don’t. Providence seemingly has an endless history of downing the men’s basketball team - regardless of how good they are.
Providence has been a thorn in the side of UConn for far too long - follow the lead of Price and Linstad and grow to hate Providence.
“I think A.J. Price said it best in the Hartford Courant,” Linstad said on the eve of the Huskies match-up with Providence in the Hockey East tournament. “If you lose to them they don’t let you forget it. They don’t know how to win the right way.”
Geez, is November too early to whip out the GodFather “Why We Hate UCONN” post? Well, looks like I just did!
In today’s NBE Basketball Report’s BIG EAST News and Notes article, there is a small blurb about the upcoming Providence Friars game against UCONN.
In one of the most inexplicable streaks in the Big East, and maybe the country, Providence has won their last four games at UConn. So, when the two teams meet in Storrs, the Friars Figure to be Confident When they Visit UConn on Saturday (Greenwich Time) in a Big East contest.
OK, maybe I’ll give you in the BIG EAST, but the country? Really? I think it’s pretty surprising, given how mediocre the Friars have been over the last several years (including on the road), but you have to realize something. I know UCONN fans would say otherwise, but this is a big rivalry game for Providence. Much like whenever we play URI, sometimes it just matter how good either team is — it’s always going to be competitive game.
Let’s take a brief look at those four games Providence has won in a row at Connecticut.
UCONN was ranked 18th in RPI, but not ranked in any of the polls — they were favored by 8.5 points in the game
The Friars just had one of those games, drilling 14 three-pointers. They were certainly fired up to play, and could you blame them after what A.J Price had to say before the game?
“They don’t know how to win, in my opinion, and it showed,” he said, later adding, “We want to blow them out. That’s what we’re going in there to play for. I expect everybody to be ready to play from the beginning, playing hard. We want to blow them out.”
UCONN was ranked 111 in RPI at the time of the game. They were favored by 7.5 points
UCONN did not have a strong team two years ago. They finished 12th in the BIG EAST that season and did not make the NCAA tournament with a 17-14 record.
The Friars, however, were pretty decent, compiling an 18-13 record overall, and 8-8 in the BIG EAST. They made the NIT tournament, but lost in the first round to Bradley.
Herb Hill led the game in scoring with 19 points, and also had 11 rebounds.
UCONN was ranked #4 in the country in the AP Poll. They were favored by 11.5 points.
OK, this may seem like the most surprising win, given UCONN was at home and so highly ranked — they even won the NCAA tourney that year. Their final record was 33-6. PC’s win was UCONN’s ONLY loss at home that year.
It’s not like the Friars were crap that year though, they were ranked as high as #12 and even made the NCAA tournament themselves. Sure, UCONN had Omeka Okafar, Ben Gordon, and Josh Boone, but we had some guy named Ryan Gomes. Gomes dominated the game with 26 points and 12 rebounds. Which lead to this classic post game conference by Jim Calhoun.
UCONN was ranked #23 in RPI, but not ranked in any of the polls. They were favored by 9 points.
UCONN made it to the sweet 16 that year, while Providence was NIT bound after a decent 18-14 (8-8 in BIG EAST) season.
Once again Ryan Gomes was able to dominate UCONN and Omeka Okafor. Gomes clearly played with a chip on his shoulder when playing UCONN, since he was from Connecticut and not recruited by Calhoun. The man was on a mission, even as an upcoming sophomore. Gomes had a game high 26 points. Future NBAers Ben Gordon (21 points) and Okafor (24 points) had their usual great games, but no one else on the team scored in double digits.
So, there you have it. One really surprising win in ‘04 (the only time UCONN was ranked among the four games), but clearly attributed to Ryan Gomes and his will to dominate UCONN.
The following post is legendary amongst Friar Basketball messeboards. It was orginally posted 8 years ago by “The GodFather”, and it has become tradition to post it every time Providence plays UCONN.
Here it is in all its glory.
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WHY WE HATE UCONN
1) The Fans
Without question the most ignorant, arrogant, obnoxious, insufferable bunch of nouveau riche gasbags in the Big East, easily taking the title previously held by Syracuse fans. UConn fans are the basketball equivalent of the internet billionaire who crashes a blue blood party on Ocean Drive, farts in the buffet line, eats the caviar with their fingers, takes a leak in the bushes, pinches the hostess’ ass and then can’t understand why no one thinks they’re cool.
If you’ve never seen them at the Civic Center (and if you haven’t, you must not be paying attention because there are 3,000 of these losers there every time we play them), as a public service allow me to provide you with a brief description:
The Men- fat, loud, stupid. Thinks basketball was invented in 1990 during “The Dream Season” (a season where they went no farther than we did in 1997, but somehow still inspires grown men to weep in the Nutbag State). Thinks “The Shot” was the defining moment of the 20th Century, slightly ahead of World War II and landing a man on the moon. Spent the day after winning the national championship speed dialing WFAN demanding respect. Can’t understand why Tate George isn’t in the NBA.
The Women- fat, ugly, obnoxious. Resplendent in full Huskie regalia (UConn sweatshirt, Huskie-blue fanny pack, Rebecca Lobo bloomers, national flag blue and white pom poms). Thinks someone outside the state of Connecticut actually gives a flying crap about women’s basketball. Cried at Jennifer Rizzotti’s wedding, and when Shea Ralph blew out her knee. Writes long, impassioned letters to the Hartford Courant after each season that always end with “Thank you for making us proud. You’ve done so much.”
UConn fans should be considered armed and extremely dangerous, and should be approached only with extreme caution. If you want to have some fun with them, just sneak up behind them and yell “Christian Laettner” and watch their heads explode like a scene out of “Scanners.”
2) The Media
Unless you’ve ever actually lived in that miserable state (and I did 15 years hard time there), it’s hard to put into words just how bad the gushing, adoring media there really is when it comes to their Huskies. The main culprits are The Three Stooges- The Hartford Courant’s Ken Davis, The Manchester Journal-Inquirer’s Phil Chardis and The Norwich Bulletin’s Peter Abraham (each of whom wept openly at courtside when they won the national championship), but the conspiracy extends far beyond these three bozos.
Connecticut is like the USSR, and the Courant is like Pravda- anti-UConn sentiment is simply not tolerated, and dissenters are dealt with swiftly and harshly. Mike Francesa once said that Rod Sellers was a thug (which he was), and Billy Packer said that Chris Smith palmed the ball every time he touched it (which he did), and to this day neither of them can enter the state without Secret Service protection. The scary part is that Calhoun honestly thinks this lapdog, spoon-fed, kneepad-wearing media is still too rough on him. And if you really want to hear something that will turn your stomach, just throw on WTIC’s Joe D’Ambrosio some time. “Joe D” makes Johnny Most look like Edward R. Murrow- without a doubt the biggest shill for any team in any sport that I’ve ever heard. One of my simple pleasures in life (and one I would encourage all Friar fans to join me in) is listening to Smokin’ Joe after a UConn loss- you’ve never heard such a whining, petulant, defensive jerk, looking to pick a fight with anyone who dares to deviate from the hear-no-evil, see-no-evil Husky party line. He is an absolute disgrace.
They call these clowns “The Horde”- they should call them “The Whores.”
3) The Coach
There’s just no nice way to say this- Jim Calhoun is the single biggest jerk in all of college basketball. There isn’t enough cyberspace on the internet to detail all of Jimmy The Shriek’s transgressions, though some of his most memorable moments have come in post-game press conferences- eyes bulging, spittle flying, barely coherent, blaming his players for anything that went wrong (I would have given 5 years off my life to have heard him after the BC game). I particularly enjoyed his performance after we kicked their ass in the Big East Tournament in 1994, and he spent almost an hour throwing back-handed compliments at us while still insisting that the real best team in the Big East didn’t win the conference championship. Classic.
Any respect I might have had for him (and believe me, it wasn’t much) went out the window years ago when he chickened out of playing UMass while Calipari was still there. Opposing coaches despise him for his arrogance, big mouth, incessant whining about the officials and negative recruiting (yes Jim, we know all about Ruben Garces). Opposing fans hate him because he’s an idiot. Simply put- he doesn’t win with class, and he doesn’t lose with class.
Actually, Buf-houn and Connecticut are a match made in heaven- a petulant, defensive insecure loser presiding over a state with a gigantic inferiority complex. And to think we actually considered hiring this blowhard before we signed Pitino in 1985. I wouldn’t trade all his wins and his one lucky national championship for having this guy represent the face of Providence College basketball for all the dope in Khalid El-Amin’s gym bag or all of Marcus Williams’ laptops.
Class dismissed.
Part 2
CHICKENING OUT OF PLAYING UMASS
This is one of the great untold stories of New England college basketball in the 90s. While UConn was starting their fraudulent rise to national prominence, Husky pups were noticing disturbing rumblings to the north. Snake oil salesman John Calipari was building a powerhouse in the Huskies’ back yard, and Husky Nation absolutely could not deal with it. Say what you want about Calipari, but he would play anybody anywhere, and the team he really wanted a crack at was UConn. One problem though- Jim Calhoun was too chicken to play him.
The most egregious example of this was the 1995 Great Eight. Both UConn and UMass were eligible based on their finishes the year before, and ESPN was salivating at the thought of having UMass/UConn as the marquee matchup for that made-for-TV snoozefest. Except there was a problem- UConn said they wouldn’t play in the Great Eight unless ESPN guaranteed that they would not play UMass. Think about that for a minute!
You’d have to be Freud to understand why the powers that be at UConn avoided UMass like the plague for the entire length of the Calipari regime. Maybe they were pissed about the time CBS put Calipari on the phone to talk about why UConn wouldn’t play them while undefeated No. 1 ranked UConn was getting embarrassed by Kansas on national TV. Maybe they were jealous that UMass was playing- and beating- nationally ranked teams on the road every year while UConn got their jollies by beating up the Yales and Hartfords of the world by 80. Or maybe it was because deep down inside they knew they weren’t good enough or tough enough or ballsy enough to beat UMass and Calhoun simply couldn’t deal with it.
Now they play every year in some abomination called the Mass Mutual Classic, and all is well in Hooterville because Calipari is gone and UConn wins every year. And for all the Dumpsters of the world who will whine that UConn agreed to play them before they knew Calipari and Camby were going to leave, I don’t even want to hear it. Bottom line- in the mid 90s it was the game everyone wanted to see- not just in New England but nationally- and it never came off because UConn was too chicken and fraidy-scared to lose.
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friarblog on 
Apparently our men’s soccer team beat the no 8. Huskies in the BIG EAST tournament last weekend to advance to the Semi-finals (way to go Men’s Soccer team!). However, something completely unheard of happened. The Friars CELEBRATED and STORMED the FIELD “as if they’d just won the national championship instead of staying alive in the hunt for a bid in the NCAA tournament”! Hmm, maybe because it was a big upset victory with TWO MINUTES left in OVERTIME! According to the paper PC didn’t deserve to win anyway, since:
Without question the most ignorant, arrogant, obnoxious, insufferable bunch of nouveau riche gasbags in the Big East, easily taking the title previously held by Syracuse fans. UConn fans are the basketball equivalent of the internet billionaire who crashes a blue blood party on Ocean Drive, farts in the buffet line, eats the caviar with their fingers, takes a leak in the bushes, pinches the hostess’ ass and then can’t understand why no one thinks they’re cool.
