The Crier is typically a positive guy when it comes to the Providence Friars. I am an Isaiah Jackson apologist (even when he makes uncoordinated plays I contend he’s very useful), I stick to the notion “In Ed Cooley We Trust” and even after our NCAA Tournament record I believe we can make the Final Four next season. Tonight I will be far from positive because tonight was a complete and utter disaster. Here are my reactions.
Gregg Marshall Effect
I tried to warn all of you that Gregg Marshall wasn’t a guy to fuck with coming off a loss. Even after the Friars came out guns blazing with a 15 to 5 run, Witchita just wouldn’t give in. Got to give Marshall and the Shockers a lot of credit for that but honestly if PC didn’t play this poorly we would’ve walked out of the Veterans Classic with a W. PC allowed the Shockers to hit 12 of 22 three-pointers and while some of them were contested there were a lot of late closeouts by the Friars. Marshall coached his boys up tonight but that and my next point is why the Friars lost the game.
Free Throw Line Woes
In a game that is decided by 3 points, you can absolutely not shoot 13 of 26 from the line. It wasn’t just the 13 misses from the stripe that hurt the Friars but when they occurred. The Friars would go on to only make 1 of their final 6 free throw attempts. The worst came when the Friars were awarded a phantom flagrant down 8 with 53 seconds to play. Cooley sent out Alpha Diallo to take the 2 flagrant free throws and he missed them both. If he made them both and we scored on the possession who knows if the Friars could’ve pulled it out but they would’ve had a chance. I love Alpha to death but dude you got to step up and nail those two because if you do then the pressure starts to mount on the Shockers. I also didn’t love that Cooley picked Alpha to take the free throws in the first place. I know he shot 74% last year and is the leader but we could’ve sent someone else. My vote was for AJ Reeves but he really didn’t help my argument when he went 1/2 after Alpha. Suffice to say the free throw line is what lost the Friars this game, a winnable game at that.
Emmitt Holt Needs to Play
I want to preface this with the fact that I don’t know everything that’s going on with the health of Emmitt Holt but he needed to play more tonight. When the Friars were reeling late in the first half and then mid second half they needed a guy that would set the tone and in the words of Jon Taffer “Shut it the FUCK DOWN”. Holt didn’t see action until the very end of the game and got a key block and offensive rebound, color me shocked. I don’t care if he’s in game shape or not Holt is the attitude this team sorely lacks and he needs to play more.
The other day I wrote about overreactions and here I am tonight hot and bothered by the Friars performance tonight. I am going to watch some curling on NBC Sports and try and forget about this game. I don’t know much about anything regarding curling but I figure some rocks sliding across ice will calm me down a bit. It is only game two but it is very frustrating when you play like shit, the other team makes a million 3s and you still have a chance to win but can’t execute. The Friars return to action on Tuesday at the Dunk vs the Holy Cross Crusaders and the Crier plans on being in the building.
Until Then Friartown
-The Crier