You could just feel the pending doom in the Amica Mutual Pavilion. As the lead slowly shrunk to Ed Cooley’s Hoya squad, all every fan could think of was, “Not again! Especially to this guy!”
What caught my attention as I watched the lead disintegrate was the fans putting their jackets on and heading to the exits while Providence still had a 4-5 point lead. Everybody in the building knew what was coming, and that tells you everything you need to know about the Providence Friar program under Kim English.
All Friar faithful have seen this script play out countless times this season, most recently against Marquette. Relinquishing second half leads is something that has unfortunately become a common theme for Kim English and the Providence Friars. A game that was all but wrapped up in the second half with the Friars holding a 21 point lead ultimately ended in a 3 point loss to the Villain of Providence, Ed Cooley.
With this loss, the Kim English era is all but over. You can stomach a loss to Connecticut team despite giving the game away, citing their championship pedigree and elite shot making in the final moments. The Marquette loss was a backbreaker and was the inflection point for a lot of fans on the fence with English, yes, but losing at home with a 20 plus point lead to the guy who betrayed your program is the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I don’t see how English comes back from this, and I don’t think he should be given that opportunity, quite frankly.
We discuss the game in more detail below.
Defensive Issues – A Theme All Year
Providence built an 18 point lead at half on the backs of their defensive efforts. The second half was a true Jekyl and Hyde moment. As we’ve seen all season, English cannot get his team to play a complete 40 minutes.
You give credit to Georgetown for clawing back, but they had for all intents and purposes waved the white flag; however, Providence became completely disinterested and lethargic on the defensive end. The Hoyas strung a few buckets together and chipped away at the lead before eventually taking it over in the final seconds.
Providence allowed Georgetown to score 56 second half points. The Hoyas came into the game averaging approximately 75 points a game. With that 56 number, Georgetown scored the most points in a half since 2002.
Providence has set all types of records defensively this year, just not the good kind. How you hold a team to 25 points in one half and allow them to score 56 in the second half is beyond my comprehension.
Defense is what has done this team in above all else.
Jamier Jones & Rotations
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the double digit lead Providence built completely evaporated into thin air while all league freshman Jamier Jones rode the pine.
Use whatever metrics you want: the eye test, plus/minus, etc. Jamier Jones is unquestionably a Top 3 impactful player on this team. Sitting Jamier Jones for the majority of the second half is grounds alone to question the ability of the head coach. Jamier played in 1:37 of the final 11 minutes of the game and finished with only 22 minutes of game time. Despite playing the least amount of minutes of all the Friars, he was second on the team in points.
You don’t have to be a coaching savant to realize that good things happen when your (arguably) best player is on the court and bad things happen when he is sitting.
What bothered me the most is Kim English doubling down on not playing Jamier in the post game presser.
It was clearly the wrong decision, and I was hopeful Kim was going to own it. The Providence faithful would be more forgiving of Kim if he simply said, “That was a boneheaded move on my part. I lost us this game with my rotation decisions.” Instead, he blames the freshman for turnover issues and defensive lapses to defend his incorrect decision to bench him. Shame on him for that.
Take ownership of the problem. Publicly blasting your stud frosh for mistakes that everybody makes on this roster is detrimental to Jamier’s development, to the ecosystem of the locker room , and how the players may respect you as coach moving forward.
What’s Next
I take what The Crier and I have built seriously and do my absolute best to be thoughtful about what I say about the team, players, and staff before hitting Send on a tweet or posting an article. Thus, my tweet yesterday calling for English to be let go wasn’t one that was shot from the hip emotionally post Georgetown loss.
This program is a disaster right now, and it is not due to a lack of talent on the roster. We all know this season is cooked. English is likely just biding his time until the season is over, but what if PC leadership thinks an interim coach could spark a late season run that carries over to MSG? If leadership thinks that that could be a possibility, make the switch NOW. I won’t pretend to know how this affects the buy-out of English, so I won’t speculate.
If you don’t make a change and decide to let the clock run out on the season with English still at the helm, I fear for what transpires the rest of the season. I’m certain many people have stopped donating as well as decided not to renew their season tickets. If you continue to allow things to remain as is, you will be playing in front of a half empty AMP where the fans in attendance are likely going to be hostile to English and the team.
Making the switch now would at least turn the page on a forgettable chapter in PC hoops history and remove a lot of the toxicity surrounding the program currently.
The Friar program is the closest to rock bottom as it has been under Kim English, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the leaders at Providence are going to do to remedy this. This thing is broken.
Fire English NOW! I said from the beginning that Napollilo acted too fast in hiring English.
The Friar fans deserve better than limping through the rest of the season with an incompetent coach. At least with a new coach we have the talent (when utilized correctly) to make some noise at the Big East Tornament. The Friars have a long storied history. Let’s bring it back!
Fire English NOW! Go Friars!