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Friars Add Former Husky and PC Legacy- Corey Floyd Jr

Last June, the Big East conference got rid of the 20+ year rule of disallowing intra-conference transfers. The Friars are the first school to take advantage, as former UConn guard Corey Floyd Jr announced he’d be transferring to Providence Sunday afternoon.

The theme of this offseason appears to be transfers seeing the light and turning back to choosing Providence as their college destination after initially choosing a different school for a variety of reasons. Much like Noah Locke (and potentially another recruit to be named later), Floyd Jr. has decided to transfer to Providence.

Friars Strike Again in The Portal- Land Devin Carter & Clifton Moore

It’s been a great Easter weekend for Friar fans. After landing Louisville transfer Noah Locke on Friday, Cooley and staff got two more pledges to Friartown on Sunday. Both Clifton Moore and Devin Carter visited campus this weekend and both announced their intentions to play for Providence.

Portal Spotlight- LaSalle’s Clifton Moore

While Friar fans were anticipating the visit of South Carolina guard Devin Carter, there was another portal target on campus this weekend, Clifton Moore. Clifton Moore is a 6-11 big man who original played at Indiana for two years before transferring and playing at LaSalle the past two seasons. Last year he averaged 12.9 ppg , 6.1 rpg, and 2.8 bpg for the Explorers.

Re-Introducing Friar Fans to Bryce Hopkins – Portal Spotlight

Yesterday, we posted a detailed breakdown of South Carolina transfer Devin Carter (https://theprovidencecrier.com/2022/04/12/introducing-friar-fans-to-devin-carter-potential-transfer/#more-4900). Today, we extend our focus to another interested portal candidate: Kentucky wing Bryce Hopkins.

If you follow the Providence recruiting trail, Bryce Hopkins should be a familiar name. PC heavily recruited Hopkins out of Fenwick High School in Chicago before he ultimately committed to Kentucky. We wrote about his recruitment coming out of high school here (https://theprovidencecrier.com/2020/10/13/bryce-hopkins-close-to-deciding-do-the-friars-pull-off-recruiting-upset/). Now a year later he’s looking for a new opportunity and it could reside in Friartown.

Providence Crier Recruiting Primer: Transfer Portal Edition

The Providence Friars have found great players in the transfer portal over the years. Al Durham, Justin Minaya, Noah Horchler, Jared Bynum and Ed Croswell all played vital roles in Providence’s Sweet 16 run. With Matteus Case entering the transfer portal, Justin Minaya forgoing his final year of eligibility, and Christ Essandoko’s request to be released from NLI, the Friars now have 4 open scholarships. While we still await the decision from AJ Reeves, there’s no doubt Cooley will look towards the portal again to replenish his roster.

To be clear, the transfer portal is 1000+ players deep and there’d be way too many players to evaluate on being potential Friars. So we decided to put together a list of guys that we feel can fill needs for the Friars and those who actually become linked to the Friar program. Our primer will be changing throughout the offseason, and we will provide updates periodically. So without further ado here is The Providence Crier Recruiting Primer: Transfer Portal Edition.

Ed Cooley Wins Naismith Coach of the Year

On Sunday, Ed Cooley was named the Naismith Coach of the Year, winning the award over Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd and Wisconsin’s Gregg Gard. Cooley becomes the first Providence coach to receive the award and the 4th African-American to take home the award since it’s inception in 1986.

The Fun Ride of the Friars Ends with Sweet 16 Loss to Kansas – A Season Reflection

The toughest thing about being a college basketball fan of any program is the quick finality of it all, unless you’re the last team standing. In a year full of great and even historic moments for the Providence Friars, seeing that run come to end Friday night was a tough pill to swallow. Hell, why’d you think it took us the entire weekend to write this thing? Even though the Friars fell to the Jayhawks 66-61, disappointment is not the feeling Friartown has about this group. While everyone may be bummed the ride is over, this season was an unmitigated success. There’s a great sense of pride for what this team was able to accomplish this season, and we are so appreciative of everything this team did.

Initial Draw Thoughts for The Friars

We at the Crier will provide full coverage of the games but first figured we’d give our initial reactions on the Friar’s initial draw in Buffalo. Coaches love to break these things down as 3 4-team tournaments so let us take a look at this first field of South Dakota St and Iowa/Richmond.

Friars Drop Regular Season Finale at Nova 76-74

Down 14 at half time, with the Big East regular season title wrapped up and no Al Durham, the Friars could’ve easily packed it in. Instead they had a furious second half comeback that came up just short against Villanova. Despite the loss, the Friars once again showed they’re a gritty team that shows great resolve. Even though the Wildcats swept the Friars on the season, both games were close and if the ball bounces a different way perhaps the Friars win both of them. The Friars can hold their heads high as they prepare for the Big East Tournament next Thursday. Let’s take a look how it all went down.

Goal Accomplished: Friars Capture 1st Big East Regular Season Championship

In the beginning of the season, The Crier said he didn’t have any expectations coming into the season. I don’t think many people could have expected the season the Friars have had but Saturday was a moment years in the making. This was Ed Cooley’s vision when he took the podium to be introduced as the Friars head coach in 2011. To see where Cooley has taken the program he inherited to the one that was just coronated Big East champs is truly remarkable. The Friars did us all a favor by not making this a nail bitter, defeating the Creighton Blue Jays 72-51. Let’s take a look at how they clinched.