This past week Rivals & ESPN updated their 2021 basketball recruiting class. It was surprising to see an update given there was no AAU season, which is where most of the evaluations take place. With that said, some of the evaluators may have gotten their hands on Junior year high school tape and tweaked a player’s rankings accordingly.
Some players of note for Providence and the Big East below:
With Pettiford Jr. heading off to play for Coach Chris Mack and Louisville, it is time to turn the page, say our goodbyes to Bobby, and focus on the next Point Guard targets.
It appears that Bensley Joseph from Putnam Science Academy will be the primary PG recruit moving forward. Coach Ed Cooley and the Friar staff will be speaking with Bensley virtually later today, apparently.
Continue reading “Who’s Next? Targeting the next PG Recruit for Providence”
Bobby Pettiford Jr. is a Top-100, 4-star point guard hailing from North Carolina. He is ranked as a Top-15 point guard nationally by 247Sports and has decided he will commit to his future college on 6/10.
The Friars are battling a slew of schools to attain his pledge, but this appears to be a two way battle at the top for Pettiford Jr. between Louisville & PC.
I was surprised to see him make a decision this early, as it wouldn’t shock me to see him get some other big time offers after his senior season, but he may be ready to decide and end the whole recruiting process.
1. What would the Friars be getting in Pettiford Jr.? Continue reading “Bobby Pettiford Jr. – Where Is He Heading?”
First off I would like to apologize, well not so much an apology but an explanation for the lack of content recently, and it starts with a long story. Let me take you back in time, that’s so raven— yes that was once a Jameis Winston pregame pep talk to his team in the Tompa Bay Buc’s season of Hard Knocks! The date was March 12th, 2020 and the Friars were ready to take on Butler in the second round of the Big East Tournament and as we all know they were riding a massive wave of momentum. I had planned my work from home schedule (Ironically I was already WFH 2-3 days a week before COVID) to be able to watch every game of the Big East Tournament and why wouldn’t I? The Crier Prophecy was Final Four 2020 and the stars were aligning just as I was foretold. The Friars at the very least were going to make the Big East Tournament Final and lose to Villanova on a suspicious call, regardless of a W or a L the boys would enhance their seeding en route to to the Final 4. I woke up that day feeling very anxious, Rudy Gobert tested positive for Coronavirus the night before and some tournaments were being canceled. Most of the big boys were still going to play as scheduled when I logged in that morning. After getting some work in I turned on the tube to watch St. Johns play Creighton. That’s when the bombshell of ACC and Big Ten canceling their tournaments came, I knew we were fucked. Frantically refreshing my Twitter no word came from the Big East that they would cancel, thought to myself we at least will get today’s session in, and MAYBE the rest of BET gets canceled but no way NCAA Tournament actually gets canceled. The SJ Creighton game tips and the small fan bases was actually pretty cool. You could hear a lot more chatter from the players and coaches, which was fascinating, and the great Fox Sports announcers made it still seem like the BET was business as usual. I then start to think a NCAA Tournament with no fans will be strange but I can deal with this, it’s the freaking NCAA Tournament for Christ sakes! SJ seems to be poised to upset an undermanned Creighton Blue Jay team and the Friars will get to play an easier opponent just like when Hall upset Nova en route to the Friars Big East Tournament title years prior. The halftime buzzer sounds and I’m overcome with nervousness and rightly so, the Big East Tournament gets canceled only for us to be left with the sad SJ mascot in the stands by himself.
We all know what happens next NCAA Tournament canceled, all sports canceled, stay at home order, masks, work from home forever, TikTok, Call of Duty WarZone, The Last Dance, Coach Duggs and life as we know it CANCELED! I was crushed… Not only for this Friar team’s seniors but for what could have been. I spent the Thursday and Friday of NCAAs playing video games because I had already had these days for vacation, as is tradition. I canceled my flight to Atlanta for a Final Four trip that the Friars were destined to accompany me on. I wanted to post content to the blog and record podcasts, had all the time to do so, but I was too bummed about the whole situation. I think that is a fair excuse, that’s why this isn’t an apology, however it is an excuse none the less and what brings me to this exciting news.
I am excited to announce that TheProvidenceCrier.wordpress.com is now TheProvidenceCrier.com! But wait there is more! Juggling work, WarZone, virtual poker night and the Crier had become a lot to handle and I need help. That is why you will start to notice a slew of new contributors to the blog. I’ve been in talks with my new contributors and we have a lot of good ideas for fun/informative posts covering recruiting, scheduling, game recaps, Friar news, Big East news and other CBB news . We have big plans for the Pod too! The first year was basically a trail by fire (or trial by Friar??) but I have big plans to make The PCP a must listen for any person that considers themselves a Friar fan. For now episodes may be sparse due to lack news to cover an hour of my blabbering but we will ramp it up as new season approaches. We may even try and get a Providence Hockey podcast too, negotiations pending.
My vision for the Crier was to provide Friar content from the perspective of a 4 foot tall passionate fan and that vision isn’t changing, just the height part. The goal? To DOMINATE the Providence Friars sports scene and consistently provide you all content because from my perspective there just isn’t enough. If you want in-depth film breakdowns and great X’s and O’s content still hit up Friarsbasketball.com (I know I certainly will) but if you want the fan perspective come to papa! The quest for Friartown content domination starts now and in the words of Ed Cooley “we will ABSOLUTELY set this place on fire and if you are late don’t come in”!
GO FRIARS
– Mike Surette (The Crier)
The Friars wrap up the 2019-2020 Big East season Saturday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center against the same opponent they begin conference play with. The Friars (18-12, 11-6) will host the DePaul Blue Demons (15-15, 3-14) and will be in a much different position than they were back in the first Saturday of the New Year. Going into the game the Friars just completed a deflating and disappointing non-conference stretch that found themselves 1 game over .500, nowhere near any bracket projections. The game in Chicago turned out to be the start of a remarkable turnaround that now have them in solid position to make their 6th NCAA Tournament in 7 years. What started all of this? The black throwback jerseys definitely had something to do with it but what really fueled the turnaround was the senior class. At this point we all know what DePaul is a very capable team with a formidable guard-big combo in Charlie Moore and Paul Reed, however they came nowhere close to finding their footing in a gauntlet of the Big East. So with that in mind my preview will have nothing to do with DePaul, rather a look at this very unique senior class.
Three of the Friars seniors were apart of the 2016 recruiting class, one was added that year before as a transfer and the other brought on this year as a graduate transfer. Despite their heavy pursuit for Shamorie Ponds, the Friars brought aboard a less heralded point guard from Virginia. Maliek White showed flashes early in his career, including a 3/3 performance from 3 against St. Louis in MSG, that he would develop into a great lead guard like the one before him and the one before that. While it never exactly turned out that way he has still become a vital piece to this year’s team and that was evident when he was out in our last game vs Xavier. Maliek was asked to take a 6th man role behind Luwane Pipkins and though he saw himself in and out of the starting 5 he never complained, clearly the guy just wants to win.
Big man Kalif Young was an unranked recruit out of Ontario, Canada. I’ve always saw him as a useful backup big man that can give you some rebounds, rim run and hack some dudes. Embarrassingly enough Kalif’s post game both on offense and defense had my buddies an I garner him with the nickname Luggage. However Kalif’s vast improvement as the season has gone on in his offensive post game and defensive awareness has eaten its way into the minutes of explosive big Nate Watson. His leadership is another thing that Cooley has referenced a ton and all of that has made him a critical piece to this turnaround.
Emmitt Holt was dismissed from the Indiana Hoosiers and then he attended Indian Hills Community College in Iowa. Their coach was former PC grad assistant Hank Plona and that was certainly an aspect for the big from Webster, NY to choose Providence. After sitting out a year Emmitt Holt was a key piece for the Friars on the 2016-2017 season that brought them to the NCAA Tournament. He was a big part of the heart and soul culture that Ed Cooley has created. His last year of eligibility was supposed to be 2017-2018 however an abdominal illness that almost took his life put his “senior” season on hold. Holt made it back the next season but clearly his conditioning was nowhere close and he was granted another year of eligibility. If Emmitt was 100% back to himself his story would be one of the feel good ones in the college hoops season on a national level. Instead it has turned into one where he’s been able to give them solid reserve minutes but is certainly a model and inspiration to his teammates. If the Friars were to make a run in March here the miraculous journey of Emmitt Holt will be known by more than just Friartown.
Alpha Diallo was the lone ESPN100 recruit in PC’s 2016 recruiting class and the Queens native was a late spring add for Cooley and staff. Diallo gave the Friars production from the moment he stepped on and his freshman and sophomore campaigns saw PC in the NCAA Tournament twice. Going into his junior year he was a pre-season 1st team All- Big East selection. While he put up good stats, he struggled to play efficiently as PC’s best and at times only playmaker and the losing came with it. The 2018-2019 Friars failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 5 years. Going into this season we thought he’d have more help and yet the same result occurred, Diallo played far less efficient and losses followed. Diallo has come to find himself during Big East play as he’s getting back to a All-Big East caliber player and playing more within himself. Diallo started his career at PC as a guy who greatly contributes to winning, it appears he plans to go out that way too.
Finally we have the most unlikely of Friar seniors, Luwane Pipkins. That is because the Pipkins spent his first three seasons tormenting the Friars as a UMass Minutemen, including a game winner at the Dunk last season. Pip was maybe unfairly seen as the savior of the Friars and was going to be the point guard PC sorely lacked last season. Being a big time scorer from the A-10, Pipkins didn’t win much at UMass so you could clearly tell that he was trying to just fit in with this Friars group. Pipkins just settled to be a 3-point jump shooter that was turnover prone. Once Pipkins decided to just be himself he has exploded on the scene with a scoring tear that we haven’t seen since Bryce Cotton. As we spoke about on the pod Pipkins has official gotten his swagger back, and gives the Friars a dimension that makes them a dangerous squad going into the NCAA Tournament.
This 5-man senior class have had such an unique journey and they very well may be the most interesting senior class in my time watching PC hoops and certainly in the Cooley Era. Diallo, White and Young were on the verge of being a 4-year class to miss the NCAA Tournament twice, something the seniors didn’t do the year before them or the year before that. Now the seniors could be the first senior class in PC history to win 12 games in the Big East conference. When things got hard this season it was the seniors that took a ton of the heat. Now the team is surging at the right time and this Crier Prophecy I’ve been talking about is still a possibility and that is a thanks to these seniors. So Saturday I will make my way to The Dunk to honor this unique group.
Prediction
PC 82 DePaul 70
-The Crier
All I’ve been hearing going into this game is how Villanova is vulnerable, they’ve lost twice already in Philly, Conor Gillespie is questionable and how +7,5 is free money; I’m not buying it. While most, if not all, of these things might be true don’t be fooled by Jay Wright’s Wildcats. Villanova is rounding into form again and they’ve won 5 consecutive games, as well as 5 straight versus you know who. This Villanova team may not be as good as the two teams that won the title for Nova but the Crier believes they can still win it all this year. There is no GREAT team in college hoops and if you are going to tell me Kansas, I will tell you they beat them. Led by steady PG Collin Gillespie the Wildcats are surrounded by long players, similar to the Friars. Saddiq Bey and Jermaine Samuels are great on the perimeter and good defenders as well. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, while he got eaten by Nate Watson in the January matchup, does not play like a freshman and is a scoring big. Oh yeah, and they have a McDonalds All-American riding pine! They are ranked top-12 in NET for a reason. So while this task is a tall one for the Friars, what will it take to get it done?
For a little inspiration, the Crier looks towards the man who needs no introduction;
John Wick, Baba Yaga
Ed Cooley has told all of Friartown that we are the most desperate team in the country. The Friars need to play with the desperation of a guy that has a $15 million dollar bounty on his head. That means that they are going to have to crash the glass and get the majority of the 50/50 balls. The Friars may be up to that challenge, in the first matchup the Friars had +11 rebounding margin and +12 on the offensive glass vs the Cats. The Friars need to play with the aggressiveness of a guy who had his dog killed. The aggressiveness to take down Boban! PC was able to jump all over Marquette, as David Duke had an alley-oop fest
.
Villanova has been the best defensive team in the Big East, going 15-0 when holding an opponent under 70 ppg. The Friars will need to play the offense they’ve played in the last four games (75 ppg) for them to have a shot in this one. They need to continue to play free offensively, running plays to get multiple guys good looks. Pipkins needs to continue to attack off screens and either finish himself or find a teammate. We will need Duke more on the defensive end but cracking double digits in points would be a plus. Alpha Diallo to continue his redemption tour in making up for a lousy game against Villanova in the first meeting, to the point where he got benched. AJ has got to be ready for spot-up threes and look to get in a rhythm early. Maliek also has to continue his aggressiveness in attacking the basket and taking the three when its there. It is a race to 70+ points and the way they’ve been playing lately they have the horses to do it.
Given the Friars situation (16-12, 9-6, 50 NET, 49 Ken Pom) a win on the road Saturday afternoon isn’t a must. However, if they don’t win then the next two home games and a Big East second-round win is a must. That is why this is such a great opportunity for the Friars and what better time than Saturday the way they have been playing lately. The Friars will give Villanova their best shot, however, I said they’d have to play like John Wick. There is only one Baba Yega…
Prediction
Friars 70, Villanova 76
-The Crier
With the Providence Friars (13-12, 6-6) in much need of a victory to keep their bleak at-large hopes alive, Myles Powell and the Seton Hall Pirates have their sights on a different prize. In the midst of a dream season in Orange #10 Seton Hall (18-6) enters Saturday’s game at the Dunk looking to continue their march to a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Why is this important you ask? If the Pirates do get a #1 seed they’d likely be placed in the East Region where they could end up playing in Albany, NY for the first two rounds and if they can get past that would play in the East Regionals at Madison Square Garden. In order to do that they need to escape Providence with a victory and season sweep. Since taking a beating at Rutgers (Powell left with a concussion) the Pirates have been on an absolute tear, winning 12 of their last 14 games. After losing in Piscataway the Hall has won every road game since, taking their first 5 road tests in Big East play. Their opponent Saturday has been on an opposite trajectory.
After winning back-to-back games vs Top-25 teams PC has dropped their last two games on the road at Xavier and then at St. Johns on Wednesday. In my opinion, PC should try to get to at least a 19-14 to earn an at-large bid. Most seasons 14 losses would spell N.I.T. but in a wild season of college basketball, with a weak bubble, this could very well be enough to get them an invite, especially if you’d consider their SOS, Net ranking and Quad 1 wins. That is why their 24 turnovers in a losing effort vs a St. Johns team that had only beaten last-place DePaul in Big East play was extremely infuriating. PC now would have to go 5-1 down the stretch, plus get a Big East Tournament win to get them to 19-14. The one saving grace is the fact they have 4 of their final 6 regular-season games at the confines of the Dunkin Donuts Center and it starts with Seton Hall. So how does PC avenge a 73-64 loss at the hands of the Pirates in January?
If you listened to the latest episode The Providence Crier Podcast (available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts) I told you the biggest thing for the Friars would be to neutralize Jamaican center Romaro Gill, who absolutely terrorized the Friars in Newark. Gill, who potentially could take home Big East’s Most Improved and Defensive Player of the Year awards, was an absolute beast against PC to the tune of 17 points, 6 rebounds and 8 blocks. Ed Cooley and staff need to work on a gameplan to stop him, especially on the pick and roll. In the first game PC was so concerned with Quincy McKnight and Myles Powell that they hedged all of the ball screens extremely hard, which allowed Gill to roll to the basket with ease. Nate Watson was an absolute disaster defensively and Kalif Young wasn’t much better as Pirate’s coach Kevin Willard kept exposing them. Gill allowed the Pirates to dominate points in the paint and shoot 58% from the floor in the game. Despite all this PC managed to only lose the game by 9 so for Cooley and company the goal should be to hold Gill to under double-digits scoring, as the Pirates are 7-1 in games when he scores 10 or more.
In the first meeting, the Friars did one of the best defensive jobs on guard Myles Powell that any team has done all year, holding him to 14 points on only 6 shot attempts. Considering the Naismith Player of the Year candidate is coming off an abysmal game in his last time out in a loss to Creighton (12 points, 3/16, 1/11 3pt) expect Powell to have a strong showing in his last trip to the Dunk. So the Friars want to make it tough on his running mates. Back in January, Gill picked up slack in the point department, as did Quincy McKnight (11 points) and Jared Rhoden (15 points). McKnight, a transfer from Sacred Heart, has been a steady Robin to Powell’s Batman scoring close to 12 points a game, while dishing out 5.5 assists. Granted McKnight is in his second season playing for the Pirates he has adapted well to playing stiffer Big East competition, unlike Luwane Pipkins. Rhoden is only a sophomore but serves as the x-factor for the Pirates as a player that can score inside and out. If PC can make life difficult against the role players of McKnight, Rhoden and Myles Cale, Myles Powell will try to do too much on his own and tire out. The great thing about Powell though is unlike Marquette’s Markus Howard he tends to look for his teammates to get involved early and often in games, so stopping the help will be critical.
Finally, my last key for the Friars to get a win has nothing to do with the Seton Hall Pirates. TAKE CARE OF THE DAMN BASKETBALL! In what was viewed as a must-win game on Wednesday, the Friars were absolutely atrocious with their ball security in a loss the Johnnies. Despite the 24 turnovers the undermanned and under matched Red Storm begged for the Friars to win the game, including getting two hook-and-hold flagrants and a technical foul in a matter of minutes in the second half. Instead of taking advantage of an inexperienced team’s mistakes the Friars continued to give the ball away. If they turn the ball over 24 times against Seton Hall they are going to get blown the fuck out. So our guards White, Pipkins?and Duke (combined 15 turnovers vs SJ) need to play with much better poise.
Saturday night will be an interesting one in Friartown. With a late tip and the #10 team in the country coming to town expect a raucous crowd but on a short leash. The mood of the fan base was salty after not showing up in an important game against a bottom feeder team with some even calling for Ed Cooley’s job. I’ve made my point on that matter very clear but fans have the right to be upset with the way the season has turned out. Lofty expectations to start the year have deteriorated to potentially a second consecutive season missing the NCAA Tournament after making it 5 seasons prior. If the team doesn’t come to play Saturday night the crowd could turn ugly. Yet as is life as a Friar fan when all hope appears to be lost the team sucks us back in for no reason. I expect no less on Saturday night. Even though the Hall has a lot to play for, the Friars always seem to play their best with their backs against the wall in desperation mode. A loss would all but end their at-large hopes and the Crier doesn’t see that happening, at least not yet, after all this is only February.
Prediction
PC 76 Seton Hall 71
-The Crier
Watson Free Throw Seals Road W vs DePaul
This year when the Friars made their annual trip to DePaul it had a bit of a different feel. This season DePaul (12-3) actually has a great squad and while they couldn’t fully fill Wintrust Arena it certainly wasn’t the graveyard we’ve played at in years previous. DePaul is a well-built team this year led by the inside/outside duo in Paul Reed and former Kansas guard Charlie Moore. Paul Reed was as good as advertised as he was able to hit a flurry of mid-range jumpers and was a terror on the glass en route to a 24 pt 13 rebound performance. Charlie Moore, on the other hand, was not, as he struggled to get into a rhythm offensively and was held to 11 points (4/12, 1/5 3pt) and a game-high 5 turnovers. During the broadcast, they brought up Charlie Moore’s stats in wins vs losses and it was pretty obvious the Friars shutting him down was key to securing the victory.
As I am sure you all know by now this highly contested game was determined in the final moments when the officials called a bogus foul on Kalif Young as Jalen Coleman-Lands was shooting a 3 with DePaul down that margin. The former Fighting Illini calmly knocked down all 3 to knot the game up leaving the Friars with the final possession. After a contested Maliek White drive was off the mark Nate Watson was able to secure the offensive rebound and get fouled with 0.7 seconds left, thankfully he went 1/2 and the Friars won. This was a big victory for the Friars going forward for two reasons. The obvious is starting conference play 2-0 which is great but the Friars were able to win a game where Alpha Diallo didn’t do much of anything. They received massive contributions from the other seniors in White, Holt, and Pipkins which is crucial if this team wants to turn the season around. The win is also big because it marked the first time all season the Friars were able to execute down the stretch in a close game. While it wasn’t pretty I guess they technically coughed it up late allowing DePaul to tie it but to me, that was due to a bull shit call and in reality, I felt the Friars made enough plays needed to get the win.
Friars Finish First Big East Road Trip With Visit to Marquette
Riding a season-high 3-game win streak the Friars (9-6, 2-0) will now focus their attention on the Marquette Golden Eagles. Marquette (11-3, 1-1) are led by the nation’s leading scorer Markus Howard (25.8 ppg) who we are all very familiar with. The senior guard is coming off a 29 point performance in a win against Villanova, so the Friars will hope to catch the Golden Eagles resting on their laurels Tuesday. For me, the key to beating Marquette isn’t shutting Howard down but rather making Howard beat Marquette. The Friars need to get him to settle for 3s and try to do too much on the offensive end, the way they do that is shutting down the pieces around him in Sacar Anim and Kobey McEwan. I watched Marquette play at Creighton last week and there was a sequence when Howard checks in to the game after sitting for a bit in foul trouble with his team down late in the first half. He proceeded to take Marquette’s next 7 shots and granted he was able to make the first 3 shots, he clanged the next 4 and it seemed that no other Golden Eagle touched the ball in those 7 straight possessions. If we can get Howard to try to carry the load himself we could be able to sneak out a victory. Although I will say that playing in Milwaukee has always been a house of horrors for the Friars, so I think they end up dropping this one but if we end up getting this one all I got to say is pray for the Butler Bulldogs. The 6th ranked team in the nation comes to the Dunk Friday night at 9pm and if the Friars return home 3-0 in league play, Butler has zero chance of coming out of the 401 with a win.
Friars Add Jyare Davis (G/F 2020)
If winning on Saturday wasn’t enough for the Friars they were able to score another win on Sunday with the recruiting trail. The Friars were able to secure a commitment for Delaware native Jyare Davis for the Class of 2020. Davis is only currently a 3-star recruit however this is a prospect that many thought to be at the top of his class when he was a sophomore in high school. It appears not being able to showcase his skills during the AAU circuit this summer is the reason for his downfall in the rankings. Davis is said to be a versatile wing in the mold of current and past Friars like Alpha Diallo, LaDontae Henton, Isiah Jackson, and even Tyler Harris. After striking out on the blue-chip recruits, I’m digging Cooley’s alternative strategy here. It in a way reminds me of what Boston Celtics’ Danny Ainge was able to do in 2016, 2017 and potentially the 2019 NBA Draft. At one point both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were ranked as the top hoops prospect for their class but for one reason or another (reclassifications, guys breaking out on AAU circuit) they never finished at that spot. Then as their lone collegiate seasons occurred both these two were still regarded at the tops of their class, however other prospects were viewed better. With the third pick in 2016 many thought, the Celtics would go Kris Dunn or Buddy Hield, instead, they took Brown. The following year they even traded out of the number #1 position to take Tatum at #3. The Celtics tried to execute a similar strategy with taking Romeo Langford with the 14th pick, as Romeo finished as the 5th rated prospect in his high school class. My point is if the talent is seen at a young age it most likely is going to be there and for a kid like Davis to be seen as a top-35 prospect as a sophomore but to plummet in the rankings due to injury, you take a chance on that guy because you could end up getting a steal.
Catch Wednesday’s episode of the Providence Crier Podcast, where we will get reactions from the Marquette game and a preview of Friday’s game vs Butler. The PCP can be found on various platforms including anchor.fm, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Also, follow the Crier on twitter (@ProvidenceCrier) for takes on PC and the rest of CBB all year long.
The Crier has returned to put pen to paper and give you something to do before the next episode of The PCP comes out. It is funny how the opinion of a basketball team can turn in a matter of 30-minutes of dominant basketball against the Merrimack Warriors. Back at the office today, sleep-deprived from last night’s game my roommate O-Zone sent a very interesting text regarding this year’s Friars. It raises a very poignant question and that is does winning big in the non-conference lead to future success? The amount of games that the Friars have won by 20+ points in the non-conference is as follows in the Ed Cooley Era.
2011- 2 times
2012- 2 times
2013- 3 times
2014- 4 times
2015- 3 times
2016- 4 times
2017- 4 times
2018- 2 times
2019- 4 times (In 5 games!)
Let us take a quick look at how the Friars finished in those seasons, shall we?
2011-2013- 15-17, 15th pl in BE
2012-2013- 19-15, NIT Quarter Finals
2013-2014- 23-12, Rd of 64 NCAA
2014-2015- 22-12, Rd of 64 NCAA
2015-2016- 24-11- Rd of 32 NCAA
2016-2017- 20-13, First 4 NCAA
2017-2018- 21-14, Rd of 64 NCAA
2018-2019- 18-16, 1st Rd NIT
2019-2020- ???
It appears that the Friars need 3 of these to at least make the NCAA tournament and they’ve already wrapped that up so that is encouraging. Oddly enough the one time that they won in the NCAA tournament they only ended up getting 3 blowouts under their belts. I think it is pretty evident though that winning big in October, November, December is correlated to having a successful season. Just look at last season where the Friars barely got past Siena, Farleigh Dickinson and Holy Cross and then ended up having as bad of a season as Coley’s first at the helm. Now the Friars through 5 games sit at 4-1 with the one loss was ugly against Northwestern, the rest they’ve won in convincing fashion. A lot of people were upset after the Northwestern and rightfully so. Those tempers spilled over to the St Peters game and the first ten minutes against Merrimack. I think it is safe to say that the Friars won’t be as bad as they were in Evanston, IL and they probably won’t be as good as opening night at the Dunk. As long as they can meet in the middle of those two spectrums expect a big season in Friartown. If anything these numbers point favorably to the Crier Prophesy (If you don’t know by now 2020 Final 4). That’s all I got for tonight but have a great weekend, hope to see you at the Dunk on Saturday vs Penn, should be a good test.
-The Crier
Friartown! Its the Crier here coming to tell you that the rumors that are swirling are in fact true. TheProvidenceCrier will be coming out with The Providence Crier Podcast this season. The PCP (real mature I know) will come to you every Wednesday during the season with the first episode coming out October 30th. The podcast is going to be done through Anchor thus will be available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Its going to be mainly Friar focused but will touch on Big East and other top stories in college hoops. I’m going to try and get some cool guests and just have fun with it. I’m not going to promise anything except that I’ll try and make it a great listen for Friartown because as a fellow Friar Fan I wish there was more content to enjoy for the team. So I hope you will all give it a listen!
While I have your attention I’d like to take this time to reaffirm my belief in the Crier Prophesy (Friars Final Four 2020). The Crier is so convinced that this is the year we make our run to the Final Four, I’m putting my money where my mouth is. In the words of Heath Ledger as The Joker in the film The Dark Knight circa 2008 (Sorry Rothstein I couldn’t resist) “If You’re Good at Something Never Do It for Free”. So in this case considering the Crier Prophesy will come true I decided to monetize on it. If you haven’t followed on twitter (@ProvidenceCrier) a fellow Friar friend was in Vegas last week and asked if I’d be in on a ticket for the Providence Friars NCAA Tournament Champions 2020, couldn’t have been more in!
Take a good look at that ticket! At +25000 when the Friars cut down the nets on the first Monday of April I will be a tad richer, that’s Pontoon money right there! I will go as far to say that ticket is the Golden Ticket and I know all about the Golden Ticket — The Golden Ticket was one of my many nicknames in college for my ability to get away with things because I’m handicapped—. Now a quick disclaimer, the Crier Prophesy only says the Friars will MAKE the Final Four, but +2500 to win 2 more games how hard could it be? So if you want to invest then find your nearest legal sports book and let the Crier Prophesy work for you!
