Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI
When: 7:00PM
How: Fox Sports 2 (Brian Custer and Vin Parise)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/WOFX 980 AM (Albany)
Continue reading Game Notes & Preview: Providence vs. Albany 11/15/14
I spoke with Laura Amato of the Troy Record on Thursday evening following an Albany basketball practice and she was gracious enough to share her time and thoughts on this matchup between Albany and Providence as well as her overall feel for Albany’s season and placing in the America East coming off of back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. Laura also happens to be a St. John’s alum who writes for the SB Nation site Rumble in the Garden covering St. John’s basketball so I’m sure we’ll be speaking with her later in the season when the Friars begin conference play. You can follow her on Twitter @LauraAmato.
Unfortunately I was having technical issues when I spoke with Laura on Thursday so I couldn’t use the audio for a podcast but I have transcribed the interview for the readers to get her thoughts.
Mike Hopkins: I know that Coach Will Brown has discussed that the team is pretty young coming off of last year but a few junior college guys coming in, I think two of them are supposed to start, so what do you think about the team overall?
Continue reading Providence vs. Albany Preview with Laura Amato of the Troy Record
Courtesy of Providence College Athletics:
I did not expect to see a freshman in the starting lineup for the Friars on Saturday. If you told me Jalen Lindsey would get the start at the shooting guard spot I might have shrugged it off as a possibility. Kyron Cartwright? No way.
Well, Ed Cooley gave the southpaw from Compton the nod along with Kris Dunn in the backcourt. Not only did Cartwright start he played very well. He started the Friars season scoring off by nailing a three pointer after the tip-off and he didn’t really slow down the rest of the game. Finishing with 18 points in 22 minutes of action, Cartwright turned some heads. Possibly even more impressive was 4 assists to 0 turnovers.
As Ed Cooley predicted the Friar freshmen played early and often against the Skyhawks on Saturday. Cartwright started and 7’1 Center Paschal Chukwu was the first man off the Friar bench less than 3 minutes into the game. Following Chukwu was Ben Bentil about 2 minutes later. All told the Friars went 11 deep in both halves with the only players not seeing any floor time being injured freshman Tyree Chambers and shiner-sporting graduate student Ted Bancroft.
Ben Bentil had been a player Friar fans have heard good reports about from preseason practices. Behind Cartwright, Bentil was the next most impressive of the neophytes. Bentil was smooth and showed good hands around the rim and a nice looking shooting touch from the foul line and below.
Jalen Lindsey played well overall and was able to hit a couple of open jumpers. It’s hard to judge how much the taped up finger that he dislocated a couple of weeks ago affected him but he has the look and feel of a real player. It just may take a little bit of the season to come out consistently on the court.
As I cautioned Friar fans for the past few months, Paschal Chukwu has a ways to go. That’s not to say Chukwu doesn’t have ability or talent. He just needs to grow a little more into his body and refine his game. Big men take time to develop, even the good ones. He’ll get there, but for those expecting him to take over for Carson Desrosiers anytime soon I wouldn’t hold your breath on that.
I would agree with Kevin McNamara’s assessment of the freshman from after the game:
Besides the freshman Kris Dunn was probably the player Friar fans were most anxious to see. Dunn showed flashes of his talents and clearly switched into another gear athletically at times that few others can access. Dunn’s line on Saturday was indicative of his do-a-little-of-everything game: 13 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. He isn’t there yet but he’s certainly not as rusty as some might expect. In the 2nd half he showed off an improved shooting stroke as well.
In the end, the Friars were just too much for the Division II Skyhawks to handle. Providence will start the season for real on November 15th against Albany.
Final Score: Providence 93 Stonehill 49
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Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI
When: 4:00PM
How: Audio Only on Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)
Continue reading Game Notes & Preview: Providence vs. Stonehill (Exhibition) 11/8/14
This is Part 2 of a 3 part series giving my impressions of Providence’s Big East schedule in 6 game blocks. This second block looks at games 7-12 from 1/22/15 through 2/11/15. My evaluation of each 6 game block will take into account a few factors: road trips/travel, potential fan attendance/games over school breaks, opponent’s schedule around time of PC game and other factors.
This will be the first home game for the Friars where the students are back from break. Hopefully that means the student section will be full and rocking. What else is there to do on a Thursday night in January? Xavier loses Semaj Christon to the NBA and Justin Martin to transfer but they have an impressive recruiting class coming in including incoming freshman Larry Austin who had Providence as one of his final schools before selecting the Musketeers the weekend he was scheduled to visit Friartown. For Xavier, this game comes in the middle of arguably the toughest stretch of their conference schedule as they will be coming off games at Butler and Villanova with Marquette at home between this game in Providence and that game in Philadelphia. Xavier struggled on the road in the inaugural season in the Big East with a 2-6 record. The Musketeers play on the road in 3 of the 6 games leading to their trip to Providence.
Xavier will likely be somewhere in the 3rd-6th range along with Providence in terms of conference standings by the time March 8th rolls around so this game could make a big difference to both teams in the final league standings. Providence is coming off a trip to Omaha and should be at least 4-2 in league play entering this matchup. Xavier may end up being 4-2 as well based on how their first 6 games look right now. This game is the beginning of a pretty tough 6 game block which will include a trip to Cincinnati for the rematch on February 7th.
Continue reading Providence Big East Schedule Review: Part II
This is Part 1 of a 3 part series giving my impressions of Providence’s Big East schedule in 6 game blocks. This first block looks at games 1-6 from 12/31/14 through 1/17/15. My evaluation of each 6 game block will take into account a few factors: road trips/travel, potential fan attendance/games over school breaks, opponent’s schedule around time of PC game and other factors.
This is a cool move by the Big East/Fox to have a primetime rematch of the Big East Tournament Championship game from last March. Some of the key players that made last year’s final game so exciting have graduated, namely Doug McDermott and Bryce Cotton. Having said that, this should be a solid conference opener for the Friars. Creighton is in rebuilding mode as they lost more than just Dougie McBuckets from last season’s team that finished 2nd in both the regular season (behind Villanova) and the Big East Tournament. The Friars will have 9 days between their last non conference game against Miami (FL) on December 22nd at the Barclays Center and this first Big East contest on December 31st. I’m sure there will be time spent with family for Christmas but there is also going to be plenty of time for Ed Cooley and his staff to scout and install a Creighton-specific gameplan. The Bluejays still have some talented players on the roster but they are going to be somewhat young and inexperienced overall and this is a game Providence should be favored in and I would expect them to win. The crowd will be interesting to see as it’s a bit of a late start on New Year’s Eve but I would expect the building to be loud either way because people will probably start the partying early that day.
Providence will get Creighton twice during this first 6 game block with game two coming at the always full CenturyLink Center in Omaha.
Continue reading Providence Big East Schedule Review: Part I
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