Providence is in the midst of a tough stretch on the court after falling at the hands of St. John’s at home on Wednesday night to fall to 3-6 in Big East play. A stark contrast in guard talent was on display with the Red Storm getting 48 of their 91 points from their starting backcourt of freshmen Marcus LoVett and Shamorie Ponds. Providence coveted Ponds in the 2016 class and the decision ultimately came down to the Friars or Red Storm. Ed Cooley and his staff have certainly shown an eye for identifying talent and the next few days provide yet another opportunity in Providence’s backyard to catch some top prep talent at the National Prep School Invitational being played Thursday through Sunday at Rhode Island College. Here are some of Providence’s targets that will be in action at RIC over the next few days:
Providence coaches are using some of their time between games to hit the recruiting trail hard this week after playing at Georgetown on Monday night. Just on Tuesday night Providence coaches were spotted at multiple games across the country. Their next game isn’t until Saturday afternoon at #1 Villanova, so Ed Cooley and his staff took a day away from practice and film prep to see some old names that Providence fans will recognize as well as new ones that have only been on Providence’s radar for a few weeks.
Providence fans are probably still shaking off the cobwebs of a brutal loss at DePaul on Tuesday night. This news might help them recover. Rivals.com released their update Top 150 for the Class of 2017 on Wednesday and both of Providence’s committed big men made the cut. In fact, Nate Watson was well inside the Top 100. The Friars are one of the weakest teams in the Big East on the boards and adding the beefy Watson and 7-footer Dajour Dickens to the mix next season should help in that regard.
Recruiting never stops, even during the course of the college basketball season. That was especially true between Providence’s game on December 10th against UMass and now. Ed Cooley and his staff hit the road shortly after that win over UMass last Saturday and they’ve used the extra time during the final exam break to go see some of their top recruits in action. Cooley was spotted at DeMatha Catholic on Saturday and Sunday where he took in the action and specifically watched 2017 commit Nate Watson and 2018 target Hameir Wright. Watson is already in the fold and is having a very good senior season at Bishop O’Connell.
With two recruits signed in the Class of 2017, Ed Cooley and his staff have had the opportunity to forge more relationships with players in the Classes of 2018 and 2019. This weekend plenty of talented players in 2017, 2018, 2019 and even 2020 will be on display at the Zero Gravity Prep Classic. This annual event will be held at St. Andrew’s in Barrington, RI over the weekend and will feature not only some of Providence’s top local recruiting targets, but there will also be plenty of talented players across the board that may not end up attracting interest from the Friars or haven’t yet but will in the future. Nearly 40 different schools will play over the course of the three days at St. Andrew’s. The Providence staff will obviously be a bit busy on Saturday afternoon, but I would expect to see some Providence coaches in Barrington at some point over the weekend.
Providence locked up their two commitments in the Class of 2017 earlier this month when both Dajour Dickens and Nate Watson signed their national letters of intent. As I’ve discussed, getting commitments on board in the current senior class by mid-September has allowed the Providence coaching staff to shift their recruiting focus towards the Classes of 2018 and 2019.
As reported earlier in the week here, both of Providence’s 2017 recruits planned to sign their national letters of intent on the first day of the early signing period. That day has arrived and Providence has confirmed that both Dajour Dickens and Nate Watson have signed with Providence. You can see a picture of Dickens signing his NLI earlier this afternoon below. Watson will take part in a signing ceremony at his school on November 14th. Here is the release from Providence:
pcbb1917.com - Providence College Basketball 