Game Notes & Preview: PC vs Seton Hall 3/14/14 #pcbb

Where: Madison Square Garden – New York, NY

When: 7:00PM

How: Fox Sports 1 (Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery and Erin Andrews) /WEEI 103.7 FM (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)

Game Notes

  • The Friars and the Pirates have met 7 times all time in the Big East Tournament. Seton Hall has the 5-2 edge in the series and have won the last 4 times with the last Friar victory coming March 6, 1985. The only other time they met in Big East Semifinals, SHU was the 1 seed and beat 5 seed PC 69-60 and then went on to blow Syracuse out of the gym to win the 1993 Big East Tournament Championship.
  • Bryce Cotton only played 34 minutes in the Big East Tournament Quarterfinal game against St. John’s which was the fewest minutes he has played since a 70-49 victory over Vermont on November 18, 2013.
  • Providence’s 49 total rebounds in yesterday’s game against St. John’s is the most rebounds they’ve ever had in a Big East Tournament game.
  • The Friars are 0-2 all time in the Big East Tournament against 8 seeds but both times they were playing the 8 seed as a 9 seed in the first round of the tournament (1992 vs. BC and 2005 vs. West Virginia).
  • Bryce Cotton joins Friar great Ryan Gomes as the only two Friars to ever be named to the First Team All-Big East more than once.
  • Providence will be looking for win number 22 tonight. They haven’t won 22 games since they went 24-12 in 1997.
  • Josh Fortune’s 24 points in yesterday’s game marked a new career high for points scored in a game. In his last 7 games, Fortune is averaging 16.5 ppg, which is double his season average.
  • Seton Hall’s 2 wins in the Big East Tournament have made them eligible for the NIT should they not go on to win the Big East Tournament and get the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
  • Line opened at PC -1.5

Continue reading Game Notes & Preview: PC vs Seton Hall 3/14/14 #pcbb

2eZ Charity All-Star Game Saturday, March 15th at East Greenwich (RI) HS

There is a charity all-star game being held Saturday at 5pm at East Greenwich HS. You can see the details and rosters below the video but this is a great cause and there will be a good number of PC recruiting targets participating. $10 admission at the door.

At 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 15 (5pm) many of New England’s top high school basketball prospects will come together at East Greenwich (R.I.) High School for the first annual 2eZ All-Star Game, The $10 admission will benefit event for Meeting Street School student Jake Downey.

The money raised will go directly to Jake Downey, a loving 11-year-old boy and the son of beloved teacher and coach at East Greenwich High, Bob Downey. Jake was born with congenital hydrocephalus, which caused brain injury and several serious medical complications. Jake is unable to walk and requires complete assistance for all his daily needs and care. Jake attends The Meeting Street School with many other kids like him that thrive each day with their special abilities. Through the all-star game money will be raised for a handicap van that will improve the daily life of Jake and his family, along with a donation to the Meeting Street School.

A dunk contest will prelude the all-star game. Here are the rosters, named with a “Space Jam” theme:

(College commitments in bold)

“2eZ Squad”
Unique Mclean | 6-2 G | Brooklyn, N.Y. (Hoosac School)
Jalen Adams | 6-2 G | Boston (Cushing Academy)
Jared Terrell | 6-4 G | Weymouth, Mass. (Brewster Academy) – Oklahoma State 
Abdul-Malik Abu | 6-8 F | Boston (Kimball Union Academy) – NC State 
Jarred Reuter | 6-9 F | Rochester, Mass. (Brewster Academy)
Crew Ainge | 5-10 G | Wellesley, Mass. (Kimball Union Academy)
Curtis Cobb | 6-4 G | Fall River, Mass. (Wilbraham & Monson)
Tomas Murphy | 6-7 F | Wakefield, R.I. (Prout School)
Max Twyman | 6-2 G | Rye, N.Y. (Brewster Academy)- Albany
Saul Phiri | 6-3 F | Haverhill, Mass (Worcester Academy)
Tommy Hunt | 6-1 G | Smithfield, R.I. (St Andrew’s)
Tyler Nelson | 6-2 G | Haverhill, Mass. (Central Catholic HS) – Fairfield 

“2eZ Monstars”
Kaleb Joseph | 6-3 G | Nashua, N.H. (Cushing Academy) – Syracuse 
Donovan Mitchell | 6-2 G | Greenwich, Conn. (Brewster Academy)
Terrance Mann | 6-5 F | Lowell, Mass. (Tilton School)
Tyler Lydon | 6-9 F | Pine Plains, N.Y. (New Hampton School) – Syracuse 
Bonzie Colson | 6-6 F | New Bedford, Mass. (St. Andrew’s) – Notre Dame
Marcel Pettway | 6-6 F | North Providence, R.I. (Wilbraham & Monson)
Jackson Donahue | 6-0 G | Stonington, Conn. (Northfield Mount Hermon)
Dmitri Floras | 6-1 G | Merrimack, N.H. (MacDuffie School)
Bruce Brown | 6-4 G | Boston (Vermont Academy)
Zach Lydon | 6-8 F | Pine Plains, N.Y. (Bridgton Academy)
Tyree Weston | 6-1 G | New Bedford, Mass. (Cheshire Academy)
Ben Chester | 5-6 G | East Greenwich, R.I. (East Greenwich HS)

#pcbb Bubble Watch Update 3/14/14

The Friars were big winners yesterday not only on the court at MSG, but they also were winners because some other bubble teams were losers in their conference tournaments. The key teams that fell on Thursday were Arkansas, California, Utah and of course, St. John’s who was 1 spot ahead of the Friars prior to yesterday’s game. Some other bubble teams did win (Pitt, Stanford, Dayton, Xavier, Minnesota, Missouri, Colorado) but most of those were already ahead of PC so them winning isn’t the worst thing.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has moved PC from his last four out, to the last team of the last four in category. CBS’ Jerry Palm has PC 2 spots better but still in the last four in category. Obviously that’s still pretty precarious and you’d like to take things out of the hands of the committee and just keep winning but Seton Hall has shown that they won’t lay down and die without putting up a fight. It’s not a total guarantee that the Friars will be in with a win tonight, though a loss would seem to knock them at least back to the bottom of the bubble pile because SHU’s RPI is over 100 so it would be considered another “bad loss”.

After yesterday’s road win against St. John’s and the rest of the action around college basketball, Providence’s RPI is sitting at 51.

Two games that could help boost PC’s RPI tonight are:

#pcbb Links of the Day 3/14/14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_c_DJ9zC5s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXf5-e1JLHE

#pcbb Opening Line: PC -1.5 vs Seton Hall 3/14/14

Line opened with Providence as a 1.5 point favorite. The line has since moved to -2 and even -2.5 in some places. I’d expect it to settle around -2 by tip time. Kenpom sees the final score as 70-67 in favor of the Friars. I’ll have game notes and a preview going up at 12pm today.

#pcbb Links of the Day 3/13/14

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