The Friars and Pirates have met 93 times all time. PC has a 1 game edge in the series, 47-46.
Bryce Cotton leads the nation in minutes per game with 39.9. He is 13th in the nation in points per game at 21.5 and 17th in the nation in assists per game at 5.9. Top 20 nationally in 3 categories including leading 1 and he manages to still be left off national POY lists like its going out of style.
Bryce Cotton is 2nd in the Big East in scoring (21.5 ppg) and Fuquan Edwin is 11th (15.1 ppg)
Bryce Cotton is 1st in the Big East in assists (5.9 apg) and Sterling Gibbs is 4th (4.3 apg)
Kadeem Batts is 3rd (7.6 rpg) and LaDontae Henton is 5th (7.0 rpg) in the Big East in rebounds while Gene Teague fits in between at 4th (7.5 rpg)
The Providence staff was down in Nashville on Tuesday night, along with a few other high majors, to check in on Braxton Blackwell (2016) who plays for CPA which is Jalen Lindsey’s old squad. CPA won the game PC attended, the region semifinals, and Blackwell scored 31 points. On Wednesday night, they played the 6-AA region finals and won to improve to 32-2 on the season. Blackwell scored 15 points in the win and was named the All-Region MVP. The 6’8 215 lbs (SF) 17th ranked player in the class of 2016 according to ESPN holds offers from Auburn, Cincinnati, Florida, Indiana (attended Hoosier Hysteria this year), LSU, Memphis, Mississippi St, N.C. State, Providence, Tennessee, Vanderbilt (his HS coach played there), Virginia and Virginia Tech. He also has interest from Kentucky, Michigan State and North Carolina. This would be the most impressive get if Cooley could somehow pull this off. He is a consensus top 30 player in the class of 2016 and has no ties to Rhode Island like Jalen Lindsey so getting him from Nashville to Providence would be a huge coup. So far he has visited Louisville (1/2/13 coincidentally when they played PC), Vanderbilt (9/4/13, 2/5/14), Memphis (9/20/13), Indiana (10/4/13 for Hoosier Hysteria) and Auburn (11/30/13).
The NEPSAC playoffs started on Wednesday and there are a lot of PC recruiting targets taking part in the action. Click here to see the names from Wednesday’s post. For results of Wednesday’s game click this link to the NERR.
Paschal Chukwu and the Fairfield Prep Stags finished the regular season undefeated (20-0) after winning at home against Hamden last Saturday night. It was Senior Night for Prep and Chuwku went for 21 points in the win. The next step will be the playoffs starting tomorrow morning 11am at Branford HS against Notre Dame-West Haven. Fairfield Prep handled ND-WH both times they met during the regular season by 15 and 16 points respectively. In national recruiting news, ESPN’s Adam Finkelstein lists Chukwu as one of his “Five Prospects Who Project Long Term”. He had this to say:
There was three games for RPI boostability last night for the Friars. The result of last night’s games was 1-3 with Vermont winning but Kentucky being upset at Rupp by Arkansas and Maine falling. PC’s RPI is now at 60 (was 59).
A new portion of this daily post will include the 10 teams with the biggest impact (5 positive plus PC themseleves, 5 negative) on PC’s RPI. This value is via RPI Forecast. For an explanation of this value,click here.
The Friars (18-10, RPI 60, SOS 68) represent the muddled middle of the new Big East. With its best wins at home, Providence clearly has more work to do. I’m not optimistic given two of the Friars’ remaining three games are on the road (at Seton Hall, at Creighton), the second of which is Doug McDermott‘s senior night.
What they need: Three more wins, regardless of opponent or location. The Friars are going down to the wire.
Line opened with Providence as a 2.5 point underdog and has since moved up to 3 points. My numbers (not inclusive of home court advantage, etc) have Providence as about a 2 point favorite. Kenpom sees the final score as 69-68 in favor of Seton Hall.
Trends
Providence is 4-1 in their last 5 ATS
Providence is 2-4 ATS in their last 6 road games at Seton Hall
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Providence’s last 7 road games at Seton Hall
PC Athletics announced on Twitter yesterday that the first 1000 students at the Marquette game on 3/4 would receive either a Cotton or Batts shirt for Senior Night. This is a nice touch by PC and I really hope the students show up in force, not just for Cotton and Batts, but for all the great Seniors on this team. For those interested in seeing the design of these shirts, here are the images courtesy of the designer, Bryan Molloy Design:
pcbb1917.com - Providence College Basketball 