Providence may be officially out of scholarships at the moment, but that hasn’t stopped Ed Cooley and his staff from chasing players. Last week the Friars got a commitment from 2016 Alpha Diallo and that put Providence at 13 scholarships — the maximum allowed — for next season. However, Ben Bentil’s future remains up in the air as he tests the NBA waters and transfers are rampant in college basketball. One of the best available big men left in the class of 2016 is Canadian Kalif Young and Young’s father told Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com that Kalif plans to visit Providence for the weekend of May 14th and then make decision soon after that.
Steve Hartnett of ScoutFriars.com tweeted that Providence is hosting 2016 center Khalea Turner on an unofficial visit. Ed Cooley is still looking to bring in frontcourt size for next season and Friar fans can now add Turner’s name to a list that includes Canadian big man Kalif Young. Turner’s recruitment has been slow, which can be explained largely by the fact that he was waiting for clearance from the NCAA Clearinghouse. Turner got clearance on April 19th, according to his Twitter account.
Ed Cooley had been on the hunt for talent to add to his roster for 2016-17 and beyond. On Tuesday, Cooley got a commitment from a top 100 wing player in Alpha Diallo. Diallo, a native of NYC, attended NEPSAC powerhouse Brewster Academy for his final year of high school. The news was first reported by Evan Daniels on Twitter. He will be the first Brewster Academy alumnus to commit to Providence directly from Brewster since Weyinmi Efejuku, another NYC native, donned a Friar uniform from 2005-2009. Former Friar Kyle Wright attended Brewster, but came to Providence via Monroe College. Diallo’s commitment also gives Cooley his first recruit ranked in ESPN’s Top 100 since he brought Paschal Chukwu and Jalen Lindsey to Providence in the recruiting class of 2014. Cooley has had at least one player ranked in ESPN’s Top 100 in every recruiting class at Providence except the first one in 2011 and the last one in 2015.
Ed Cooley is now being forced to hire a replacement assistant coach for the second straight offseason. Last Spring, Bob Simon left for Alabama. This Spring, Andre LaFleur left for UNLV. Cooley also had to make another coaching hire last offseason that may have flown under the radar, but now seems more significant. Mike Jackson left his position on Cooley’s staff as the Coordinator of Basketball Operations, which was filled by Kevin Kurbec. Kurbec moved up from his position of Associate Director of Player Development/Video Ops. That musical chairs led to Cooley hiring Kecoughtan High School head coach Ivan Thomas to Kurbec’s former position. Fast-forward to the present and Cooley has decided to promote Thomas to the vacant assistant coach position vacated by LaFleur’s departure on April 21st. That’s quite a whirlwind move for a former Virginia high school and AAU coach. Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal first reported the news of Thomas’ promotion.
A report from Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Thursday that Providence associate head coach Andre LaFleur would join Marvin Menzies staff at UNLV. Menzies was hired on April 16th. This means Ed Cooley is losing his associate head coach for the second straight offseason after Bob Simon took a job on newly hired Alabama coach Avery Johnson’s staff last April. LaFleur and Simon were co-associate head coaches during Simon’s final year with the Friars. LaFleur joined Cooley’s staff at Providence after being at Connecticut under Jim Calhoun from 2001-2011. LaFleur was Calhoun’s point guard at Northeastern. LaFleur grew up in Los Angeles, CA.
The first scholarship domino has fallen and it comes in the form of redshirt junior Junior Lomomba opting not to return to Providence of his 5th and final year of eligibility. Providence sent out a release with the information on Wednesday. Lomomba came to Friartown after a season at Cleveland State and played 66 games for the Friars. He averaged 3.6 points/game and 1.9 rebounds/game in a Providence uniform. Beyond the stats, Lomomba was a good defender and provided leadership, especially last season as a captain who started all 35 games. The native of Montreal graduate in May.
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