- ICYMI – Providence Announces Game-Changing Ruane Friar Development Center
- ICYMI – Joe Lunardi’s Latest Bracket Math Released
- Providence Journal – Kevin McNamara – After years of dreaming, PC finally gets its new basketball facility
- Providence Journal – Kevin McNamara – Providence College to build new athletics center for men’s basketball
- Friarbasketball.com – Craig Leighton – Ruane Friar Development Center
- FoxSports.com – Reid Forgrave – Providence basketball getting new practice facility
- Yahoo.com – Ryan Lambert – NCAA Hockey 101: Providence and beasts of East; praising Jeff Jackson
Providence Announces Game-Changing Ruane Friar Development Center
Providence has upgraded their facilities for athletics massively in the 14 years since Bob Driscoll arrived as the school’s Athletic Director. There are new fields, a new stadium for soccer and lacrosse, a track, a new softball field, new tennis courts, big upgrades to both the Dunkin’ Donuts Center and Schneider Arena. The one missing piece is a dedicated facility for men’s basketball — something that every other Big East member has on their campus. On Wednesday Driscoll, along with President Brian Shanley, OP. announced that they have received a major gift from former Board of Trustees Chair Michael A. Ruane and his wife, Elizabeth Ruane that will allow the Ruane Friar Development Center to break ground in the Spring of 2016. The Ruane’s also donated a large sum towards the construction of the Ruane Center for the Humanities that opened in September 2013. The project is two-phased with the first phase expected to be completed by the Summer of 2017.
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Joe Lunardi’s Latest Bracket Math Released
Joe Lunardi released an updated bracket a week ago today, the ESPN guru’s first bracketology release since the season started. On Monday night, Lunardi released his latest Bracket Math and Providence, as well as a few other Big East teams, had good showings on the seed list. Joey Brackets had both Xavier and Villanova as 3 seeds last week and that hasn’t changed this week, except that the Musketeers have jumped ahead of the Wildcats on the seed list.
Bracket Math
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#pcbb Links of the Day 12/15/15
- ICYMI – Thoughts from the Road: Bentil, Edwards Save Wounded Friars Against Bryant
- ICYMI – Weekly College Basketball Polls Update: December 14th
- Providence Journal – Kevin McNamara & Bill Koch – Pick and Pop College Hoops Podcast: Friars keep winning; tough loss for Rams
- Woonsocket Call – Brendan McGair – Friar Film Review: Push came to shove, Friars needed Bentil against Bryant
- BigEastCoastBias.com – Pierce Roberson – Big East Coast Bias Power Rankings: Xavier takes over the top spot
- Washington Post – Matthew Giles – Big 12, Big East are deep, deadly and ready to dominate college basketball
- Yahoo.com – Jeff Eisenberg – Best and worst of the first quarter of the college hoops season
- SB Nation College Hockey – Jeff Cox – Friars Only Undefeated Team Left in Division I
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Weekly College Basketball Polls Update: December 14th
Week 6 of the college basketball polls have been released and Providence is moving up again after a 2-0 week that included wins over teams the Friars should beat in ACC bottom-feeding Boston College and now 2-9 Bryant. Providence was depleted in both games with Ryan Fazekas missing both (mono), Kris Dunn missing the second half of Boston College and the entire Bryant game (illness) and Ben Bentil missing the second half of BC (ankle). This is the first time Providence has been ranked in the AP Poll for 3 straight weeks since the 2003-04 season when the Friars spent the final 8 weeks ranked in the AP Top 25. The Friars slid up slightly to 14th in the AP Poll and 14th in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll this week.
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Thoughts from the Road: Bentil, Edwards Save Wounded Friars Against Bryant
This Thoughts from the Road: Couch Edition is brought to you by the 5J Christmas party and is powered by the deep reflection during an all-Latin Christmas concert at the Cloisters. Special shoutout to my dad because Joe R said so.
- Ben Bentil did his best Willis Reed impression, albeit in a less grand manner. Bentil being available in the first place made it clear the ankle injury he suffered on Wednesday against Boston College was, as it looked on TV, a standard basketball ankle roll. The fact that he was able to put on his cape with 5:15 left in the first half with his team trailing 2-8 Bryant by 9 means he would have started this game if Ed Cooley needed him to. Since he went on to play the final 5:15 of the first half and the beginning 19:43 of the second half, Bentil showed he is a tough dude. The other thing he showed is that he is a true team leader. With Kris Dunn in sweats on the bench due to illness and his young teammates struggling with a team Vegas decided was a 21 point underdog at the line’s open, Bentil’s mere presence in the game was the calming factor that players like Bryce Cotton, LaDontae Henton and Dunn developed into. Bentil only scored 2 points in the first half — a jumper he made right after entering the game — but it was clear the tide was turning back in Providence’s favor. The Friars finished that 5:15 stretch on a 9-4 run to close the half down just 4 points after being down by 11 — Bryant’s largest lead of the game — with 5:39 left.
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Friars Win: Bryant 67, (15) Providence 74
| Final Score | |
| Bryant | 67 |
| Providence | 74 |
| Leading Scorer | Leading Rebounder | |
| Bryant | Garvin: 16 | Pettway: 10 |
| Providence | Edwards: 17 | Bullock: 14 |
Notes:
- Providence was without Kris Dunn and Ryan Fazekas for this game and Ben Bentil started the game off as questionable but dressed. Ed Cooley was hoping now to use the big man but that all changed with the Friars looking sluggish. Cooley inserted Bentil with 5:15 left in the first half and the sophomore played every second the rest of the way until the final few seconds of the game. He finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds in 25 minutes.
- Drew Edwards had a breakout effort in the second half. Edwards started the game 0/2 but got hot and went off for 17 points on 6/10 shooting, including 5/9 from 3-point range. Edwards came into this game averaging under 7 minutes/game and 1.1 points/game.
- Rodney Bullock had a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Bullock got better once Bentil entered the fray, but he didn’t do much scoring in the second half. He did a good job cleaning the glass though. Providence outrebounded Bryant,
- Jalen Lindsey got off to a horrendous shooting start but he managed to get it going and finished with 15 points on 5/12 shooting. Lindsey was active on the glass with 7 rebounds.
- The key for Providence — aside from Bentil being able to give it a go — was balance on offense. Four Providence players scored in double figures. It was also a tale of two halves for the Friars. Cooley’s crew shot just 35.3% from the field, including 1/14 from 3-point range in the first half. The second half numbers look a lot better: 53.8 % and 7/14 from downtown.
- Bryant hurt themselves in the second half with turnovers. After turning it over 8 times in the first 20 minutes, Bryant coughed the ball up 10 times in the second half. Providence scored 24 points off those 18 Bulldog turnovers.
- The 10-1 and 15th ranked Friars return to action next Saturday after the final exam break and will take on Rider at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. That game tips at 8pm EST and is on FSN.
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