THE MODERATOR: We’re joined now by Providence College student athletes, Bryce Cotton, Kadeem Batts, and LaDontae Henton:
Q. Hi, Bryce. How much is your ability to stay on the court for so long and be so productive have to do with your mental makeup and just putting your mind that I’m going to do it and never backing down from getting tired or losing your stamina?
BRYCE COTTON: Basically, our team has had to endure this for three straight years, and we’ve always had a short roster. So it’s something that our team hasn’t had to grow accustomed to.
We’re used to it, so we do a good job training our bodies throughout the preseason, and we hope for the best when the real season comes.
Q. Can you talk a little, LaDontae, about the experience of being at the NCAAs? I know it’s a realization of a dream for all of you guys to be here, and you’ve only been here a little over 24 hours, but does this feel different yet?
LaDONTAE HENTON: It has a great feel to it, bonding with my brothers and having a good time with them. Things like this, going into an interview with these guys. It’s just a great experience. We believe we’ll be able to do this during the season. But now that it came true, I’m just happy to be here.
Q. For any of you or all of you, going back to the first half practice, what are the odds that you would be sitting here at this moment and in this tournament?
LaDONTAE HENTON: Like I said before, me and the guys we talk about it all the time during the summer and during the training season, preseason, we knew we’d be able to be here if we just put our mind to it, and we bonded as a team, and we did that. We had great leaders in Bryce Cotton and Kadeem Batts, and they led us to this point.
BRYCE COTTON: Just feeding off of what LaDontae said, we’ve had the same vision from day one, and even though we’ve had a lot of ups and downs and faced a lot of adversity, our team is full of fighters and we never give up. We always believe at the end of the day that we’d get to the top of that mountain.
KADEEM BATTS: Just to add to what they’ve said. We’ve stuck together as a group and preached family all season, and we’ve been a family.
Q. Guys, was there a moment in the season that you thought, wow, we could really do this? Was there a seminal moment in there where you started thinking what you were going through today was completely possible? Kadeem, start with you, if you want?
How: TNT (Marv Albert, Steve Kerr, Craig Sager) /WEEI 103.7 FM (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/Westwood One (Brad Sham and Will Perdue)
Game Notes
The Friars and the Tar Heels have met only 3 times all time with UNC leading the series 2-1. The two teams have never met in the NCAA Tournament but their first meeting was in the NIT in 1971 with the Tar Heels taking the game at Madison Square Garden, 86-79. The next time the team’s would meet would be the famous “Blizzard Game” in 1978 (click here for a great story from Craig Leighton of FriarBasketball.com on his recollections as a student and RI resident in ’78) which PC took. The following year, PC traveled down to Tobacco Road for the 2nd half of that home and home and fell to UNC 89-58.
The Friars are 14-16 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and this will be their 16th appearance in the Big Dance. Their last win was in 1997 over UT-Chattanooga in the Sweet 16. Their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance was in 1964 when they fell against Villanova, 77-66. Their first ever win came the following year when they thumped West Virginia, 91-67.
This season, PC had a 3-6 record against other NCAA Tournament teams with the 3 wins coming against Creighton (2) and Xavier and the losses coming against Villanova (2), Kentucky, UMass, Creighton and Xavier.
Bryce Cotton is currently averaging 21.4 ppg and 5.8 rpg. He is trying to become 5th player from a major conference to average 20 or more points and 5 or more assists in a season since 2002. The 4 guys that have accomplished that feat: Jason Williams (Duke – 21.3 ppg, 5.3 apg ’01-’02); Tyrese Rice (Boston College – 21.0 ppg, 5.0 apg ’07-’08); Evan Turner (Ohio State – 20.4 ppg, 5.0 apg ’09-’10); Nolan Smith (Duke – 20.6 ppg, 5.1 apg ’10-’11).
PC’s last Big East Championship before 2014 was 1994. The ’94 Friars went on to lose in the first round to Alabama, 76-70. Cotton was the MOP player while LaDontae Henton was named the the All-Tournament Team. The MOP trophy is named after Dave Gavitt. Cotton is the 2nd Friar to ever win the trophy with the first being Michael Smith in 1994.
Coach Ed Cooley has never appeared in the NCAA Tournament as a head coach. He has been to the Big Dance 5 times as an assistant coach under Al Skinner. If the Friars win Friday night, Cooley will have more wins NCAA Tournament wins as a Providence head coach than Tim Welsh and Rick Barnes combined in their 5 appearances in the NCAA Tournament as the head man at PC.
Cooley is looking for his 58th career win as the head coach at Providence which would tie him for 8th all time with Edward Crotty who reached that mark after 111 games in 7 seasons from 1938-1946 (no team in ’43-’44 – WW2). A win Friday would also be the 150th career win for Cooley in his 8 seasons as a head coach.
Providence will be looking for win number 24 Friday night. They haven’t won 24 games since they went 24-12 in 1997.
The Friars have never faced a 6 seed before in the NCAA Tournament. They are 4-2 in 6 games against teams with an 8 seed or better (both stats since the field expanded to 64 in 1985).
With 4 or more days between games this season, PC is 7-3.
I know you’ve all been waiting with baited breath to get a glimpse of my official bracket. As a preface, I don’t think I’ve ever won a bracket pool in my life. I look forward to the ridiculing and comments. Let’s jump right in:
This is a cool tool that you can use to run simulations for each region. You can click here to run your own simulation of a region or the entire NCAA Tournament.
pcbb1917.com - Providence College Basketball 