This Thoughts from the Road: Couch Edition is brought to you from the insanely comfortable — and hard to get up from — couch at the Smerkers’. It is also fueled by trips to Anthony’s and East Side Pocket and Mollie’s buffalo chicken mac and cheese.
Ed Cooley was doing his best troll job by using coachspeak to call this matchup against Providence’s most-played opponent all-time a business trip and not a rivalry game. Cooley’s comments added a little fuel to the fire this year to a game that lost a bit of it’s luster when E.C. Matthews tore his ACL in URI’s season opener. The game certainly lived up to whatever hype there was and is garnering lots of national attention for how exciting it was and for the dramatic fashion in which the Friars won the game.
Under Armour will be hosting an event — the 10th annual — on August 21st and 22nd in Brooklyn, NY from Pier 2. The Under Armour Elite 24 brings together some of the best players from the Under Armour Association circuit — along with a few players from other shoe company circuits — that is played from April through July, culminating this year with The Finals held in Atlanta during the second of three live evaluation periods of July.
Providence’s opponent in the first round of the 2015 Wooden Legacy Tournament presented by DIRECTV — Evansville — has been known for a couple of weeks now. Today it became official with the release of the bracket for the entire field. Providence gets the Purple Aces in round 1 on November 26th with the game tipping off at 9pm ET on ESPNU. As expected the Friars would then play either Arizona or Santa Clara on November 27th.
The 2015 adidas Nations camp finishes up on Monday night with the final 2 games being played on ESPNU. The first game tips off at 7pm EDT with Team USA 2017 Lillard facing off against Team Africa. The second game tips off at 9pm EDT with Team USA 2016 Wall taking on Team USA 2016 Rose. There are a number of Friar recruits playing in each game. Wenyen Gabriel is averaging 18.0 points/game and 15.0 rebounds/game for Team Africa. The scoring mark is 8th-best while the rebounding numbers lead the camp by almost 5 boards per game. He is the only person at the 2015 adidas Nations camp to average a double-double. Each team has played 4 games heading into Monday night’s action.
Here is the list and the number they are wearing on their respective teams.
Providence fans will get a unique opportunity to see some of their top recruiting targets play live on national television on Sunday afternoon. The adidas Uprising Championships kicked off on Wednesday for the final live evaluation period of July and the Mass Rivals — the team that features Ed Cooley’s top target in Wenyen Gabriel — and Team Loaded VA were entered. They each advanced to the finals and ESPNU is airing the game at 6pm EDT. The two teams combine to showcase a dozen Friar targets. Here they are:
The 2014 Adidas Nations began on August 1st and will culminate with the consolation and championship games being broadcast live on ESPNU tonight at 7pm and 9pm, respectively (both EDT). The consolation game will be played at 7pm with Team Europe going up against Team Howard. The championship game will be Team Wall vs. Team Lillard. Both games will be played at Long Beach City College.
There are a handful of Providence recruits that will be in these two games tonight. Here is who to watch for and when to watch them:
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