3. Paschal Chukwu, Providence
Chukwu is going to have the biggest adjustment of any player on this list when it comes to the level of competition, but his ability to block and changes shots at the rim will be his most immediate impact at Providence. He’s very aggressive patrolling the paint from the weak side, but he also utilizes his shot-blocking prowess to make up for his current lack of strength when defending the ball on the block. While he’s going to need to get stronger, he has an ability to utilize his size and length in order to recover with a block — even when pushed farther under the rim than he would ideally like.
Tag Archives: Friars
#pcbb Links of the Day 5/12/14
- ICYMI – 2014 PG recruit Larry Austin Committed to Xavier Saturday
- Zagsblog.com – Adam Zagoria – Donovan Mitchell Plans Summer Visits
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#pcbb Weekly Recruiting Update 5/9/14
This weekend is another in which college coaches are not allowed to be on the road evaluating players but there will still be a lot of high major talent playing. The most notable tournament of the weekend will be the Nike EYBL Session #2 in Dallas. There are other tournaments with PC recruits this weekend including the Hoop Group Providence Jamfest and the Wallace Prather Memorial Classic which is hosted by the Atlanta Celtics who feature two 2016 PC recruits in Braxton Blackwell and Joshua Langford. Here are all of the events this weekend courtesy of CBS Sports’ Jeff Borzello:
May 9-11
- Hoop Group Providence Jam Fest (Providence, R.I.)
- Wallace Prather Memorial Classic (Atlanta)
- Adidas May Classic (Indianapolis)
- Elite 8 in the Desert (Phoenix)
May 10-11
- Nike EYBL Session #2 (Dallas)
Other big news for this weekend is that the Friars will have a 2014 PG recruit on campus. Larry Austin, the former Tennessee commit, visited Xavier last weekend and will take in Friartown this weekend. Craig Belhumeur at FriarBasketball.com spoke to LA’s high school coach, Blake Turner, who told him that a visit to Cal, where former Tennessee head coach Cuonzo Martin was just hired, is still in the cards at a later date. Another source told me that Austin may also visit Kansas State but Turner told me that visit is “possible, but not 100% confirmed.” You just never know with 18 year olds but Larry, his coaches and his family have been methodical since he got his release from the Volunteers so my gut tells me he will consider all options carefully and I believe it’s likely he takes all of his scheduled visits before deciding. For those that have been asking for some video on Larry Austin, enjoy below:
Continue reading #pcbb Weekly Recruiting Update 5/9/14
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#pcbb Links of the Day 5/7/14
- ICYMI – Bryce Cotton to Work Out for NBA Teams This Week
- ICYMI – Photos and Videos: Gavitt Tipoff Games Announced
- FriarBasketball.com – Craig Belhumeur – Recruiting Update: Larry Austin
- FriarBasketball.com – Kevin Farrahar – Cotton’s Top 10 Games: #7 Turning it Around at Butler
- GoLocal Prov – Jack Andrade – RIC Basketball Coach Bob Walsh Accepts Maine Job
- FriarBasketball.com – Kevin Farrahar – Report: PC No Longer Recruiting Terrell, Austin to Visit
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Bryce Cotton to Work Out for NBA Teams This Week
Bryce Cotton has been working out constantly in Alumni Hall both with God Shammgod and against chairs.
He will begin working out for NBA teams over the next 6 weeks leading up to the NBA Draft in the hopes of hearing his name called. The Providence Journal‘s Kevin McNamara is reporting that Cotton will have his first 2 workouts this week when he will travel to Utah on Wednesday and Sacramento on Friday.
Utah has a bunch of young guards including Trey Burke and no coach at the moment but of their bevy of young guards only Burke, Diante Garrett and John Lucas III are point guards. Garrett is Burke’s backup but has a non-guaranteed salary heading into this upcoming season and Cotton could come in and compete for the backup job in Utah because Lucas III didn’t get off the bench in April for the Jazz and is on the wrong side of 30 for a rebuilding team. To top that all off, he has a non-guaranteed contract for next season so it wouldn’t be surprising if Cotton was brought in to try to win the backup role behind Burke if the Jazz don’t take a point guard in the 1st round. ESPN’s Chad Ford has the Jazz taking Kansas C Joel Embiid with the 4th overall pick and Louisiana-Lafayette PG Elfrid Payton with the 23rd overall pick. In addition to Cotton, the Jazz will host Taylor Braun, Stephen Holt, Akil Mitchell, Mike Moser, and Ronald Roberts Jr.
Sacramento has 5’9 Isaiah Thomas as their starting point guard so I guess they aren’t afraid to give a smaller guard a chance but I’m also unsure how Cotton fits here unless Thomas leaves as a restricted free agent this summer in which case Cotton could come in to backup 2nd year player Ray McCallum. Chad Ford’s latest mock draft has the Kings taking Oklahoma State PG Marcus Smart with the 7th overall pick so this may just be a way of posturing to lower Thomas’ asking price as a restricted free agent.
The NBA Draft lottery is May 20th and the NBA Draft is June 26th.
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#pcbb Links of the Day 5/6/14
- ICYMI – Big East/Big Ten Challenge: What This Means for the Big East
- FriarBasketball.com – Kevin Farrahar – Bring in Minnesota for the Gavitt Tipoff Games
- Official Press Release about the Gavitt Tipoff Games – BIG EAST and Big Ten Establish Gavitt Tipoff Games to Begin in 2015
- Paint Touches – Andrei Greska – Gavitt Tipoff Games a boon for Big East, Big Ten and FS1
- Chris Torello posted a “Mini” FriarPOD last night. It’s 25 minutes long and he discusses recruiting for the remaining spots in 2014 as well as 2015. He also talks about the returning players and what he expects them to do this upcoming season.
- Former Friar Brandon Austin has reportedly been suspended from the basketball team at Oregon along with 2 other players and will leave the school after rape allegations
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#pcbb Weekly Recruiting Update 5/2/14
Last weekend was a massively important weekend for recruits and coaches alike because it was the only live evaluation period that coaches can attend until the 3 that are in July. For some players, they were the ones that needed to make an impression and get noticed by a coach. For other players, it was more about a coach making an impression and being noticed in the stands by that player. Unfortunately the timing of the end of the season banquet in Providence kept head coach, Ed Cooley off the road last weekend but his assistants were out in full force spread all across the country. To that end, I’ve added a new feature to this site. You can find the link at on the left side of the top menu. It’s called “Where is Ed Cooley and the staff?” and it has a map of the USA with markers to indicate a coach being on the road somewhere. Check it out and give me your feedback. As for where the assistants were during the only live period of April: Andre LaFleur was out in Sacramento for the EYBL Session #1, Bob Simon was in Dallas for the Adidas Gauntlet and Brian Blaney was in Pittsburgh for the Hoop Group Jamfest. Here is a list of events that will be happening this upcoming weekend even. Even though coaches can’t be there, the media and scouting services still can so there will be plenty of updates next Friday. List courtesy of Jeff Borzello at CBSSports.com:
- Adidas Nations (Miami)
- Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions (Atlanta)
- Spiece Run-N-Slam (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
- Howard Pulley Invitational (Eagan, Minn.)
- 94 Feet of Madness (Columbia, S.C.)
Before I get into last weekend’s AAU action, there is some more immediate recruiting going on for the class of 2014.
- 2014 PG Larry Austin will visit Xavier this weekend but Providence is strongly in the mix and Austin will take an official visit next weekend to Friartown.
- Wednesday, 2014 PG Devonte’ Graham cut his list down to 2 schools, Kansas and NC State. On Friday he committed to Kansas.
https://twitter.com/im_dat_kid_dtae/status/461534464498487296
- On Thursday, 2014 PG Shelton Mitchell got his release from his NLI with Wake Forest. His former lead recruiter was Jeff Battle who is a good friend of Ed Cooley’s I would expect to see PC mentioned with Mitchell.
- Also on Thursday, it was announced that Kansas PG Naadir Tharpe would be seeking to transfer closer to home because of some medical issues with his daughter.
- Last Friday Jared Terrell getting his release from his NLI with Oklahoma State became official. The 2014 SG is said to want to be closer to home and the 3 schools expected to be involved were Boston College, Providence and URI. Rumors are that Terrell will visit PC and BC next week and make a decision. My guess is Boston College gets him because of Preston Murphy taking an assistant position with the Eagles on new coach, Jim Christian’s staff.
Continue reading #pcbb Weekly Recruiting Update 5/2/14
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