Tag Archives: Makai Ashton-Langford

2016-17 Team Awards Given Out at End of Season Banquet

Providence hosted fans, parents, alumni and friends at their end of season banquet for the 2016-17 men’s basketball team on Saturday night. The event was held at the Omni Hotel and featured a visit from recently available 2017 top-35 recruit Makai Ashton-Langford and his family. This marks the third straight year that Providence has hosted a recruit the weekend of their annual postseason team banquet. Nigel Williams-Goss visited Providence during the end of season banquet in 2015 and Alpha Diallo attended the event last spring.

Here are the team awards:

  • Jimmy Walker Most Valuable Players: Kyron Cartwright and Rodney Bullock
  • John Zannini Coaches Award: Casey Woodring
  • Coca-Cola Most Promising Prospect: Kalif Young and Maliek White
  • Marvin Barnes Defensive Player of the Year: Alpha Diallo
  • Unsung Hero Award: Isaiah Jackson
  • Lenny Wilkens Hustle Award: Emmitt Holt
  • Ryan Gomes Most Improved Player: Jalen Lindsey
  • Thomas Ramos Academic Award: Tom Planek (3.74 GPA)

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Providence to Host 2017 Top 35 Point Guard Makai Ashton-Langford for Official Visit

It’s been less than a week since the news broke that  2017 point guard Makai Ashton-Langford was re-opening his recruitment after comitting to UConn in September. Thursday was the first day coaches could hit the road and visit with recruits after the dead period that it put up around the Final Four and, predictably, Ed Cooley trekked up to Brewster Academy to visit with the top-35 point guard. Many Friar fans were getting manic over the fact that no news was coming out about a player who had Providence in his final two schools before choosing UConn but, Cooley left Brewster with an official visit date set for the Worcester native to come see the Providence campus. Adam Finkelstein tweeted out that Ashton-Langford will be on the Providence campus this weekend to take that official visit. Finkelstein also broke the news of Ashton-Langford requesting his release from UConn last week.

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#pcbb Links of the Week 4/1/17

2017 Makai Ashton-Langford Granted Release from UConn, Re-Opening Recruitment

The rumor mill had been buzzing that 2017 point guard Makai Ashton-Langford was considering re-opening his recruitment after signing a binding National Letter of Intent with UConn in November. On Friday, it became a reality. ESPN.com’s Adam Finkelstein reported that the top-40 recruit out of Brewster Academy was in fact asking UConn to be released from his NLI. The rumor mill began it’s buzzing after Glen Miller, longtime assistant coach and lead recruiter for Ashton-Langford for the Huskies, left the program last week. A report by Gavin Keefe of The Day indicated Miller was asked to leave. UConn is now looking at the possibility of losing one of their prized 2017 recruits in Ashton-Langford and two current players, Vance Jackson and Steven Enoch, to transfer since the news of Miller’s departure.

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Providence Continues Pursuit of Highly Ranked Recruits

Ed Cooley is not scared of a little competition. And to be clear, going toe-to-toe with schools like Kansas, Louisville, Maryland, NC State and others of that ilk isn’t the kind of thing that would normally be classified as “little competition”. Cooley has been fearless when taking on larger and more established programs when he and his staff identify a recruit they really want. If you’re a fan of a program not named Duke or Kentucky, then you’re probably used to losing recruiting battles, especially when schools like Duke and Kentucky get involved. Cooley doesn’t care. He’s going to keep his head down and keep building a relationship with the player, the player’s parents, coaches, handlers, siblings, grandparents, dog walker, etc.

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Providence Lands Top Big Man Target in 2017

Ed Cooley should host a top recruit annually on his birthday. 2017 power forward Nate Watson got to Providence on the night of September 9th for his official visit and committed to Cooley and the Friars before heading home the night of September 10th: Cooley’s 47th birthday. The news was first reported by Adam Zagoria. “Coach told me he’d never lost a recruit on his birthday,” Watson told Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal. Watson continued, “he jumped in his (swimming) pool when I gave him the word.” Cooley and his staff prioritized Watson since they offered him a scholarship back in early February, a few weeks before 2017 6’11 center Dajour Dickens committed to the Friars.

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Providence Recruiting Update: Rivals Updated Their Class of 2017 Top 150

Nearly three weeks after ESPN and Scout updated their rankings for the Class of 2017, Rivals has now done the same, bringing all three of the major recruiting services up to date, post-summer grassroots season. Rivals released the updated rankings on Tuesday. Unlike ESPN and Scout, Rivals ranks a Top 150 instead of just a Top 100. Providence’s lone commitment in the class didn’t make either Top 100, but Dajour Dickens is in Rivals’ Top 150. The Big East has a total of 6 commits inside the Top 100 as compared to 4 on ESPN’s and 5 on Scout’s Top 100’s. There are also 3 players committed to Big East schools in the 101-150 range of Rivals’ rankings.

Here’s where Providence’s commit and recruits fit on both lists, along with some notable Big East commits and former Providence targets:

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