Tag Archives: Paschal Chukwu

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.

Continue reading Providence Continues Pursuit of Highly Ranked Recruits

Building a Program: Providence Should Emulate Conference Leaders

The Big East currently has two teams sitting atop the league’s standings, two teams toiling away in the cellar and the other six teams beating each other to death in the middle. This has been the recipe each of the first three seasons of this configuration of the Big East. Villanova remains the most consistent. Jay Wright’s program has been among those two at the top all three seasons. The other program on high this season — Xavier — also appears to be in a position to stay there. That leaves teams like Butler, Creighton, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence and Seton Hall to bloody each other’s win/loss records in hopes of snagging the other three spots that make up the top half of the league.

Continue reading Building a Program: Providence Should Emulate Conference Leaders

#pcbb Links of the Day 7/2/15

Providence Recruiting Update: Time to Turn Attention to 2016

With NC State forward transfer Kyle Washington committing to Mick Cronin and the Cincinnati Bearcats on Wednesday its time for the Friar staff to turn their attention to the class of 2016 and beyond. The likelihood that there is still a player available that could contribute next season is almost nonexistent. The only scenario out there right now is probably a darkhorse international player but that is in the “massive longshot” category.

The first July live evaluation period is rapidly approaching and the Providence staff needs to be focused on players from the class of 2016 with an eye towards players in 2017. Some Big East compatriots have already gotten off to good starts in 2016 with Butler landing a pair of 4 star recruits in Joey Brunk and Howard Washington, Villanova picking up consensus top 20 recruit Omari Spellman and Xavier dipping into the New England Prep ranks to grab top 125 forward Tyrique Jones.

Continue reading Providence Recruiting Update: Time to Turn Attention to 2016

#pcbb Links of the Day 6/30/15

The Curious Case of Paschal Chukwu

For the second year in a row a player who was pegged for a starter’s role and major minutes in the upcoming season has left the Providence program. Last year it was Josh Fortune announcing his intention to transfer on the Friday before Memorial Day. This year it was Paschal Chukwu a week before Memorial Day. Fortune started at the shooting guard position and likely was going to continue doing so in what would have been his junior season at Providence before announcing his intention to transfer, having his mom declare it was so that he could be closer to home and then opting to go to Colorado — a school further from his home in Virginia than Providence. Now that Paschal Chukwu has picked a new home and will get his change of scenery I thought it would be interesting to examine the entire situation and some of the comments made by Chukwu’s high school coach.

Continue reading The Curious Case of Paschal Chukwu

Providence 2015 Frontcourt Target Commits to Boston College

After beefing up the frontcourt with the commitment of 6’8 250 pound Quadree Smith, Ed Cooley has missed out on adding length to that frontcourt as 2015 Sound Doctrine Christian Academy big man JC Reyes committed to Boston College on Thursday, per ESPN’s Jeff Borzello. Reyes visited Providence on June 11th and 12th after tripping to Boston College. He was also considering Penn State and South Florida. Cooley and the Friars still have an open scholarship for 2015 but the available options are increasingly more slim.

Continue reading Providence 2015 Frontcourt Target Commits to Boston College