Late Night Madness festivities have become much less about the official beginning of the college basketball season, which is how the tradition began in 1971 at Maryland. These gaudy events are now much more heavily geared towards impressing recruits and the Friars will do their best to make a splash with the top 2018 target in the state of Rhode Island on Saturday night. Cole Swider, the 6’8 sharp-shooter from Portsmouth, will be in attendance and is currently ranked as the #1 recruit in Rhode Island by ESPN. Swider has a 247Sports Composite National Ranking of 70th in the class of 2018. The Friars offered the St. Andrew’s wing back in June, though they’ve been tracking him for much longer. Swider has also been familiar with the in-state Friars much longer than just a few months ago. He attended Providence’s Elite Camp the last two years and was in attendance for Bill Raftery and Ludacris at the 2015 Late Night Madness on Providence’s campus. This year, Providence is bringing in Shaquille O’Neal a.k.a. DJ Diesel to perform around 9pm and Providence Hall of Famer Doris Burke of ESPN will be the emcee for the evening. Doors to Mullaney Gym open at 6:45pm Saturday night.

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