Tag Archives: Tim Welsh

General News

The Other Shoe Dropped Against USC, Future Remains Bright in Friartown

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Obviously the result of this game wasn’t what Providence fans wanted. The 15 point halftime lead never truly felt comfortable. That’s a product of watching plenty of Providence games over the years that has fans always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Usually that other shoe is a player transferring or an injury or a coach leaving that cripples the program in the short term and sometimes even the long term.

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Deep Breaths

Deep Breaths, Friartown: Better Season Than Expected Edition, Perspective

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I did a post like this after the news of Paschal Chukwu’s transfer broke back in May of 2015. That edition of “Deep Breaths, Friartown” was more about trying to make lemonade out of lemons while trying to shake of the seemingly illogical move by Chukwu to leave a starting role with a lottery pick point guard in Kris Dunn. Time — and plenty of on-court success since the big man went north to Syracuse — has moved Chukwu’s out of nowhere decision off most Providence fans’ radars. The current hot button topic that is the motivation for this post is the no-show performance by Providence in their Big East Tournament quarterfinal game on Thursday night. While it was painful to watch and I’m sure Friar fans turned off the TV or walked out of Madison Square Garden with a bad taste in their mouths, it’s important to keep things in perspective. And that’s ultimately why I’m writing this. Perspective.

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Ed Cooley, Recruiting News

Providence Continues Pursuit of Highly Ranked Recruits

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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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Links of the Day

#pcbb Links of the Day 4/2/16

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Links of the Day

#pcbb Links of the Day 12/4/15

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General News

Former PC, Oregon Player Brandon Austin Enrolls at NW Florida St JC

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Brandon Austin seems to have finally landed somewhere after being dismissed from Oregon this spring. The story was first reported by CBS Sports’ Jeff Borzello.

The interesting aspect of this story is that the head coach at Northwest Florida State Junior College is none other than former Tim Welsh assistant Steve DeMeo. DeMeo was named the head coach in July 2013 following a stint as an assistant to Mo Cassera at Hofstra.

On Austin, DeMeo said “we have the experience, support and resources to help Brandon get back on track towards graduating and help him be a successful student athlete on and off the court.” Austin was reportedly going to enroll at Hutchinson CC before the president there said no. DeMeo just had former PC recruit Michael Chandler on his roster who will now go to Oregon this upcoming season.

As FriarTV said on Twitter earlier, it’s a small world. Hopefully Austin can grow up and get his life back on track.

NCAA Tournament

Thoughts on the Week Leading to the Game

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For many of us, the shock of being the Big East Champions may not have worn off quite yet. For Ed Cooley, the whirlwind has just begun. It’s all good for the program and Cooley is so well liked in coaching and media circles that it makes total sense, but the media barrage that he has already begun has to be taking a toll. I’m exhausted and all I did was drink beer and cheer for 3 days/nights.

Yesterday, Cooley began the media frenzy early by appearing on the Tim Brando Show just after 10am. He followed that up by working with Nike to put together some clips for their Nike Pro Answers series. In the late afternoon, Cooley appeared on Katz Korner on ESPNU around 4:30pm with Andy Katz and former Friar HC, Tim Welsh, called in to “Bracket Busters” on CBS Sports Network and then capped off his media heavy day by appearing on WFAN in NYC with Mike Francesa just after 5pm (who will be moving to Fox Sports 1 simulcast on 3/24/14). He also apparently was over at his home to check on some last minute construction issues early this morning ahead of his family moving back in after the fire in January. There will also be countless calls from print reporters to get quotes for articles ahead of the first appearance by PC in the Big Dance since 2004.

For those who haven’t seen or heard much of what Cooley talks about on these national shows, get ready to hear a lot about the following all week:

  • Cooley’s inspirational weight loss – he’s down over 125 lbs since the summer
  • Cooley’s house fire that has caused his family to live in a hotel for the past 2+ months
  • Bryce Cotton’s amazing career and senior season and how he is still underappreciated.

We, as sports fans, tend to like to put together storylines and give everything a narrative to follow. Sometimes the narrative is accurate – like with Cooley and Cotton – and other times the narrative is just put on a situation to fit our hopes or to make sense of a situation. The narrative for this PC team is a very genuine one. They have had to overcome A LOT of adversity as a team and program over the last year and a half. They are led by a very humble and quiet kid in Cotton and they truly are all about “Heart & Soul” which appears to have been their motto for the Big East season.

Obviously I want them to win on Friday (and I think they have a legitimate chance to do just that) but at this point, they are playing with house money for me. I’m just so thrilled for Cotton, Batts and the rest of the seniors that they were the team that broke through and brought this program back onto that blue carpet. This is a team led by seniors who are playing to leave everything on the floor. This is a team who wasn’t even supposed to be in the NCAA Tournament. It’s a team that sounds pretty dangerous to me.