KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

LET THE SPIN BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the spin is going to be great, the same people who said a 4 star was deterred by the prowess of Josh Fortune will now say its no big loss.
PC basically has no back court experience heading into next season....they have Dunn with a chronic injury and minimal game time over the last 2 seasons, 2 freshman and a transfer -- that will be a challenge for Big Ed. but ya know what, I LOVE OUR BACK COURT!!! for the next 3 years. As the kids say, sorry not sorry.

Oh, I just feel awful...

Of course,Cooley didn't want Terrell.
Like he didn't know Fortune was leaving......

i do find it odd he is transferring, has to be something more to it...they are inexperienced in the back court. doesn't make a whole lot of sense, unless someone is coming in like that niagara transfer.

Hey, Kaza Keene is still available! So is Mike Powell.

bigappleram wrote:the spin is going to be great, the same people who said a 4 star was deterred by the prowess of Josh Fortune will now say its no big loss.
PC basically has no back court experience heading into next season....they have Dunn with a chronic injury and minimal game time over the last 2 seasons, 2 freshman and a transfer -- that will be a challenge for Big Ed. but ya know what, I LOVE OUR BACK COURT!!! for the next 3 years. As the kids say, sorry not sorry.

No spin it is a huge loss with the issues they have in the backcourt right now. Not going to be like some people on this board and have a huge hissy fit like when Hare left saying he was not that important anyway. Losing Fortune is a huge blow no question about it.

I respect that truthfulness nickel. For the record I was definitely not one who shrugged off losing Hare. And was equally happy when he returned! Any rumors as to the reason, the "be close to home" sound bite seems like just that.

bigappleram wrote:I respect that truthfulness nickel. For the record I was definitely not one who shrugged off losing Hare. And was equally happy when he returned! Any rumors as to the reason, the "be close to home" sound bite seems like just that.

Yea I would have to think the close to home may have some truth to it. I believe his mother was over seas in the service and just returned home so maybe wanted to be closer to family. Guess we will have to see where he ends up. But like the Gerard Coleman transfer(transfering again btw) this is a very puzzling move to me.

I was just informed from a die hard PC fan that Fortune is leaving PC. It doesn't seem to make any sense but the word is he is transferring immediately to be near home. I certainly don't feel bad for PC. I feel good about our matchup this seaon. Everything is going our way now....Go Rhody!

awkward

So Providence now has 3 or 4 openings still for 2014? Remember when some were all over Dan for still having some openings and loving Cooley for all he was doing?

adam914 wrote:So Providence now has 3 or 4 openings still for 2014? Remember when some were all over Dan for still having some openings and loving Cooley for all he was doing?

To be fair though, Cooley already has a NCAA appearance at PC under his belt. Regardless of the roster situation right now, that's something you can't take away from him, and it's something URI hasn't done in X years. URI is still building toward the success PC has already experienced with its latest coaching hire.

Just another player that didn't want to be a part of Friar basketball because they have too many better players there and he would not get much pt. The over abundance of talent scares them off. You can read all about it on the PC Scout Board. This week it was Fortune. Last week it was Terrell. The week before it was Graham.

RF1 wrote:Just another player that didn't want to be a part of Friar basketball because they have too many better players there and he would not get much pt. The over abundance of talent scares them off. You can read all about it on the PC Scout Board. This week it was Fortune. Last week it was Terrell. The week before it was Graham.

And next week it will be D…

Only kidding, seannie-boy! Don't want to re-start those vicious on-the-street New London rumors….

By-the-way: Interesting to see the mom, military-trained, knowing all-too-well to keep everyone's mouth shut until paper is in hand….

RF1 wrote:Just another player that didn't want to be a part of Friar basketball because they have too many better players there and he would not get much pt. The over abundance of talent scares them off. You can read all about it on the PC Scout Board. This week it was Fortune. Last week it was Terrell. The week before it was Graham.

You must be reading a different scout board then me because i see a lot of different opinions on Fortune. The reason they stopped recruiting Terrell was pretty simple to understand the staff saw he was not interested and they were third in line. Plus they are recruiting his teammate at Brewster who they believe they have a much better shot at. As far as Graham goes there was a huge thread all year on people saying they were hoping they could recruit him.

Seems like you read into it what you want to.Also have heard Terrell handlers are pushing for him to play point which i believe PC wanted no part of.Good luck with that kid is a good player but in no way a point guard.

woodennickel1 wrote:

RF1 wrote:Just another player that didn't want to be a part of Friar basketball because they have too many better players there and he would not get much pt. The over abundance of talent scares them off. You can read all about it on the PC Scout Board. This week it was Fortune. Last week it was Terrell. The week before it was Graham.

You must be reading a different scout board then me because i see a lot of different opinions on Fortune. The reason they stopped recruiting Terrell was pretty simple to understand the staff saw he was not interested and they were third in line. Plus they are recruiting his teammate at Brewster who they believe they have a much better shot at. As far as Graham goes there was a huge thread all year on people saying they were hoping they could recruit him.

Seems like you read into it what you want to.Also have heard Terrell handlers are pushing for him to play point which i believe PC wanted no part of.Good luck with that kid is a good player but in no way a point guard.

Uhhhhhhhhh, he was being facetious…..

EC isn't a point guard either. He came to Rhody to gain point guard skills to better his pro options. As long as JT is wiling to work at his game I see no reason he can't play some point. In fact I think all three EC, JG and JT will be playing some "point" guard.

In fairness - Cooley was left some players from Keno. DH got a year of Nik and a bag of balls. If Holton had not messed up and Billy Baron stayed last year would have looked significantly different.

rhodylaw wrote:EC isn't a point guard either. He came to Rhody to gain point guard skills to better his pro options. As long as JT is wiling to work at his game I see no reason he can't play some point. In fact I think all three EC, JG and JT will be playing some "point" guard.

I agree with you as long as he is wiling to play some point and not be the primary point guard.

We will have 3 guards who can handle, dish, shoot, drive, score and defend....sounds good to me.

I think you still give Cooley an incomplete as a coach until you see him win with his guys. Of this years main rotation, 3 were Keno recruits, 2 were transfers (partial credit), 1 was a Cooley recruit. The 2 biggest pieces were both Keno players (which he certainly gets credit for developing, but they weren't his guys). I don't blame Cooley for taking those risks, but at some point these guys have to see the court. Cooley has recruited 8 4-year players since coming to PC between 2011-2013, and only 2 have seen significant time on the court (Fortune verballed as a junior to Keno, but Cooley liked what he saw and decided to take him on so I do count him at a Cooley guy). 5 saw 0 minutes at PC. Of those 5, 1 never enrolled due to injury, 1 went pro after one season, and 2 left. It's not a pattern I think continues forever, and none of the 4 guys already signed for next year seem to have eligibility concerns, but he needs to get them to win at a high level to solidify his reputation.

bressler3south wrote:

woodennickel1 wrote:

RF1 wrote:Just another player that didn't want to be a part of Friar basketball because they have too many better players there and he would not get much pt. The over abundance of talent scares them off. You can read all about it on the PC Scout Board. This week it was Fortune. Last week it was Terrell. The week before it was Graham.

You must be reading a different scout board then me because i see a lot of different opinions on Fortune. The reason they stopped recruiting Terrell was pretty simple to understand the staff saw he was not interested and they were third in line. Plus they are recruiting his teammate at Brewster who they believe they have a much better shot at. As far as Graham goes there was a huge thread all year on people saying they were hoping they could recruit him.

Seems like you read into it what you want to.Also have heard Terrell handlers are pushing for him to play point which i believe PC wanted no part of.Good luck with that kid is a good player but in no way a point guard.

Uhhhhhhhhh, he was being facetious…..

I especially love it when fans of that team ignore simple sarcasm and are purposefully obtuse in their responses, it makes them sound wicked smott.

seriously though I do wonder what Fortune is thinking, did it really take him two full seasons to figure out he wanted to be closer to home? What causes a two year starter on a team with a bright future to depart seemingly out of the blue? He should've continued to get good PT even if he isn't pressed into action as much. Could this be fall out from some unknown off-court situation? I hope it works out for everybody, I'm sick of seeing so many kids transfer so frequently, I know it's a business and it goes both ways, teams may over-recruit, fib a little to a kid, some kids could be of the 'grass is greener' ilk etc... I get that abundant transfers are the reality currently, but I feel like some of these transfer situations can really derail a kids college career. I don't have any idea of the data or its analysis, but my gut tells me that transfers work out well, less than half of the time. Who knows, some people just need to keep their surroundings fresh. I have friends that transferred schools two or three times before graduating and they seem to be the ones that have been relocating right along.

Reading the PC Scout Board the majority are calling this a significant loss for PC. Fortune would have been a Junior with two solid years of experience under Cooley's Coaching. He can in regarded as a good 3 point shooter and showed solid improvement from his Freshman to Soph season and had several very effective performances in the second half of last season.
Certainly does not sound like he was recruited over at PC based on their general level of disappointment.

I have to admit that I wasn't happy to hear that Fortune is transferring. I also didn't like hear a while back that PC wouldn't have even made the tournament if they didn't win the automatic bid. It's not because of any feelings for PC (of course). I just know how I would feel if we had the season PC did and didn't get an invite because we didn't win our tournament and then lost a 2 year starter.
I don't have any idea of Fortune's reasons for leaving. But, I do get the feeling that too many kids are transferring at the first sign of trouble.

One person on their board suggested that it could be because Fortune and Bullock are close and Fortune didn't like the way the Bullock thing was handled. He said the reason that Bullock came to PC was Fortune. Don't know if there's any truth to it (he's guessing), but interesting...

I've done my homework and read all available reports.....Fortune is very close to the female involved in the Austin/Bullock incident...and he is quite upset with the way the college handled the whole situation to make the girl look bad.....

That's what I suspected. That's too bad if true. Nothing is worse than the mistreatment of victims. I could see how staying on would be a problem for a young man with good morals and emotional ties to the victim. Again I know this is speculation, but if this is true I think it shows real character on the part of Fortune, he's probably been struggling with it for some time.

If this is true, I would love if Fortune would speak publicly about this. Let's destroy that school and it's basketball program.

Ramulous wrote:I've done my homework and read all available reports.....Fortune is very close to the female involved in the Austin/Bullock incident...and he is quite upset with the way the college handled the whole situation to make the girl look bad.....

I say your full of $hit if you had evidence of that you would have posted it. Besides an investigation was done by a former State police lieutenant who had no ties to the school are you saying he did not do his job?

My homework indicates the former police officer was paid by the victim's family to do the investigation....

Sean is shit stirring on Scout, equating the Ram getting mugged in a Dumk bathroom,
to this alleged rape story.
Amazing.

the ram did get beat up, it was one of my friends

Other than the word that fortune is leaving, I've yet to see much resembling a fact here.

Is Fortune leaving????????????? Cooley didn't have much to say about it……….

Ramblinrose wrote:Other than the word that fortune is leaving, I've yet to see much resembling a fact here.

true, it's all speculation at this point.

Billyboy78 wrote:If this is true, I would love if Fortune would speak publicly about this. Let's destroy that school and it's basketball program.

Bb, if it is true, maybe we should focus our thoughts around the alleged victim. If Fortune feels that strongly about it he must still be in contact with the woman involved, giving him the occasion to be sensitive to her state of mind. In other words I hope, again if true, he doesn't attack the school per say, just that he might shed some light on the importance of such a heavy situation in comparison to college basketball wins and loses.

Running Ram wrote:

Ramblinrose wrote:Other than the word that fortune is leaving, I've yet to see much resembling a fact here.

true, it's all speculation at this point.

Billyboy78 wrote:If this is true, I would love if Fortune would speak publicly about this. Let's destroy that school and it's basketball program.

Bb, if it is true, maybe we should focus our thoughts around the alleged victim. If Fortune feels that strongly about it he must still be in contact with the woman involved, giving him the occasion to be sensitive to her state of mind. In other words I hope, again if true, he doesn't attack the school per say, just that he might shed some light on the importance of such a heavy situation in comparison to college basketball wins and loses.

My point is that if it is true and the school/staff is covering it up to protect the players involved, Fortune could possibly expose them. Would this not benefit the alleged victim? The alleged victim's name will never be known. Once again, we DO NOT know what the truth is in this case, or even if Fortune knows anything about it, but if it is, and if he does....

From KMac's story in the ProJo this morning:

Reached at his home in Hampton, Va., Fortune declined comment on the reasoning for his transfer Friday. His mother, Angela, said her son didn’t want to talk to the Journal until he was free to speak with other colleges.

“Josh doesn’t want to talk until he is allowed to talk to other schools,” Angela Fortune said.

By all indications PC will give Fortune a full release and he’ll be free to contact prospective schools. Providence coach Ed Cooley was in no mood to expound on the news either. When reached Friday, Cooley declined comment.

http://www.providencejournal.com/sports ... ansfer.ece

Did anyone from "FRIARTOWN" ever think (that's an oxymoron, right there) that Fortune just doesn't like being at PC?????? Maybe it's the school. Maybe it's the student body. Maybe It's not exactly located in the most beautiful part of Sanctuary City. In fact, two surrounding sides of the campus have neighborhoods which leave much to be desired.
Coupled with all of the speculation on the FRIAR BOARD, maybe it just was too much for him to be here, which says a lot, because he did have a good sophomore season and was poised for a better junior year.
I've listened to him during two extended interviews. Smart, thoughtful, polite.
Being from Virginia, I would bet that he might end up at Richmond or VCU. Now, Richmond…that's a beautiful campus.
I loved these two lines in buttboy's article: "Providence coach Ed Cooley was in no mood to expound on the news either. When reached Friday, Cooley declined comment."
Reads as if Eduardo was "a little miffed" to say the least.
Oh, well. PC. Too bad for them.
Hey, did you hear the latest one about Dunn?????????

This transfer is strange. He was an important part of a team that had played and was going to continue to get significant minutes. The program had just come off its most successful season in many years and was on the rise. Why would he transfer and why now with no explanation? My guess is that there is something behind the scenes that may never be publicly known. Otherwise it really makes little sense.

The transfer process is out of control in college hoops these days. Players face something they don't like (playing time, issue with coach, etc...) and immediately bail. They then have to sit out a year and often have issues again at their next school. PC's Gerard Coleman is a perfect example. He left PC for Gonzaga and now wants out of there for his last year. Mike Powell quit URI midway through the season without thinking things through and found he had very few options. It used to be that adversity built up a player. Now it is just an excuse to get out of town.

who cares about this anyhow, all that happened is we went from maybe having a better back court than them to definitely having a better back court.

RF1 I agree, transfers seldom find what they were looking for. It's too bad because they are just kids and they more often than not back themselves into a corner.

I wish fortune stayed with all the hype he was getting versus Terrell, I would have liked our back court to have kicked their butts in the convention center and opened up a new era. Now we will have to do it regardless.

Seawrightspostgame wrote:RF1 I agree, transfers seldom find what they were looking for. It's too bad because they are just kids and they more often than not back themselves into a corner.

I think that this can be true. There are always individual circumstances, which is why I'm ok with the particular transfers that Hurley has taken: Ortiz (figured out being that far from home was not where he wanted to be, came home to NYC area, performed great for WC); Minnis (qualifying academically was a problem, TT stuck with him but it was never where he really wanted to be); and Biruta (that's all pretty self-explanatory). Reischel's situation is a little less clear, but in the meantime, he's an excellent student-athlete, so a guy I'll definitely take to fill out the roster.

I think in general players arrive thinking they are headed to the NBA. Recruiters tend to indulge the fantasy, and parents pile on. The kids are stunned when they are no longer stars.
No idea on Fortune, but it is odd for a starter on a winning team to bail. Best URI transfers in my time ... Irv Chatman, Mike Brown, Abdul Fox and Luther Clay.

Billyboy78 wrote:My point is that if it is true and the school/staff is covering it up to protect the players involved, Fortune could possibly expose them. Would this not benefit the alleged victim? The alleged victim's name will never be known. Once again, we DO NOT know what the truth is in this case, or even if Fortune knows anything about it, but if it is, and if he does....

I didn't mean to make your point out to be insensitive, just wanted to stress that we want Fortune to speak about it, if true, not because PC is our hated rival and we want to see them taken down, but that we want this kind of victimization to end and if that means exposing the people and institutions that try to sweep such matters away, then yes, Josh, please speak openly about it. I have no doubt that it happens at this level, I have no doubt that it happens before this level, often 'star' athletes start getting away with presenting very poor behaviors and making very bad decisions early in life, I don't know what happened in this case, but currently things don't look good for Mr. Austin, so the speculation continues.

Hope Fortune does speak at some point, with more than the usual platitudes ... "It didn't work out, needed a change" blah blah.

My sources indicate he will not be very expansive on why he is leaving and will use the standard lines about leaving to go closer to home....

Ramulous wrote:My sources indicate he will not be very expansive on why he is leaving and will use the standard lines about leaving to go closer to home....

Just watch: A few weeks after Fortune gets his blessed release, one of his Twitter-World buddies will broadcast exactly why he left…….Be patient.

that's a lot of speculation to make, kids leave schools for all kinds of reasons..... that said this is an odd transfer given he didnt leave when austin was coming in (the old he got recruited over easy excuse), something seems fishy but it could be as easy as not seeing eye to eye with the coach or truly wanting to be closer to home for a host of reasons.