Done with this board being down in the dumps, the majority of our team can't even legally drink a beer, cut them a brake.
#WereontoPC
#FUCKPC
Native Preview wrote:It is that time of year again. Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the union, but it's big on college basketball, especially when it comes to the URI-PC game.
The PC-URI game, the 128th time that Rhode Island and Providence will face off on the hardwood, has been sold out for some time, so, if you are going to the game, plan to arrive early to avoid traffic and parking delays.
If you don't already have tickets, you can still catch the action on ESPNU (Cox channel 1134). Or listen in on the Radio: B101 (101.5 FM) with Steve McDonald and Don Kaull.
Tip off is 7:00 p.m. at the Ryan Center.
So who is this small Catholic college from the Capital City that's coming to Kingston on Saturday to play the Rams?
Providence College is a private, Roman Catholic college located about two miles west of downtown Providence.
The home court for PC men's basketball is the Dunkin' Donuts Center. Located in downtown Providence, it opened in 1972, and was known as the Providence Civic Center until 2001. The Dunk, as it is colloquially known, will be the venue of next year's PC-URI game.
The PC athletic teams are known as the Friars, a reference to the Dominican Blackfriars that founded and continue to run the institution. The Friars, after having spent the first six decades of their athletic existence as an independent, joined the Big East in its inaugural season, 1979–80, and has been a member of the Big East ever since.
From the perspective of most of the other teams in the Big East, Providence College is a small Catholic liberal arts college that plays its home basketball games in a dumpy arena that lacks a college atmosphere and that isn't even located on the PC campus.
However, from the perspective of many Rhode Islanders, Providence College is a storied program deeply tied to the identity of their home state. For many families in Rhode Island, there has been a multi-generational love affair between the smallest state in the union and the small Catholic liberal arts college in the capital city. For many of these folks, although URI may be the state’s school, the Friars are the state’s team.
For some of the Friar faithful, the infatuation may have started with listening to Chris Clark on the radio. For others, it may have started gathered around the family television, or perhaps even with a big-time basketball game in the iconic Civic Center with the blare of "When the Saints come Marchin' in" playing in the background.
In fairness to those smitten with Friars' basketball, Providence College back in the day was always able to deliver on roundball thrills and chills.
Back in the '60s the Friars had the nation's third-best record, behind UCLA and Kentucky. The school had stars like future Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens and No. 1 draft pick Jimmy Walker, and before them were the legendary Vinnie Ernst, Johnny Egan, and Jimmy Hadnot.
In the '70s, PC with two local kids made it all the way to the Final Four, only to have Marvin Barnes' right knee blow out, early in that heart-wrenching loss to Memphis State 98-85.
The '87 Providence team, coached by Rick Pitino and quarterbacked by Billy Donovan, made it back to the Final Four, and in '97 the Friars fought their way to the Elite Eight before losing in overtime to eventual national champ Arizona.
But that was then and this is now. Nostalgia only takes you so far. Even in Friartown.
The current Providence College team is coached by Ed Cooley, who has been the head coach of the Friars since the 2011–12 season. Coach Cooley is a native son of the Ocean State, having grown up on the mean streets of South Providence. Cooley played basketball for Central High School, twice earning Rhode Island Player of the Year honors. After graduating from Central in 1988, Cooley did a a post-graduate year at New Hampton School in New Hampshire, and then went on to Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, where he was a three-year team captain. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in history from Stonehill in 1994.
Cooley began his coaching career at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, spending the 1994–1995 season as an assistant men's basketball coach before returning to Stonehill as an assistant coach in 1995–1996. In 1996, Cooley joined Al Skinner's staff as an assistant coach for URI, before following Skinner to Boston College in 1997.
In 2006, after nine seasons as an assistant at BC, Cooley finally got his first head coaching position, in Connecticut of all places, at Fairfield University of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Over the course of Cooley's five seasons at Fairfield, Cooley's teams posted a 92–69 overall record and 58–32 conference record.
Immediately before his 2011 hiring by the PC administration, Ed Cooley had been awarded MAAC Men's Basketball Coach of the Year honors, for having taken an over-achieving Fairfield team to the NIT tournament. The conventional wisdom at the time of his hiring was that not only was Cooley a local Providence guy but he also would be able to perform similar-to-Fairfield miracles for the Friars, who had just suffered through the ill-fated Keno Davis regime (which included not only a series of losing seasons but also such off-court antics as Johnnie Lacy and James Still being dismissed from PC for their involvement in an assault on a fellow student; leading scorer and rebounder Greedy Peterson leaving school following a dorm room escapade that also involved two recruits; and key recruit Joseph Young begging out of his letter of intent).
For the most part, Cooley has delivered on expectations. Especially against in-state rival, the University of Rhode Island.
Most recently, in the game played last year at the Dunkin Donut Center, the Rams lost 68-60 to the Providence College Friars. Providence led by 10 with just over two minutes to play before the Rams made it a one possession game with 44 seconds left, thanks to sloppy ball handling by PC. In the end, Providence had enough to hold on, with Kris Dunn and Kyron Cartwright sealing it at the free throw line.
PC ended last year's 2014-2015 season with a 22-12 record overall, 11-7 in Big East play.
Gone from last year's squad are leading scorer LaDontae Henton and starting center Carson Desrosiers (both of whom graduated), as well as talented underclassmen Tyler Harris and Paschal Chukwu (both of whom unexpectedly transferred).
So far this 2015-2016 season, a very young PC squad is 7-1.
[/b]Code: Select all
11/14/15 vs. Harvard W, 76-64 11/18/15 vs. Illinois W, 60-59 11/21/15 vs. Brown W, 94-73 11/20/15 vs. NJIT W, 83-76 11/23/15 vs. Evansville W, 74-64 (Anaheim, California) 11/24/15 vs. Arizona W, 69-65 (Anaheim, California) 11/29/15 vs. Michigan State L, 77-64 (Anaheim, California) 12/01/15 vs. Hartford W, 89-66
The game Saturday in the Ryan Center will be the Friars' first true "away game" this season.
PC's only loss to date this season was in Anaheim to perennial Big-10 heavyweight Michigan State, currently ranked #3. The Friars themselves are currently ranked #23.
The PC M-BB roster of eligible players (and likely starters against URI) is as follows:____
- Kyron Cartwright (6-0 185) Sophomore Guard from Compton, California.
- Tyree Chambers (6-2 182) Sophomore Guard from Bayreuth, Germany
- Casey Woodring (6-2 185) Junior Guard from Darien, Conn./Cushing Academy
- Drew Edwards (6-3 185) Freshman Guard from Perry Hall, Md./Calvert Hall
- Kris Dunn (6-4 220) Junior Guard from New London. Dunn, a huge point guard, both in size and in talent, is having an impressive season, which is what one would expect from a National Player of the Year candidate. Dominating opponents on both ends of the floor, he is averaging 19 points, 6 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 3.7 steals per game,
- Ricky Council (6-5 200) Freshman Guard from Durham, North Carolina../Moravian Prep
- Junior Lomomba (6-5 205) Junior Guard from Montreal.
- Tom Planek (6-6 205) Sophomore Forward from Oak Park, Ill./Fenwick High School
- Isaiah Jackson (6-6 212) SophomoreGuard from Gainesville, Fla./Villages Charter School
- Jalen Lindsey (6-7 210) Sophomore Guard from Murfreesboro, Tenn. Sixth man in Cooley's rotation, he is averaging 6 points and 2 rebounds per game. Against Hartford on Wednesday, Lindsey canned four 3-pointers, three in a row during a key first half stretch, and finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds.
- Ryan Fazekas (6-8 205) Freshman Guard from Chesterton, Indiana. Just a freshman, but he is shooting 43 percent from three.
- Rodney Bullock (6-8 225) Redshirt Sophomore Forward from Hampton, Virginia. After sitting out his freshman year as a punishment, and taking a medical red-shirt year last year as a sophomore, Rodney is contributing this year, providing supplemental scoring and rebounding.
- Quadree Smith (6-8 285) Freshman Forward from Temple Hills, Maryland.
- Ben Bentil (6-9 235) Sophomore Center from Wilmington, Delaware, where he prepped at St. Andrew's. Originally from Ghana, Bentil is the number two weapon for the Friars. He plays the type of versatile inside-out offensive game that is a perfect complement to Kris Dunn. Bentil went for 21 points in the Friars' upset of Arizona on Friday, then finished with 20 points and 7 rebounds against Michigan State on Sunday. On Wednesday against Hartford, he had 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
Look -- all cheap shots at PeeCee aside, this will be an up-hill battle for Rhody, which since the Maryland game has not consistently played with high energy. Led by All-American candidate Kris Dunn, the Friars are currently playing extremely well, while the Rams themselves are apparently still coming together after the heart-breaking start-of-the-season loss of their leader, E.C. Matthews. Given that Saturday's contest is a rivalry game against a nationally ranked in-state opponent, it will take far more than merely a "good" performance by Hurley's boys to get Rhody the win, even with the home court advantage. Let's hope that everyone associated with Rhody brings their "A" game Saturday.
GO RHODY!!!