Council, Friars Gearing Up For Season
Thursday, October 11, 2012
The 2012-2013 college basketball season officially begins Friday night when teams are allowed to practice for the first time and the PC Friars are gearing up for some Late Night Madness festivities at the newly renovated Alumni Hall beginning at 10pm.
Wednesday afternoon, Ed Cooley and his players met the media for the first time this fall and, as you might expect, the Friars are excited about the upcoming season.
“I set high goals,” said senior guard Vincent Council. “I want to make it to the postseason but also enjoy playing my senior year.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTCouncil isn’t just the best player on his team, he is one of the premier players in the Big East Conference and he knows that if he and the team are to reach their goals that they will have to be better than they were a year ago when they played well out of conference but struggled in the Big East.
“We have to do a better job of finishing games. We lost a lot of close games,” he said. “We have to be mentally tough so we can pull those out.”
While Council is focused on doing what he can on the floor to help this team win games this season, he also understands that his impact on the team will be far greater if he does all of the little things expected of a player in his position.
“I know I have to be a leader,” he said. “I need to know when to go and when not to go. I need to know when to let my teammates do what they do on the court. Just controlling the game.”
Council will also try to be a mentor to incoming freshman guard Kris Dunn who will start the season on the shelf due to injury. “I know it’s my role to help develop Kris into the point guard of the future for this program,” he said. “Just like when I was a freshman I had some of the upperclassmen like Sharaud (Curry) and Marshon (Brooks) helped me play guard so I think it is a great task for me to help Kris.”
Speaking of Dunn, he and fellow McDonald’s All-American Ricky Ledo were present at media day even though neither will be available to start the season. Ledo must sit out the entire season due to NCAA rules while Dunn recovers from shoulder surgery which will likely keep him out for at least half the season.
However, Dunn is hopeful that he will be able to suit up for the Friars before the year is out. “I definitely want to get out on the floor this year for my teammates and for coach Cooley but right now that decision is up in the air. Hopefully I can get back a couple of games before the Big East but we’re trying to get me back before the Big East starts,” he said.
It’s not often that PC lands a McDonald’s All-American, much less two in the same year, but Dunn said that he had plenty of good reasons to pick PC. “I talked to Ricardo who’s a local kid and he told me how much he loved the school,” Dunn said. “I also had a relationship with Coach Cooley when he was at Fairfield and I wanted my family to be able to come to my games since they’re only 45 minutes away.”
While players like Ledo and transfers Carson Desrosiers and Tyler Harris can practice with the team this season, none will be able to play in games for the Friars this season. Add to that the injury to Dunn and having to wait until the second semester to add Arizona transfer Sidiki Johnson to the mix and PC will star the season with an extremely thin roster.
None-the-less, the show must go on for the Friars who look to improve on last year’s (15-17) record which also saw them go (4-14) in the Big East.
It all starts for real on October 27th when they host Assumption in their first of two exhibition games. PC’s season-opener will be November 10th at the Dunk against NJIT.
The school will also place individual game tickets on sale beginning at 10am Friday. Here is the information from the school’s website friars.com:
Providence College men’s basketball individual game tickets will go on sale Friday, October 12 at 10:00 a.m. Season tickets and mini-plan packages are currently on sale.
Three and five game mini-plan packages are available. Three game mini-plan packages begin at $30. Five game mini-plan packages begin at $50, and include tickets to Rhode Island on Thursday, December 6, Syracuse on Wednesday, January 9, Connecticut on Thursday, January 31, and the choice of two other games.
Season tickets and mini-plan packages offer the best value and best seat locations. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call 401-865-GOPC.
