First Semester Grade - Providence Friars: B+
Monday, December 12, 2011
It is that time of the season where most college basketball programs have a week or so off for exam break before they get back into action for a few more non-league games which eventually leads them into conference play sometime around the first of the year.
With that, it is the perfect time to take a look at our four local division one men’s basketball programs and give them their first semester grades. We will tackle one per day for the next four days. We start with the PC Friars. Here we go:
Providence Friars: B+
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRaise your hand if you thought that the Friars would be (9-2) through their first 11 games with a very good chance to finish their non-conference schedule at (11-2). Just what I thought. Nobody, and I mean nobody, expected this. Yes, PC hasn’t played the most rigorous non-conference slate but they deserve plenty of credit for taking care of business against the “lesser” teams on their schedule.
Ed Cooley knew that it wasn’t going to be easy winning right away at Providence given the lack of talent and depth on the roster. Having lost Marshon Brooks to the NBA, many wondered who would be able to fill that large void offensively for PC. For the most part, the team has collectively picked up the slack although the scoring is down because the team no longer plays at the frenetic pace it once did under Keno Davis.
A PC administrator asked me the question over a week ago, “do we play great defense or what?” Truthfully, the answer to that question is, “no.” However, it’s all relative. Compared to what the team did defensively under Davis, this team looks like the Alonzo Mourning-led Georgetown Hoyas.
Providence is not a great defensive team but they are now putting in the effort on that end of the floor where they weren’t before. Also, Cooley has been effective in mixing up his defensive looks playing both man-to-man defense and zone against teams who have bigger front lines. It is a marked improvement over a year ago. What has also made their defense look better is the fact that they have now slowed the pace of play down and run a half court offense resulting in fewer possessions for themselves and their opponents.
Offensively, they now share the ball instead of looking to make individual plays going one-on-one with their defender. Vincent Council is a legitimate Big East player and a very good quarterback for the Friars. Sophomores Bryce Cotton and Gerard Coleman have shown the ability to put the ball in the basket as has talented freshman LaDontae Henton. Getting Kadeem Batts back should help the production of their forwards and add a little more beef to their line-up.
With winnable games against New Hampshire and URI, PC could very well go into Big East play at (11-2). Unfortunately, they will take their lumps within the conference against the likes of UConn, Syracuse, Louisville, Marquette, Pitt and Georgetown. Having said that, there are some beatable teams like St. John’s, South Florida, Rutgers and DePaul to name a few. If they can somehow win 5 games in the Big East, they would be over .500 at (16-15) heading to the Big East Tournament come March. And did anyone really think that this team had a chance to be above .500?
It has been a very nice start to the 2011-2012 season for Cooley and the Friars. They deserve a good grade. Should they finish at or above .500 this year, that B+ moves up to an A.
Tomorrow we give you the Rhody Rams first semester report card. Needless to say, it won't be as pretty as PC's.
