Hurricane Sandy Affects URI & Bryant, Not PC & Brown
Monday, October 29, 2012
Hurricane Sandy has affected millions of people up and down the east coast of the United States. Here in Rhode Island, it has altered the plans of our local Division 1 men’s basketball programs.
GoLocalProv.com caught up with officials from PC, URI, Bryant and Brown to get the latest on our local hoops teams.
Classes were cancelled at all four schools on Monday and it looks like that could be the case again on Tuesday.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAt Providence College, the Friars men’s basketball team did not practice on Monday but that did not throw a monkey wrench into Ed Cooley’s plans for his team. “We were scheduled to have today (Monday) off,” he said. “We plan on returning to practice tomorrow.”
Cooley realizes the severity of Hurricane Sandy and is certainly concerned about his players’ well being. “The bottom line is we want to make sure that our guys are safe,” he said.
As for how he is handling the storm himself, “we’ve still got power at my house,” he said. “But, if it goes out we’ve got plenty of candles and flashlights to get by.”
While Cooley’s Friars were picked to finish last in the Big East preseason coach’s poll, don’t be surprised if they finish higher in the standings. The Friars have a very good veteran backcourt that could help them win their fair share of games this season.
“Our backcourt is really good,” he said. “We’ll probably be as good as they are.”
In Vincent Council, the Friars have a legitimate first-team all Big East point guard. In Bryce Cotton, they have a guard that can shoot the lights out from the perimeter and score. Add to that an all-rookie performer like LaDontae Henton and, despite their lack of depth, PC will be a tough out for many teams.
After beating Assumption 88-45 on Saturday, the Friars will play their final exhibition game this Saturday night against Rhode Island College at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
Meanwhile, down at URI, the Rams did not hold practice Monday. Sports Information Director Mike Laprey tells GoLocalProv.com, “the Athletic Department’s policy is that when the university is closed, practices are cancelled for all teams.”
At the time of publication for this article, Laprey said that classes were already cancelled for Tuesday at URI but did not know it the university would be closed for a second consecutive day.
The Rams received some good news from the NCAA late last week. Nigerian forward Ifeanyi Onyekaba was cleared to practice with the team this season but, at the moment, will be unable to play in games for the Rams until the 2013-2014 season. URI is appealing that decision in an effort to get Onyekaba eligible to play this season. The 6'-8" 240-pound freshman would add some much needed beef to the Rams' front line.
The Rams play an exhibition game against Coast Guard on Friday night.
Up in Smithfield, Tim O’Shea’s Bryant Bulldogs also had the day off as the school was shut down Monday. Bryant will also be closed on Tuesday.
However, just because the university is closed, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the men’s basketball team won’t practice on Tuesday. “I’ll need to check with my Athletic Director Bill Smith to find out if we can practice,” O’Shea said. “I think one of the issue with us is that when the university is closed, there are no trainers around so we’ll need to find out tomorrow what the story is.”
Even if Bryant can’t practice again tomorrow, O’Shea doesn’t seem worried. “At this point, two days off for us is not a tragedy,” he said. “Our trip to Europe this summer has put us ahead of schedule.”
After an exhibition game this Friday night against Salve Regina, O’Shea’s Bulldogs open the season next week with the toughest test of any team in the entire country. Bryant will visit #1 - Indiana on Friday, November 9th.
“I’m just hoping we can make it interesting,” said O’Shea. “I’ll tell you this, we may go there and lose handily but it won’t be because our kids are afraid. These kids have confidence in themselves and if we make some 3’s, we can hang around with them.”
Like Providence, Bryant also has a very solid backcourt featuring fifth year senior Frankie Dobbs, sophomore shooter Joe O’Shea and fellow sophomore Dyami Starks. Starks, a transfer from Columbia, could be a real weapon for the Bulldogs as he can score in a variety of ways.
Finally there’s the Brown Bears. And, for anyone who thinks that kids in the Ivy League might be a little soft, you might want to think again.
Brown was the one Division 1 team in Rhode Island that did practice Monday. The Bears held a workout at the Pizzitola Sports Center from about 11am-1pm as they ready themselves for the upcoming season.
“The weather wasn’t too bad when we entered the arena around 11am, but when we left around 1:15-1:30pm it started to get a bit more severe,” said first-year coach Mike Martin. Martin said that while everyone was aware of what was going on outside with Hurricane Sandy, that it wasn’t an issue once practice began.
Two players Brown fans are looking forward to seeing are frontcourt mates Rafael Maia and Cedric Kaukumensah. Maia is a 6’-9” sophomore center from Brazil who had to sit out last year due to NCAA rules. Kaukumensah is a 6’-8” freshman forward from Worcester, Mass who attended St. Andrew’s in Barrington.
Martin’s Bears, led by All-Ivy point guard Sean McGonagill, open up their season on Saturday, November 11th at Binghamton. McGonagill, Matt Sullivan and Tyler Ponticelli were all named captains for this year’s team.