All Roads…lead to Greensboro?
Billy Ricci shares his thoughts as Providence prepares to face Kentucky
Friar Family, I’ve been quiet. Like many of you, I’ve been confused about what to believe, or what to focus my attention toward heading into my favorite time of the year. We may not be able to agree on what rumors surrounding the coaching situation may be true, or what happened to un-rank the Friars down the stretch of this season, but I think we can all agree this all happened so fast. The Xavier loss, although tough because Providence gave up 94 points at the AMP, at least we saw a great comeback, and a balanced offensive attack in the second half against an NCAA tourney #3 seed. Then came Senior Day, and then the first half of the Big East Tournament game against UCONN…
I know many of you out there are still wondering “what in the world happened?” and I am here to tell you — I am still caught up in the end of season lull just as much as the coaching rumors. After doing some reflection, more often than not, I think the problems for our Friars typically (as they have in past seasons) come back to slow offensive starts to games against high level competition.
Miami, TCU, UCONN II, Xavier II and even Seton Hall all saw the Friars in a large holes to start the second half. I still have nightmares back to some slow starts offensively in both the Big East Tournament and NCAA Tournament, and would prefer not to repeat history against Kentucky, who we have also had slow starts against in the past.
Of course, this leads to the question: How does Providence prevent a slow start from happening? Simple, right? Get Jared Bynum and Noah Locke going early. It is obvious PC is a different team when both are shooting well early, as the floor becomes more spacious for Bryce Hopkins and Devin Carter, in particular. This team has shown on more than one occasion that they are more likely to win a game offensively than defensively, especially when compared to Cooley teams of the past.
Then there is Bryce Hopkins — a Friar story that could end on Friday night against his old comrades who neglected him, or could just be beginning as the ultimate David vs. Goliath story. Do we think Hopkins would have made his feelings about his time at Kentucky so apparent in the past, if he knew he would be facing them in the NCAA Tournament? That I am not sure, but what I am sure about is I would rather have Bryce Hopkins over Jacob Toppin on my side on this national stage. My hope for Hopkins in this game is that PC can create some organic offensive opportunities for him, rather than an attempt to play hero ball 1 v 5 against Big Blue. Hopkins has been so effective this year when he is able to get those free throw attempts up, it almost takes the pressure off of the rest of his game when he drives hard and actually gets a foul called against him.
There is no doubt Ed Croswell will have a tough assignment Friday night, against the leading rebounder in the country. Oscar Tshiebwe held a stat line of 37 points and 24 rebounds against Georgia earlier this year, and just recently had another 20 boards paired with 21 points against Vandy. The solution? It may not be more rebounding, as sometimes you have to know when you're outmatched, in my opinion it has to be better offensive field goal percentages. If the Friars are down early that also probably means Tshiebwe is amassing rebounds, which can only lead to more confidence for the 6’9 center on the offensive end.
My prediction for the Friars? Chances are Kentucky probably isn’t running through a wall over being in the NCAA Tournament as a six seed, but you never know with the Hopkins storyline swirling and the sting of the Saint Peter’s loss still looming from last year. All I know is, if Noah Locke and Jared Bynum are confident and comfortable — I like the Friars’ chances.
Lastly here, folks, I would be remiss to not acknowledge the coaching rumors situation. And most importantly, I would like to start off by saying if Georgetown has extended an offer to Cooley before our season is over and our administration has not been contacted, there should be some sort of discipline brought against them. Within conference that is just unacceptable. These G-Town rumors have reaffirmed how sad it is, that one of the cornerstone programs in our conference for so long has fallen on hard times they never thought imaginable. If Cooley’s connection to Big John, his daughter attending school there, or restoring the Georgetown brand is calling his name, then maybe it really is time. Cooley’s 12 years at PC have completely changed the landscape of both the basketball program, and in some ways, the school as a whole. But, I know deep down Cooley still wants to take us on that long NCAA run we have all been waiting for. Are we about to go on that magical run? To be continued Friartown…
It sure has been a confusing few weeks in Friartown. What seemed to be shaping up as another great season with a single digit seed evaporated in what seems to be 2 days. The coaching rumors have put such a fog around this fanbase. You would hardly know that the team is playing a primetime ncaa tournament game today. Lets see what Friar team shows up...