Friar Basketball Newsletter: Catching Up with Kayvaun Mulready, Friar Prospects Take to the Floor at NPSI, Previewing the Week Ahead, News and Notes and More
While Providence has been off since playing Xavier on Wednesday, we have plenty of Friar-related content in this week’s newsletter.
Let’s start with recruiting, where the National Prep School Invitational took place over the past four days at Rhode Island College in Providence. Class of 2024 PC commit Kayvaun Mulready was scheduled to play in a highly anticipated game between his Worcester Academy club and NEPSAC AA rival Bradford Christian Academy, featuring top 40 2024 guard Kur Teng.
These two teams met in the NEPSAC AA championship game last March, with Worcester pulling out a last-second victory, while BCA returned the favor earlier this year. Mulready was sidelined for this one, but Billy Ricci and I caught up with him on Friday night to talk about his experience playing in the TD Garden, his visits to Providence, the bond he built with Ed Cooley, and what to expect when he arrives on campus.
One of the more intriguing names to take to the floor this weekend was Junjie “Barry” Wang of NBA Global Academy in Australia. Wang visited Providence in January and was behind the bench for a game at the AMP. The 6’10 Wang is a skilled big playing for a program that is producing talent that has gone straight to the NBA, as well as to schools like Duke, Baylor, and Marquette in recent seasons.
Subscribers can read all about Wang’s game on Sunday against Bradford Christian Academy. BCA also features two 2024 players to keep an eye on in Teng and defensive-minded power forward George Turkson out of Lowell, MA. This article goes into detail on these three recruits, how the game broke down, and other players that made a mark on Sunday.
In our Week Ahead article, we do a deep dive into Georgetown and St. John’s — PC’s two opponents this week. This includes how these two programs have failed to carry their end of the bargain since the Big East realigned in 2013, and their struggles in conference play this season. The article highlights key players to watch and includes advanced statistics and predictions.
This week’s News and Notes includes a side-by-side of Jared Bynum’s game-winning attempt against Xavier with a similar shot he buried in a big moment against Marquette, the elite company Noah Locke joined after making six 3-pointers versus X last week, details on how Providence’s offense is excelling this year, and more. Locke’s sizzling January shot chart is included as well.
Readers can also see Providence and Xavier battling into overtime in a video condensed to six minutes.
We are also aiming to release some digital content this week, including Billy Ricci’s interview with Ben Bentil for the Friar Podcast, as well as a video stream of Billy and me on Thursday night recapping the Georgetown game and taking a look ahead. We hope you will join us live for that one, and share your questions and comments as we go live and talk PC hoops!
Thank you for supporting Friar Basketball!