Friar Basketball Newsletter: Christ Essandoko Commits to PC, learning more about Matteus Case, what's next for Bryce Goodine, Reflections on the Friars of '75-78, the '03-04 podseries, and more.
Business is picking up in Friartown. For the second time in less than a week, Providence received a commitment from a promising prospect. On Friday, 6’11 center Christ Essandoko announced his commitment to PC. Essandoko is a native of France with good upside as both a passer and post scorer. Here we take a look at his game, dig into his performances on the Under Armour and Nike circuits over the summer, and examine what this means for the Friars.
In regard to the current roster, this week we have features on Brycen Goodine and Matteus Case. Providence assistant coach Bob Walsh provides the staff perspective on Goodine persevering through last season, and how the PC staff went about scouting and recruiting Case, who has four years of eligibility after transferring in from Penn. Case is reportedly a good shooter, while Goodine is looking to break through after a terrific prep career at St. Andrew’s in Barrington, RI.
Even after Ernie D, Marvin Barnes, and Kevin Stacom graduated from Providence, the good times kept rolling for PC in the mid-to-late ’70s. Craig Leighton shares his reflections on another terrific stretch of Friar basketball — knocking off #1 Michigan in an absolute thriller at the Civic Center, beating North Carolina during the blizzard of ’78, Providence landing perhaps the top recruiting class in the country, and so much more.
Craig also rounds up all of the news from PC’s media session last week and the commitments of Jayden Pierre and Essandoko in The Starting Five.
Lastly, we are so happy with the feedback we have received on the first episode of our podseries on the 2003-04 Friars. The first episode was released last week, and the second episode is coming later this week. In the first episode we talk about the roster construction and mentality of this group following a strong close to the 2002-03 season. The pod can be found by searching for The Friar Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, which is hosted by Bill Ricci. We hope you give it a listen!
If you need a reminder of what made this team so much fun, here are highlights from the Jimmy V Classic in 2003, when the Friars ran over a very good Illinois team in Madison Square Garden. Dick Vitale, Dan Shulman, and Doris Burke were on the call that night for ESPN. See the highlights here.
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