Friar Basketball Newsletter: Providence is Headed to Buffalo for the NCAA Tournament!
Selection Sunday was a great day to be a Friar, as Providence learned they would be the fourth seed of the Midwest region. That seed marks the highest in program history since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
Ed Cooley’s group will be one of the first teams to play this week, as they will take on 13th seeded South Dakota State in Buffalo on Thursday afternoon. The game will be at 12:40pm on TruTV, with Brad Nessler on the call. Those listening from work can tune in to WPRO (99.7 FM or AM 630).
Friar Basketball has you covered with an early, in-depth look at South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits currently own the longest winning streak in the country, and feature one of the most explosive offenses in the nation. They average just under 87 points per game (second in the country) and are looking to be the first team to shoot over 45% collectively from 3-point range in 27 years.
This article looks into how South Dakota State has fared against high major opponents, their NCAA Tournament history, their outstanding advanced offensive metrics, how PC may attack them, players to watch, highlights, and more.
Subscribers can enjoy this week’s News and Notes column, with the latest on Justin Minaya’s defensive metrics, how Providence’s class of 2022 commits closed out their high school careers, future recruits to keep an eye on, Big East tidbits, and where PC has been scorching shooting-wise over the last ten games.
We also have season highlights of Nate Watson, Jared Bynum, and AJ Reeves, and will follow those up with reels of Al Durham and Noah Horchler later this week.
Readers can also find all sorts of coverage on last week’s Big East Tournament, including PC’s 65-61 win over Butler condensed to nine minutes, how the Friars were pretty vocal about feeling disrespected when they met with the media last week, how Nate Watson carried the load early before Al Durham made the big shot late in the quarterfinal win over Butler, and a look at how Providence will respond following Friday night’s blowout loss to Creighton in the Big East Tournament semifinal.
Please continue to check out Friar Basketball for coverage of this incredibly important, and exciting, week for Providence.
Thanks, as always, for reading.