Friar Basketball Newsletter: Providence Heads West With A Big Opportunity In Front of Them
We want to wish a very Happy Holiday season to all of our readers!
Providence takes to the road this week, starting with a Thursday night game at Butler followed by a Sunday afternoon contest at DePaul. After last week’s double overtime win against Marquette, the Friars (10-3, 2-0) have a chance to really put themselves on the national radar with a pair of wins this week.
The staff at Friar Basketball gets you ready for the week ahead with a variety of articles on Providence and the Big East.
Subscribers can read our detailed previews of Butler and DePaul. This article looks into the rosters of both opponents, how they have fared this season so far (including advanced analytics), and PC’s history with each program, and predicts the outcomes of each game.
From the article:
It hasn’t always been easy, but Providence has held a pretty distinct advantage over the Bulldogs in recent seasons. Ed Cooley’s team has won four straight games against Butler, and eight of the last ten. For as well as PC played last year, they outscored a struggling Butler team by just 11 points across three games in 2022, including a one-point overtime win at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Feb. 20. On that afternoon it was Noah Horchler providing late-game heroics on both ends of the floor.
Ed Cooley and the emerging Alyn Breed met with the local press on Tuesday morning, and we have videos from both of their media sessions. Breed talked about how critical it was for this team to fight through adversity against Marquette (among other things), while Cooley’s session was highlighted by his thoughts about Big East Player of the Week Bryce Hopkins.
Billy Ricci wrote this week about how Hopkins has found the right fit at Providence. Billy also examined the impressive play of Breed, Devin Carter, and Ed Croswell of late.
Prior to the start of the season, I took a shot at ranking the top 40 players in the Big East. This article takes a look at five players who have exceeded my expectations since the start of the year. One transfer just might be the best guard in the league to date.
With the December break, we thought it was a good time to take a look at how some Friars are faring in the professional ranks this year. Here you can read about how David Duke Jr. and Kris Dunn are excelling in the G League, Bryce Cotton continues to dominate in Australia, AJ Reeves and Justin Minaya’s G League production, Al Durham playing alongside a lot of familiar faces (and foes), and more.
I’m really excited about how our News and Notes column came together this week. This is available to all readers of Friar Basketball, and looks into Providence’s success on the offensive glass and the paint, Devin Carter’s instinctual plays making a difference, Villanova freshman Cam Whitmore’s crazy-high usage rate since returning, an update on Southern California Academy, impressions of a young Massachusetts recruit PC is tracking, and more.
From the article:
When UConn and Providence play on Jan. 4 it figures to be a pure battle in the paint. Adama Sanogo leads the Big East with 9.9 field goal attempts in the paint per game. He’s followed by a pair of Friars — Ed Croswell at 8.4 and Bryce Hopkins at 8.1.
Sanogo is scoring 13.5 points per game in the paint. Croswell ranks third in the league (10.8) and Hopkins eighth (8.9).
Croswell is second in the Big East in second chance points per game (4.2), UConn freshman Donovan Clingan and Hopkins are tied for sixth (3.3), while Sanogo isn’t far behind with 2.7.
Finally, I am very happy to have Craig Leighton sharing his thoughts on the Friars and the National Prep School Invitational (NPSI), which is returning to Rhode Island in February. The team running NPSI always puts together a great field. Craig’s Here and There in Friartown article can be found here.
We hope you are enjoying the content here at Friar Basketball. With the season now in full swing, please feel free to let any Friar fans you know about us!