It's Here! Episode 1 of the Podseries on the 2003-04 Friars
Hear about the recruitments of Ryan Gomes, Donnie McGrath, Marcus Douthit, and Sheiku Kabba, how everything started to come together for this team late in the '03 season, and so much more.
We’re so excited this day is here.
Billy Ricci (host of The Friar Podcast), producer Mike Whalen and I started interviewing guests for this look-back at the 2003-04 Friars in June. We were so fortunate not only to be able to interview the likes of Ryan Gomes, Marcus Douthit, Donnie McGrath, Sheiku Kabba, and Bob Walsh for this four-part podcast series, but with how open each of them was with us.
After each interview Bill, Mike and I found ourselves increasingly excited about the level of candor and detail provided by the five guests you’ll hear featured in this series.
This is a team I’ve wanted to cover for the longest time. They were about so much more than the four-game losing streak that ended their season, after they entered March with a 20-5 record.
The 2003-04 Friars had the highest NCAA Tournament seed of any Providence team since the field expanded to 64 in 1985.
They defeated the 2003 national champions, the 2004 national champions, knocked off an ‘04 Elite Eight club, blew out a terrific Illinois team that started the following season 29-0, caused Jim Calhoun to rant, ran over Pete Gillen and Virginia, and welcomed back Rick Barnes in one of the wildest nights in Dunkin Donuts Center history.
In this first episode we delve into how the roster was constructed — the unheralded Gomes, how they discovered McGrath, why Douthit chose PC over Syracuse, and Kabba coming into the Big East with three fellow New York City point guards who were each McDonald’s All Americans.
These four players and Coach Walsh discuss how they turned the program around in February 2003, the momentum they carried into the following season, and how they came with renewed focus entering the 2003-04 season.
We hope you enjoy this podseries as much as we have enjoyed making it.
The podcast can be found on Apple, Spotify (also below) or wherever else you typically listen to your podcasts by searching for The Friar Podcast.