News and Notes: The "surprising" Corey Floyd, notes from the Ed Cooley Radio Show, a new offer, weekend visitors, and how two of PC's non-conference opponents were offseason "winners"
1. The first Ed Cooley Radio Show of the season aired on Thursday night, and it was a pretty packed episode, with appearances from Kevin McNamara, members of the new Friar Family Collective, and Louisville transfer Noah Locke.
For diehards, the most interesting tidbit likely came from host John Rooke asking Locke which player had surprised him this offseason.
“Probably Corey Floyd, honestly. I didn’t know much about him,” Locke said of the UConn transfer, who redshirted last year in Storrs. “I feel like he’s really skilled and he’s surprisingly really athletic. I didn't know he was that athletic either. I would say that he is the most surprising to me.”
It’s been a while since anyone got a long look at Floyd after he enrolled at UConn early last year, but sat out, and had much of his final year at Roselle Catholic wiped away due to the pandemic.
The last extensive look anyone got of Floyd was during the 2021 Nike Peach Jam, when he started for a Team Final squad that took home the title. The 6’4 wing is built like a tank, and shot .393 from three that July.
2. Cooley would likely preach caution when asked for expectations of Floyd, however. That has little to do with his talent, but due to a lack of reps after sitting last year and games being cancelled in his final year at Roselle.
In fact, on Thursday night Cooley made that very point when talking about Rafael Castro, the 6’11 shot blocker who redshirted for the Friars last year and essentially lost his senior season at Dover High in New Jersey two years ago.
3. Another consistent theme from Cooley on Thursday night, and again at his media session on Friday?
His new team has talent, but returns only three players who saw the floor for him last year in Jared Bynum, Ed Croswell, and Alyn Breed. On both days, Cooley mentioned not having a starter from last season returning (although, in fairness, Bynum is one of only a handful of players who made either an All Big East team, or honorable mention last year).
“Are we a talented team, or are we talented individuals?” Cooley asked of his team on Thursday night. “I like our talent, yet that talent is nothing if they aren’t a unified group.”
That will be the question of the season for the 2022-23 Friars. Last season’s group had such a single-minded focus on winning, and a roster that was constructed to get quality minutes for seven to eight players who all brought slightly different skill sets.
Providence essentially has eight new players this year, and Locke was already talking about sacrifice on a potentially deep team in which someone with a good amount of talent could be watching a lot this year.
“We’ll have eight new players that are able to touch the court,” Cooley said on Thursday. “We have basically three players on the entire roster that played on the court last year. No returning starters. Do I think our staff did a great job recognizing some personnel to try to come in and help us continue to build our program? Absolutely, yet you’ve got to build team chemistry, you’ve got to build team continuity, you’ve got to build a team.”
3. Adding Locke to the roster has been a long-time coming. Providence had him on campus for their Elite Camp over a half decade ago, and they first started recruiting him as a sophomore in high school. He opted for Florida in high school, went with Chris Mack and Louisville over PC upon transferring (Mack had also recruited him when he was at Xavier), and now he’s finally a Friar as a graduate transfer.
“Coach Cooley stuck with me the whole entire time. Coming out of high school I was getting recruited by him pretty hard — really hard throughout the whole process,” Locke said of Cooley. “My parents and family got really close with him. We had a real good connection throughout that.”
Unsurprisingly, Cooley values the experience and shot-making ability of Locke, who has made nearly 300 career threes, and shot over 40% from deep in his final three years at Florida.
“His ability to make shots, his ability to get other people involved, his communication skills — those are things that we’re going to need with this group,” Cooley told Rooke Thursday night.
“Our staff identified Noah really early, as a sophomore (in high school), so we don’t just have a two- or three-year relationship, we have like a six- or seven-year relationship. And I’m just grateful to him and his parents that they still recognized that there was something we could do to help Noah grow and develop as a young man.”
4. Could Providence potentially add a third player from Southern California Academy to its class of 2023? Cooley and his staff apparently saw something they liked from the 6’8 wing Donovan Santoro, who will visit Providence this week.
Of course, PC already has commitments from SCA teammates Garwey Dual and Drew Fielder.
5. Looking for a big-time bucket getter in the class of 2024? That would be Bradford Christian Academy super-scorer Kur Teng. Teng, who plays in the spring and summer with Mass Rivals, is an outstanding scorer, who can get it done in just about every way offensively.
As Pawtucket Times reporter Brendan McGair shared, Teng will be at Providence’s Late Night Madness festivities on Saturday night.
6. Also scheduled to be on campus are Brimmer and May products Bryce Dortch and freshman Windston Legentus.
The 6’9 Dortch (who hails from Somerville, MA) is a fluid athlete who will bring defensive versatility to the next level. He visited Rutgers and Temple in September, and is scheduled to see Marquette in November. He is ranked in the 110-150 range by most national recruiting services.
Brimmer coach Tom Nelson likes the look of his young team this season. Providence assistant coach Brian Blaney was on their campus earlier this week.
7. CBS Sports has a pair of Providence non-conference opponents as “winners” of this past offseason. From the article:
Winner: Top players back for TCU
After a wild near-upset of No. 1 seed Arizona in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, it looks like the Horned Frogs decided to run it back. The top six scorers are returning and Oklahoma State transfer Rondel Walker is joining to add quality depth. Offseason roster retention rarely makes the headlines, but with TCU returning this much from its first team in 35 years to win an NCAA Tournament game, the Horned Frogs are big-time offseason winners.
Winner: Stars align for Saint Louis
Like the Flyers, Saint Louis makes Parrish's Top 25 And 1 after an offseason of quality roster developments. First, the Billikens reeled the program's all-time assists leader, Yuri Collins, back from the transfer portal after he led the nation in assists at 7.9 per game last season. Then, star wing Javonte Perkins received full medical clearance after missing the 2021-22 season with a torn ACL. Perkins was a preseason first-team all-conference player before the 2021-22 season. Having him back along with Collins and elite 3-point marksman Gibson Jimerson makes Saint Louis a good bet to reach the NCAA Tournament.