Providence, Bryce Hopkins Draw Kentucky in a Dream First Round Matchup
The thought had to have crossed the minds of anyone who scoured Bracketmatrix over the past two weeks trying to figure out where Providence would land in the 2023 NCAA Tournament: Would the NCAA Tournament Committee set up a made-for-television affair between Bryce Hopkins, the Friars and Kentucky?
You know the story by now. Hopkins transferred from Kentucky to Providence last spring following one unfulfilling season playing for John Calipari and the Wildcats. After being labeled the team’s best player in summer workouts and exhibitions prior to his freshman year, a back injury slowed Hopkins early. He never cracked Calipari’s rotation on a team that won 26 games and earned a two seed in the NCAA Tournament before being shocked by St. Peter’s in the opening round last year.
As Hopkins told The Athletic in a feature story in February, “Going there, it’s the highest of the highs… In the summer, Coach Cal was telling me I’m one of the best players on the team and I was making a big name for myself going into the season. Then I dealt with a back injury that sent me off for a week and a half or two weeks, and after that it was the next man up and guys were making names for themselves while I was out. So when I came back, I had to work from the bottom up. I had to fight for my spot again. Things just didn’t really go in my favor. He pretty much already had his rotation, and I just had to keep fighting through that adversity, and that’s pretty much that.”
And now Hopkins will face off against his former teammates in a prime time event — 7:10pm on CBS on Friday night from Greensboro, North Carolina.
“I was messing with Bryce the whole day, and I said we’re gonna play Kentucky,” Ed Cooley told the press on Sunday night.
Providence is hoping that the postseason will be a rebirth of sorts. The Friars spent a majority of this season ranked in the AP Top 25 before dropping four of their final five games. As the bracket was being unveiled on Sunday night it became apparent that the final 11 seed was going to come down to Providence and Rutgers.
After an excruciating wait, the Friars heard their names called and away we go.
They’ll get a Kentucky team that started the season ranked fourth in the AP Poll, but dropped out for over two months beginning in late December. Somewhat similar to the North Carolina team Providence faced in 2014, Kentucky struggled early in conference play (1-3 in their first four games), and battled through some inconsistency before winning 11 of their last 14 games in the competitive SEC.
The focal point for Cooley and his staff will obviously be Oscar Tshiebwe, the nation’s most ferocious rebounder. Tshiebwe, who averaged 16.5 points and 13.1 rebounds per game this season, is a threat to grab 25 boards on any given night. The former West Virginia transfer had 22 and 18 against Michigan State, 20 and 15 versus Gonzaga, 23 and 19 at Missouri, 21 and 20 versus Vanderbilt, and had a ridiculous 37-point, 24-rebound game against Georgia.
Ed Croswell and Hopkins will certainly have their hands full inside with him.
Kentucky, the eight-time national champion, is battling through some injuries. Point guard Sahvir Wheeler, who led the SEC in assists the two seasons prior to this one, recently had an ankle procedure, five-star freshman guard Cason Wallace is fighting through an ankle injury of his own, while sharp-shooting CJ Fredrick injured his ribs recently, but returned to practice.
Wallace, a 6’4 guard out of Dallas, and forward Chris Livingston were both top 10-15 prospects in the country last year, but Calipari has experience on this roster.
Fredrick missed last season after injuring his hamstring, but he shot 3-pointers at a 46-47% clip in two years at Iowa. His shooting numbers have dipped this season, but he’ll need to be accounted for.
Antonio Reeves is the team’s second leading scorer (14.4 points, 40.7%). He’s a shooter who transferred in after putting up over 20 points per game at Illinois State last year.
Cooley and Co. will also see a familiar face in Jacob Toppin, who played for URI under Dan Hurley. The 6’9 Toppin is an athletic freak who averages 12.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Limiting Toppin and Tshiebwe on the offensive glass will be critical.
One thing Providence will have in its favor? Familiarity. Of course Hopkins knows them well, but the Friars also have former SEC players in Devin Carter and Noah Locke. Carter was an All-SEC Freshman at South Carolina last year, while Locke played three seasons at Florida. Cooley has also twice coached against Calipari and Kentucky while at PC. One of those UK teams was so talented they brought Devin Booker off the bench.
Geographically, Providence received a good draw. They’ll have a short flight to Greensboro, and if they could find a way to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row, they’ll be back at Madison Square Garden for the East regionals.
They will have to get through a hungry Kentucky team to get there, however.
The Cats haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2019, and if they weren’t motivated enough to erase the St. Peter’s loss away, they now have extra motivation going against a former teammate in Hopkins. No one in Lexington will want to spend an offseason hearing about how the player they couldn’t find time for sent them home for the year.
Much like the Friars, inconsistency has marked Kentucky’s season. This is a team that lost to South Carolina and then to Georgia at home. Those two programs were a combined 10-26 in the league this year.
“We've shown who we are,” Calipari said in a recent interview. “We can beat anybody. But I hate to tell you we can lose to anybody, too, if we’re not fighting, playing desperate.”
That certainly sounds familiar. Maybe this one comes down to a simple case of which team brings the fight to the other.
Providence couldn’t have asked for a bigger stage in the first round of the NCAA Tournament: John Calipari, Oscar Tshiebwe, and a primetime slot on CBS await.
This is going to be good.