The Latest Happenings Around Friartown
Here are some of the latest happenings in Friartown…
Providence’s Senior Associate Athletic Director Steve Napollilo tweeted earlier this week that the school picked up 830 new season ticket holders, and that PC is approaching 10,000 season ticket holders in total.
Amazing.
Providence also officially announced the commitments of Noah Locke, Devin Carter, Clifton Moore, Corey Floyd, and Bryce Hopkins.
On Monday, Hopkins was the latest transfer to announce he was headed to Friartown. When the former Kentucky Wildcat pledged to PC, it gave Providence the best transfer haul in the country, according to 247 Sports.
From 247:
“Cooley and the Friars had so many doubters all throughout the past season. They kept laughing them off and "lucked" their way to the Sweet 16. But Providence has no intentions of slowing down anytime soon. Providence made a major splash in the transfer portal on Monday when they landed Hopkins. They've now surged past Arkansas for the No. 1 spot.
The former top-40 prospect really shined in his limited playing time for Kentucky. He looked like he deserved a whole lot more playing time, and he's got a chance to be a star for Providence. But the Friars have a deep, five-man transfer portal class that is glistening. South Carolina transfer Devin Carter has all the talent to be a star, too. Noah Locke has been a sniper during previous stops at Louisville and Florida. He'll have no issues getting buckets. Corey Floyd Jr. (UConn) and Clifton Moore (La Salle) are two really nice pieces, too. Providence is loading up.”
Kevin McNamara caught up with Hopkins and Carter on his 401 Podcast this week. It’s well worth a listen.
Brendan McGair spoke with Hopkins’ high school coach to get more insight on the former top 40 prospect.
Brycen Goodine is off to Fairfield. Goodine will be joined by a really talented player in James Johns, who teamed with Jayden Pierre at Long Island Lutheran this past season. Johns is a shooter who was considered a top 150 prospect in the class of 2022, but has reclassified to 2021.
Best of luck to Brycen.
There is no shortage of things to listen to regarding the Friars these days. The Providence Crier (with special guest and Friar historian Richard Coren) talked about the latest additions to the roster, while The Flex shared their thoughts on the offseason as well.
CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander writes about how “there is a distinct difference between NIL rights and pay-for-play advocacy and the latter is taking over in college sports.”
Norlander is outstanding, and here he demonstrates why an utter lack of leadership atop the NCAA has led to what could eventually be an untenable situation: players can transfer and become immediately eligible, and now some are threatening to up and leave in order to get more money in NIL endorsements at their current programs.
From the article:
“What has this NIL era become? In some ways and for some players it's a bald negotiation tactic that amounts to a pay-for-play scheme, which is still expressly against the rules.
It's what Wong has done. He explicitly said he wants more money to continue to play at Miami. Ruiz said Friday he's trying to make that happen. It's a contract negotiation, not an NIL sponsorship. It could ultimately — maybe — retroactively be deemed illegal by the NCAA. But who is enforcing these rules? Will they ever be enforced? Are the loopholes so large now they may as well not exist? Many in the sport believe there has to be some redistribution and redefinition of what is a pure NIL play vs. what Wong and others are doing.”
NCAA President Mark Emmert is set to step down in June 2023, which led The Athletic’s Dana O’Neil to ask who would be qualified to lead the NCAA next, and if it’s time to rethink the duties of the president.