This Senior Day Could be Extra Special in Friartown
In the midst of all of the excitement about Providence potentially claiming its first ever Big East regular season title on Saturday night, it hadn’t really sunk in that this is the last time we will be seeing this senior class together at the Dunkin Donuts Center.
We know that Nate Watson, Al Durham, Andrew Fonts, and Noah Horchler are definitely playing their final games at the Dunk, and while AJ Reeves and Justin Minaya could potentially come back next year — we haven’t received any indication on either one of them yet.
It’s a class that will forever live in Providence basketball lore, regardless of what happens over the final two regular season games and the postseason. Here are some memories I have of each of them.
AJ Reeves: I said to my wife at dinner tonight (because she’s a saint and listens to me talk about these kinds of things at the dinner table) that I’ve been watching Reeves for eight years now. Eight years!
Those eight years span way back to when he was the top rated freshman in New England playing at Brimmer and May, to being on campus when he committed to Ed Cooley and the Friars in June of his junior year while at PC’s Elite Camp.
I watched from afar at the Elite Camp as Reeves took pictures with his family, Ed Cooley, and his high school coach and mentor, Tom Nelson, at Alumni Hall. Then I spent his final year of high school covering and taping about ten games from his senior year at Brimmer.
He was an impossible kid to dislike: Magic Johnson’s smile with the freedom to let it fly offensively.
Of course, we all remember his Providence debut, when Reeves knocked down 10-13 shots from the field, and 7-9 from long range, to set a Providence record by scoring 29 points in his debut.
Reeves was marvelous through the first nine games of his freshman season. That hot start combined with his big-time reputation coming out of high school led to rather harsh criticism of his game from some corners of the fanbase over the past four years, but no one can deny what a clutch shot maker Reeves has been during his time as a Friar. From the first month of his career against Boston College (a stone’s throw from Brimmer and May) to Providence’s last two games — narrow wins over Butler and Xavier — AJ Reeves has always been willing to take the big shot, and live with the consequences. More often that not, if Reeves gets a decent look late, good things happen for the Friars.
Al Durham: I spent a good amount of time last summer watching a bunch of games from Durham’s junior and senior seasons at Indiana. Two things became apparent quickly: he wasn’t fazed by the big moment, and he had a more diversified offensive game than I expected. Another good sign? Indiana fans seemed to be genuinely rooting for him after he left the Hoosiers following the departure of head coach Archie Miller.
It didn’t take long for Durham to have an impact at Providence. He scored 18 points in his debut, starting a season-long trend in which he lived at the free throw line in a win over Fairfield. Two games later, Durham hit a back-breaking 3-pointer with under two minutes left at Wisconsin, other highlights included a critical bucket in the final minute against UConn, and 23 points on 13 free throw attempts in a tremendous comeback win over Texas Tech. PC has put so many games away late due to his unbreakable nerve at the free throw line.
The most lasting memory of Durham won’t be a single instance, however; it will be of him gutting his way through a sports hernia injury through much of the Big East portion of the schedule.
Durham came as billed: a high character leader and versatile guard who makes plays at winning time. Even though he played in Providence just a year, he has made a big impact on the program.
Noah Horchler: The numbers were sparkling at North Florida — numbers that were just as impressive against the likes of Florida State, Florida, and Dayton while Horchler was there. Rebounding often translates, so I assumed Horchler would help in that regard, but I don’t think anyone expected Horchler to be such an ideal fit next to Nate Watson in the Providence frontcourt, as he spent so much of his time playing with his back to the basket at prior stops.
Now that it is a distant memory, Horchler doesn’t get much credit for persevering through a difficult 2020-21 season. We heard so much about how good Horchler looked in practice when he sat through the prior season, but for much of last year the game seemed too quick for Horchler.
Everything started to come together for the Florida native last February, but his production this season — a double digit scorer and 40+% 3-pointer shooter who is hovering near the top of the Big East leaderboard in rebounding — has been quite impressive.
The Friars have been so good in close games because they have several players comfortable making plays late. Horchler has found a knack for making critical shots over the final ten minutes of the game. He sent the Butler game to overtime with a late jumper on the road, put away Northwestern and URI with a pair of threes in each game, and gave PC new life when all else was failing late against DePaul. Providence doesn’t beat Seton Hall at home without Horchler’s 17 point, 13 rebound night, and he put on one of the great shooting days in recent memory when he made 9-10 from the floor and 3-4 from distance in a 25 point, 11 rebound, five assist game against St. Peter’s.
Justin Minaya: In watching games from his previous stop at South Carolina, what stood out about Minaya was his defensive versatility. There were instances in which he was isolated guarding the likes of Cam Thomas of LSU, while at other times he was giving it his all on the interior against the tremendously athletic big men of the SEC.
Minaya perfectly embodies both the type of player his head coach loves and the city he is representing. He has brought a quiet toughness and edge that was lacking by those expected to play in his role a season ago, and in turn, he has been embraced with open arms by this fanbase.
Cooley has brought in plenty of talent during his time at Providence, but the combination of Durham and Minaya were the perfect recruits for what this program needed coming out of last season. The head coach spoke of changes after his team was unceremoniously eliminated from the Big East Tournament by DePaul last season, and he alluded to that comment in his postgame presser following this week’s triple overtime victory over Xavier.
Minaya has played a big part in changing the tenor of this program — a grad transfer who came here to have an impact far beyond the numbers. In turn, Cooley has heaped praise upon Minaya, calling him one of the best defensive players in the country whenever Minaya is mentioned.
Andrew Fonts: Fonts never looked out of place when Cooley looked to him to change the course of a game when the Friars were struggling. Dating back to the days of Ted Bancroft, there has almost been an expectation that walk-ons can come in and provide some sort of lift under Cooley — ignoring how challenging it is for a seldom-used player to have that type of impact in short minutes.
Fonts has largely done that when given an opportunity over the past five years. When he knocks down a late game 3-pointer or scores at Madison Square Garden we probably shouldn’t be floored, as Fonts was a 27-point-per-game scorer at Portsmouth Abbey School in Portsmouth, RI.
What a ride it has been for Fonts, who comes from a family with deep PC ties. He was there when Kyron Cartwright went crazy in MSG in 2018 to nearly lead the Friars to a title. He was on the 2020 team that won 12 Big East games for the first time in program history, only to see that season cut short by the pandemic. Now in his final year at PC, he is a member of one of the best regular seasons the program has ever seen.
Nate Watson: Watson’s meteoric rise up the recruiting rankings felt like bad news for the Friars during his junior year of high school. Providence offered him a scholarship in February, and by the time the spring had rolled around Kansas was showing interest and North Carolina was at his high school campus.
Providence was coming off of a string of instances on the recruiting trail in which they identified a player early, only to see him head for brighter lights elsewhere (see: Donovan Mitchell, Wenyen Gabriel, and Abdul Maliek Abu). Yet, Cooley’s message resonated with Watson and his family, and he became a Friar.
We saw glimpses of offensive dominance early in his freshman season against Minnesota, and in the Big East semis versus Xavier. By his sophomore year, Watson was a near 12-point-per-game scorer, while splitting the center duties with the ever-popular Kalif Young.
Watson is closing in on 1,700 points in his five-year Providence career, and while there were many big moments and games for him through his first four years, perhaps Watson’s biggest impact came after last season.
The 2020-21 season ended on a sour note, but the momentum of the program swung when Watson decided to return to Providence — stating his desire to improve his professional opportunities, but also explaining how he didn’t want to conclude his PC career playing in empty gyms. He wanted to suit up in front of a packed Dunkin Donuts Center — and man, did we all get to enjoy that this season.
Watson set the tone early this season. His shooting numbers from the field in the first five games read: 10-14, 6-9, 11-15, 7-8, and 8-12. That 11-15 performance came against a physical Wisconsin frontcourt — in a road victory. He has scored in double figures in every game this month, highlighted by 22 points at Butler and 20 more against Villanova on the road.
After Providence plays Villanova again on Tuesday night, Watson will have seen action in 150 games for the Friars. He’s been effusive in his praise for Providence as a college and Ed Cooley as a coach. Watson has been both a productive player and great representative of the program.
Collectively, what will forever stand out about this group is their willingness to sacrifice for the greater good. Two years ago, the Friars got hot late in the season after coming to the collective realization that they needed to put egos aside and just play to win. That light bulb never went off for this current group of Friars — it always stayed on. There was no jockeying for credit once the success came, just a single-minded focus on winning from the beginning of the season until the end.
In their own unique ways, they lived through the season being cut short two years ago, and the uncertainty of if games would be played for much of last season, and a portion of this one.
They deserve the celebration that comes with tonight — both the thanks for all they’ve done before the game, and what could come after it with a win over Creighton.