Hello Niners. I come in peace. Just to give you a little background on the Friars, we are in the 2nd year of the Ed Cooley coaching regime and have made nice strides this year. What started as a disastrous pre-season, actually turned into a good overall season once the team learned to play with each other. Due to injuries to our senior point guard vincent council and freshman point guard Kris Dunn, and the ineligibility of freshman Ricky Ledo, we actually played our entire pre-conference season with only 6 scholarship players. When the 2 injured players returned in mid to late December, there was a feeling out process with the returning players and whereas the team had played very well earlier with what they had, they did not play well when the 2 guards returned along with a mid year transfer named Sidiki Johnson (6-10 front court man) and proceeded to lose to Depaul, Brown and Boston College. After starting out 2 and 7 in the Big East, something clicked in an overtime loss to Uconn. The Friars went on to win 7 of their last 9 Big East games including wins over Notre Dame, Cincinnatti, and Villanova twice. They ended their regular season with an overtime loss to UConn on the road and then were eliminated at the Tournament by Cincinnatti. We have strong guard play amongst the 2 named earlier and leading Big East Scorer Bryce Cotton. We are thin upfront with essentially one big man in Kadeem Batts (Voted Big East’s most improved player) and 6-6 sophomore LaDontae Henton who was second in the Big East in Double-Doubles. He is an undersized 4 but led our team in rebounding and was 3rd in scoring. Our bench is a 6-5 freshman named Josh Fortune who shoots the 3, and 2 little used big men in 6-9 Lee Goldsborough and Brice Kofane. If we shoot the ball well, we win. If our outside shooting is off, we lose. We don’t have enough frontcourt firepower to compensate for a bad shooting night. If you’re making the trip up, the Dunkin Donuts Center is a pretty good arena that seats around 13,000 for basketball. I’m guessing as of now there may be a crowd of around 9,000. Plenty of hotels right in the city, all within walking distance of the arena. No need to get a car. Airport is 15 minutes from Providence so I’m sure you can get a shuttle in and back. Fabulous restaurants in Federal Hill Section, just a 5 to 7 minute walk from downtown. Weather took a turn for the worst. Won’t be any snow when you get here but temperatures will probably be in the 40’s. Rhode Island people also happen to be Boston Celtic Fans (just 45 minutes up Route 95). We will always remember UNCC’s run to the final four with future Celtic Cedric Maxwell back in the earl 80’s. Max was a heck of a player in Boston and now is the color man on their radio broadcasts. I’ll be checking in periodically today and tomorrow so if anyone has any specific questions, I’ll be happy to help. goodluck
Well if we shoot poorly it is just another day at the office.
We will make about 2 three’s the entire game.
We will shoot about 3 jumpers the entire game.
We will feed the post every single possession.
We play a tough defense and depending on how officials call game that can get us in trouble.
We can not shoot. No one on our team can shoot a jumper. Just get prepared for a lot of points in the paint.
[quote=“sportsman1417, post:3, topic:27625”]We will make about 2 three’s the entire game.
We will shoot about 3 jumpers the entire game.
We will feed the post every single possession.
We play a tough defense and depending on how officials call game that can get us in trouble.
We can not shoot. No one on our team can shoot a jumper. Just get prepared for a lot of points in the paint.[/quote]
Wait a second… are you talking about Providence? You sure?
Our defense is tough primarily because guys reach in for steals a lot. If they’re calling that closely (particularly the anticipation of contact whistles that sometimes happen on the road), there will either be a lot of fouls, or our guys will probably overadjust a bit and allow a bunch of layups or open jumpers off of penetration. Cotton will get a lot of attention I assume, hopefully guys don’t collapse on other Friars and leave him open (it’s happened against other teams’ best players with pretty ugly results). Our pg Henry is great at steals, though he does sometimes get in bad position by reaching in too much or going after passes. He’s also become very good at scoring midrange and in.
Charlotte is very strong rebounding the ball, particularly if the freshman Clayton is back healthy.
The Providence big man will probably score a fair number of points just by his height advantage down low and may block a few shots on our undersized, but strong post players.
Major is in his third year, but this is basically year 2 with his recruits.
This game will probably hinge on a couple things: a) which team can hit outside shots, b) how tightly and how much homecooking the refs are calling, and c) whether Charlotte can get the big man in foul trouble to open up the middle. I think Providence has the advantage with it being a home game, but the teams do seem somewhat evenly matched otherwise. I wouldn’t be surprised by a close game that could go either way, or a blowout loss (Niners losses tend to be blowouts).
[quote=“9erken, post:5, topic:27625”]Our defense is tough primarily because guys reach in for steals a lot. If they’re calling that closely (particularly the anticipation of contact whistles that sometimes happen on the road), there will either be a lot of fouls, or our guys will probably overadjust a bit and allow a bunch of layups or open jumpers off of penetration. Cotton will get a lot of attention I assume, hopefully guys don’t collapse on other Friars and leave him open (it’s happened against other teams’ best players with pretty ugly results). Our pg Henry is great at steals, though he does sometimes get in bad position by reaching in too much or going after passes. He’s also become very good at scoring midrange and in.
Charlotte is very strong rebounding the ball, particularly if the freshman Clayton is back healthy.
The Providence big man will probably score a fair number of points just by his height advantage down low and may block a few shots on our undersized, but strong post players.
Major is in his third year, but this is basically year 2 with his recruits.
This game will probably hinge on a couple things: a) which team can hit outside shots, b) how tightly and how much homecooking the refs are calling, and c) whether Charlotte can get the big man in foul trouble to open up the middle. I think Providence has the advantage with it being a home game, but the teams do seem somewhat evenly matched otherwise. I wouldn’t be surprised by a close game that could go either way, or a blowout loss (Niners losses tend to be blowouts).[/quote]
it doesn’t sound like providence is very big so we should have the advantage inside we just cant let them hit wide open layups. play tight defense and i give us a good shot.
[quote=“ZombieLew, post:4, topic:27625”][quote=“sportsman1417, post:3, topic:27625”]We will make about 2 three’s the entire game.
We will shoot about 3 jumpers the entire game.
We will feed the post every single possession.
We play a tough defense and depending on how officials call game that can get us in trouble.
We can not shoot. No one on our team can shoot a jumper. Just get prepared for a lot of points in the paint.[/quote]
Wait a second… are you talking about Providence? You sure?
[/quote]
Sportsman is a Niner fan talking about the Niners.
[quote=“Chisox17, post:7, topic:27625”][quote=“ZombieLew, post:4, topic:27625”][quote=“sportsman1417, post:3, topic:27625”]We will make about 2 three’s the entire game.
We will shoot about 3 jumpers the entire game.
We will feed the post every single possession.
We play a tough defense and depending on how officials call game that can get us in trouble.
We can not shoot. No one on our team can shoot a jumper. Just get prepared for a lot of points in the paint.[/quote]
Wait a second… are you talking about Providence? You sure?
[/quote]
Sportsman is a Niner fan talking about the Niners.[/quote]
Welp, I guess I’m riding the struggle bus into stupid town today.
I think this is my stop, actually.
[quote=“friarbaseball, post:1, topic:27625”]Hello Niners. I come in peace.
Just to give you a little background on the Friars, we are in the 2nd year of the Ed Cooley coaching regime and have made nice strides this year. What started as a disastrous pre-season, actually turned into a good overall season once the team learned to play with each other. Due to injuries to our senior point guard vincent council and freshman point guard Kris Dunn, and the ineligibility of freshman Ricky Ledo, we actually played our entire pre-conference season with only 6 scholarship players.
When the 2 injured players returned in mid to late December, there was a feeling out process with the returning players and whereas the team had played very well earlier with what they had, they did not play well when the 2 guards returned along with a mid year transfer named Sidiki Johnson (6-10 front court man) and proceeded to lose to Depaul, Brown and Boston College.
After starting out 2 and 7 in the Big East, something clicked in an overtime loss to Uconn. The Friars went on to win 7 of their last 9 Big East games including wins over Notre Dame, Cincinnatti, and Villanova twice. They ended their regular season with an overtime loss to UConn on the road and then were eliminated at the Tournament by Cincinnatti.
We have strong guard play amongst the 2 named earlier and leading Big East Scorer Bryce Cotton. We are thin upfront with essentially one big man in Kadeem Batts (Voted Big East’s most improved player) and 6-6 sophomore LaDontae Henton who was second in the Big East in Double-Doubles. He is an undersized 4 but led our team in rebounding and was 3rd in scoring. Our bench is a 6-5 freshman named Josh Fortune who shoots the 3, and 2 little used big men in 6-9 Lee Goldsborough and Brice Kofane. If we shoot the ball well, we win. If our outside shooting is off, we lose. We don’t have enough frontcourt firepower to compensate for a bad shooting night.
If you’re making the trip up, the Dunkin Donuts Center is a pretty good arena that seats around 13,000 for basketball. I’m guessing as of now there may be a crowd of around 9,000. Plenty of hotels right in the city, all within walking distance of the arena. No need to get a car. Airport is 15 minutes from Providence so I’m sure you can get a shuttle in and back. Fabulous restaurants in Federal Hill Section, just a 5 to 7 minute walk from downtown. Weather took a turn for the worst. Won’t be any snow when you get here but temperatures will probably be in the 40’s.
Rhode Island people also happen to be Boston Celtic Fans (just 45 minutes up Route 95). We will always remember UNCC’s run to the final four with future Celtic Cedric Maxwell back in the earl 80’s. Max was a heck of a player in Boston and now is the color man on their radio broadcasts. I’ll be checking in periodically today and tomorrow so if anyone has any specific questions, I’ll be happy to help. goodluck[/quote]
Thanks for the info Friar.
The Final 4 was in 1977. Wasn’t it '83 that Maxwell won the MVP Award in the NBA Championship Series?
Are you guys interested in trading the Celtics for the Bobcats? Look at the positives. In no time at all, good seats will be much easier to obtain.
You need to stop scouting out the local dive bars and start scouting on ESPN3, brotha. Kadeem Batts at worst is the best offensive 5-man in the league, and at best was the most consistent big in the Big East. This isn’t C-USA, and there isn’t a chance that Coach Mid-Major brings his group of misfits into Ed Cooley’s Ball So Hard University and comes out with the belt. cWo 4-Life! 
You do know that we haven’t played in CUSA in almost 10 years and we won’t play there again until Nov, right? Just making sure that you pay a little attention to the college basketball landscape outside of PC - because right now it’s looking like you don’t know your ass from a hole in the ground.
I like this guy
Charlotte’s last tournament bid, 2005. Providence’s last tournament bid, 2004.
Charlotte > Providence
I feel bad for them, the only interesting thing about Rhode Island is Family Guy. They are going to have to channel their inner Roger Williams to beat us.
Question for the Providence fan: Why is Hulk Hogan a fan of the Friars?
I watched your game against Butler and the Richmond screw job. I know Demario Mayfield is an absolute thug that would rather get high that help your team to a higher ranking. I know Pierra Henry has a girl’s name and he almost bricked those free throws when the ref handed you the game. I know Willie Clayton will be out-rebounded by both Ladontae “Buckets” Henton and Kadeem “Battsman” Batts. I know that Coach Mid-Major has the same hairstylist as Rihanna. Most importantly, I know that it doesn’t matter what conference you play in, your team has NO chance against Cooley and the Gang. cWo 4-Life! 8)
I am not Hulk Hogan, that guy is a little girl compared to me. I am Hentonhood Hogan, the self-proclaimed leader of the Cooley World Order. Get it right, brotha, or get a belt to the face:
I am not Hulk Hogan, that guy is a little girl compared to me. I am Hentonhood Hogan, the self-proclaimed leader of the Cooley World Order. Get it right, brotha, or get a belt to the face:
[/quote]
clt says this guy is great!
[quote=“ZombieLew, post:8, topic:27625”]Welp, I guess I’m riding the struggle bus into stupid town today.
I think this is my stop, actually.[/quote]
Was anything I said not true?
[quote=“sportsman1417, post:19, topic:27625”][quote=“ZombieLew, post:8, topic:27625”]Welp, I guess I’m riding the struggle bus into stupid town today.
I think this is my stop, actually.[/quote]
Was anything I said not true?[/quote]
No. He thought you were a Providence fan.