20 in 60: #7 Josh a Key to Providence’s Fortunes in 2012-13

Six months ago one of the biggest questions on the minds of Friar fans was how the coaching staff was going to possibly find meaningful minutes for all the shooting guards and small forwards on the squad.

You had Bryce Cotton returning at the shooting guard and Gerard Coleman returning at the small forward position.

Incoming high school All American Ricky Ledo was going to get major minutes at both the two and the three.

LaDontae Henton was going to need minutes at the three when the Friars wanted to play big with Kadeem Batts or  Sidiki Johnson getting time at the 4.

If Vincent Council and Kris Dunn were on the court at the same time one of those two would be taking additional minutes at the shooting guard spot.

All of this depth left everyone wondering how freshman Josh Fortune was going to get any meaningful minutes this season. There was even talk of him being a prime candidate for a redshirt season.

Here it is six months later, and how things have changed. Ledo is ineligible to play this season. Dunn is hurt. There is no backup at point guard, as neither Kiwi Gardner nor Ian Baker are with the program. Coleman is off to Gonzaga.

Suddenly, Fortune has gone from a player who was originally going to have to fight for playing time to possibly a key player in how the PC team will do this coming season.

 

A deeper look at Fortune

Last year Fortune averaged 13.8 ppg and 3.5 rpg at Kecoughtan High School in Hampton, Virginia against very good competition. Josh is known for his great outside shooting, but he is underrated with his ball handling skills, and is also an underrated athlete. He is much more than just a player with an outside shot. Watch this compilation courtesy of Friartv:

Check out the blocked shot at the 22 second mark.  Also, notice what a beautiful outside shooting stroke he has.

 

Here is another highlight video courtesy of Cox Sports. Note his perfect technique from the foul line:

Josh has already made a big impression on Coach Cooley who stated that Fortune has had a great summer and preseason.  The head coach also noted that he has already put on 14 pounds of muscle since arriving on the PC campus. Cooley says that Josh is going to surprise a lot of people this season, and he is already way ahead of schedule – kind of sounds like an incoming freshman Providence had from Michigan this past year.

Just like Henton did last year, Fortune is going to have to play major minutes for the Friars right from the start. How quickly he can adjust to the college game is going to be one of the major keys in regards to how good the Friars are going to be this season.

 

Getting to know him

Lastly, check out this article on Josh’s graduation from high school. It’s really great story on how Josh surprised his mother at the airport after she experienced flight delays flying in from Afghanistan when trying to get to his high school graduation.

No matter how Fortune turns out on the basketball court one thing is for certain, the Friars got a real quality person when he decided to enroll at PC.

 

Email Craig at craig.leighton@friarbasketball.com

 

 

 

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