Fortune, Johnson Make Noise at Mal Brown

During all of the hoopla surrounding the commitments of All Americans Kris Dunn and Ricardo Ledo last season, Josh Fortune slipped under the radar wrapping up his high school career in the Hampton area of Virginia.

After Sidiki Johnson became the first of three former 100 players to transfer to Providence early in 2012 there seemed to be a lot more buzz about Carson Desrosiers and Tyler Harris when they transferred from Wake Forest and North Carolina State, respectively.

With Fortune it’s easy to understand how he went under the radar.  Both Dunn and Ledo played in front of Friar fans locally, were plastered all over highlight videos and all star games, while their All American selection gave them status, and the Friars publicity, that Friartown hadn’t seen in well over a decade.

In a world in which highlight reels of 7th graders exist, Fortune was a bit of an anomaly.  The feature stories and videos of him were relatively non-existent, and he was a 15 point per game scorer last year.

In Johnson’s case you have to dig a bit deeper.  Perhaps it was Providence fans’ familiarity with Desrosiers and Harris from their time being recruited by PC out of high school, or maybe it was the fear that Johnson may never suit up for the Friars after rumors swirled in the spring that he was transferring to Iona, but expectations seemed a bit tempered in regards to Johnson.

Both Fortune and Johnson proved a point at the Mal Brown scrimmage on Saturday afternoon, however.

Johnson served a reminder that he was a top 100 player coming out of high school for a reason.

Fortune reminded Friar fans that the rankings reset once you enroll in college.

Billed as a shooter coming out of high school, Fortune flashed a more complete game early, making his first two field goals with his left hand off of the bounce (the first a gliding drive through the paint), before expanding his game beyond the three point arc, making a trio of three pointers on his way to 13 points (the box score gave him 11 points on 4-8 from the field, 3-6 from 3, but he did make two left handed field goals in the early stages).

For Friars fans hoping to get a better idea of Fortune’s game, think Danny Green from North Carolina’s 2009 NCAA championship team.  He’s been well coached.  He gets off of the floor well on his jump shot and has terrific balance.  Like most good shooters, when he missed he didn’t often miss by much.  One of his three pointers from the corner came out of rhythm and the result was his only bad miss of the afternoon, but overall when he’s squared it’s on line.

Fortune led the winning Black team in rebounding and threw a subtly good entry pass to Kadeem Batts who had his man sealed momentarily for an easy bucket at the rim.  Providence hasn’t had great passers outside of Vincent Council of late, and this was the type of sound little play that they just haven’t connected on for quite a while.

Like Green, Fortune has the look of a player who can be a solid four year player, and eventually a key cog on a very good team.

Johnson Gaining Buzz

For as impressive as Fortune was, more Friar fans appeared to be buzzing about Johnson afterwards.  He made three of four free throws, flashed a 15 foot jump shot, brought the ball up the floor after a rebound, but most significantly showed a willingness to throw his body around inside.

Most encouraging from this end was a rebound that he ripped down with one hand, while disregarding an opponent with his free arm.  That rebound didn’t come to Johnson, he took it from someone else.

Like Fortune’s entry pass, it was a seemingly minor play, but one that caught the eye because of how infrequently it has happened in recent seasons.

A nine point, five rebound, 3-7 shooting stat line doesn’t do justice to the impact Johnson had.  He won’t play above the rim, but if Saturday was any indication, he’ll mix things up under it.

He played against Batts on this afternoon, but once he’s available he and Batts will give Providence solid size in the paint.

What else stood out?

• The sheer length of this team in comparison to past seasons.  In this space we’ve hammered away at the fact that the days of playing with a 6’2 shooting guard at small forward look to be a thing of the past under Ed Cooley.  Johnson and Batts are big bodies, Desrosiers is seven feet, Henton a physical 6’6, and Tyler Harris certainly looked 6’9 from my vantage point.  Ricky Ledo and Fortune stand at 6’7 and 6’5, respectively.
• Speaking of Harris, his activity level was in and out, but he shot the ball well, going 5-9 from the field, including a three pointer and a pair of medium range jumpers.  Soft touch.
• Ledo showed spurts of what made him such a highly regarded prospect, seemingly getting whatever shot he wanted offensively, but he also demonstrated where many, myself included, have seen room for improvement over the past few seasons.  There were times when he made poor decisions in passing the ball.  Still, it’s his ability to hit step back jumpers, a leaner, and quick trigger threes that make him so dangerous, and he showed defensive prowess in picking Council’s pocket at one point.  We didn’t see the full offensive arsenal as he handled the point guard duties for the White team.
• It was a quiet afternoon for Henton and Bryce Cotton.  Nothing to fret about.
• Batts’ stat line (5-9 shooting, 12 points, 4 rebounds) looks more impressive than it did live, most likely because he struggled early to finish right handed hook shots inside early.  Batts is so much more effective when he focuses on beating fellow big men up the court (he has good straight-end speed) and when he scores facing up versus with his back to the basket.  He looks to be so much more natural pulling up for medium range jump shots, where he’s very effective, than with the ball in his hands trying to back a defender down.  Batts forced the back to the basket game early, but when he found hustle points and swished a baseline 17 footer he was far more effective.
• Lee Goldsbrough didn’t hesitate early in taking, and confidently knocking down, a three pointer from the corner early, but didn’t pull the trigger a few other times when the opportunity presented itself.
• Desrosiers quietly had seven rebounds in 10 minutes and scored his only field goal on a 15 foot jumper.
• The Friars shot a respectable 8-20 from three point range.
• The Black team (Council, Cotton, Fortune, Batts, Henton, and Goldsbrough) only turned the ball over three times, versus 12 for the White team.  Henton, Cotton and Fortune all played over 20 minutes without a turnover.
• Believe we were the first to recognize 2014 standout Kaleb Joseph who was on the floor shooting around prior to the scrimmage.  Mal Brown/Fanfest is a terrific recruiting tool for the staff, especially on a day in which it’s 70 degrees and beautiful on campus.  Joseph is a top 60 player in the class of 2014 and will play at Cushing Academy once again this year.

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

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