News and Notes Around Friartown

ESPN has updated its recruiting ratings for the 2014, 2015, and 2016 classes. Many familiar faces are in 2014, but I really question their lack of New England players in the 2015 ratings.

The links for each class are below:

• 2014
• 2015
• 2016

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The latest APR results have been released and Kevin McNamara has a great article on how this may affect both PC and URI going forward. The Friars are safe for this year and appear to be safe for next year but it bears very close monitoring.

What does this mean for PC? In my opinion gone are the days of using all 13 scholarships unless you are having one or two players sitting out due to transferring or a medical redshirt. It is much easier to keep 10 or 11 guys happy with playing time than it is 13. There will be no more taking players just to fill up the roster. The staff will  have to think long and hard about taking chances with players that have questionable grades, character, etc. You just can’t afford to keep having players transferring each year hoping that they have a high enough GPA where it won’t hurt your APR status.

Speaking of the APR is anyone surprised that the school Isaiah Thomas coached, Florida International, is now banned from postseason competition due to a low APR? Friar alum Richard Pitino got out of dodge just in time and may actually may now bring more of his players with him to Minnesota.

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ESPN’s Andy Katz is reporting that the Big 10 is looking into the possibility of scheduling a Big 10 – Big East Challenge sometime in the future. This is in its infancy stages, but could be another boost for PC’s out of conference schedule in the future.

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The head coaches of the Men’s and Women’s Basketball and Hockey teams spent Wednesday filming a new PC commercial at the Bonnet Shores. Coach Cooley seems very relaxed in this picture, although Friar Dom seems to be having major wardrobe malfunctions.

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The PC Athletic Department and the Friar Forever fund have launched a Mission 4 Million Campaign with the goal to enable the athletic department to raise over $4 million dollars by June 30th. They are currently at 3.6 million. Click here for more details.

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It has been a relatively slow time in Friatown the past couple of weeks. This is a great opportunitly to relive some of the past season in videos at the Friarbasketball.com Video Vault. You will find interviews, game highlights, press conferences and more from pre-season all the way through the Big East Announcement of the new conference. Click here to start seeing all the action from the past season.

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Ricky Ledo is continuing to make positive impressions in his workouts with individual teams. When all is said and done I believe some team in the bottom half of the first round is going to roll the dice and select Ledo based on his huge upside. The latest Draft Express mock draft has Ledo going with the last pick in the first round to the Phoenix Suns.

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