Answering 5 Questions from the PC Elite Camp

Friarbasketball.com’s Craig Leighton and Kevin Farrahar were in attendance for the second Providence Elite Camp on Saturday afternoon. It was a day filled with fanfare, as prime 2014 prospects Abdul Malik Abu (Kimball Union Academy), Jared Terrell (Brewster Academy), Pascal Chukwu (Fairfield Prep) and Kaleb Joseph (Cushing Academy) headlined a crucial recruiting weekend in Providence.

Just how anticipated was this weekend? The camp became a bit of a who’s who, with Friar greats like John Linehan and Joe Hassett in attendance, as well as recently drafted Rhode Island native Erik Murphy, current Friars Kris Dunn, LaDontae Henton, and Rodney Bullock, as well as a variety of outlets who cover both PC and New England recruiting, including Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal, The Basketball Diary, The New England Recruiting Report, reps from Friarblog and ScoutFriars, as well as BallasTV and Hoop Dreams Magazine. Ricky Ledo was spotted on campus as well.

The play was ragged at times, the buzz palpable when it was reported that the 2014 recruits were on a conference call with Chris Webber, and the feeling walking out of the gym was reassurance that Ed Cooley is maximizing everything the school has to offer on the recruiting trail.

Here are our impressions from the camp.

1. What was your key takeaway from Saturday?

KF: Cooley just continues to build this thing one step at a time. It’s stunning to think that it was just over two years ago that Keno Davis was let go and the program was in shambles. How far the Friars have come. Not only has Cooley righted the ship, but he’s really reinventing Providence as a brand.

There’s a confidence exuding from Cooley that is trickling down to everyone connected to this program, and it is even more apparent on days like this when he’s fully in his element. That confidence combined with the creative ways in which he’s marketed himself, his staff, and the program are apparent on days like this one.

This camp had a “bigger” feel to it than last year’s.

CL: Ed Cooley has transformed this Elite Camp into a major recruiting tool. The camp has become a major event on the calendar for New England prep school players. Just about every key New England player from the 2015-2016 classes were in attendance. When one of the key goals of a basketball program is to get recruits on your campus to show them what you are all about, PC was able to do that for just about every key recruit in New England in just one day.

The other key takeaway from the event was seeing Abdul Malik Abu, Kaleb Joseph, Jared Terrell, and Pascal Chukwu on the same team being coached by Ed Cooley. How often to you get to see a programs’s top four recruits on the court at the same time, playing on the same team, being coached by the head coach of the team recruiting them? That alone was a very impressive accomplishment by the PC coaching staff.

2. Who were you most looking forward to seeing coming in, and how did he perform?

KF: I’ve seen a lot of Abu, Terrell and Joseph, so I was looking at two of the younger guys: Josh Sharma of Northfield Mount Hermon and Donovan Mitchell from the Canterbury School. I was told by an AAU coach prior to last summer’s camp that Mitchell was flying below the radar (as he should have been for a kid who just finished his freshman year), but would blow me away, and he certainly did. And Sharma is just so agile, coordinated and skilled for a young 6’11 kid, that I seemingly always expect him to have expanded his game each time I see him.

Mitchell played alongside the four 2014 recruits on Cooley’s team during 5 on 5s, and to say he fit right in would be an understatement. Sharma came off of the bench for them and wasn’t able to have as much of an impact, as the two benches played a bit more of a ragged game.

Last year, Jarred Reuter was outstanding against Kimball Union and Abu, so that was a matchup I’d really looked forward to, but it never materialized, as Reuter did not attend. That was the one downer for me.

CL: I was most looking forward to seeing Donovan Mitchell and Tomas Murphy play.

Mitchell was the surprise of last year’s camp and he did not disappoint this year either. Combining great athletic ability with impressive basketball instincts, you can easily see how he is going to be one of the top 30-50 players in the country for the 2015 class. He had some rust coming off of an injury, and just got cleared to play a few days ago, but watch out, he is going to be a big time player.

I was also looking forward to catching my first glimpse of the youngest Murphy brother, Tomas. The youngest player out on the court playing on Ed Cooley’s team, he more than held his own. The future is extremely bright for this 2017 native Rhode Islander. It was also great to see his brothers Alex and Eric out there to support their brother. The Murphys truly are the first family of Rhode Island basketball.

3. The best player on the day?

KF: Kaleb Joseph. He’s just so explosive off of the bounce. He settled into a distributor role after canning a jump shot off of a slick crossover early, and continually found Terrell ahead of the field on fastbreak opportunities and set up Chukwu nicely on 3-4 occasions, with the big man catching and finishing at the rim.

If not for Joseph, Mitchell might have been the best player on the day. Amazingly, this was his first time playing in live action in months (wrist), but he looked as though he’d been going all summer. Equally significant, he certainly didn’t defer to the Fab 4 on their showcase Saturday.

CL: For me Pascal Chukwu was the best player today. He has made incredible strides since I first saw him play two years ago. He goes after every rebound and is in every defensive play on the court. When he gets the ball close to the basket he is able to finish. He may not be Nerlens Noel, but he is a defensive presence whenever he is on the court. Pascal also seems to have a great rapport with Ed Cooley, which is huge.

Kaleb Joseph also showed why teams like Syracuse are after him so hard. Great quickness, athletic ability, and handle, he is underrated nationally being in the Top 50. He is definitely a Top 25 talent who just needs to get more consistency on his outside shot to be able to play professionally at the highest level.

4. What jumped out as the biggest difference between this year’s camp and last year’s?

KF: Last year’s camp seemed to be more about establishing relationships with the next wave of recruits (although, Rodney Bullock was offered here a year ago). This was an event last year where we saw flashes of what Sharma could do, saw a breakout from Terry Larrier, Mitchell exploded, while Chukwu was just starting to get noticed by high major schools. Chukwu, Mitchell and Larrier were relative unknowns then.

This year was all about the “Fab Four.” While high major kids like Jalen Adams (a personal favorite), Jeremy Miller and Aaron Falzon were in attendance, the focus was clearly on the 2014 kids.

Another difference? A year ago, all games were played in Peterson, while this year Cooley’s team (the Fab 4, Mitchell, Sharma and freshman-to-be Thomas Murphy) headed upstairs to Alumni for a 5 on 5 game that served as more of a showcase than any game last year.

CL: Last year’s camp was all about the future – getting first glances at some high school freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. This year’s camp was all about the present, as well as still being about the future. Not only was just about every key underclassman in New England here, but PC’s four biggest 2014 recruits were also playing on the same team coached by Ed Cooley.

In addition, this year’s camp seemed like much more of a big time event. Not only were there so many more key players here, but there was also a big time buzz in the crowd with many more fans and  media here. You have the feeling that going forward the PC Elite Camp is going to be a major recruiting event for the Friars and a must-attend event for all New England and Northeast basketball recruits. Not bad for only being the second year.

5. Did you learn anything new about any of the recruits you watched on Saturday?

KF: It’s tough to learn a lot watching kids who’ve never played together teaming up – the game inevitably gets sloppy – but there was something about Chukwu’s performance that left a positive feeling. A year ago he most likely wasn’t ready to be a headliner at a camp like this, and while he didn’t have the monster blocks that he had last season, he seemed more complete, finishing ably at the rim and showing well enough from a hands perspective on the glass and in catching nice passes from Joseph and Mitchell.

CL: A few of the 2015 players have continued to show improvement since the last time that I have seen them.

Jeremy Miller (6’9 New Hampton, Mass Rivals) had added a lot of size and strength to his frame. He is no longer afraid to mix it up underneath. His already nice looking outside shot has also continues to improve.

Josh Sharma (7’0 Northfield Mount Hermon, Mass Rivals) continues to improve every time I see him. He has great athletic ability for a sever footer and a nice feel for the game. Josh had some nice finishes underneath and made some nice defensive stops. He just needs to continue adding size and strength to his game.

Aaron Falzon (6’8 Northfield Mount Hermon, Expressions Elite) also demonstrated the desire to battle underneath although his bread and butter is going to continue to be his outside shot.

 

 

3 Comments

1. 

   James @ NYC Body

   August 11, 2013 at 5:41 am

   Oh man, Tomas Murphy looks good. If everything goes according to plan, that family will have three NBA players in 5 years or so. Hopefully PC can land at least ONE of them. Here’s to hoping Tomas Murphy keeps his talents IN STATE.
2. 

   Friars93

   August 11, 2013 at 3:54 pm

   KFar & Craig,
   Great job. Hopefully the boost in national PC exposure will mean big things for you guys as well. – Ted
3. 

   Kevin Farrahar

   August 11, 2013 at 8:08 pm

   For a kid as young as Murphy to not look totally overwhelmed against others 3-4 years older is a credit to him. Interestingly, Jalen Lindsey was a solid varsity player as a 6’6 8th grader.

   Ted, it’s been a lot of fun covering PC and it’s only getting better the longer Cooley is here.

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