Friar Basketball
Home / General News / Ed Cooley’s Friars Don’t Go Away

Ed Cooley’s Friars Don’t Go Away

HoltDCreighton

I’ll admit it, even if you won’t. I just didn’t see it.

Ever the optimist, our Craig Leighton tried convincing me prior to the season that this edition of the Friars may not make the NCAA Tournament, but they’d at least position themselves to have a shot down the stretch.

There were too many questions marks for me to buy in.

When asked how the Friars were shaping up prior to the season I told anyone who asked that the season figured to be a struggle — that it would be intriguing to see who would emerge as a future building block on the current roster.

Cooley doesn’t take well to losing, and when faced with what looked to be a rebuilding season I was also interested in not only how he would keep this team together, but how he’d handle it personally. Yes, Cooley’s as approachable as it gets for someone in his position, but this is a wildly competitive man. I worried it would wear on him.

As recently as two weeks ago, the season was going as I’d expected. Following a heart-breaking overtime loss at Seton Hall, Providence had dropped four of five games. They were competitive in each of those losses, but just couldn’t close. Even the lone win during that stretch (79-78 at Marquette) left few feeling great as they made critical mistakes late that nearly cost them a sure victory.

They were 14-11, 4-8 in the Big East, and with a trio of the league’s best teams up next on the schedule, the last thing on my mind was an NCAA Tournament push.

Then they got 15 second half points from freshman Alpha Diallo in a 71-65 win over #22 Butler.

Cooley’s group took advantage of their good fortune against a Xavier team playing without its top two players the next time out — rolling over and pulling away from the Musketeers in perhaps their best second half of the season.

Victories over Butler and Xavier provided an RPI boost, but for the Friars to truly give themselves a shot they needed to capitalize on the opportunity a road trip to Creighton offered — and they did just that in front of 17,000 Bluejays fans.

In a season in which so many Big East games seemed to slip through their fingers in the final minute (in part due to their inability to identify a closer) Kyron Cartwright knocked down a 3-pointer with two seconds left on the clock to give PC a 68-66 win.

It was on this floor a year ago that Kris Dunn hit an 18 footer at the buzzer to knock off Creighton, and a year later it was his understudy’s turn.

It’s been Cartwright who has taken the baton that Bryce Cotton handed to Dunn three years ago, and run with it in a way that so few expected this season. Except for him.

Since he first stepped foot on campus, Cartwright’s confidence has been apparent. When I asked him about that prior to the season he matter-of-factly stated, “I was confident (from the start of his PC career). I didn’t come in with the mindset that I was better than everyone I’m playing against, but I was never scared to play.”

He wasn’t scared to take the big shot on Wednesday night either, and suddenly a team that few figured would be sniffing around the NCAA Tournament bubble come March has a legitimate shot to dance for the fourth year in a row.

The three game surge Providence is currently enjoying has been led by Cartwright, but the emergence of Diallo and Isaiah Jackson has given Cooley options he didn’t have a month ago.

Finding consistent production is still a struggle — look no further than Emmitt Holt who scored 18 second half points after going scoreless in the first — but consistent effort has been a constant throughout the year.

These Friars won’t make it easy on anyone. Creighton had to feel comfortable up 13 points in the first half, and they certainly didn’t expect to score just one field goal in the final four minutes, but PC dug in and won it with their defense while the offense caught up just in time.

It wasn’t always pretty for Cooley’s group. They fumbled the ball away at times and hoisted a few quick 3-pointers, but the Friars hung around just long enough to make it interesting in the end.

It was a microcosm of their season.

Twitter: @Kevin_Farrahar

Email: kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

 

 

2 Comments

  1. Pingback: Friar Starting Five: Thursday Edition - Friar Basketball

  2. Derec Lamendola

    February 23, 2017 at 2:21 pm

    Providence College Men’s Basketball IS Going TO Win All The Away This Year And I’m So Redey And Be Redey And
    I Think That Providence Colllege Men’s Basketball IS Going That Dance And Providence College Men’s Basketball Got To GO That NCCAA And This Year I Won’t See Providence Colllege Friars Men’s Basketball GO In The Dunk This NCCAA And Becuase I Won’t Providence Colllege Men’s Basketball GO In That Dunk In The NCCAA Thery Have To I Don’t Won’t Providence GO FARAR And Becuase I Won’t Them Stay Home And Becuase I Won’t Win All Away Good Game I SO Last Night Cradlagutions On That Win Last Night We Are Dacing And Derec Lamendola Was Staying UP Late Last Night I Got A Question Everthing IS All About Keven On Tiwtier Everthing BY Keven Anout Derec Lamendola Becuase I Know The All Team And Everthing Shrd Be BY Derec Lamendola Becuase I’m Woking For Ed Coooley I DiD MY Plays LATE Last Night And I Won’t Coach Coooley Don’t See HIs Wife Becusse I Won’t Ed Coooley Be Buisse Get Things Redey Ed Coooley Got Stay VOKIS Do Derec Lamendola Plerys

You must be logged in to post a comment Login