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15 in 40: #3 Close of Cotton’s Journey

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There’s a chance Bryce Cotton could find his way into the top five scorers in Providence College history. If he matches the 630 points he scored a season ago — a year that saw him lead the Big East in scoring, break PC’s single season three point mark, and make 1st Team All Conference — he’ll surpass Marvin Barnes for the 5h spot.

There’s a chance Cotton could shoot his way to the top of PC’s three point field goal record book as well. He’s already 4th in school history in three point makes (189), and could well pass both Jamel Thomas and Sharaud Curry before the first semester’s up.

There’s an even better chance that if asked about records, his monster junior season, or any other personal accomplishment that may be in front of him (he was named Preseason 1st Team All Big East by the conferences’ coaches in October), Cotton will be politely blunt in letting you know that this season is about completing a program turnaround that it seemed as though he’d a. never be a part of, and b. would never be the leading scorer for.

Cotton has been honest about his rise from an unheralded recruit to one of the country’s best scorers. Like virtually everyone in Friartown, Cotton couldn’t have dreamed of the success he’d have at Providence when he accepted a scholarship just before students enrolled for classes in August of 2010.

If any guard was to have that success at PC it was going to be Gerard Coleman, a slashing top 60 guard who was as highly rated as any Friar since God Shammgod in the mid-90s. That was the thought in the summer of 2010, at least.

Coleman and Joseph Young were supposed to be the future of Providence basketball when they pledged to the Friars. Young, the USA Today All American, never made it, and Coleman didn’t make it to his junior year at PC.

Three members remain from that six man class (senior Lee Goldsbrough and redshirt junior Brice Kofane are here, Ron Giplaye, Dre Evans and Coleman left) — Keno Davis’ second and final class at PC.

The group came in during a low point in Providence’s long history, stuck around through a horrible season and the subsequent release of Davis, and then the insertion of Ed Cooley. Now they could be on the verge of being rewarded for their patience.

Cotton wasn’t supposed to be the star of his recruiting class, and he was supposed to be overshadowed by stars of incoming classes that followed, but he worked. And worked. And worked.

If PC missed out on Cotton coming out of high school no one would have blinked. If he was part of the mass exodus in Davis’ final year it would have been viewed as further purging the roster of players who just weren’t good enough to play in the Big East. He was a 4 ppg freshman who shot 38% from the field and 25% from three. A 6’1 shooting guard who had trouble putting it on the deck and hadn’t shot all that well from deep.

Cotton broke through as a sophomore, upping his scoring average to over 14 per game, and made 77 three pointers — the third highest in Providence history.

Last year he went from dangerous shooter to all around scorer, as he began scoring off of the dribble, pulling up, and, of course, connecting from beyond the arc.

Yet, for all of the numbers Cotton may end up with, his focus has been on turning around this program, a program that is vastly different than the one he joined late in the summer of 2010, “I would say it is night and day. I am definitely happy to be a part of seeing something grow, and along with that I have been able to grow as a player as well. With the new coaching staff, they have installed a lot of confidence in me. Overall, with the pieces we have put together it has changed the whole culture. It’s changed our way of thinking and we are on to bigger and better things.”

If Providence is going to see better days, they may need Cotton to break through once again.

Sophomore point guard Kris Dunn is battling a shoulder injury and his return date is unclear, so Cotton may have to slide over to point guard and both create and score at a high level. There’s no other point guard on the roster.

What was thought to be a deep guard rotation is a question mark heading into Friday’s opener versus BC, with Dunn’s injury and the recent suspension of top freshman Brandon Austin this week paring down the depth Cooley thought he finally had.

If Cotton has proven anything it’s that he’s adaptable. He’s transitioned from bit player to three point marksmen to terrifying scorer, and as a senior he may have to take on even more responsibility than what was expected of him just six days ago. That the knee he had surgery on this summer is acting up again is yet another challenge.

The player that Kadeem Batts calls “the hardest worker I know” will carry a heavy burden into 2013-’14, but if the last two years are any indication, he’ll come back with an added dimension for his final season.

Cooley lauded Cotton as the country’s most improved player during his sophomore year, and he took his game to an entirely different level as a junior. If Cotton is to see the program turnaround during his time at PC he’ll have to raise his game for the third straight season.

 

 

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