#BIGEASThoops Preview: Providence College Friars
By SEAN BRENNAN
Special to BIGEAST.com
Providence head coach Ed Cooley swears he has had no sleeping issues since Kris Dunn and Ben Bentil left the Friars for the NBA last spring. So we’ll take him at his word. But the one thing the sixth-year head Friar knows for sure is that there will be a lot of unknowns in Providence this season, particularly early on.
“It’s going to be rough as far as what their individual talents did for us, but I think we’ll be a different team,” Cooley said. “It will be more by committee this year. We miss them but that’s the facts of life. You move your good players on. It’s their dream to be in the NBA. Now we just have to see who is next. Somebody will have to step up. It’s a tough league with great coaches so we’re going to have to figure it out.”
Some things Cooley has already figured out, such as who the next batch of leaders for the Friars will be.
“Rodney Bullock, Kyron Cartwright, Isaiah Jackson, Emmitt Holt,” Cooley said. “It will be by committee. We have to find out what’s our identity, who are we? And hopefully we get a little lucky.”
Bullock is the lone returning scorer and rebounder after the 6-8 forward averaged 11.4 points and 6.8 boards last season for a Friars team that went 24-11 and finished tied fourth place in the BIG EAST with Butler with a 10-8 conference mark. Cartwright will step into the rather large shoes of Dunn and run the show for Cooley while Jackson, a transfer from George Mason who once dropped 18 points on both Fordham and St. Louis in the 2014-15 season, should give the Friars some much-needed scoring from the wing. Holt, who began his career at Indiana, averaged 68.9% from the floor last year at Indian Hills Junior College.
“It will probably be around Christmas, once you have eight or nine games under you when you’ll see a trend of who you are and when you find that you figure it out from there,” Cooley said.
Bullock is ready to assume a more prominent role for the Friars this season.
“I’ll definitely be stepping into a bigger role,” Bullock said. “So what are we losing, about 40 points? So, there will be some big shoes to fill with Kris and Ben gone. But I put in a lot of work this summer and so did my teammates and hopefully when we get out on the court we can show everybody that all the hard work we’ve put in has paid off.”
With new roles for the returners and new faces dotting the Friars roster, Cooley said there is real reason for optimism but patience will also be needed while the Friars get through their “get-to-know-me” period. But one thing you shouldn’t do is count the Friars out as contenders in the BIG EAST as Providence has reached the NCAA Tournament three straight years under Cooley, the first time that has happened in Providence history.
“I’m excited about all the new guys because they haven’t done anything yet so I can keep dreaming,” Cooley said with a laugh. “But until they actually go out there and do it under these big lights you really don’t know who you have. Some guys are gamers and some are not. Honestly, I don’t know which way this will go. It’s way too early for me to know that. But we’re getting there. I’m excited and very curious about the development of the team.”