Providence's Alpha Diallo
There sure were some anxious moments surrounding the Providence program last spring as head coach Ed Cooley flirted with leaving the Friars for Michigan while there was speculation that Alpha Diallo, the Providence’s All-Everything guard/forward, would forego his senior season and enter the NBA draft. But Diallo stayed, same with Cooley and now the work at hand for the duo and the rest of the Friars is to get back on track after they saw their streak of five straight seasons of reaching the NCAA Tournament ended by an 18-16 year and an NIT bid last year.
“We’ve talked about that a little bit,” Cooley said. “We’ve talked about, ‘let’s take it one game at a time and try to get back to that magical carpet that puts you in the field of 68.’ Then let’s see if we can make a run.”
To that end, the Friars have a lot of returning players, other than Diallo, with which to embark on that run.
But it does all start with Diallo, the dynamic 6-7 senior matchup nightmare who led the Friars scoring (16.0 ppg.), rebounds (8.1), assists (3.1) and steals (1.6). He also logged 10 double-doubles last season which was tied for the most in the BIG EAST. The senior from New York City also played on the BIG EAST team that won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games, making his presence felt with his usual all-around contributions.
“He’s one of the toughest matchups in our league,” Cooley said.
But Diallo will also get a lot of help from his friends as five other players who made at least 14 starts for the Friars last season also return.
There’s the bruising Nate Watson, all 6-10 and 250 pounds of him, who averaged 11.7 points and 5.2 rebounds a season ago while logging 24 blocks, good for third on the team. He’s joined up front by 6-9, 250-pound Kalif Young, who provides a menacing presence near the basket. In the backcourt, Providence has the senior leadership of Maliek White, who averaged 6.7 points and dished out 76 assists last season along with sophomore David Duke and his 7.1 points a game. Sophomore A.J. Reeves, who logged 9.8 points and drained a team-leading 45 three-pointers despite an early-season foot injury, is also back.
That’s the good news. The bad news is Providence finished dead last in the conference in both field goal percentage and scoring. So with no place to go but up, Cooley grabbed Luwane Pipkins, a 5-11 point guard and graduate transfer from UMass, in the hopes he can add some spice to the Friars’ offensive attack. Pipkins averaged 19 points, 11.2 rebounds and four assists last season for the Minutemen and it should also be noted that two of his better performances over the last two seasons came in victories over Cooley’s Friars.
So it might be a case of if we can’t beat him, recruit him.
“I feel he’ll add some experience and depth to our backcourt,” Cooley said.
Another newcomer Cooley is giddy about is Greg Gantt, a 6-8 forward from Carolina who averaged 17 points and five rebounds for the Trinity Christian School and who was ranked the No. 44 player nationally by 24/
7sports.com and No. 47 by ESPN.
In fact, Cooley is so enamored with his incoming freshman that he paid him perhaps the highest compliment he could give.
“Greg Gantt is a freshman from Fayetteville, North Carolina and, to me, he is a mini version of Alpha Diallo,” Cooley said.
Cooley hopes the additions of Pipkins and Gantt, along with better seasons from his returners, will lead to a much-improved offense this season.
“The things we have to improve on are our field goal accuracy and our ability to score the ball,” Cooley said. “We were last in the BIG EAST in both three-point shooting and scoring the ball last year and I think that’s something we have to improve on.”
One thing Cooley said he can always count on is his team’s mettle. Grit and resolve are constants with Cooley’s teams.
“Our strength is always our versatility and our toughness,” Cooley said. “When you talk about Providence College, right next to it is toughness because I won’t coach a team that’s not tough.”
So after seeing his NCAA run ended at five straight seasons last year, how does Cooley see this year’s version of the Friars competing this season?
“I’m excited about this group because I feel they’re edgy, they practice with more of a purpose and I like our chemistry,” Cooley said. “But we’ll see when it hits the fan. But I just like the fact that we have a lot of returning players that have played in games.”
After finishing 7-11 in conference play last season and languishing near the bottom of the BIG EAST standings, how does Cooley see the conference shaping up this season?
“I don’t think there is a clear-cut runaway team,” Cooley said. “I think the depth of the league and the versatility of the league is tremendous. I mean, I think DePaul is one of the better teams in our league and they were picked last. I just think it’s going to be a fun time. The BIG EAST is once again one of the most powerful conferences in the country.”