The first punch to the gut came back in mid-November, when Providence waltzed into Evanston, Ill., with the intent to take care of Northwestern in a Gavitt Tipoff Game. Instead the Friars returned from Illinois on the short end of a 73-62 decision.
Two weeks later Penn descended on the Dunkin’ Donuts Center just before Thanksgiving. Maybe the Friars were looking ahead to the holidays and how many shopping days were left until Christmas. Whatever the reason, Providence took another body blow when the Quakers left The Dunk with a surprising 81-75 victory.
The Friars’ trip out west the following week for the Wooden Legacy tournament was supposed to restore confidence and perhaps result in a little championship hardware for the flight back home. But both Long Beach State and Charleston had other ideas and with two more unlikely losses, Providence season looked to be flirting with disaster.
Even David Duke, the Friars’ stellar sophomore guard, admits to having his doubts about how this season would play out after Providence’s shaky start to the season.
“I think we had a bunch of mixed feelings,” Duke said. “Some of it was, ‘It’s going to be a long season. We’ve got to get ourselves out of this hole.’ But some of it was to try and keep in good spirits and say, ‘Everyone goes through their ups and downs and we’re just going through our down part right now. There’s a long season ahead of us so we can definitely turn things around.’”
Fast forward through that 7-6 non-conference season, and the 4-4 start to BIG EAST league play, and the Friars have most definitely turned things around.
Since the calendar flipped to February, Providence has been one of the hottest teams in the BIG EAST. They opened the month with a victory at then-No. 16 Butler, a win that avenged a home loss to the Bulldogs earlier in the season. Then came a 17-point blowout of then-No. 21 Creighton, once again earning a modicum of revenge for an earlier loss to the Bluejays.
Back-to-back road losses at Xavier and St. John’s momentarily derailed the good times in Friartown. But Providence responded to those setbacks with three straight wins -- including two more over ranked teams, then-No. 10 Seton Hall and Marquette, which was No. 19 at the time. The win over the Pirates again avenged an earlier defeat while the victory over the Golden Eagles gave Providence the season sweep.
So what happened that made February such a turnaround month for Providence?
“I think it was just our approach to each game,” said Duke, who is averaging 12.0 points this season. “I personally believe that we gave away games (earlier in the season). There was no loss where we felt like we were definitely beat. It was more we gave away games. I believe we were better than each team we played against. It was more about believing in ourselves. So our mindset definitely changed going into February, especially having those four ranked teams coming into town.”
The Friars’ latest victory over a ranked opponent came last Saturday when the Dunkin’ Donuts Center was amped for a meeting with Markus Howard and Marquette. It’s been almost a week and Dukes’ ears are still ringing.
“It was amazing. It was definitely amazing,” Dukes said. “The fans were very supportive because the previous week we had another ranked team (Seton Hall) in and I just think they were excited to have another one of those crazy games. It was very similar to when we played Seton Hall when they stormed the court after the game. It really was a lot of fun.”
Providence’s 5-2 roll through February so far has it sitting in fourth place in the BIG EAST standings with a 9-6 mark. What’s quirky about that is the three teams in front of the Friars - Seton Hall, Creighton and Villanova - are all nationally ranked and the two right behind them - Marquette and Butler - were ranked until this past Monday and are currently among the teams receiving votes. So is it strange to be in the middle of such elite company and not be a ranked program?
“Yeah, I would say so but we did have a couple of bad losses in the beginning of the year and I’m sure they’ve been taken into consideration,” Duke said. “But we just want to stay in the top half (of the BIG EAST), continue to get wins and slowly creep up.”
That next opportunity to creep up for the Friars will not be an easy one as they travel to No. 12 Villanova for a high-noon showdown on Saturday with the Wildcats. It’s a rare opportunity to go 5-for-5 versus ranked teams in a single month. But Duke said the Friars won’t be building up this game up to be more important than any other game remaining on their schedule.
“I think the team is really confident right now,” said Duke, whose 94 assists leads the Friars. “We just have a never-too-high, never-too-low mentality, understanding that we still have a ways to go.”
After Nova, the Friars close out the regular season with a pair of home games against Xavier and DePaul. More chances to build a strong resume for the NCAA Tournament. That’s a destination Duke missed out on in his freshman season but a place he feels the Friars would be headed if the season ended today.
“I believe we definitely have a strong case to be an NCAA team, for sure,” Duke said. “But there is a whole bunch of other stuff that I’m not aware of that (the selection committee) considers. But I believe if the season ended today that we would have a strong case to be one of those teams.”
Duke said he not only wants to get a taste of the NCAA Tournament for himself, but also hopes to give senior teammates Alpha Diallo, Maliek White and Kalif Young as well as grad students Emmitt Holt and Luwane Pipkins, one last chance to dance after missing the tournament last year.
“We owe it to them to make it a good final year for them,” Duke said. “Last year when we found out we weren’t getting in, it was a sad feeling. But this year, seeing that it’s more attainable, we’re trying to do everything possible to make that happen.”
A strong finish to the regular season, as well as a spirited run through the BIG EAST Tournament next month, would certainly seal the deal for the Friars as far as dance party invitations. Especially with a BIG EAST Tournament with no clear-cut favorite this year.
“I think the league, from one all the way to the bottom, they’re all great teams,” Duke said. “And I definitely think it’s wide open. Anyone could win it.”
And that most definitely includes the resurgent Providence Friars.