Providence Lands Top Big Man Target in 2017

Ed Cooley should host a top recruit annually on his birthday. 2017 power forward Nate Watson got to Providence on the night of September 9th for his official visit and committed to Cooley and the Friars before heading home the night of September 10th: Cooley’s 47th birthday. The news was first reported by Adam Zagoria. “Coach told me he’d never lost a recruit on his birthday,” Watson told Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal. Watson continued, “he jumped in his (swimming) pool when I gave him the word.” Cooley and his staff prioritized Watson since they offered him a scholarship back in early February, a few weeks before 2017 6’11 center Dajour Dickens committed to the Friars.

Ed Cooley Jeff Battle Nate Watson Bishop O'Connell
Ed Cooley and Jeff Battle visited with 2017 PF Nate Watson at his school in February 2016.

Providence was fresh off the disappointment of losing a coin toss recruitment with top-40 point guard Makai Ashton-Langford when the Worcester native chose UConn on September 5th. Cooley clearly wasn’t deterred and despite still recovering from a recent back surgery, Cooley was up to the task of hosting the 6’9 Watson and ultimately got a great birthday present on Saturday night.

The Friar staff continued their strategy of targeting a recruit or two to go fully in on during the spring and summer grassroots seasons and after having a few disappointments in recent years the strategy paid off with the 2017 class. At this point, Providence is out of available scholarships for the 2017-18 season, though with the rate at which players move these days the coaching staff can never truly stop recruiting. The focus will now likely shift to the class of 2018 where Providence was spotted in Georgia seeing top-10 wing Khavon Moore on Monday and the Friars are expected at Greensboro Day in North Carolina to see top-125 guard John Newman III on Tuesday. That’s all on the heels of seeing top-70 local product Cole Swider at 6am last Friday at St. Andrew’s in Barrington.

Cooley’s strength as a recruiter continues to be his ability to build relationships. Jeff Battle was the assistant coach handling the Watson recruitment, though Ivan Thomas has also known Watson for some time, I was told. But at the end of the day, Cooley was the one to close the deal with the fast-rising Watson. Watson’s coach with DC Premier — a grassroots team on the Under Armour Association circuit — Fred Howze told pcbb1917.com “Ed Cooley and staff, especially Jeff Battle, did a great job recruiting Nate.” Howze continued, “Nate felt it was a great fit and he liked his relationship with Cooley. [Nate] saw there was a need and want for him [at Providence].”

Want more evidence?

“Coach Cooley is a great guy,” Watson told Scout.com Saturday night after committing. “I had the best relationship with him compared to all of the other head coaches, and that meant a lot to me.”

Watson basically echoed the same thing to Mark Giannotto of the Washington Post on Sunday night. “I was Cooley’s No. 1 guy, I think. If it wasn’t Coach Cooley there, it was somebody else from Providence. For some reason, I just felt more comfortable at Providence.” The reason: the culture of family and togetherness that Cooley has instilled since arriving in Friartown in May 2011.

Providence was scheduled to receive an official visit from 2017 power forward Victor Enoh beginning on September 16th, but I confirmed with Enoh’s high school coach Larry Thompson that the visit is no longer happening due to Watson’s commitment.

There was a lot of discussion about which recruit was the top priority for Cooley in 2017 and an argument can certainly be made that a top-40 player at any position would be the one a coaching staff really wanted, but my argument has always been that Watson was the guy Cooley really wanted in 2017. Here’s what I wrote in a message to a friend back on August 17th:

I think it might be harder to land another big as good as Watson so I guess, gun to my head, I’d take him if I had to pick one because then you can swing for the next best available player at any position or hold off for 2018, especially since they actually don’t have another open scholarship beyond one more commitment right now for 2017.

So, Cooley got his man and he got him on his birthday. 47 is off to a great start for the Friar head coach. The 2017 recruiting class just may be done on September 10th with two big frontcourt players, which any Providence fan would have signed up for at this time last year when the Friars had zero players committed from the class of 2016. Late Night Madness is about a month away and the focus can now turn more towards the 2016-17 season, which I believe will be one of development for the relatively young Friar team. Help is clearly on the way with Dickens and Watson.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzf6vBKa4_E]

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3 responses to “Providence Lands Top Big Man Target in 2017”

  1. Jack Durkan Avatar
    Jack Durkan

    Happy Birthday, Coach! Congratulations on this great selection.

  2. […] 2017 commit Nate Watson will be in attendance after pledging to Ed Cooley and the Friars during his official visit on September 9th and 10th.  Other players holding a Providence offer that are expected to be in […]

  3. […] landing a 6’11 center in the class of 2016 in Kalif Young and reeling in two big men in the class of 2017, Ed Cooley and his staff have continued to look towards the frontcourt down the line. On Wednesday […]

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