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Friar Friday News & Notes, Including Providence Coaches on the Recruiting Trail

Here are some Providence news and notes from the week, including Providence’s recruiting efforts, Jon Rothstein’s annual practice visit, a fun segment with Ed Cooley on Big East Shootaround, and more.

Recruiting Never Stops

Recruiting never stops and that’s certainly true when the NCAA recruiting calendar turns from “Quiet Period” to “Recruiting Period”, which happened on September 9th. The Friar staff — the full staff of Ed Cooley, Jeff Battle, Brian Blaney and Ivan Thomas — was spotted at Cushing Academy that first day to see prized 2018 recruit David Duke. The Friar staff subsequently completed an in-home visit with Duke and his family. Duke’s recruitment is one that has Friar fans on the edge of their seat. He’s not only a local kid from Providence, but he reminds many of former Friar and current Chicago Bull Kris Dunn. Duke is scheduled to take an official visit to Florida next weekend, followed by an official visit to Virginia Tech where his good friend and former Cushing roommate Wabissa Bede is a freshman.

Cooley and Battle tripped down to North Carolina on Thursday night for an in-home visit with 2018 commit Kris Monroe. Monroe committed to Providence in early August without ever taking a trip to the campus. Monroe plans to take his official visit for Late Night Madness next month.

On Friday morning, Providence assistant Ivan Thomas was in Richmond to see 2019 Armando Bacot at Trinity Episcopal. Bacot, who runs with Team Loaded VA on the adidas circuit, is currently ranked 17th in the nation by 247Sports’ Composite National Ranking. Providence offered the 6’8 talented forward last August.

Providence does plan to complete an in-home visit with their first 2018 commit AJ Reeves soon. Reeves’ school does a trip to the Cape during the first week of the school year so they weren’t able to set up that visit last week.

Rothstein’s Report from Providence Practice

The Big East schedule was released on Tuesday and the Friars will open on the road for the third straight season. You can read analysis from various people below:

pcbb1917.com

Providence Journal (Kevin McNamara)

Pawtucket Times (Brendan McGair)

Friarbasketball.com (Kevin Farrahar)

Rothstein’s Report from Providence Practice

Jon Rothstein was in Providence on Thursday to take in practice and give his thoughts in what has become an annual event. Rothstein’s tweets are below with his impressions. One other note from Rothstein this week was that Drew Edwards has been cleared and is 100%. That might sound like old news to those who follow the Providence program and realize that Edwards, along with Maliek White, played for USA East Coast in Spain more than a month ago, but Rothstein reported so I’m letting you know about the report.

Ed Cooley on Latest Big East Shootaround

The Big East Shootaround crew of John Fanta and Jay Alter were in Providence last week filming segments with Ed Cooley as well as Kyron Cartwright and Alpha Diallo. The segment with Cooley aired on Thursday’s show and it’s definitely worth the watch. Cooley sits and talks with Alter about the program and then heads off to LaSalle Bakery to have lunch with Fanta. Look for the segment with Cartwright and Diallo to be aired next week on Thursday.

It was also Cooley’s 48th birthday on Sunday. His players celebrated with a surprise cake and rendition of “Happy Birthday” in the locker room after practice.

Listen to Ed Cooley on The Sidelines Podcast

Ed Cooley was a guest on The Sidelines Podcast with Evan Daniels of Scout.com this week. Cooley discussed many topics, including the importance of culture in a program, his recruiting pitch to prospective Friars, and much more.

Big East’s Freshman Fundamentals Returns

Last week the Big East announced the return of the their innovative Freshman Fundamentals program for a third straight year. The program is actually happening this weekend in NYC and the Friars are sending freshmen Makai Ashton-Langford, Dajour Dickens, Drew Fonts and Nate Watson to partake in the weekend of panels and events that include talks from former Big East players, media training and a trip to the 9/11 Memorial.

The Dunk to Get New PC Floor Design

The official Providence basketball Twitter account sent out a picture this week of the prep work that is being done to re-design the old floor at the Dunkin’ Donuts. No word yet on what the new floor will look like. What would you like to see? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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Mike Hopkins

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One response to “Friar Friday News & Notes, Including Providence Coaches on the Recruiting Trail”

  1. Mark Cavanagh Avatar
    Mark Cavanagh

    Give me an iconic Friar mega slam… the Dunk.

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