Providence already has two big men locked up in the Class of 2017 but they have added another tall player to their recruiting haul for next season. 2017 forward Daniel Mading pledged to Ed Cooley and the Friars on Thursday after taking a visit to Friartown in early February and a trip to Texas Tech last weekend. This means Providence is technically one scholarship over the limit for next season, though there have been rumors swirling that a current player would not return next season for some time. Providence has been actively pursuing 2017 players for awhile now, so that rumor seems like it has real legs.
Mading is currently rated as a 3-star recruit with a current 247Sports Composite National Ranking of 216th. A one-time Arizona State commit, Mading was ranked 64th by Scout.com at the time of his commitment to the Sun Devils back in late December 2015. Mading re-opened his recruitment in June of 2016. Later that summer he left St. Anthony in Jersey City, NJ, where he was coached by Bob Hurley, Sr, because an appeal to allow Mading to play his senior season at the NJ powerhouse was denied. The issue? He turned 19 twelve days before the cutoff. Mading came to the US 4 years ago from Perth, Australia though his family is originally from the Sudan. He is a cousin of Milwaukee Buck Thon Maker. He is not a traditional low-block big man but he can shoot the ball effectively and is skilled on the offensive end. He needs to bulk up quite a bit. He’ll be 20 years old by the time September 2017 rolls around.
Providence was one of the first schools to contact Mading after he decommitted from Arizona State, a fact that wasn’t lost on him when he was deciding where to schedule official visits. Other schools that got consideration for an official visit were Butler and Indiana, per RedRaiderSports.com — a Texas Tech site on the Rivals network.
Mading’s AAU coach and trainer, Brandon Howell of Team Belief, told pcbb1917.com after Mading’s official visit to Providence from February 1st-3rd that “Daniel had a great visit to Providence College.” Howell also mentioned that Cooley “talked [to Mading] about the expectations of putting on a Providence jersey [and] Daniel had the opportunity to see Coach Cooley off the court as a family man and a man who cares about his players and takes the time out to reach out to all just to see how their days are going, which is important to Daniel.”
Howell also spoke with Zagsblog.com earlier in the week and he told that site that Mading “loved Ed Cooley and what Providence had to offer.” Mading continued, “Coach Donovan’s son [Bryan] is at Providence, who Daniel knows very well which makes Daniel comfortable.” Recruiting is all about relationships and those relationships don’t have to stop with the coaching staff.
Providence’s 3 committed players for next season are all 6’8 or taller. Pair that with 6’9 Kalif Young, 6’8 Rodney Bullock and 6’7 Emmitt Holt and the Friars will have loads of size with a good mix of experience in their frontcourt next season. Kyron Cartwright will be a senior and if all of the key contributors from this season return then Providence appears set for a big run at the NCAA Tournament, which could be either a fifth straight trip or the beginning of a new streak depending on how the Friars finish this season over the next 3 weeks.
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