In the 2013-14 season, the Providence Friars had gotten off to a good start at 10-2, with their only losses being a 4-point loss to Maryland in the Virgin Islands, and a competitive loss to Kentucky at the Barclays Center. Going into the Christmas holiday, things were looking up for the Friars. Then the bad news began. It had been announced that Kris Dunn would undergo surgery and be out for the season. It was announced that highly promising newcomers Brandon Austin and Rodney Bullock were suspended for the season due to an off-court incident that occurred shortly before the season started. On the court, the Friars lost back-to-back overtime games that they had in hand, at Massachusetts and home to Seton Hall on New Year’s Eve. The nadir occurred in the following game, a thirty-point loss at Villanova that was not nearly as close as the score indicated. At this moment, fans of the team began openly questioning the team, the coach, and the administration over the events of the previous weeks on team message boards and social media. Comments were made that if you want to be a big-time program you cannot be suspending players when you have no depth, our scholarship situation was terrible, the Big East was going to be just as bad for us after realignment, etc.
As fate would have it, the team had scheduled a Coach’s show for the fans at the Audi Warwick dealership. Most of the fans who attended the event were some combination of depressed, disheartened, disappointed, and angry. At the beginning of the show, the Vice President for Athletics Bob Driscoll spoke first to host John Rooke. He mentioned that he understood and shared the frustration being felt by the fans. He stated that he and Coach Cooley were doing all they could within the parameters set by the college and would work tirelessly to improve the situation and asked the fan base to continue to support the staff and the team. When he finished, my daughter and I were among a handful of people who applauded. Next up came Coach Cooley, and the way he handled it was impressive. He started by addressing the fact that losing is never acceptable and they were doing everything possible to right the ship.
After this, he went in a different direction. He said he felt bad for Kris Dunn, but that injuries were an unfortunate part of the game. As for the suspended players, the blame was on them, and if they wanted to play at a school like Providence, that had to be responsible for their actions and learn from their mistakes. He said at Providence they were building something to last, and that meant doing it the right way with no shortcuts. He then addressed the previous three games, and said that losing sucks, but that if one shot had gone in during either of the UMass or Seton Hall games, they would have been in good shape, and no one would be panicking. He was confident that the team would start winning these close games and get back into contention. Further, he flat out said if people were giving up on the team after a couple of games, they were not true fans and should find a different team to support. He closed by saying they were doing the hard prep work now to enjoy the beautiful Roses in the spring. (OK, I made the last sentence up, but everything else is true.)
I bring this up because this is eerily reminiscent of the current season. We started off strong, then had a season-ending injury to a key player, followed by a few close losses and finally a blowout. I have also seen on message boards and social media comments about how the season is lost, etc. One person on a message board mentioned the importance of the game this week against DePaul, and someone else corrected him by saying that everyone knew the season was lost and we should look to next year. I choose to look at it a lot differently. In the Seton Hall game where Bryce Hopkins was injured, we lost focus for a couple of minutes but came back, missing a close shot to send the game to overtime. After a game against Creighton where we fought back but lost late, we staged another strong comeback against St. John’s, missing a game-winning three-pointer to win it at the buzzer. If the shot against either Seton Hall or St. John’s had connected, everyone would be happy with our position, and if they both hit, we would be in striking distance of first place.
Another problem is the flow of the schedule since the injury. Bryce got hurt on a Wednesday (January 3rd) and had an MRI on Thursday. The Friars had one day before flying to Omaha on Friday to play Saturday. They returned on Sunday and practiced Monday before heading to New York on Tuesday to play St. John’s on Wednesday. The cycle continued as we had to play Xavier on Saturday, then practice Monday before traveling to Chicago Tuesday. Â This has not given the staff and players consistent time to focus on adjustments after losing their leading offensive player. Another problem is that the staff has gone against two elite-level strategists in Greg McDermott and Sean Miller, and arguably the best college coach ever in Rick Pitino. This is a difficult task for any coach.
After Wednesday’s game against DePaul, the team will have a full week off to recalibrate and prepare for Seton Hall on the road and at home to Georgetown. These are two winnable games and the potential for a three-game winning streak is real. This will alleviate the fears of the fan base and allow the team to focus on their seasonal goals. It is unfortunate that the schedule broke the way it did after the injury, but this team still has ample opportunities to make this season a memorable one. As we look throughout the conference, every team has talent, but no team on the schedule is unbeatable for the Friars. We need to keep the faith and continue to support the players and the staff, so we can NCAA tournament action as the roses begin to bloom in spring, perhaps like that 2013-14 team that rallied around basically six players to win the second ever Big East Tournament 20 years after the first by the 1993-94 team that was honored during Saturday’s game against Xavier.
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