Providence recruiting

[ResidentBrown]

They are quietly putting themselves in the position to have one heck of a recruiting class.

Already have #51 ranked Jalen Lindsey. Considered by 247 to be the leader for #66 ranked Pascal Chukwu and #62 Jared Terrell. They are also among the top finalists for #56 ranked Abdul Malik Abu, #45 Terry Larrier, and #53 Kaleb Joseph. Abu and Terrell play on the same HS team - and the only common finalist they have is Providence, which could work out for them.

Edit - Abu and Terrell aren't HS teammates.

I'd love to see them land a few of those guys. The knack for wacky in-game distractions has been a fun part of the recent Providence-MU series, but it'd be nice to have some competitive basketball going on as well.  

Get as much talent to the Big East as possible. One of the best ways to legitimize ourselves as a big time conference is to land big time players on a consistent basis - second of course to actual success on the court in the non-con and the NCAAs (the two logically go hand-in-hand but simply landing a big recruit raises the profile of a school, regardless of performance thereafter).

[ResidentBrown]

nm

[brewcity77]

Cooley is a phenomenal recruiter, and if he's half the game coach he'll turn Providence into a perennial top-25 team in short order. The biggest question is if they'll be able to retain him and sustain success. Pitino, Barnes, and Gillen all used Providence as a stepping stone job. Maybe the Providence native Cooley is willing to stay even if he had success? If he does, I believe in 4-5 years Providence will be as integral to this league as Georgetown and Marquette.

[Atticus]

Cooley hasnt proven to anyone that he can actually coach.

[brewcity77]

Cooley hasnt proven to anyone that he can actually coach.

Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun, Jay Wright, Mick Cronin, and Mike Brey, all of whom have lost to Cooley-coached teams in the past 2 years, may beg to differ. He did pretty well at Fairfield too, winning the MAAC regular season title his last year there and leading them to 2 NIT appearances.

Like I said...if he's half the coach he is a recruiter, they'll be good.

[CTWarrior]

Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun, Jay Wright, Mick Cronin, and Mike Brey, all of whom have lost to Cooley-coached teams in the past 2 years, may beg to differ. He did pretty well at Fairfield too, winning the MAAC regular season title his last year there and leading them to 2 NIT appearances.

Like I said...if he's half the coach he is a recruiter, they'll be good.

Cooley is from Providence and this is where he wants to be.  I never say never, but for him to leave of his own accord it would have to be a very big time job, not just any random BCS conference team.  I've watched him coach a lot of games at Fairfield and he knows what he is doing on the sidelines, too. 

[Clam Crowder]

Cooley is a phenomenal recruiter, and if he's half the game coach he'll turn Providence into a perennial top-25 team in short order. The biggest question is if they'll be able to retain him and sustain success. Pitino, Barnes, and Gillen all used Providence as a stepping stone job. Maybe the Providence native Cooley is willing to stay even if he had success? If he does, I believe in 4-5 years Providence will be as integral to this league as Georgetown and Marquette.

Gillen left for Virginia and his career went to crap at that point. He should have stayed in Providence. Pitino was rumored to be coming back a couple of years ago actually, I think he wanted little Richard to be named his successor and PC didn't do it and he didn't come. Cooley is a stud recruiter. Already got Dunn and Ledo last year. The East with Calhoun gone will be ripe for the taking for a good recruiter

[Aughnanure]

Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun, Jay Wright, Mick Cronin, and Mike Brey, all of whom have lost to Cooley-coached teams in the past 2 years, may beg to differ. He did pretty well at Fairfield too, winning the MAAC regular season title his last year there and leading them to 2 NIT appearances.

Like I said...if he's half the coach he is a recruiter, they'll be good.

Agreed. He may not be a Top 10 coach, but he's good enough to be Top 30, 25, 20 every year.

If Marquette, Georgetown, Nova, Xavier, St. John's, and Providence can be who we know they can be - this league will be great year-in and year-out. The other 4 teams can go a combined 4-68 in the league for all we care.

[Benny B]

Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun, Jay Wright, Mick Cronin, and Mike Brey, all of whom have lost to Cooley-coached teams in the past 2 years, may beg to differ. He did pretty well at Fairfield too, winning the MAAC regular season title his last year there and leading them to 2 NIT appearances.

Like I said...if he's half the coach he is a recruiter, they'll be good.

If he's half as passionate as a coach as he is a bat hunter, they'll be even better.

[Atticus]

Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun, Jay Wright, Mick Cronin, and Mike Brey, all of whom have lost to Cooley-coached teams in the past 2 years, may beg to differ. He did pretty well at Fairfield too, winning the MAAC regular season title his last year there and leading them to 2 NIT appearances.

Like I said...if he's half the coach he is a recruiter, they'll be good.

And OOC losses last year to Brown, BC, UMass,and PSU. They squeeked by Asheville and something called NJIT.

[Brewtown Andy]

And OOC losses last year to Brown, BC, UMass,and PSU. They squeeked by Asheville and something called NJIT.

Because Vincent Council got hurt 5 minutes in to the NJIT game and missed the next 10 games. Brown was his first game back.  Went 9-9 in the Big East.

[GoldenBoy16]

It looks like they are the leader for Abdul Malik Abu as well for 247. I hope they get them all!!

[MarquetteDano]

And OOC losses last year to Brown, BC, UMass,and PSU. They squeeked by Asheville and something called NJIT.

Man seeing your posts over these months tells me you are not a fan of the new Big East.  Really not a nice word to say about any team.  I'll take it you will be watching a lot of ACC games in the coming years.  

[Jay Bee]

Because Vincent Council got hurt 5 minutes in to the NJIT game and missed the next 10 games. Brown was his first game back.  Went 9-9 in the Big East.

Council was a bit overrated, yeah? Couldn't make shots, but that didn't stop him from trying.

2-8 in his first 10 games back.. including the Brown loss and a dropping a home game to DePaul. Started off 2-7 in the BEast. Schedule setup was kind of rough though. Nice end to the regular season, but Council's March numbers were actually pretty poor.

Just not a very good team.

[MUBasketball]

Providence hasn't been a good team for a while. But, that's the point. Cooley is getting players. It's a process. He is legit. There is no question Providence has a lot of momentum right now. As mentioned earlier in this thread...if PC can keep Cooley, they will be a very good team in this conference. We should all be pulling for them to pull in these top recruits they are after. Need to legitimize this league and getting great players is the first step.

[Brewtown Andy]

Council was a bit overrated, yeah? Couldn't make shots, but that didn't stop him from trying.

2-8 in his first 10 games back.. including the Brown loss and a dropping a home game to DePaul. Started off 2-7 in the BEast. Schedule setup was kind of rough though. Nice end to the regular season, but Council's March numbers were actually pretty poor.

Just not a very good team.

Toss out the five minutes against NJIT and Council averaged just over 7 assists per game. Losing your senior point guard for (essentially) the first 11 games of your season is no picnic.

[ResidentBrown]

I just found out (from another thread on the scoop) that Providence is no longer in the running for Larrier. But we are! So I'll take it.

[brewcity77]

Cooley added a commitment from 7'2" top-100 center Paschal Chukwu last night. Cooley continuing to get it done. Both Abu and Terrell are set to commit next week in a joint press conference. While some feel Providence has fallen behind in their pursuit, the potential is still there for 4 top-100 recruits. The Friars have upside.