I know we’re all bummed over the Ledo news yesterday (and believe me, an article on that is coming like a bat out of hell) but for now it’s best to distract ourselves from the tragedy and focus on the good. And the good is we’re still going to a new conference with a TON of opportunity for us to compete, with our without Ledo.

It’s this conference. I know, confusing if you haven’t been paying attention to how it all works.

So we should probably know who we’re competing against.

In our last entry in the three-part series we talked to Banners on the Parkway (@BannersParkway), the Xavier Musketeers blog that represents all things Ohio (you know, since we gave the other Ohio brethren the boot). Brad and Joel took the time to answer some of our questions about all things Xavier, so let’s see what they had to see after the jump!

We’ve made it past hump day (a word I’m becoming more familiar with as I work in an office) and sights are now set on the weekend, but why should the next day and a half drag on? We’ve got another interview with another blog on another new team in the Big East!

In the second of our three part series we got in touch with Butler Bulldog blogger David McConnell. He writes for Victoryfirelight.com, and can be found on Twitter with his handle @butlervictory. Butler is best remembered for kicking ass and taking names, specifically in 2010 and 2011 when they surprised everyone with their back to back trips to the NCAA championship game. Their performances earned them conference umps – first from the Horizon League, to the A-10, and then finally to the Big East.

Pictured here is the Butler bulldogs negotiating their admission to the Big East with the Georgetown bulldogs. Yes this is real.

Check out our interview after the jump!

No, it’s not getting a new tournament site. No, records aren’t getting cleaned out – we still own those. I like to think of it more as a “return to the roots” type of change. We’re going back to what the Big East was built on. We’re going back to the vision that Dave Gavitt had so many years ago. We’re going back to basketball.

And we’re not doing it alone either. We’ve added quite a few buddies to come along for the ride. In addition to the “Catholic 7″ Creighton, Butler, and Xavier are all joining us next year in pioneering a basketball-only, high major conference.

So it seems only right that we should get to know our neighbors.

You knew this was coming. As soon as you saw the word ‘neighbor’ you knew it was coming and you LOVED IT.

In this three part series I interview the bloggers from the Creighton, Butler, and Xavier sites. First up is Creighton. CTO of White and Blue Review Patrick Marshall (@wildjays on twitter) got us in touch with Max Univers (@polyfro) to answer a couple of our questions about the Blue Jays. Give both those guys a follow on Twitter and bookmark the White and Blue Review for future reference guys – we’re going to be seeing Creighton a lot more! And after you’ve done that read our interview with them here, right now, after the jump!

Max Univers: Greg McDermott’s predecessor, Dana Altman, went 327-176 in 16 seasons and took the team to seven NCAA Tournaments and five NIT’s over that span. After the 2007 season, Altman took the Arkansas job, (in)famously changing his mind 24 hours later and returning to Omaha to reclaim his old job. The three years following his return were not quite up to the standards he’d set previously — two NIT berths and, in his final season, a trip to the CollegeInsider.com (CIT) tourney. His last teams suffered from player defections, recruiting misfires, and a gradual erosion of the principles he’d built the program on (pressure defense, hustle, high-post offense).

Despite the instability of the program in Altman’s final season, McDermott didn’t exactly inherit a program in disarray or one with a bare cupboard. Gregory Echenique, Antoine Young and Josh Jones — key contributors to last year’s NCAA Tournament team that defeated Alabama — were Altman recruits, for example. McDermott has taken what Altman built over 16 years and grown it. Their styles are different; the Jays almost never run a full-court press, and he prefers traditional big men who play around the rim to the type of big man that played 10-15 feet out, as Altman did.

The biggest key to his success is recruiting players that fit his system, and coaching them up so by the time they’re juniors and seniors, they’re the key contributors to the team. While that will change a little bit with the move to the Big East — they’re more likely to recruit the type of player who might not stay all four years in a “major” league — Creighton’s never going to be anything remotely close to a Kentucky situation where their team is comprised of one-and-done players. The bulk of their recruits will still be midwestern, high basketball IQ players who work hard in practice to improve their skills over a four-year career.

MU: Creighton has been a top ten team in attendance for several years in a row, routinely drawing over 16,000 to home games. But they also travel well, historically; over 6,000 fans flocked to St. Louis for the MVC Tournament this March, and while that number was inflated somewhat by the Jays’ outstanding season, in a typical year they had 2-3 thousand fans follow them to the tourney, which still led the league most years. Over Thanksgiving, the Jays played in a tournament in Las Vegas with Wisconsin, another school who travels well, and Jays fans outnumbered them 2:1. No one expects 6,000 CU fans to descend on Madison Square Garden next March (St. Louis is a six hour drive, while NYC requires a flight), but CU will be well-represented.

Fans were accustomed to making road trips to see their team play in the MVC, and though the destinations are further away now, there’s already been talk on the Bluejay Underground message board from fans excited to travel to new cities/venues. Creighton also has a large alumni base on the East Coast who’s excited to see their team play games close to home, so expect to see them at road games, too.

MU: Gregg Marshall, the Wichita State coach, described the Bluejays as “Suburban HORSE” players earlier this year — meaning a team full of shooters who can drain in shots from anywhere, but are loathe to mix it up with physical players/teams. That reputation stems from their defensive struggles in the first two years of the Greg McDermott Era more than anything; as the Jays showed in their last two battles with the Shockers, and in their victory over a very physical Cincinnati team in the NCAA Tournament, they’re more physical than their reputation would lead you to believe.

With that said, they do need to get bigger, stronger players to compete regularly in the Big East, and the coaching staff has already begun addressing those needs.

MU: The MVC has been very good to Creighton — it’s an underrated league in many sports, especially men’s basketball, and CU has enjoyed great rivalries with several schools over the years. But fans have been enthralled with the possibility of joining the Big East ever since news leaked in December that the Catholic 7 were breaking away from the old Big East.

Aside from the increased profile and competition on the floor, Creighton fans are excited to join a league with nine other schools who share a similar culture and goals. With their huge attendance, great facilities, history of success and donor base, Creighton really feels they can not only compete but succeed in the Big East.

One thing that fans are very excited about is joining perhaps the best men’s soccer league in the country. Men’s soccer has made the College Cup two years in a row (soccer’s equivalent of the Final Four) and plays in one of the best stadiums for college soccer in the country. They were a perennial national title contender despite playing in a subpar league; joining an elite conference should make them even more of a power, and considering men’s soccer is the second-biggest sport at CU, that’s a big deal.

MU: Creighton’s student section can be rowdy and intimidating for big games, but suffers from a lack of attendance for smaller midweek games. I don’t think that’s much different from most schools, though. They’ve really taken to the “big head” fad that’s swept the country, holding up huge cutouts of players, coaches, and other random celebrities. The biggest tradition is probably the passing out of long tube balloons at halftime, as they’re seated behind one basket and the visiting team shoots at that hoop in the second half. It’s a tradition dating back to the early 1990s; students fashion those balloons into all sorts of things to distract teams while shooting free throws. And occasionally, one of the balloons pops, which is REALLY a distraction.

The band is terrific, and several national writers who were in Philadelphia for the NCAA Tourney last week noted on Twitter that they were clearly the best band of the eight schools playing there. Sometimes they’ll launch into songs that really make you do a double-take. For example, late in the Cincinnati game last week they played “How Far We’ve Come” by Matchbox Twenty…and segued into “The Final Countdown” by Europe.

MU: Early in the 2000s, Creighton and Southern Illinois had a heated rivalry due to the teams annually being the top two in the MVC. But prior to those years, the schools really weren’t rivals, and as SIU has slipped into a series of second-division finishes in recent years, it’s cooled back down.

I think most fans (and even coaches/players) would identify Wichita State as their biggest rival in the MVC — there’s decades of history between the schools beating up on each other, in multiple sports, and geographically they’re much closer than Southern Illinois. The defining moment in the rivalry came on the baseball diamond, of all places; the two teams met in the 1991 College World Series, and Wichita State eliminated the Jays, throwing out the tying run at the plate late in the game. They’ve had epic battles in men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, baseball…you name the sport, chances are the schools have cost each other championships over the years by knocking one another off.

Shocker coach Gregg Marshall has publicly expressed his desire for the schools to continue playing, but it’s not apparent whether Creighton shares that desire or not. My guess is they’ll resume the series as a non-conference game two or three years down the road once CU gets settled in the Big East.

As for potential “new” rivals among the Big East schools, I’d say Marquette and Xavier are the two likeliest suspects. Creighton and Marquette have played 76 times over the years; in the 1960s and 70s when CU was an independent, they had a fierce rivalry, and played some spirited battles against Al McGuire’s teams. More recently, CU played Xavier several years in a row with both teams winning in close, hard-fought games. They don’t have as much history with the other schools, but CU is looking forward to building rivalries and history with them.

-It was a fine NIT run for the Friars, capped off by a great and entertaining effort under difficult circumstances.

-A tremendous experience for players, coaches and fans and a true building block for the program.

-Baylor is flat out good and a tough matchup for this team anytime, anywhere.  In this case Providence essentially had no break between games.  They began their travels to Waco, via Boston, immediately after Monday night’s hard-fought win over Robert Morris and had to take on a very talented and athletic Baylor team, who was equally invested in winning the game, on Wednesday in their arena.

-The Friars went blow-for-blow for 35 plus minutes in a high octane contest but understandably wore down in the end.

-The maturation of this program under Ed Cooley has been a work in progress from day one and what was satisfying and exciting about the second half of this season is that it provided us with the first visible and quantifiable breakthroughs.

-The Dunk was a great scene for the Charlotte and Robert Morris NIT games.

-A testament to the Friartown faithful, who really helped get those games closed out.

-Cooley’s impromptu postgame address to the fans was great to see.

-But my favorite part was the coach getting frustrated with the band as they kept playing, unaware that Cooley was trying to say something.

-Good thing to because I think Cooley, in his frustration, had a few choice words that got muffled out by the music.

-Can’t wait until next year.

-A little investment advice.  Sell your JoS. A. Bank stock because the suits are going back in the closet baby.

-Actually, first I can’t wait until April 28^th which is the deadline to declare for the NBA draft.

-Should be an interesting month in just another ho hum offseason in Friartown, right?

-When asked about Ricky Ledo’s status on Thursday by ABC6’s Ken Bell, Ed Cooley repeated previously made comments saying he hopes Ledo, “does the right thing” and stays in school but that he will support Ledo in his decision either way.

-Cooley also told Bell that he got a pedicure last year, liked it and plans on getting another one soon.

-He had his nails painted black and white of course.

-What do you call someone who administers a pedicure?

-A pedicurist?

-Whatever it is, if they mess up on Cooley’s feet do they get the focus machine?

-Getting back to Ledo, if you are looking for a point of reference, according to Zags Blog and SNYtv, St. John’s freshman and Big East Rookie of the Year JaKarr Sampson will likely be staying with the Red Storm for another season.

-Regardless of what happens with Ledo, Cooley has not ruled out adding another recruit to next year’s roster per the Providence Journal’s Kevin McNamara.

-The Friars have had success historically in finding good players late in the recruiting process (See Sharraud Curry, Bryce Cotton and LaDontae Henton).

-All the best to Vincent Council in his future endeavors.

-The coaching carousel is intriguing each year and the first really significant domino has fallen with Ben Howland out at UCLA.

-No movement yet on the established name front with VCU’s Shaka Smart and North Carolina State’s Mark Gottfried pledging to stay put while Jamie Dixon and Pittsburgh agreed on a new long term deal as rumors swirled about Dixon’s heading west to take the UCLA job.

-However our friends to the south took a hit as URI assistant Bobby Hurley will take the reins at Buffalo.

-Who knows?  Maybe Bobby and brother Dan will meet sooner than later when the Atlantic 10 is forced to add Buffalo to the conference.

-Actually have to give kudos to the Atlantic 10.  They have taken significant and virtually unavoidable conference realignment blows and could easily have become the “Titanic 10” if not for some smart and swift maneuvering.

-More A10 departures are likely over the next year or two as the Big East rounds out but they have navigated the conference realignment waters as well as could be expected, adding VCU and Butler last year and quickly scooping up George Mason earlier this week when the Big East took  Butler and Xavier.
-Getting back to coaching changes, wonder if Andre LaFleur gets a few calls?

-If he does, it will not be as many as Florida Gulf Coast University’s Andy Enfield though.
-Hey Red Sox brass.  Here is a brand management strategy for you…..Go get a good team.

-That said, the Red Sox are primed to overachieve this year given the ultra low expectations.

-Under promise.  Over deliver.

-The Red Sox will be scouting the minor league Lehigh Valley IronPigs hard this season.

-Not to find players but to gage the impact of the IronPigs’ new urinal gaming system on the fan experience and revenue generation.

Please don’t shake your money maker. Please. Don’t. (Photo from usnews.com)

-Here’s hoping everybody stays in their lanes.

-It’s good to see the Red Sox gave up lying about the sellout streak for Lent though.

-I tried to peel back the onion and all I found was more onion.

-Hope the Easter Bunny is good to you.

-This will probably be the last TGIF installment for this season.  I need to study for my pedicurist exam.

-Thanks for reading and for your comments.  You all are the best.  I will catch you on Twitter (@FriarFrenzy) in the meantime.  See you in the fall and GO FRIARS!!

Have a great weekend Friartown.  Be safe.

-The Friars rode a solid second half, one that saw their leaders step up, to a gutsy NIT first round victory over Charlotte marking yet another great step in the evolution of this program under Ed Cooley.

-And that was great but props the crowd and atmosphere at The Dunk.  The students did a heck of a job masquerading as seat backs so it was not a huge crowd (4,953 official attendance) but whatever was lacking in quantity was trounced by quality.

-The Friar faithful were into it from the get go (OK, in large part due to the horrible refereeing) and stayed in it through the choppy first half, only to grow stronger as the Friars took care of business in the second stanza.

-And we get to do it again on Monday against what will be a tough and game Robert Morris squad.

-Lots of good stuff but if Providence wants to get deep into this tournament they need to be more composed around the basket.  They have missed an inordinate amount of normally higher percentage shots this year.

-Rumors have been rampant for some time about red shirt junior Kadeem Batts possibly leaving the program after this year given he is set to graduate this spring.

-Rumors stoked and seemingly validated when Scott Cordischi , who has a strong track record with Friar information, recently reported via GoLocalProv.com about sources confirming Batts’ departure as imminent.

-Not so fast my friends.  Late Wednesday in a presumed response Batts tweeted, ‘Sources are wrong…’.

-And Friartown rejoiced.

-For Batts is huge part of what this team can be next season.

-LaDontae Henton is not afraid of the moment.  Never has been and that is one of his strengths.

-Buckets hit a clutch jumper late against Charlotte but more impressive was his heady play down the stretch, turning down what would have been a difficult shot from underneath the backboard (a shot he typically takes), and extending a possession that ultimately led to a monster Bryce Cotton three ball.

-Speaking of Ice, he made incredibly athletic adjustments to catch and dunk two equally creative alley-oop feeds from Kris Dunn.

-Cotton played with great confidence on Wednesday and the results followed.

-And the growth of Dunn has been flat out fun to see.

-Scary moment when he appeared to tweak the shoulder though.

-There is bad refereeing and there is inconsistent refereeing.

-Unfortunately we have seen a lot of both at the same time this year.

-Absolutely loving the ten team structure for the new Big East next season (adding Xavier, Butler and Creighton to the Catholic 7 if you missed it).

-The conference will likely grow to twelve before too long, but for now it means we get to see every conference opponent at The Dunk which is fantastic.

-Oh, and the Big East tournament will continue at Madison Square Garden, where it belongs, until at least 2026 per a new agreement.

-Hey ACC, do you like apples?

See, Matt Damon is the Big East, Skylar’s number is MSG and that a-hole guy with the pony tail is the ACC. No actual apples were hurt in the production of this post. (Photo curragh-labs.org)

-Honestly, if I were an ACC decision maker I would not want the tournament at Madison Square Garden.

-It’s just not creative or original.  Build your own legacy.

-We know the ACC are Big East wannabes but why continue to make it so obvious by pursuing their venue?

-There are other cities that would make a great destination (Miami, New Orleans?)  and experience for ACC teams and fans.

-But then again, going after every last dollar is not very creative or original either so there you have it.

-There’s no truth to the rumor that the ACC tournament committee is mulling a rule change where teams will have to use a football rather than a basketball during tournament play.

-One rule change I think I’d be for if it were put out there is if a game goes to overtime all players who did not previously foul out get an additional foul for each overtime session.
-Last off-season there were a slew of transfers across division one basketball (over 600 if memory serves).  Curious to see if the trend continues this year.

-Thoughts and prayers go out to the Seton Hill (PA) community who lost their women’s lacrosse coach Kristina Quigley, who was pregnant, and bus driver Anthony Guaetta this past week in a fatal bus crash.

-Syracuse’s Michael Carter-Williams is a lot of things, but (presently anyway) a clutch player is not one of them.

-But if MCW spurs a heroic Final Four charge for the Orange I once again reserve the right to change my mind.

-Louisville’s Gorgui Dieng is likely to turn pro after this season and he is going to make whoever drafts him very happy.

-Louisville playing in Rupp Arena as the NCAA tournament’s number one overall seed, forcing Kentucky to hit the road for their NIT opening round game and lose is steeped in irony.

-As is the idea that Louisville just might be college basketball’s “model franchise” when many have thought of John Calipari’s Kentucky program that way.

-Edgar Renteria announced his retirement from professional baseball. Does this mean the Red Sox get to stop paying him now?

Have a great weekend Friartown.  Be safe.

Is it the 49ers mascot or a homeless man at Kennedy Plaza that keeps asking you for bus fare even though he has nowhere to go?

Charlotte played its regular season basketball in the Atlantic 10, although they will be moving to Conference USA as of July 2013, and finished with the same winning percentage, .500, as our beloved Providence Friars did. Wins over La Salle, Xavier and UMass headlined their resume early on in the season.

A one point loss at Temple and a seven point loss at home to VCU gave reason for some excitement because of the way they hung with and nearly upset two of the top two teams in the league and both NCAA Tournament selections.

Their best win of the year came against the forever known Cinderella of college basketball in the Butler Bulldogs. The 49ers were led by Pierria Henry, dropping 17 points including two late free throws, to end a twelve game win streak Butler had at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Just when you thought Ed Cooley had the best one or two liners after big wins or losses, look no further than Charlotte head coach Alan Major to change your mind.

“Does anybody have a stretcher?” Charlotte coach Alan Major said. “I may need to be carried out of here after that one.”

Just for future reference coach: a please wouldn’t kill you.

Sadly for Coach Major, most of you reading this wouldn’t mind him to utter these words after his team gets done at the Dunk Wednesday night.

They enter their NIT game against the Friars coming off a decisive loss at the hands of St. Louis in Atlantic 10 quarterfinals. At 21-11, 8-8, don’t expect Charlotte to succumb to the pressure of facing a school from a power six conference as the 49ers faced Miami and Florida State in their non-conference season.

Led by Chris Braswell, Pierria Henry and Willie Clayton, the 49ers are a deep rebounding time that isn’t afraid to hit the glass. Braswell averaged nearly 12 points per game to go along with 5.5 boards. The senior forward will do his best to keep his career alive and will try and go to work on the low block early on in the game. Henry is probably their most prolific scorer as the sophomore guard has shown he can score in bunches. He scored 17 against a very good guard defending team in Butler and a season high 28 points and 12 rebounds against Richmond in the A-10 tournament to put the team on his shooting hand, and free throw line as he scored his final 8 at the free throw line after the much talked about controversial ending and technical fouls.

There isn’t much that Charlotte can throw at the Friars that they haven’t seen this year, except maybe Norm The Niner.

Can we all acknowledge that in a mascot with a drugged out dragon, a bear in the Bloods, a cigarette butt and a nightmare-fuel pig, Niner is SOMEHOW the awkward one? Thanks.

In their quarterfinal game against St. Louis, Braswell noted the one thing that Charlotte could not contend with.

“They were just speeding us up,” Braswell said. “We were just rushing, trying to make home run passes.”

If there is one thing that Council, Cotton and Dunn can do to you is speed you up. It isn’t a style the Friars have seen much of this season as Ed Cooley prefers to milk some clock and run the different half court sets he has in place, but he has always said he is the type of coach that wants his teams to get up and down. Kadeem Batts should be able to hold his own and more against a heavily dependent front-court team in the 49ers.

One thing to keep an eye out for is the how the Friars start. It has said time and time again over the last few weeks that Cooley has been unable to get the start he, nor the fans, have been hoping for. After an emotional win against Richmond, Charlotte showed very little resistance against St. Louis.

-It was a good run while it lasted but it was not to be. The Friars ran into two good teams in Connecticut and Cincinnati who played well while Providence sputtered a bit, for various reasons. All in all it is a season (hopefully not over) that Friartown can be proud of and certainly one to build upon.

-The NIT can be a funny beast when it comes to selections but you would have to think the Friars will be in.

-Their resume is acceptable and they have the added bonus of being one of only a couple of Big East teams that will be considered and should draw well at The Dunk.

-Getting an NIT bid would be a very positive step for this program, especially when you factor in where it was two years ago.

-Perhaps things would have been different if the injury and depth situation was not so extreme early on, causing the chemistry to be off well into conference play but I am not so sure.

-Certainly the Connecticut and Cincinnati games indicated that the Friars were not quite an NCAA tournament caliber team just yet.   Connecticut and Cincinnati are.

-Yes I know Connecticut cannot play in the NCAA tournament this year. Stop it.

-It is one thing to get beat physically or because of a talent discrepancy but the Friars did not play well mentally in the last two games.

-They played the opponent’s game and were not able to impose their own style consistently enough.

-It had plenty to do with who they were playing but the Friars were rushed and it led to poor shot selection.

-A lot of the open shots were not falling either, which happens, but could have not come at a worse juncture.

-In a previous TGIF installment I talked about not being sympathetic about the Big East breaking up because I did not think it made sense to give the schools that caused the breakup a pass.  I said it did not have to happen.  They did not have to leave.   Well…

-Like the Big Tuna once said, “I reserve the right to change my mind.”

-Sort of anyway.

-I still think traditional Big East schools like Syracuse and Pittsburgh bolting for ‘greener’ pastures is selfish and deserves no positive ink.  They can go pound sand (or tobacco) as far as I’m concerned.

-But what I failed to separate was the schools’ out of touch decision makers from their basketball programs and traditions.

-Because these programs helped make the Big East the greatest college basketball conference that will ever exist.

-And the Big East tournament the ultimate showcase.

-Seeing this last Big East tournament as we know it play out is the reason I have changed my tune (or tuna).

-So come Saturday when a champion is crowned it will be OK to hold on to the numerous memories created by the bevy of timeless classics this league has provided but it will also be time to move forward.

-And a very promising future awaits.

-Given the Friars performance in the Big East tournament over the years maybe it would have been better if the Catholic 7 did not retain Madison Square Garden for future tournaments.

-If you get the ball behind or under your offensive backboard don’t try to shoot.

-You have watched PC this year and you know those attempts get blocked like 98% of the time.

-Not going to rail too much on Vincent Council as his career and talent speak for themselves but he did not play well in these last two key games.

-It’s not all on Council either.  He and his teammates played hard against Cincinnati but no one really played well.

-Providence’s lack of depth showed itself as the season wore on.

-Offensive execution definitely regressed, including in some of the wins during the hot streak.

-See Bryce Cotton.  His numbers were actually better prior to the team going on its run in February.

-In all games prior to February 3 (Villanova), Cotton shot 46.6% from the floor and 40.3% from three point range.  The numbers did not really change when looking at only Big East games prior to February 3 (47.1%/39.2%) but they fall off dramatically from February 3 on.  During that stretch Cotton shot just 37.1% from the floor and 29.4% from downtown.

-That said congratulations to ICE on his First Team All-Big East selection.  It was earned and deserved without question.

-Same goes for Kadeem Batts’ All-Big East Honorable Mention and co-Most Improved Player accolades.

-Batts’ MIP partner, Michael Carter-Williams is a tremendous talent and had a big year but classifying him as ‘most improved’ does not seem to capture the spirit of the award as much as Batts does.

-I’ll watch the Friars play anytime but definitely understand Ed Cooley’s position on not playing in the CBI if no NIT bid comes to Friartown.

-Especially if you buy into the idea that the season long lack of depth is taking its toll now.

-An issue which the Friars should not have next year.

-Are the Patriots just going to put the number 83 jersey on Danny Amendola and hope nobody notices?

So you are saying I should sign “Wes Welker” on all autographs but I still get the $31 Mil? OK! (Photo: msn.foxsports)

-Amendola’s fantasy football value went up a bit this week though.

-Which is to say he has some now?

Have a great weekend Friartown.  Be safe.

Thankfully, you guys picked the postseason article. Because God knows deep down I was going to do everything in my power to avoid doing a Cincy recap.

So, you asked for it, now you got it! Hit the jump and let’s talk about the Friars in the postseason!

NCAA Tournament: 

No.

And that should be it, right? We’re not getting in, so we’re not talking about it anymore, yes?

Well, not really. The NCAA tournament is kind of important to talk about because, for the Friars, this was a very realistic goal towards the end of the season.

Let’s rewind prior to the UConn part deux game. The Friars were easily the hottest team in the conference, and they came out of literally nowhere. You’ve heard it all before, “the Friars were picked to finish last” “the Friars were dealing with injuries” and on and on it would go. We were picked last, this is true. And we were dealing with injuries, also true. That’s why being considered to get an at-large bid was so huge for the Friars. We had overcome so much.

One thing we couldn’t overcome, however, was the record prior to the UConn game. We did have some losses – some bad losses. Brown, DePaul, Boston College, Penn State, and UMass were all considered by many to be bad losses, and that this was going to work against us for the NCAA tournament. In fact, there were a few people out there who felt that these losses were already too much, and that the Friars wouldn’t get a bid because of them. Still others felt that these losses were because of injuries (sans DePaul I guess) and that they wouldn’t count against us as severely as they would’ve if we had everyone.

In the spirit of papal elections, I’m going to play devil’s advocate. Of these losses, only Brown, Penn State, and halfsies on DePaul were really the bad losses. Let’s start with Penn State, easily the most injury-ridden game we had played. Still a bad loss, regardless. Penn State is god awful, and quite honestly the fact that they had to beat us in overtime is even worse. I think we could have one that game, even with our incredibly depleted roster. They had one good player who was out for injuries, and we still had Batts and Henton. Brown was a game we owned up until the last few seconds, when they hit three 3-pointers in a row. But again, even without Cotton and Council and Dunn just coming back, we still had a solid frontcourt. DePaul…just no. That was an egg. We didn’t come out ready or prepared at all.

UMass and Boston College have stepped their games up. UMass finished sixth in a pretty strong A-10 and really did have some quality pieces in place. I’ve liked the direction their program has been heading in, but it doesn’t take rose colored glasses to see that they’re really building something there, and this year was a good year for them. They finished 19-10 overall and had a winning record in their conference. Boston College is much harder to make a case for, but still – we don’t play them well on the road, they turned out to be a surprise team who, like us, was picked to finish last only to exceed expectations and finish middle of the pack ACC (okay, 8th out of 12 is pushing it for middle, but c’mon work with me here) and finished the season with a .500 record. Yeah, they sucked early on, but you also have to remember they had one critical player in Ryan Anderson who ended up injured early on. They turned it around and actually moved their season forward a bit more after winning their first game in the ACC tournament today.

So okay, now we’ve eliminated two bad losses and we’re playing UConn. We again lose to UConn in overtime after winning the previous three games. Many said we had a tall order to fulfill by winning out the last four games and winning two in New York in order to get a bid, but that’s six wins in a row – not exactly something this team has done recently. Plus, we haven’t won in New York for as long as I can remember (and before I get comments with the “we beat DePaul in 09!” I just want you to know that I know that, but I don’t count that as a significant win, nor should you). So we lay an egg against UConn and it became “get to the finals and you still might have a shot.” So that should’ve fired this team up to play for keeps in the mecca, right?

I’m not doing the Cincy recap. You know what happened.

Point is we were there, we had it. I’m not going to say this team blew it because, honestly, just to have been in talks for a bid after being thought so little of was impressive enough. It was there’s for the taking from a neutral perspective, but this team has it’s limitations. They’re learning how to win, and they’re not totally there yet, but if anything this season has shown us that they can win, and they’re learning how to win the right way a lot faster than we thought they would.

NIT! NIT! NIT!

So it looks like the Friars are headed to the NIT. They finished .500 in conference (9-9) and above .500 for the regular season (17-13) and, according to everything I’ve read on the counfangled interwebz, that’s a basic requirement. We met that. Awesome.

The Bracket Project, which seems to be the most level headed, has awarded us a 4 seed in the NIT. That means we get at least one home game barring a 1/8 upset. Currently it has us matched up against Ohio, a team that you might remember is Alex Kellogg’s chosen school of transfer from Providence after he left – excuse me, after he escaped – Keno Davis’ tutelage (or lack thereof). They also have made a few NCAA trips in the past few years, and beat Georgetown in 2010 in the first round, hosted in Providence, RI. So…fun facts. It should be noted that this was done prior to our loss to Cincy, so who knows if it will stay the same or drop according to them.

Statsheet seems to agree but has been way more generous in the past. Right now we’re considered a three seed. All season Statsheet has put us anywhere from CBI to NCAA bubble team, but it seems like for the majority of the time we were a middle-of-the-pack NIT team. Hey, again, I’ll take it.

The question now is, what will the Friars do with this bid? Obviously we want to see this team come out and make noise, make a return trip to New York City, and win the whole damn thing, but is it possible? Honestly, I have no reason to believe it isn’t – so long as they play to the team they are, not the one they think they are. They need to show up. The past two games shot us in the foot because they came out without any offense and lackluster defense. Remember 2009? We got that bid and then just completely shit the bed? Yeah, that can’t happen again. NIT, NCAA, doesn’t matter – we’re playing in March, and this team can win if they want to. I expect Cooley to have these guys fired up to take the marbles for this tournament.

It should be noted too that if we do get a bid and pull off two home games, the second game will be played in the Ryan Center because the Dunk has been booked already for the time the second game would be at. So…go ahead and make some jokes to your URI friends. Or have them make jokes to you. Or something. I don’t know. There are jokes in there somewhere but I’m too tired to figure them out.

CBI, etc. Yeah, not happening. Cooley said it himself that he’d turn it down. So…there.

-The Friars continue to surge, taking care of business with wins over St. John’s and Seton Hall, remarkably getting themselves over .500 in the Big East with one key game left in the season on Saturday afternoon against a battered and bruised Connecticut squad.

-The late-season success has everyone around Friartown (myself including) scouring the NCAA tournament prognostication outlets and experts looking for glimmers of hope, but the fact of the matter is that there really is no discussion to be had unless Providence takes down the Huskies first.

-Looking back a week, it was about a must win three game stretch to close the regular season just to inch into the conversation and that has not changed.

-If they beat Connecticut who knows how many more wins it would take to get to the big dance?

-Best bet for the Friars is to just keep winning.

-Leave no doubt.

-Or as Jake Taylor said in ‘Major League’, “Well I guess there is only one thing left to do. Win the whole fu**ing thing.”

Jake Taylor: Motivational speaker…and chicken lover. (Photo: bleacherreport.com)

-Easier said than done, of course, but I would not put it past this team to be playing for NCAA tournament seeding next weekend.

-All that said, it wouldn’t hurt to have as many favorites in the smaller conference tournaments win out and keep the at large field as bubble-friendly as possible.

-Regardless of what happens over the next week-plus, you realize we are just scratching the surface here, right?

-Given the stakes and the consistent intensity Providence has shown I would not expect anything to cause a letdown on Saturday.

-But, just in case, hopefully Ed Cooley held study hall during the Connecticut at South Florida game and banned further access to the score because the Huskies got handled and looked like the will had been beaten out of them.

-Injuries played a big part (sound familiar?) and Connecticut will definitely be short-handed on Saturday, but just how much is to be determined.

-Enosch Wolf (suspension), Tyler Olander and Niels Giffey (injuries) are definitely out.

-But the killer for the Huskies could be in the ‘questionnables’.

-Star guards Shabazz Napier (who missed UCONN’s last two games with a foot injury) and Omar Calhoun (wrist injury that clearly bothered him versus South Florida) are likely to both be game time decisions.

-Interesting how the player availability gods have leveled things out for the Friars lately.

-Providence College did a nice job with “Senior Night” for Vincent Council, who certainly deserved the fitting sendoff.

-Here’s hoping he has a little more to add to his great legacy.

-Since the beginning of February Council and Kris Dunn have a combined 3.06 to 1 assist to turnover ratio (Council 3.05/1, Dunn 3.1/1).

-As a point of comparison, Syracuse’s Michael Carter-Williams’ is 2.43 to 1 during the same period.

-So the football schools get $100 million while the  Catholic 7 get their independence, $10 million, the Big East name and Madison Square Garden for their tournament in the break-up.

-A fitting appropriation as it has always been about money for football as opposed to quality of product, national relevance and legacy for basketball.

-I can’t wait to go to that new movie theater, the America 12.

-Although they apparently only show mediocre movies and it takes a really long time to get from one screen to the other.

-Referees are the only people I like to bother while they are working.

-Speaking of referees, is there any way we can get Mike Aresco to keep the current Big East officiating crew for our $100 mil?

-The wheels fell off the St. John’s express pretty quickly, huh?

-I am not going to put the entire state of the Red Storm program on a supposedly insubordinate D’Angelo Harrison or a free swinging Sir’Dominic Pointer but let’s just say by comparison I like the way Ed Cooley handled the people and character aspects first before turning the focus toward winning at basketball.

-Small knives are going to be allowed on planes again?

-There’s progress for you.

-I don’t know what a Vanderpump is and I don’t want to know what a Vanderpump is.

-Hopefully Kadeem Batts returns for his senior season (No reason to believe he won’t but it will be fifth year and he has pro potential so there are no guarantees). If he does he should be a Big East Player of the Year Candidate.

-Looks like the Catholic 7 will be departing for next year so it seems appropriate that the Friars would end this Big East with Connecticut, a good rivalry and the one upper-echelon Big East team Providence has been consistently competitive with over the years.

-It makes sense that they would continue to play beyond the conference split though too and I hope they do.

-A public service announcement from Friarblog.com and FriarFrenzy.  If you see a deadly scorpion on the ground, don’t pick it up.

Have a great weekend Friartown.  Be safe.

Providence [17-12 (9-8), RPI: 77, SOS: 59] How soft is this bubble? Soft enough that if you stare really hard at it, you come to the at-first baffling conclusion that you must at least consider Providence at the very tail end of at-large tournament contention. To be honest, like fellow fringer Iowa, Ed Cooley’s team has been a lot better than you think this season (albeit not as good as the Hawkeyes — just similarly underrated). Their resume, on the other hand? Other than two home wins over Cincinnati and Notre Dame, a suddenly impressive sweep over Villanova and seven wins in their past eight, there’s still not much there. But would a win at UConn on Saturday get them close? Closer, at least. Worth keeping an eye on.