Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

After a late season run of 4 straight wins over Butler, Xavier, @Creighton, and Marquette, the Friars have made themselves a factor in this year's Big East race. Pretty amazing when you think who was supposed to be here but isn't.

Brandon Austin - left school after being suspended from the team for a year due to involvement in a sexual assault incident. Transferred to Oregon where he was dismissed from the team and banned from campus for involvement in a sexual assault incident. Played at JC for a year and has been trying to catch on in the NBA. Sad end to a career.

Paschal Chukwu - Transferred to Syracuse. After sitting out his transfer year, has now lost a second year due to surgery to repair a retina injury.

Both were outstanding talents. Ed Cooley has done a fantastic job of picking up the pieces and keeping the wins coming in Providence.

Worth mentioning is another player who should have graduated last year from PC but is playing out his senior year coming off the bench in Colorado. That's Josh Fortune who was a rising star for the Friars' Big East champs 3 years ago. He unexpectedly transferred after that season. I think his family thought he could become a bigger star somewhere else. Instead his playing time dropped in his first season in Boulder from what it had been in Procisence and dropped again this year. He has played on 2 mediocre PAC 12 teams at Colorado.

Maybe these guys should realize how good they have it under Ed Cooley, that he's the guy who can help them achieve their max potential. Rodney Bullock's career has been a whole lot more successful than Brandon Austin's after he accepted his punishment and stayed at PC. Yet Austin was the one who was supposed to be the big star.

There's nothing sad about the demise of Austin.

EMT wrote:There's nothing sad about the demise of Austin.

Both Chukwu and Austin were Top 75 recruits. Agree with EMT, good riddance to Austin. The fact that he got another chance and made the same mistakes is horrible. It's a shame he's not in jail.

Chukwu left a big hole in the middle for us the last two years. To think he could have been catching lobs from Kris Dunn last year makes you wonder who was advising the kid. Bullock, Bentil, and Holt have all been forced to play out of position the last two years as a result. We have two highly regarded post players coming in next year, but the hole in the post has limited the ceiling on these Cooley teams

mcnaug167 wrote:
Both Chukwu and Austin were Top 75 recruits.

Yes, they were. In fact, Austin was top 50 on several lists.

Bill Marsh wrote:

mcnaug167 wrote:
Both Chukwu and Austin were Top 75 recruits.

Yes, they were. In fact, Austin was top 50 on several lists.

Many observers were stating Austin was the best player on the team....And that team had Dunn and Cotton on it.

EMT wrote:

Bill Marsh wrote:

mcnaug167 wrote:
Both Chukwu and Austin were Top 75 recruits.

Yes, they were. In fact, Austin was top 50 on several lists.

Many observers were stating Austin was the best player on the team....And that team had Dunn and Cotton on it.

Scary to think how good Dunn and Cotton would have been with Henton and Batts.