Ed Cooley is doing his best coaching job at Providence

[EMT]

Word

http://www.fanragsports.com/cbb/rothste ... ding-form/

[Bill Marsh]

Word

http://www.fanragsports.com/cbb/rothste ... ding-form/

Kyron Cartwright, an afterthought in recruiting 3 years ago when PC unexpectedly needed depth at the point is the heart & soul of this team. Rodney Bullock, who served a year long suspension without complaint, is a close second. Ed Cooley has done a tremendous job in bringing out the best in these kids as well as the rest of the roster. A molder of young men.

[SJHooper]

This is what I want Mullin to be able to do with SJ...develop talent and be consistently good. PC had absolutely no business doing anything this year losing Dunn and Bentil. I thought they had a good chance to end up being on the bottom of the conference. Good coaches don't need 5 star recruits to win...they need decent players that get progressively better via development and stay a while. He is the best thing to happen to PC in decades.

[gosports1]

if PC can stay the course and end up with the 4 seed Cooley should be top contender for BE coach of the year. From 9th to 4th would be a big accomplishment . Sorry Butler fans

[JohnW22]

I don't know who I was more wrong about Preseason Butler or Providence. At least Butler I know where I went wrong but this Providence team is what I expected but just pulls out wins...it's something to see

[Bill Marsh]

I don't know who I was more wrong about Preseason Butler or Providence. At least Butler I know where I went wrong but this Providence team is what I expected but just pulls out wins...it's something to see

It's all about heart with this team. How do you measure that. Like you, I had low expectations for this year's Friars, based solely on talent and what they had to replace what they lost.

[kayako]

Providence has a resume that features only one bad loss — at DePaul

He forgot about Boston College.

I kind of expected PC in the #3-#8 range in the conference, so I can't say what's happening is shocking. Still lots of games left so this can change, but I have to go with the Johnnies as the most surprising team(in a good way).

[SJHooper]

BC isn't a great team, but losing to a P5 opponent is not a bad loss IMO. Any given day a school like Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, BC, NC State, Oregon State, etc. can beat you even if they aren't the cream of the crop in their leagues. It's not like they lost to Delaware State, a team that most mid majors would slaughter.

[billyjack]

The cynical me says that the writer didn't mention BC and SJU because those losses would also reflect negatively on Syracuse, which the NCAA wants to give a bid to.

Looking a little deeper... PC and Syracuse both lost home to SJU and at BC, but the 4 games played out differently. And where RPI just looks at W-L, the advanced metrics should take a deeper look at these games.

- BC led at home to Syracuse 44-33 at the half, and led by 20+ most of the 2nd half. Blowout.

- BC trailed at home to PC 29-25 at the half. PC led by 7 with around 14 min left. BC went unconscious from 3 for 8 minutes. 6 pt game with 2 minutes left.

- Johnnies led at Syracuse 39-29 at the half, then blew SU's doors off for final 15 minutes, winning by 33.

- Johnnies led at PC 46-37 at the half. PC rallied for a 7 point lead with 8 minutes left. Johnnies blocked Cartwright potential winning drive with 10 seconds left.

plus:

- PC led at DePaul 35-26 at the half. Friars led by 9 with 2 minutes left. DePaul press ambushed PC cutting lead to 2 with 15 seconds left, Friars ball. Garrett retrieved errant pass in backcourt, drove 90 feet for crazy layup and foul. Friars missed last second layup. Also, Lindsey didn't play due to injury.

so:

lost opportunity for PC in these 3 winnable games. Couldn't pull these 3 close games out. Losing at home on a final possession block is much different that losing by 33 at home. If BPI or whatever is honest about things, then Syracuse should feel much more pain from their losses.

ADDED COMMENT:
I've counted 13 games this season where PC has been in a tie or 1 possession game with under 2 minutes to play. In those game, PC has gone 7-6. So things even out... Garrett hit a crazy layup, but then Reinhardt missed 2 last second bunnies. So it's all good and I definitely don't expect a team to go 10-3 in last second games.

[GumbyDamnit!]

if PC can stay the course and end up with the 4 seed Cooley should be top contender for BE coach of the year. From 9th to 4th would be a big accomplishment . Sorry Butler fans

Huge Cooley fan here, but I can't see anyone else but Holtman at this point. It's not just what each has done in conference this year but look at what Butler has done OOC. Both lost 2 All-conference players from last year. But Butler is staring down a 3 seed, has been ranked in the polls all year, beat the top program in the league twice, and will likely finish 4 or 5 games ahead of PC in the win column in conference. Although a solid, albeit unexpected, performance by PC, they could also end up in 8th and at this point and is a toss-up to even make the tourney.

But I admire your loyalty. Cooley's a great coach.