Chicago College Basketball

I'm happy to announce a new feature here at Chicago College Basketball. 5 question Q&A's with other bloggers from around the internet. The intent of these pieces is to give Chicago fans a look inside the opponents they're playing with insight from people that are just as passionately focused on the opponents.

The first is with FriarBlog. Providence is a young team that's surprised some people with their record thus far this season. It wasn't long ago though that Tim Welsh was in charge and the program was going nowhere. But things have turned around since Keno Davis showed up. Here's what he had to say about Thursday's game against the Blue Demons, DePaul's first game under interim head coach Tracy Webster. (The game is even nationally televised on ESPN2!)

1) CCB: Last season Providence went to the NIT with a very veteran squad in
Keno Davis' first one on the bench. After losing that much experience
most national pundits expected the Friars to take a step back (one even
picked Providence behind DePaul). I'm not really seeing a change in the
numbers. Is Davis a miracle worker? Are the newcomers just that good?
What or who has carried the team this season?

FB: I wouldn't call Keno a miracle worker
just quite yet, but I am excited about the direction of the team. While our record might seem surprising to outsiders, the Friars played
a relatively soft out of conference schedule. However, they did play 4 games on the
road. That being
said, the only "bad" loss per-say was the disaster at home against
Iona.  In the three other OOC losses, the games were
decided in the last few minutes with PC having chances to win them
all.  In BIG EAST play, we were encouraged to see a nice road win at
St. John's. Against Louisville and Notre Dame, well that's what
people like to call "taking your lumps". It's just part of having such
a young and inexperienced team. 

Although 8 current players
did not see the court in a Friar uniform last year, we've seen some
good things this season.

Sophomore Jamine Peterson, the most
consistent player all season, greatly benefited from a red-shirt year
last season. He now has a better shot to go along with his
jump-out-of-the-gym leaping ability. "Greedy" Peterson became only the
12th player in BIG EAST history to go 20/20 in conference play when he
dropped 29 points and pulled down 20 rebounds against Rutgers on
Saturday.

Freshman big man Bilal Dixon was also red-shirted last year,
and he's been extremely solid of late. Among the new transfers and
freshman, point guard Vincent Council has been the clear-cut standout. 
The kid can drive to the hoop and dish.

5th year senior point guard
Sharaud Curry (right) can score (and has thankfully been scoring in BE play
after being awful in OOC), but Council gives PC a facet of the game
that has been lacking.  His minutes keep increasing as the season
progresses, and Friartown is ecstatic to have him at the point for the
next 3 and half years. It's no coincidence that one of Providence's
biggest strengths this year is turnover percentage. That, and the fact
that Geoff McDermott no longer handles the ball.

2) CCB: The Friars play fast! I'm sure it's exciting to watch. Is that to create for a good offense or to hide a bad defense?

FB: Keno
played up-tempo at his one season as head coach at Drake, and has stuck
to this style in his first two seasons at Providence. I don't think
it's a matter of hiding bad defense. Even though a lot of PC's
defensive numbers aren't exactly great, Keno is trying to establish a
system here. It's really all about finding the right players that fit
into it best -- once Coach Davis has a team full of his own recruits,
we will be able to see a better picture of just how the offense and
defense can operate. We see glimpses of it, and the offense can
definitely fun to watch, especially when the threes rain down like they
did in scoring 110 points in George Washington's building. There has
been some consistency problems from half to half lately with the
offense, but the Friars are still capable of putting up some serious
points.

And as silly as it may sound, having a high powered run
and gun offense is also good for selling PC Basketball to big time
recruits.  We gotta lure them away from the big boys somehow!
 
3) CCB:
Looking at the Providence roster there doesn't appear to be much
height. DePaul's best player is center Mac Koshwal. How have the Friars
matched up with bigger front court players in the past this season? Do
they have an answer for Koshwal underneath?

FB: Interior
defense is definitely one of the biggest weaknesses of the Friars right
now, especially if forward Bilal Dixon gets into foul trouble (was a
big problem for him early in the season, but he has definitely been
improving as the season progresses). Surprisingly, Luke Harangody
didn't destroy them -- although he really didn't have to since having
the defense focus on him left their shooters wide open for countless
easy threes. Once Louisville's Samardo Samuels got his inside game
going, Providence was doomed against them. Mac Koshwal is probably
going to get his points, but if DePaul can't get anything going from
long range, Providence will have to rely on their matchup zone to try
and limit him. No matter what, you most likely will see him get a lot
of easy inside buckets.

4) CCB: When Tim Welsh left after the 2007-2008 season, Providence
basketball was down having suffered 3 losing seasons in 4 and not
appearing in the NCAA Tournament since 2004. Things seem to be on the
upswing under Davis. What can DePaul - which just fired head coach
Jerry Wainwright - learn from the Friars' retooling?

FB: I think Providence faces some
of the same challenging recruiting issues, especially at trying to lure
in the local talent. Under Tim Welsh's regime, PC had trouble landing
Top-100 recruits, let alone trying to convince the best Rhode Island /
Massachusetts players to sign. It's a bit of a chicken and the egg
situation, but we are already seeing positive signs with how Keno and
his staff are going hard after some of the top talent. DePaul, much
like Providence, is just going to have to be patient as the program
hopefully gets built back up over the next few years.

FB: All
I would like to see this year is effort every game, continued overall
improvement, and more consistency throughout the season. Getting to a
postseason would be great too, to get these kids some experience for
the future. No question I would love to see a few big wins here and
there, but the team is going to have its ups and downs. As you know,
the BEAST has no mercy -- how is this for an 8 game stretch in late
January - February? UCONN, @Cincinnati, @Syracuse, Marquette,
Georgetown, @Villanova, West Virginia, Syracuse.   Mother of god.  As
they said in the SNL Commercial for "Annuale",
"You better hold on to your f'ing hat". Providence is going to be
over-matched most of the time, so I just want to see what Keno can get
out of them.

FB: Prediction: I'm not gonna lie, the fact that
it is a BIG EAST road game against a team that just got rid of a coach
kinda has me a bit freaked out.  I still think the Friars are going to
show up big and extend DePaul's losing streak.  They just don't have
enough offensive weapons to exploit PC's weaknesses.

PC 78, DePaul 69

A big thanks to FriarBlog in joining Chicago College Basketball for the first one of these. You can check out my responses to his questions about DePaul here.