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Post by wtm97 on Feb 6, 2016 9:18:48 GMT -5
Today's game promises to be as packed as the Xavier game - where that sense of an oversell was evident even as we faltered and missed the chance to erupt as a fan base.
Hopefully that is not the case this afternoon.
Frustration over missed opportunities is a way of life for long term Friar fans with too many examples extant from Marvin's ripped knee to peeps' Pittsburgh t-shirts - and now today , Bentil or not, we have another chance to cheer loudly, right?
Why we have faltered and stumbled badly at home remains a mystery. And not only that, we have not had the usual breakout home game all season - not even close - not one, right?
Nova will be coming in with guns blazing after our improbable OT W down in Philly and it is hard to beat a good team twice in one season so...
Bentil or not - even a limited Bentil - here's hoping the staff has been able to make some key adjustments and that our Friars can rise to the occasion...another " missed opportunity" will be nasty to experience.
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Post by thumper on Feb 6, 2016 9:34:10 GMT -5
I disagree, wtm97.
Should we lose today, I won't look at the game as "nasty To experience". We are a team with some limitations ... questionable outside shooting abilities, no size, our depth is full of guys who have never been to the Big East Tournament.
But we are a team that embodies family. Family stands together.
I'm proud of this 2015-16 team. I'll be there early today to exhort them to rise up and embrace the underdog that they are.
Fight the good fight, Friars. Today's game is just a step.
GO PC!
PIZZA, SODA, GRINDERS!!!
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Post by wtm97 on Feb 6, 2016 11:16:45 GMT -5
Who says we are not family and will not fight?
Not me.
My comment is strictly based on having a full house and stumbling once again...
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Post by thumper on Feb 7, 2016 2:20:47 GMT -5
"Who says we are not family and will not fight?"
Please reread. I didn't say we are not family nor did I say we will not fight. Nor did I say that you said such.
I just said that I won't look at the game as "nasty to experience".
This team is going through a rough spot but goes 5-2 to finish up the season at 23-8 (11-7 in BE play).
GO PC!
PIZZA, SODA, GRINDERS!!!
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Post by friarbrown on Feb 7, 2016 7:38:43 GMT -5
"Who says we are not family and will not fight?" Please reread. I didn't say we are not family nor did I say we will not fight. Nor did I say that you said such. I just said that I won't look at the game as "nasty to experience". This team is going through a rough spot but goes 5-2 to finish up the season at 23-8 (11-7 in BE play). GO PC! PIZZA, SODA, GRINDERS!!! I hope they do go 5-2. Every team has a slump. Lets hope they get out of it soon.
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thefriarman
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Post by thefriarman on Feb 7, 2016 8:43:50 GMT -5
Going to need a lot of improvements in a short time to see this team go 5-2 down the stretch, from the coaching staff down.
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Post by dex on Feb 7, 2016 11:15:55 GMT -5
5-2 is a wish farther than the thought based on their erratic and sometimes awful offense
sadly the unbelievable fan attendance and exhuberance has been flushed down the toilet...and the Boo Birds could be heard very clearly as the team fell behind by 17 and then 19...Donaldson begins here to test Cooley's teflon stewardship of the Program ...sounds like he is preparing to extol his vision just in case the epic collapse of the season ensues
COMMENTARY
Home improvement should top Friars’ to-do list
PROVIDENCE — About the only good thing Providence College did on Saturday was deciding not to show on the big video board the scene from the movie “Rudy” they’ve aired at some past games.
You probably know the one — where coach Dan Devine tells his Fighting Irish football team that “No one — and I mean no one — comes into our house and pushes us around.”
Sad to say, just about everyone comes into The Dunk these days and pushes the Friars around.
In front of another full house of 12,883, the Friars came up empty again.
Third-ranked Villanova became the latest Big East team to beat the Friars in their own building, jumping out to a 10-0 advantage and leading all the way in a decisive 72-60 victory that avenged an overtime loss to PC two weeks ago in Philadelphia.
That’s been the only conference loss for the Wildcats, who are atop the Big East at 10-1.
The Friars fell to 6-5 in the conference after losing for the fourth time in their last five home games.
The situation has gone from disappointing, to disturbing, and now is deep into dismaying, as the Friars have lost to Marquette, Seton Hall, Xavier and Villanova, while beating only Butler, in their last five games at the clearly unfriendly confines of The Dunk.
“This was a great road victory for us against an outstanding team, in an electric college basketball environment,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “Today was special to be a part of.”
The Friars, ranked 11th in the country — although they’re sure to slip after losses last week at DePaul and to Villanova — have been nothing special on their home court, despite the support of large, loud crowds.
“It sucks that we haven’t had success at home, given the attendance we’ve had,” Friars coach Ed Cooley said, accurately, if not eloquently.
Cooley said he was concerned, not only about his team’s psyche, but also about his All-American guard, Kris Dunn, who’s been struggling lately. After making just 5 of 20 shots in the loss at DePaul, where he also missed the front end of two 1-and-1s down the stretch, Dunn was 4-for-15 against Villanova, with two of his baskets coming on breakaway layups. He also had twice as many turnovers (six) as assists (three.) “I think he’s putting a lot of pressure on himself,” Cooley said. “I think he’s trying to do too much sometimes.”
Nor are the Friars doing enough in other aspects of the game.
“We’re not shooting the ball well,” Cooley said, “and we have to address our rebounding. This is the second [straight] game we’ve been annihilated on the glass.”
After being outrebounded, 48-24, at DePaul, which had lost eight of nine league games prior to playing Providence, the Friars were beaten soundly on the boards by the Wildcats, 46-29.
It didn’t help that their best big man, 6-foot-9 Ben Bentil, played just 14 minutes at DePaul after injuring an ankle in the first half. He came off the bench to log 34 minutes against Villanova and scored a game-high 20 points, but he clearly wasn’t the same player who poured in 31, including 10 in overtime, when the Friars upset the Wildcats in Philadelphia.
“He was a handful last time,” Wright said. “He definitely was not 100 percent [Saturday]. We’re not dismissing the fact that their best player — their leading scorer — was not 100 percent.”
Yes, Wright did say Bentil was PC’s “best player.” Which ought to tell you something about the way Dunn, touted in the preseason as a candidate for national player of the year, has been playing lately.
What Wright didn’t say was that Villanova was playing without its best big man, 6-foot-11 Daniel Ochefu, who’s missed three games with a concussion. The Wildcats have won all of those games.
While the Friars have no one who can pick up the slack when Dunn is off his game or Bentil is hobbling, Villanova had 6-foot-8 Darryl Reynolds step in for Ochefu and score 19 points on Saturday on 9-for-10 shooting. He also pulled down 10 rebounds.
“It’s what our coaching staff preaches,” Reynolds said. “When a guy goes down, somebody has to step up.”
The Friars have been stumbling, especially at home. Now they have to go on the road to Marquette, which came from behind late in the game to beat PC at The Dunk last month. The Friars have never won in Milwaukee, where they’re 0-9.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that, while the Friars are 2-4 at home in Big East play, they’re 4-1 on the road, with wins over Villanova and Georgetown.
“We’re facing a little bit of adversity right now,” Cooley said. “We’ll see what we’re made of.”
— jdonalds@providence journal.com On Twitter: @jdonaldsonprojo
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