Friars eye return to practice
Seniors concerned with losing last year
PC basketball team optimistic despite uncertainty
PROVIDENCE – If you’re Nate Watson and Noah Horchler, you have plenty of questions based on your classification as a college senior.
You’re unsure about what’s in store for the 2020-21 college basketball season – whether it’ll be truncated or not even have the chance to get off the ground. You saw firsthand how COVID-19 cut short last year’s promising season and how the curtain was lowered in premature fashion on five Providence Friar seniors who exhausted their eligibility.
For Watson – heading into his fourth year with the Friars – and Horchler, who is eligible for just one season with Ed Cooley’s squad after spreading his first three seasons over two Florida-based colleges, it’s now their turn to feel squeamish. Unfortunately in these pandemic times, answers that cut right to the chase are in short supply.
“Nate’s nervous and I think all the seniors in the country are in his boat, as is Noah,” said Cooley during a Zoom call with the local media Wednesday. “Coach, will we play? How many games will we play? Sometimes, I think Nate cares too much. He has a big heart and is a great teammate. Just trying to keep him focused on the day to day is very difficult at this time.
“As I’ve talked to other coaches around the country, their seniors are really on eggshells,” Cooley added. “The only thing we can do is be flexible and make adjustments the best way we can.”
The last time the Friars were in a group setting was March 11 in New York City – the day before the team’s first scheduled game of the Big East Tournament.
“I’ve run out of everything to watch but having a great time with my family. It’s been a blessing in disguise,” said Cooley, providing a personal update on how he’s spent time during the pandemic. “I’m eager to see when and if we’ll play our basketball season, but the first thing I talk to our players about is their health. Basketball will resume when it does. We can’t do anything until the NCAA says it’s safe to do so. I know the Big East is working on a lot of scheduling models to get our season in if we can.”
Here are some additional topics that Cooley covered over a 30-minute Q&A session:
• The Big East ruled that players could return to campus in early July. Some member schools took full advantage while PC decided to err on the side of caution.
“I wasn’t in a rush to bring our players back. They were safe and healthy in their own environment. They were taken care of,” said Cooley.
Currently, the Friars are on campus. Some of the players arrived from states that are considered hot spots, thus they have to quarantine. The first practice of a season that doesn’t have a definite start date won’t be for another 1 ½ to 2 weeks.
“Right now we’re getting them settled back into the dorms,” said Cooley, who has yet to discuss what practice might look like inside the Friar Ruane Development Center.
• Late in the summer is when teams typically hear about the status of waiver requests put in on behalf of players. The Friars submitted paperwork for Syracuse transfer Brycen Goodine, who has three years of eligibility.
“We’re still working on the NCAA. I don’t think it will be an issue. We’ve just got to sit back and let the process work,” said Cooley. “I think he’ll be a good addition to our program.”
• A couple of PC’s newcomers have caught heat from Cooley for logging in late to the team’s Zoom meetings. With the coaching staff apart from the players, setting the tone as far as accountability and establishing what the culture entails has been limited to I-seeyou-on-a-screen instances.
“Not being able to be with them every single day as far as seeing what their strengths are and how they’re going to fit to the way we want to play, it’s been difficult and challenging,” said Cooley.
Goodine is one of four fresh faces along with La Salle transfer Ed Croswell and incoming freshman Jyare Davis and Alyn
Breed.
“We have an idea of what their skill level is, but until you get them in a group setting, we just don’t know yet,” said Cooley. “That’s a wait-and-see game.”
• From a physical standpoint, Cooley believes his players made a concerted effort to stay in shape despite living life away from campus for five months.
“Noah has picked up some good weight. Greg Gantt’s body on Zoom looks amazing,” said Cooley. “The guys have gone out to the track to run.”
As far as each Friar player’s individual skill set, Cooley is banking on improvement for the simple reason that everyone is a year older and wiser.
• At a time when recruiting players at live
AAU events has been put on ice, coaches have been forced to tap into technology in order to connect with prospects.
Right now, Cooley says PC is recruiting for the 2021 and 2022 classes. To date, the Friars have yet to land a verbal commitment from the 2021 group.
“You’re evaluating on film which is new for us as basketball coaches. You’re going to have to make some gut decisions. Did you see them when they were younger? When you watch on film, you don’t have a great feel on body language and verbiage,” said Cooley.
• In wake of social unrest that continues to be a major talking point in this country, Cooley wants his players to have a voice, “that’s educated. I think the movement toward equality is a little bit greater because college players and the younger generation … they can get information quicker to learn about the past.”
• The Friars benefit from playing in an upper echelon conference where teams beat up on one another and finishing 10-8 in the regular season places you in the conversation for a NCAA Tournament berth – providing you hold serve during nonconference play. For one year at least, that particular model figures to get placed to the side.
Looking ahead to the 2021 installment of March Madness, “it won’t be normal or fair,” said Cooley. “How do you position Providence to be worthy based on the metrics in order to get in that field? The best metric is to win as many games over a period of time so they can’t leave you out.”
• For the past three seasons, the Friars enjoyed the rare luxury of having two big men on the same roster. With Kalif Young graduated, Cooley says don’t be surprised if Providence rolls out a small ball lineup when Watson isn’t on the court.
“Back-to-the-basket players are becoming obsolete and I’m glad we have one of the best ones in the country in Nate. When he’s not on the floor, we’ll be creative,” said Cooley. “We may have five guards on the floor at one time. It’ not about what you can do offensively. It’s about being able to get enough stops to stay in the game.”