Providence College hasn't won much over the past decade, though the Friars have had surprising success against UConn in recent years on the basketball court.
Now, for the first time in memory, the Friars have beaten the Huskies off the court, as well.
PC has received a commitment from Kris Dunn, the highly-touted guard out of New London High. Per this espn.com article, PC has signed just three McDonald's All-Americans in its history (though I'm not sure I'd include Delray Brooks, since he was a transfer from Indiana).
This also beats the Ryan Gomes situation, since few (including then-PC coach Tim Welsh) knew that Gomes would blossom into such a great player at the time. Jim Calhoun famously recruited Emeka Okafor and Caron Butler ("They're not bad!") instead.
Credit new PC coach Ed Cooley, who started recruiting Dunn while Cooley was still coaching at Fairfield and had never let up. Give some credit to ex-UConn assistant Andre LaFleur, too.
And the good news could keep coming for the Friars ... Ricky Ledo will make his college decision next week, according to a source, and PC appears to be in very standing for Ledo's services.
Showing posts with label Emeka Okafor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emeka Okafor. Show all posts
So I’m doing a UConn season preview for Lindy’s, and they ask that we list the team’s key statistics from last year and how they ranked both in conference and nationally.
Come to realize that UConn didn’t shoot the ball well last year (44.4 percent, 11th in Big East, 182nd nationally) and was even worse from beyond the arc (32.9, 12th Big East, 221st nationally).
The Huskies didn’t score particularly well (72.4 ppg, 7th, 74th), weren’t as menacing as they usually are defensively (64.9, 6th, 84th), and didn’t dole out a whole lot of assists (13 per game, 13th, 155th). Even their usual rebounding dominance was a bit down – their rebounding margin of 4.4 per game was fourth in the Big East.
And while the Huskies were second in the Big East and 11th nationally in blocked shots, that’s a far cry from leading the nation in the category, as they had done several times over the prior decade.
So how in the world did UConn win a national championship last season? Oh yeah … Kemba.
To be fair, UConn did lead the Big East and was 11th nationally in free throw percentage at 76.3 percent. And they turned the ball over just 11.4 times per game, second in the conference.
I realize numbers don’t always tell the whole story … which again leads us back to Kemba and the remarkable leadership, clutch play and intangibles he brought to the table. Despite all the talent returning next season, not to mention the two blue-chip recruits UConn is bringing in, the loss of just that one player will be incalculable. Nobody in the history of the program has meant more to a single team than Kemba did last year – and that’s saying a lot, as this program has churned out Ray Allen, Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon … you know the list.
I think Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright are as good a replacement as you could find, but losing Kemba Walker will still be a lot to overcome. Think about how much Jeremy Lamb benefitted from defenses keying on Kemba. Lamb is great, and he can certainly create his own offense, but it will be a different challenge for him next year as “The Man.”
Think about who’ll have the gumption to step up and hit all those clutch shots. Who’ll take the team by the reins like Kemba did last winter, when he steered it away from all the nonsense that was going on within the program (and it goes deeper than you might imagine) and kept the Huskies' eyes focused on the prize?
Questions that need to be answered. The talent is there – even more overall talent than last year’s team – and there’s no doubt the Huskies will be one of the top teams in the country. Just be careful with any Final Four expectations.
Oh, a couple of other numbers for you: I’ve never been big on knowing and remembering uniform numbers, but some people are. With that in mind, we’ll tell you that DeAndre Daniels will be sporting No. 2 for the Huskies this year and Boatright will wear No. 11.
Jim Calhoun participated in his fifth annual ride and walk against cancer on Saturday. Starting amidst a torrential downpour ("I'm a rain-maker," he noted), the clouds were clearing by the time he finished his bike ride.
Fitting, as things couldn't be much sunnier for the UConn men's basketball program these days.
Here's a little of what Calhoun said on a number of topics Saturday afternoon in Simsbury:
(On what he's telling prospective recruits about his future at UConn)
“Whatever answer I’m giving them, apparently, they like it.”
(On the Huskies' program as a whole)
“I want the program to be like Carolina’s and, somewhat Duke, but more like Carolina’s in the sense that Bill Guthridge went to the Final Four when Dean (Smith) left, Matt (Doherty) had a really great year then a not such a great year and Roy (Williams) came in and they moved on. What we’re selling in our situation is the ability to get you ready to succeed, get to postseason play and get to the NBA. We had a pretty good year this year doing that.”
“The program is exactly where we want it to be.”
(On the team's APR situation)
“We just need some change, so that we don’t have a situation like we did with the APR. Not drastic change, just change. It’s actually already built in there, we’ve just got to get everybody aboard.”
“Having Susan (Herbst, the school's incoming president) out here like this is, I think, terrific. She was at the Final Four, at the Big East. We need people to be active, just like our coaches are active.”
(On the recruiting efforts of Kevin Ollie and Glen Miller)
“They’ve done a terrific job, I didn’t expect anything less. When Kevin Ollie talks, you’re going to listen … (Glen) knows the terrain, he knows what he’s doing, he’s smart and he’s a great basketball guy. I thknk a lot of times we lock too many things into Kevin Ollie, Glen Miller or whomever it may be. It’s UConn. We happen to have very good guys in place, doing a wonderful job. But we’ve had other good players come in before. We got Ray Allen, we got Emeka, we got Ben Gordon ... we've got some guys who can play a little bit. I’ve always said that one of the greatr recruiting jobs of all-time in recognizing that he would be good was Andre (LaFleur) with Hasheem Thabeet. I didn’t’ see what he saw. He saw that, and plenty of other coaches didn’t see that. He did.”
Fitting, as things couldn't be much sunnier for the UConn men's basketball program these days.
Here's a little of what Calhoun said on a number of topics Saturday afternoon in Simsbury:
(On what he's telling prospective recruits about his future at UConn)
“Whatever answer I’m giving them, apparently, they like it.”
(On the Huskies' program as a whole)
“I want the program to be like Carolina’s and, somewhat Duke, but more like Carolina’s in the sense that Bill Guthridge went to the Final Four when Dean (Smith) left, Matt (Doherty) had a really great year then a not such a great year and Roy (Williams) came in and they moved on. What we’re selling in our situation is the ability to get you ready to succeed, get to postseason play and get to the NBA. We had a pretty good year this year doing that.”
“The program is exactly where we want it to be.”
(On the team's APR situation)
“We just need some change, so that we don’t have a situation like we did with the APR. Not drastic change, just change. It’s actually already built in there, we’ve just got to get everybody aboard.”
“Having Susan (Herbst, the school's incoming president) out here like this is, I think, terrific. She was at the Final Four, at the Big East. We need people to be active, just like our coaches are active.”
(On the recruiting efforts of Kevin Ollie and Glen Miller)
“They’ve done a terrific job, I didn’t expect anything less. When Kevin Ollie talks, you’re going to listen … (Glen) knows the terrain, he knows what he’s doing, he’s smart and he’s a great basketball guy. I thknk a lot of times we lock too many things into Kevin Ollie, Glen Miller or whomever it may be. It’s UConn. We happen to have very good guys in place, doing a wonderful job. But we’ve had other good players come in before. We got Ray Allen, we got Emeka, we got Ben Gordon ... we've got some guys who can play a little bit. I’ve always said that one of the greatr recruiting jobs of all-time in recognizing that he would be good was Andre (LaFleur) with Hasheem Thabeet. I didn’t’ see what he saw. He saw that, and plenty of other coaches didn’t see that. He did.”
Running out of adjectives here to describe UConn's incredible run to the Final Four. Let's let Jim Calhoun try:
“I don’t know where it stands in NCAA postseason play, but it’s got to stand somewhere, these nine games, because I’ve never seen a team do what these kids have done.”
He later added:
"Emeka Okafor is in our locker room right now, and his team was a powerful, older team that rolled through. We had one tough game, against Duke, but won a national championship and that was special, and the first one (1999) was obviously very special.
“But this – our march in the past nine games, I haven’t experienced anything like this and the resiliency we’ve had.”
Ah yes, Okafor. He was in town, with his New Orleans Hornets playing the Lakers on Sunday night, and he is thoroughly impressed with this year's UConn team.
“They’re a strong, tough group who doesn’t understand the definition of ‘can’t,’” he said. “‘Can’t’ is not in their vocabulary. From the five games in the Big East to coming out here, basically on a road game against San Diego (State) and here, and getting the job done.”
One other interesting tidbit: Kemba Walker and Donnell Beverly are now the only UConn players ever to advance to two Final Four. It is, of course, the Huskies' fourth trip to the Final Four and second in three years.
We'll have some video of Emeka Okafor talking UConn and Jim Calhoun cutting down the nets a little later. For now, here is the game story and notebook from tonight's 65-63 UConn victory.
“I don’t know where it stands in NCAA postseason play, but it’s got to stand somewhere, these nine games, because I’ve never seen a team do what these kids have done.”
He later added:
"Emeka Okafor is in our locker room right now, and his team was a powerful, older team that rolled through. We had one tough game, against Duke, but won a national championship and that was special, and the first one (1999) was obviously very special.
“But this – our march in the past nine games, I haven’t experienced anything like this and the resiliency we’ve had.”
Ah yes, Okafor. He was in town, with his New Orleans Hornets playing the Lakers on Sunday night, and he is thoroughly impressed with this year's UConn team.
“They’re a strong, tough group who doesn’t understand the definition of ‘can’t,’” he said. “‘Can’t’ is not in their vocabulary. From the five games in the Big East to coming out here, basically on a road game against San Diego (State) and here, and getting the job done.”
One other interesting tidbit: Kemba Walker and Donnell Beverly are now the only UConn players ever to advance to two Final Four. It is, of course, the Huskies' fourth trip to the Final Four and second in three years.
We'll have some video of Emeka Okafor talking UConn and Jim Calhoun cutting down the nets a little later. For now, here is the game story and notebook from tonight's 65-63 UConn victory.
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