The 1996-97 Providence College Friars had four players that played in the NBA. While chemistry was a problem that cropped up throughout the season, talent never was. The result: one of the most memorable tournament runs in PC history, ending with an overtime loss to eventual National Champion Arizona (featuring Mike Bibby, Jason Terry, and current Memphis head man Josh Pastner) in the Elite 8.
That team mounted the monster Arizona comeback with an NBA lottery pick watching from the bench for the final 15 minutes of the game.
The best Providence team of the past decade, 2003-04, was led by two 2nd round draft picks, Ryan Gomes and Marcus Douthit, eventually peaking at #12 in the country. PC defeated Connecticut, the eventual national champions that year, behind the 26 and 12 performance of Gomes, who exploited the nation's top interior defender, Emeka Okafur.
Gomes was a force all season, but the roster didn't have the depth of talent of the '97 team. With Gomes looking on for the final 15 minutes, Ben Gordon, Okafur and the rest of the Huskies would have run Providence out of the Hartford Civic Center.
This has been the problem for Providence over the past five years and Keno Davis is taking major steps towards solving it.
Talent Infusion
Providence has always been great at finding under the radar types, with Gomes serving as the perfect example, and finding sleepers will continue to play a role in building the program, but with the explosion of recruiting information it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find really good ones.
Simply put, this staff must win recruiting battles if they want to win on the court, and they are doing just that.
To win in today's Big East, Providence has to combine finding the sleeper types with bringing in top 75-100 talent on a yearly basis. In the past two years PC landed Vincent Council when few projected him to be an All Big East freshman and found Joseph Young before the rest of the country took notice of a Yates team regularly winning by 50 points.
They've landed two top 60 kids in Gerard Coleman and Naadir Tharpe.
They've scored commits from the two powerhouse AAU programs in New England: Leo Papile's long-time New England power BABC (Coleman, Ron Giplaye) and now TJ Gassnola's rising New England Playaz (Tharpe).
With a monster class of sophomores in New England, the commitments of Coleman and now Tharpe could potentially set a precedent. Don't understimate the impact of Coleman and Tharpe staying in New England.
Let the floodgates open
Andre Drummond twice went toe-to-toe with Brewster.
Ricky Ledo saw Coleman lead Tilton back from 9 down against St. Andrew's, as part of a 28 point effort.
Nerlins Noel is part of Giplaye and Coleman's AAU program.
For kids who have visited Providence's campus on numerous occassions, seeing talents like Coleman and Tharpe take the plunge before them sends a loud message to these underclassmen.
Prior to Tharpe committing to PC, Birch said Providence was his leader. Maybe the Providence-native Ledo is more inclined to come to PC as a hometown kid who is joining a solid team, rather than a native son turned program savior.
Coleman's commitment was the eye opener in New England, Tharpe's was the confirmation that Providence can become a destination spot for big time local recruits. The snowball effect may soon begin, and if it does then Providence could be looking at having the depth of talent of the 1996-97 team.
Strong rumors are already circulating about the next big-time New England domino to fall.
