A Bad Red Storm

A Bad Red Storm


*This is why you can’t figure college basketball out all of the time. Providence goes from the ‘Collapse of the Weekend’ to beating UConn 4 days after the Huskies beat #1 Texas. Greedy Peterson led the way with 23 points and 14 rebounds as the Friars won 81-66. And talk about having a team’s number….Providence has won 4 out of the last 5 vs UConn. I cover Providence & URI very closely with The Tipoff show that I host up in Rhode Island. And to say the Friar fans have been unhappy recently is an understatement. You would think that PC was a lot worse than 4-4 in conference play. UConn has shown that they are a very good team….but not an elite team. And not having Jim Calhoun on the bench is a factor….no matter how respected and good George Blaney is.
*Things just got more interesting in the A-10 conference. UNC Charlotte beats #15 Temple by 10.
*Tonight could be that signature Big East road upset Norm Roberts has been looking for. St. John’s plays at #17 Pitt tonight. This is not when you wanna be playing Jamie Dixon’s team….the Panthers have dropped 2 straight. But at least they have shown some cracks in the armor. Norm’s career conference road record is 6-40 and has never beaten a Top 25 team on the road. C’mon Johnnies….give us something to talk about tomorrow!
*Guess what? There is actually a New Jersey Net involved in NBA All Star Weekend. Brook Lopez will play with the sophomore team in the Rookie Challenge Game. We heard the rest of the team will be on MTV’s Jersey Shore Show trying to meet Snooki that weekend.
*Marist plays at Iona tonight. The Red Foxes are 1-19 overall and have to face Iona….the hottest team in the area. The Gaels have won 11 out of their last 13 games. I’m sure Marist head coach Chuck Martin is hoping for a lot more snow to fall on the ground this afternoon….a lot more.
Keno Davis and his Providence Friars lost to South Florida in overtime 109-105 Saturday night at home. The Friars led by nine points with under a minute to play and lost. South Florida’s Dominique Jones hit a 3-pointer to begin overtime and the Bulls never trailed again. Jones scored a career-high 46 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out eight assists. Dominique’s 46 points is the second most all-time in a Big East game. Erick Murdock from Providence scored 48 points in a conference game in 1991. (stat courtesty of Providence Sports Information)
And could the last minute have been any worse for Providence? They get outscored 14-5 in the final minute, PC misses 3 out of their last 4 free throws and then Jones hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime!
I knew this season would not be an easy one for Keno and his young team, but does it get any worse than this? Leading by 9 in the final minute and losing is disastrous no matter who you play. The fact that it was South Florida at home makes it that much worse.
Providence has UConn at home on Wednesday night.
The following will be posted later today on wfan.com

METROPOLITAN AREA REVIEW
Parise is also the host of “Tip Off”, a pre-game basketball show that airs on Cox Sports New England prior to all Providence & URI basketball games. In addition, Parise is a color analyst for MSG-Varsity Television and Iona College Men’s Basketball Radio. Besides blogging for wfan.com, Parise has his own blog at vphoops.com– one of the hottest new metropolitan area basketball blogs around. Parise was a college basketball coach for 8 seasons at Iona, Rutgers & Fairleigh Dickinson.
Vin lives in New Rochelle, NY with his wife Amy and son Dylan.
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Sundiata Gaines is currently on his second 10 day contract with the Utah Jazz.
While on his first 10 day contract, Gaines hit a three-point shot at the buzzer to beat Lebron and the Cavs. The next day they started working on a new deal.
Sundiata played his high school ball at Archbishop Molloy for legendary coach Jack Curran. And then in a weird move, went down to play at Georgia in the SEC. He was never drafted out of Georgia but has been working his butt off in the D-League for the past 2 seasons.
Nice to see the hard work paying off.

Another example of how John Calipari is not just a college basketball coach - but a major celebrity as well. And it’s good to see when this fame is put to good use.
By putting his name behind the cause, Calipari has single-handedly raised over a million dollars for the families in Haiti.
Great job by Coach Cal and Big Blue Nation.
Check out more at: coachcal.com

With conference play officially in full swing, teams are starting to show their true colors in the area.
Whether it’s Big East or Mid-Major….there’s a lot of overachieving and underachieving going in the Garden State right now.
First off, huge win for Seton Hall yesterday against Cincinnati. If they lost, the Pirates would have been 0-4 in conference play. I still think that the Pirates will rack up some Big East wins as we move along here. Keep in mind, their 3 conference losses are UConn, Syracuse and West Virginia. On the flip side, bad loss for Mick Cronin’s team. The Bearcats….who started off red hot….are now 2-2 in league play.

Jeremy Hazell….the best player in New Jersey….had 33 points. Hazell is the 2nd leading scorer in the Big East and as he goes, the Pirates go. Herb Pope also played well. He had 14 points and 7 rebounds.
Moving south in Jersey, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights still can’t get anything going. You know it’s going to be a long year when your team is down big at Providence this season. Rutgers loss at Providence over the weekend 94-81. However, there were some bright spots….Dane Miller had 26 points and Jonathan Mitchell scored 18 in the loss.
I’ve been saying since the summer that this kid Miller was going to be an excellent player and it’s playing out that way. He is a very, very talented wing player. The one I’m surprised about is Jonathan Mitchell. I’ve never been a huge fan but he’s shown some things this season to change my mind.
Now the bad news in Rutgers land. Gregory Echenique is leaving the program. This is too bad and this a big blow to RU. Local Mid-Majors should not get excited and think that they have a shot at Gregory transferring to them. It’s too early to speculate where he ends up but the options are terrific. I’m hearing from the coaching world that Florida, V-Tech, Georgia Tech and Maryland are interested….to name a few. Remember this, if Jio Fontan went from Fordham to USC, it’s safe to say Gregory will have a lot of great options.
Going a little bit more south in Jersey. How about Rider recently?

I remember not too long ago it was November and the Broncs just beat #18 Mississippi State and head coach Tommy Dempsey was pretty confident in his comments. Almost too confident. I believe the quote was ” I didn’t see any difference in the talent level” when he was asked for his thoughts after the game.
Since then….
I think that Rider is playing very average basketball right now. They are 9-8 overall and 2-3 in the league. And they got torched at home by Iona over the weekend. The Gaels won by 20 and continue to make the MAAC rethink their preseason predictions.
And I’m glad that the Ryan Thompson buzz has calmed down. All of the fans that have been saying that Ryan is better than his brother Jason….ex-Rider star and current Sacramento King….has been, and always will be far from the truth. Ryan is one of the best players in the MAAC. But the fact that he was not only compared; but deemed better than Jason has never been fair to either Thompson brother.
We’ll check in with New York next time….

This is for the URI and Providence fans in the area that have reached out since our “Tip Off” Show at Cox Sports has begun.
The next two blogs at Cox are for Rhode Island and PC fans that want to follow their teams on a daily basis. The two blogs are terrific and any college basketball would enjoy them!
To check in on Jim Baron’s Rams click HERE
For Keno’s Friars click HERE