Back in 2011, when Ed Cooley was named Providence's head coach, the team was seven years removed from its last NCAA Tournament appearance and also 14 years out from its last trip to the Sweet 16. The Rhode Island native needed a little more than a decade to help lift the school back to old March Madness heights, but all that matters now is remaining on the dance floor. And they are.
For the first time since 1997, Providence is Sweet 16 bound, as they destroyed 12th-seed Richmond, 79-51, on Saturday night during the second round of the tournament. For a team that suffered an embarrassing loss in the Big East title game and just squeaked by in the first round, the 4th-seeded Friars managed to play their best game of the year against the Spiders. They also hushed any and all critics who've labeled them as overrated throughout the campaign.
"Nothing against South Dakota State, but we won the regular season Big East championship. C'mon now, we're a really good team," Friars guard A.J. Reeves told The Zach Gelb Show on Monday. "And I felt like everybody was writing us off, like we were the underdog. We got placed fourth for a reason. We had 25 wins up to that point. We're a really, really good team.
"A lot of people keep writing us off and doubting us. But I think we're going to surprise a lot of people... Just wait and watch -- there's nothing much to it all. They've got to play us, just like we've got to play them. Anything can happen on any given day -- I mean, this is March Madness we're talking about. This is good, high-level basketball. So, just be ready for a show."
From the opening tip, the Friars' offense clicked on all cylinders. They scored the first three buckets of the game, held a commanding 16-point lead midway through the first half, and pushed the margin up to an out-of-reach 30 points with seven minutes remaining in regulation. Providence had four double-digit scorers, including Reeves, who racked up 12 points with five assists.
With the beatdown of Richmond -- which upset Iowa during the first round -- Providence will face top-seeded Kansas in the Midwest Region semifinals on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET tip) in Chicago. According to FiveThirtyEight projections, the Friars currently have a 28-percent chance to reach the Elite Eight for just the second time since 1987.
The entire Providence hoops conversation between Reeves and Gelb can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.