The NCAA Sweet 16. The bright lights. The attention. Playing in the building “Mike” (Michael Jordan) built, the United Center in Chicago.
The chance to face a No. 1 tournament seed and bona fide collegiate blueblood in Kansas.
Opportunity has certainly presented several chances for Providence to experience rarified air themselves, to bask in some of that spotlight on the national stage this week. And yet, by many across the country, these Friars are still a byproduct of Lady Luck’s good fortune, thanks to relatively misguided and misunderstood analytics dominating conversation throughout the regular season.
Haters just gonna hate, perhaps. Head coach Ed Cooley knows it, and so do his players.
“Our players are hungry. Our players are eager. Our players are really, really inspired. And we’re 40 minutes away from another opportunity,” Cooley said Friday at the United Center. “The reason we don’t play the blue bloods is because they don’t want to come to the Dunkin Donuts Center. We’d love that opportunity and embrace that opportunity.”
“We see it (opportunity) as fuel,” said Friar graduate guard Al Durham, who began his college career playing four seasons at Indiana. “We’ve always been the underdog in every game we play. We use it as fuel to the fire that keeps us going and keeps us working hard and keeps us dedicated and locked in.”
“It’s been kind of the theme of our season,” grad forward Noah Horchler added, “like we’ve been lucky and winning close. We just take every game one game at a time and try to do our best.”
At 27-5 overall, this Providence team is just one win away from matching the school record for wins in a single season, and the program’s first appearance in the Elite Eight since 1997. Compared to Kansas and their history, it may not mean much in the bigger picture.
But to this team, the significance of what lies ahead isn’t lost on them. “We’re taking this game very personal, very serious,” said junior guard Jared Bynum, “because it’s one and done at this point.
“So yeah, they’re a blue blood and it’s great to play a blue blood,” Bynum added. “But at the end of the day you’ve got to play 40 minutes in order to advance. It’s a big opportunity for us and the program, and we’ve got goals to accomplish as a team.”
The irony of the first-ever matchup between these two programs is that they may be mirror images of each other on the court. Both sides of the floor see the other as like themselves.
“They match us up pretty well,” said PC super senior center Nate Watson. “They have a load inside (David McCormack), they have a great player, (Ochai) Agbaji, but we have one of the best defensive players in the country, Justin Minaya. So, I’m excited to see that matchup.”
“Well, we don’t run the same stuff, but personnel reminds us both, probably, of each other,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “We’re going to be playing somebody that is comparable to what we have seen the majority of the time this year.”
“I think we have some toughness, I think we have some skill,” Self added. “But the biggest thing is (we) like to compete. I’m sure Providence does as well, or they wouldn’t be 11-2 in close games. That’s another way we mirror each other.”
Mirror images, maybe. Opportunity knocking for both, definitely. For Providence, for Kansas to further its’ brand and reputation with another Final Four trip on the horizon.
Chicago has long been known as the “Windy City,” of course. What about “The City where Opportunity blows like the Wind?”
Not catchy enough? The Friars might settle for “The City where we beat a blue blood.”
TOURNAMENT NOTES
Game time Friday at the United Center is set for 7:29 pm ET, with TBS on the television coverage. Play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan said during the Friars’ Thursday practice that he’s enjoyed watching “the tremendous year this team has had.” Reggie Miller, Dan Bonner and Dana Jacobson round out the TV broadcast crew.
Blue blood, you say? Kansas has 16 30-win seasons in its history, including this one. So does Kentucky. So perhaps it’s fitting that if the Jayhawks win Friday, they’ll have the most wins in NCAA Division I history, with 2354. Or…one more than Kentucky.
This tournament is the 15th time overall, and fourth time in the last six years, for Kansas to hold a No. 1 seed. They are 41-13 all time as a No. 1. Kansas is also 11-5 against the tournament field (Providence is 10-4), having faced nine different teams. PC has faced 11 different tournament teams thus far.
Tenth-seeded Miami (coached by Providence alum Jim Larranaga) and No. 11 Iowa State follow the Friars and Jayhawks Friday night, with the two winners meeting for the right to move onto the Final Four. The Canes’ win over two-seed Auburn to reach this stage (79-61) was the second-largest win ever by a 10-seed over a No. 2. Iowa State was 2-22 just a year ago – and the Cyclones are currently 22-12 this year. That represents the best one-year turnaround in school and Big 12 Conference history, and the best-ever turnaround for a coach in his first season (T.J. Otzelberger).
News from within a very active transfer portal is beginning to bubble up, with approximately 70 players entering and looking for a new place to play nearly every day. One mentioned most prominently thus far has been Brown forward Jaylan Gainey, the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. Gainey is expected to receive a lot of attention, and thus far it appears to be coming from Florida State and Marquette.
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