Strap in for this roller-coaster ride that is college basketball in Providence this season
Thinking out loud … while thinking that time may be a great healer but it’s also a lousy beautician.
The agony of defeat and the thrill of victory all in the same week? Sign me up. A little less of the defeat stuff, though.
As bad as a Sunday loss at Villanova looked to be for the Providence Friars, Wednesday's win over 19th-ranked Creighton at the AMP was as special as any win has been in some time. Watch closely, hoop fans. You don’t see performances like the ones Devin Carter and Josh Oduro had against the Blue Jays often enough.
Carter is the Big East Player of the Year. Opposing coaches game-plan for his presence. Perhaps one other player in the league — maybe UConn’s Donovan Clingan — draws that much individual attention. Tristen Newton and Alex Karaban do as well, and that’s why the Huskies are ranked No. 1.
But they don’t have the numbers Carter has. And now Carter has help from Oduro, who battled through ankle issues a month ago to wreak havoc with 32 points and 12 rebounds against the two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year in Creighton 7-footer Ryan Kalkbrenner.
DC and JO: The first Friars to record 25-plus points and 10-plus rebounds in the same game since 1996, when Jamel Thomas and Derrick “Flight” Brown pulled it off against Alaska-Fairbanks. Whoa.
Is the idea of dancing next month still a possibility? Sure. Guard the Yard with four more at home. Sneak one out on the road, somewhere. Might be enough Quad 1 (quality) wins, which is what the NCAA Tournament committee zeroes in on, to get it done.
∎X post of the Week I, from @JonRothstein: “As of [Feb. 7] only two games separate the third-place team in the Big East [Creighton] from the ninth-place team [Villanova] in the league standings. An incredibly fun five weeks lie ahead, with every 40-minute sequence a critical one for any team that’s near the bubble.”
∎This Week in the Big East features Cumberland’s own Tyler Kolek from Marquette facing opposing teams (and fans) after winning Big East Player of the Year last season. Plus, St. John’s grad transfer Daniss Jenkins on his roundabout tour of college hoop, and the one-and-only Joey Brackets, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. Westwood One radio and BigEast.com, plus your favorite pod site, has it.
∎St. John’s coach Rick Pitino, methinks, has the right idea. There should be a salary cap on NIL allowances to keep the bigger schools from claiming (and paying) all the top players. Says he with a billionaire behind his own schools’ NIL funding.
More: This New England Patriot with Rhode Island ties has been honored for his military service.
∎A step back for the local fives, or a step up this week? The URI Rams lost big last weekend and redeemed themselves with a solid road win at George Washington, but it will stay "a process" for Archie Miller's team. They’re tied for sixth in the Atlantic 10 (15 teams).
∎Bryant lost at Vermont and at Maine, but Earl Timberlake is the only player in the country averaging 14 points, nine rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block per game — so say those who keep track of these things.
∎The Rhode Island College Anchorwomen have it goin’ on — 22-0 on the season. Two regular-season games remain before their push into the Division III postseason. The two teams they’ll face — they’ve already defeated by a combined 92 points.
∎The National Labor Relations Board has ruled Dartmouth’s men’s basketball players are university employees. Therefore, they are eligible to unionize. This could clear the way for the first labor union for NCAA athletes, pending a vote.
Well, college is all about learning. What happens when the athletes don’t like the food, training facilities or the coach? Do they go on strike? If they unionize, as employees, should fans boo if they feel the athletes aren’t performing up to standards? Could they be fired for poor play?
So many questions. It ain’t just about winning and losing anymore, or Jack running off with Diane out behind that shady tree.
∎Providence College's 10th-ranked hockey Friars have a huge trip to seventh-ranked Maine this weekend, after a home-and-home split (winning on the road) with UConn last weekend. The Friars sit at fourth in Hockey East, two points behind No. 3 Maine and three ahead of No. 5 Connecticut with seven to play after facing the Black Bears.
∎Former Friar cross-country star Emily Sisson has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team that will compete in Paris this summer — by finishing second in the Olympic marathon trials in Orlando, Fla. Sisson ran the 10,000 meters in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
∎If former Patriots coach Bill O’Brien takes over the Boston College football program, good for the Eagles. The real key for success in Chestnut Hill, however, will lie in what he (and they) might do with quarterback Thomas Castellanos — a star in the making.
∎One-time LaSalle Academy and UMass quarterback Liam Coen has a new job — with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as their offensive coordinator. He’ll work with former Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield as his QB (if Mayfield, a free agent, decides to stay with the Bucs, or if the franchise tag is applied). My, they do grow up fast, don’t they?
∎ICYMI, American Airlines this week laid off more than 600 customer service employees. Just what we need today — less good-quality customer service. If it takes me under an hour at Starbucks, I feel fortunate.
∎My buddy, “Big E,” says his grandson asked him this week how much it costs to get married. “I don’t know, kiddo,” he said. “I’m still paying.”
∎Truck Day was this week at Fenway Park, the annual ritual of the equipment truck heading south for spring training and signaling the beginning of the end of winter. Yawn.
∎Speaking of yawning, did you know you can actually buy Red Sox tickets at Costco? For a discount, of course.
∎X post of the week II, from @Thomas_Carrieri: “Yankees get Juan Soto. Orioles get a new owner and Corbin Burnes. Rays get a new stadium. Blue Jays get Justin Turner and were ready to invest in Shohei Ohtani. Red Sox get an investment in the PGA Tour.”
∎If you can’t beat ‘em, film ‘em. Netflix announced this week that it will do an in-depth series on the Red Sox, following the team throughout the entire 2024 season in the dugout, the clubhouse and wherever else they’ll let the cameras travel. They’ll shoot this year and air the series in 2025.
Similar to the successful “Last Chance U” series aired previously by Netflix, this one should be subtitled “Last Place U,” don’t you think? Or maybe “Full Throttle?”
∎Theo Epstein is back, now part of the Fenway Sports Group, but only to appease you and trick you into thinking he can actually improve the baseball team’s fortunes. Sorry, but I must’ve been from Missouri in a previous life — you gotta show me.
∎Not for nothin’ but is this Old Home Week? Ex-Red Sox skipper Terry Francona is coming to Rhode Island this summer, as he’ll be the honorary chairman for the 44th U.S. Senior Open Golf Championship at Newport Country Club.
∎Sure, we know the 2026 World Cup competition is coming to Gillette Stadium or Foxboro, or Boston. Yeah, Boston. Boston Stadium. What we didn’t know is a meaningful quarterfinal match will be coming, too.
∎Don’t look now, but the NBA Slam Dunk competition might be the first one worth watching in some time — with a Celtic, an ex-Rhody Ram and a one-time Georgetown Hoya taking part — Jaylen Brown, Jacob Toppin and Mac McClung.
∎Bill Belichick’s full-page sayonara and thanks to New England fans last week tells me: 1) He’s truly grateful. Beneath the gruff exterior, there is a heart beating in there. 2) That passion means he’s not through with coaching. The PR fix is underway.
∎Why all the teeth-grinding, hand-wringing and constant radio-bashing of the new assistant coaches and personnel in the Patriots’ front office? Wasn’t change what you were looking for? But not that change? Oh.
∎In his annual Super Bowl week address, did you notice NFL Grand Poobah Roger Goodell not answering a question about the league raking in gambling money, which ostensibly leads to more scrutiny of the play and officiating on the field?
∎Thirteen players and 25 office employees around the league have been either suspended or terminated for violating NFL gambling policies. I’ll wager there are more out there rolling those dice. You?
∎Enjoy watching those Super Bowl TV ads, at $7 million a pop. If it isn’t a memorable ad, is it worth the investment?
∎Yeah, this makes sense. Boston is rated the fifth-best “football city” in America by the know-it-alls at Wallet Hub.
But Kingston, Rhode Island, is 60th, and Providence — where the NFL headquarters over Boston for championship games and where most NFL teams stay overnight before they play New England — rates 182nd.
Maybe the Wallet Hub geniuses have been stuck in traffic over the Washington Bridge and are a tad upset? Just sayin’.
∎Dennis emailed this week, about last week: “Lakers' only appearance in Boston and LeBron and Davis sit it out?! I can imagine back in the day how that conversation would have gone with Magic and Kareem and Patty Riley … not to mention the fact they cheated Boston fans on maybe Lebron’s last game in Boston of his career. If not with the Lakers, maybe ever!! Weak sauce!”
Spot on, Dennis. Under new rules, teams may be fined up to $100K for first-time violations, all the way up to millions per game depending on the number of games they “sit” their stars. Which, of course, is chump change for those, um, stars. Perhaps fans should ask those guys to at least buy them a $16 beer?
Interested in having your questions on Rhode Island sports (and yes, that includes the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics) answered in a somewhat timely fashion? Think out loud and send your questions, comments and local stories to jrbroadcaster@gmail.com. We’ll share mailbag comments/Facebook posts/threads right here! Join me on Twitter/X, @JRbroadcaster; on Facebook, www.facebook.com/john.rooke; and on Instagram and Threads @JRbroadcaster.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence basketball endures bad loss, and a tremendous win this week
