Tag: Ed Cooley
Friars Come Up Short at Madison Square Garden
by The Cowl Editor on March 21, 2019
Sports
Providence College Misses NCAA Tournament for First Time in Six Years
By Sullivan Burgess
Sports Staff
The last week has been quite eventful for the Providence College Men’s Basketball Team. From the Big East Tournament in Madison Square Garden to the National Invitational Tournament at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, the team experienced ups and downs that ultimately closed the season, which had also been a rollercoaster.
On Wednesday, March 13, the team, ranked as the eighth seed for the Big East Tournament, faced conference rivals Butler University. After a close first half, the Friars began to pull away and defeat Butler 80-57. Shooting 55.8 percent from the field and 47.8 percent from the three point line. The last time the team shot this well was in 1993 against the University of Connecticut.
Four players achieved double digits in points during this game. The leader was guard Maliek White ’20. White had a consistent and career-high 19 points providing a spark throughout the entire game, being the team’s go-to player. Alpha Diallo ’20 also scored 18 points with two threes, David Duke ’22 recorded 16 points shooting 6-8 from the field and 2-3 from the three. Lastly, Isaiah Jackson ’19RS, came off the bench with another performance of clutch shooting for 13 points.
The next day for the first game of the quarterfinals, the Friars had to face the top-seed team of the tournament and #23-ranked team Villanova University. While the Friars kept the pace for most of the game, they ultimately failed and lost the game, 62-73.
The team was led in scoring by Nate Watson ’21 with 15 points, and more double digit scoring from Diallo and Jackson. After the game, Coach Cooley said to the press, “Our youth and mistakes on the floor came back to bite us all day…We play hard as hell and are right in these games and then you can’t score enough. It’s a microcosm of our season.”
Villanova would go on to win the Big East Tournament, earning the title of back to back champions of the tournament and guaranteeing their place in the 2019 March Madness NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, back in Providence, the Friars had to wait and watch for their placement in either the March Madness Tournament or the NIT.
Cooley was open to the media about the possibility of being selected for the NIT, stating, “We earned exactly what we got this year. If we get into the NIT, I’ll be excited about it because I still want to play with this young group. If we don’t, we’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror. We deserved to be in that 8-9 (Big East) game. That was our body of work.”
Four Big East schools were selected for the March Madness tournament, including Villanova, Seton Hall University, Marquette University, and St. John’s University. Later that night, the Friars were selected to host the University of Arkansas as the fourth seed for the NIT hosted at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
The day came on Tuesday night, and sadly the Friars’ struggle throughout the season came back to haunt them as they fell to Arkansas, 72-84. While White put another career high of 19 points, the team shot 38.7 percent from the field goal, and 13 percent from the three point line.
The back and forth season came to a close, leaving the team at a record of 18-16. It was certainly not the season the coach or players had hoped for, but the pieces are in place for the team to be successful next season.
Coach Cooley to Lead Team USA
by The Cowl Editor on January 17, 2019
Sports
Team Will Consist of Players From Big East
By Sullivan Burgess ’20
Sports Staff
It has been quite an exciting few weeks for Providence College Men’s Basketball Head Coach Ed Cooley. Not only has he been gifted with one of the highest honors in the state of Rhode Island, but also has been given an incredible opportunity for himself and PC basketball.
On December 18, 2018, media and faculty gathered inside the Ruane Friar Development Center to announce that Coach Cooley will be the head coach for Team USA and lead the men’s basketball team at the Pan American Games in Peru this summer. The team itself will consist entirely of players from the Big East Conference.
While this is Cooley’s first time as head coach for Team USA, this is not his first time working with the United States Basketball Team. In the summers of 2013-2015, Cooley served as an assistant coach for the USA Basketball teams. He had won gold at the World Under-19 Championships in 2015.
Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman stated at the press conference, “I think in many ways this is a tribute to what the Big East has accomplished over the last five years. They were looking for a conference with a solid basketball resume. We see this as a great responsibility as well as a great honor.” The U.S. has not represented themselves in the Pan-Am Games in quite a while, in fact the U.S. has not won gold in basketball since 1983. That team consisted of future hall-of-famers Michael Jordan and Chris Mullin.
This year U.S. Basketball decided not to allow professional players of any sort to represent the USA. The team will consist of college players in the Big East. College players who plan to enter into the NBA draft this June are also excluded from participating.
Coach Cooley did not hesitate to take the job as head coach for the team. He stated at the press conference, “I’ve been fortunate to be an assistant coach with Billy Donovan and Sean Miller on a couple of teams but to try to do it as a head coach is an incredible honor and something I’ve always wanted to do.”
A few weeks later, it was announced that golocalprov.com named Ed Cooley as their Rhode Island Man of the Year. When giving the award to him, the website had stated, “Maybe no one epitomizes the spirit of Rhode Island better than this man.”
Throughout all the work he has done on the PC campus, Cooley has become an icon for all the students and teachers to bring a positive attitude towards everyday life.
When accepting the award, he stated how he does not want coaching to define his character, rather “being a better dad, husband, leader and mentor” are the important things that make up what he stands for and how he carries himself through life.
Coach Cooley has captured the spirit of the College, and deserves all the recognition he has been given, including the opportunity to coach Team USA and being named Rhode Island Man of the Year.