Don’t Let the Friars Get Hot: March Has Arrived

Welcome to March! We have officially made it, after four long months it is finally the best time of the college basketball season.

While it might not be for Providence after an extremely disappointing regular season, the Friars seem to be clicking at the exact right time heading into the Big East tournament with two games left to play in the regular season.

The only way Providence finds itself into the big dance is if they win the Big East tournament, while that may seem impossible on the surface, crazier things have happened before.

As it currently stands, Providence is the seven seed in the conference. If the regular season were to end today, they would play the 10 seeded Marquette Golden Eagles. The Friars suffered a heartbreaking 105-104 loss to them back in January in a game PC won in the three-point, free throw, and rebounds departments but lost in the turnovers, points off turnovers, fast break points, and points in the paint departments.

What's nice about this is a few things. First, the game was only a one-point loss even though it seemed like it should have been more based off of the team stats. Secondly, Providence has the chance to correct the mistakes they made in the first matchup on Wednesday night when they host the Golden Eagles, and the Friars are playing their best basketball of the season at the exact right time as they are currently on a three-game win streak in conference play.

Not only this, but Providence has also won five out of their last seven games, currently sitting seventh in the conference as noted above with the chance to climb as high as the fourth seed. What makes me feel confident about the Friars splitting the regular season series with Marquette is not only are they playing their best basketball at the right time on their three-game win streak, but they have also taken care of the basketball which has played a huge difference as simple and easy as that sounds.

Moreover, two games ago versus Xavier Providence had a season low four turnovers. In their most recent game against Creighton the Friars only had seven turnovers compared to the Blue Jays' 10. If Providence limit their turnovers, it makes them that much more difficult to play against because it gives their high powered offense extra chances at points and does not let the opposition get easy points in transition. The ball security is finally starting to trend in the right direction for the Friars.

One of the many infuriating parts of this season has been Providences' carelessness of the basketball as it makes me want to slam my head up against a wall, but what might be even more infuriating than that is the fact that the Friars are playing the best they have all season with only two regular season games left. Inconsistency is the word I keep coming back to as it would have been really nice if we could have at least played somewhat to the degree of basketball we are currently playing at the entirety of this season but alas.

At the very minimum, the Friars have three games left to play in their season. For the record, even with our three-game win streak and momentum heading into the Big East tournament I still strongly believe that Kim English should be fired and not be brought back for a year four, but I digress. The current three game win streak is saving his and athletic director Steve Napolillo's jobs for now, but should not save them when the season comes to an end in a few weeks. The timing of the win streak and best play of the season could not be any worse which coincidentally or uncoincidentally enough has been the key theme of the Napolillo English era for Providence.

I will not and never complain about wins, which brings me to my belief that the Friars are the most dangerous team in the Big East tournament. Not only can Providence outscore anyone in the conference as they are the highest scoring team in the conference at 87.8 points per game, but they have also beaten the second best team in St. John's away in Madison Square Garden and should have at least split the regular season series against the UConn Huskies if it was not for a heartbreaking overtime loss back in January.

Now I know what you may be thinking, sure Ralf PC can outscore any team in the conference, beat the two seed, and should have at least beat the best team once in the regular season, but they have also been the worst defensive team in the conference all season long as well surrendering a league high 84.9 points per game.

What I will say to that is while Providence has been the worst defensive team in the league, over their three-game win streak they have only allowed 76 points per game, nearly nine points lower than their season average. Not only this, but we have also only turned the ball over nearly 10 times a game on average over the three-game span.

Do I think we will win the Big East tournament? No. But do I like our chances today a whole lot better than I did a few weeks ago? Absolutely. We can score and outscore anyone in the conference, it is just going to come down to turnovers and how many self-inflicted mistakes PC makes or does not make in each game left going forward.

Providence is playing their best brand of basketball at the exact right time, crazier things have happened at the mecca and the Friars are playing with house money. The luck of the Friars.

Don't let us get one. Don't let the Friars get hot.

Welcome to March, see you at Madison Square Garden.