Grading Providence For The 2014-15 Season

At first glance, the past two seasons of Providence Friars basketball share an awful lot in common.

In 2013-14, the Friars went 23-12 overall and 10-8 in the Big East before losing their opening game of the NCAA Tournament. Fast forward one year and Providence went 22-12 overall, 11-7 in the Big East, and once again had their season halted one game into the NCAA Tourney.

It is therefore tempting to judge the Providence’s most recent campaign as simply an exercise in holding serve. After all, the Friars won one less game overall, one more game in conference play, and again found themselves bounced early from the Big Dance in 2014-15.

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To do so would belie the job coach Ed Cooley’s team did in plugging a few huge holes along the way. With the departures of Bryce Cotton, Kadeem Betts and Josh Fortune from 2013-14, the Friars needed to replace more than 40 points and 15 rebounds of production heading in the season.

Thankfully, the Friars came through in fine fashion, getting notable contributions from a number of younger players to not only advance to the NCAAs for a second-straight campaign, but also lay the ground work for more success in the future.

Here’s how the Friars graded out for the 2014-15 season.

Starters:

In losing Cotton and Betts, the Friars needed to replace two starters who had combined to produce more than 35 points on nightly basis. Senior LaDontae Henton proved more than capable of helping fill the void.

The Friars’ leading returning scorer put together an outstanding final campaign, pouring in 19.7 points per game in 2014-15, a notable increase from his 14.6 scoring average of 2013-14.

Even more important were the contributions of sophomore Kris Dunn, who has already pledged to return to Providence for his junior year of 2015-16. The explosive 6-foot-3 combo guard is well on his way to becoming a full-fledged star after piling up 15.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists per contest despite missing most of 2013-14 due to injury.

One of three returning starters from 2013-14, center Carson Desrosiers also continued to pile up minutes, making 31 starts while averaging 6.7 points per outing. Joining Desrosiers in the front court was true freshman and top-100 recruit Ben Bentil, who averaged 6.4 points per game while laying the groundout for a solid career in Providence.

After making 35 starts in 2013-14, Tyler Harris platooned the final starting spot with Jalen Lindsey and Junior Lomomba. Nevertheless, the trio each averaged more than 11 minutes per game, giving Providence enough balance to keep opponents off balance.

Grade: B

Bench:

Along with rotating Harris, Lindsey and Lomomba in the starting lineup, the Friars also had a pair of reliable options from the bench in Kyron Cartwright and Paschal Chukwu. Between the two, Providence received more than 28 minutes of game time per night.

Cartwright was particularly important, using his diminutive 5-foot-11 frame to relieve Dunn of primary ball-handling duties for close to 20 minutes on average.

For his part, the immense 7-foot-2 Chukwu played an average of 9.9 minutes while appearing in all 34 games for Providence in 2014-15. Throw-in Harris’ 9.9 points (along with Lindsey and Lomomba’s combined 29 minutes of court time), and the Friars’ bench had a strong showing in 2014-15.

Grade: B

Coaching:

Cooley managed to keep Providence consistent in 2014-15 despite losing a huge amount of production from the 2013-14 campaign. Unlike the previous season when the Friars maintained the same starting five for all 35 games, Cooley shuffled his lineup by having 10 different players start at least three games in 2014-15.

The emergence of Henton and Dunn therefore allowed Cooley to keep his players relatively fresh for most games. Admittedly, the loss of Henton will sting heading into 2015-16 considering he piled up 37 minutes per night this season.

But Cooley wisely allowed both Dunn and Bentil to play major minutes this season while also working Harris, Cartwright, Lindsey, Chukwu and Lomomba into the rotation. Considering all seven figure to return in 2015-16, the third-year coach’s ability to successfully dole out minutes should pay big dividends in the future.

Grade: B+

Overall Grade: B

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