Big East Basketball: Ranking best homecourt advantages for 2020-21 season
By Max Marmitt
6. Providence Friars Home Court: Dunkin’ Donuts Center
Talk about a team who put themselves on the map, Providence has emerged into an exceptional team nationally over the course of the new Big East. With the court built in place in 1972, there’s a good amount of tradition within the stadium history but also a modern era of Providence basketball with a relatively new stadium name and program head coach.
Providence has had an excellent 89-25 record at home since realignment. No matter if the game starts before noon or late at night, the crowd will be packed with a loud and festive student section. The stadium erupts after every made basket and is very noisy when the opposing team has possession. A fairly unknown fact by many, the gym is extremely cold in temperature (most likely due to sharing a stadium with the Boston Bruins minor league hockey team), a slight advantage for the Providence players because they’re used to this temperature while other teams have to adapt.
After not making the NCAA tournament for a decade, the Friars ran the table in the 2014 Big East tournament, earning an automatic bid as a previous bubble team at the time. Providence safely made the tournament the first five years in the new Big East and after looking like they were dead in the water at the beginning of last season, they completely flipped the switch and would have made the tournament this year as well. With top 5 NBA draft pick/current Chicago Bull Kris Dunn on the roster in 2016, the Friars were ranked as high as 8th in the country and came close to a second-weekend appearance in March Madness.
Ed Cooley has been with Providence since 2011, turning down some really great offers to join other programs throughout his time there to stay with Providence. A top 50 school nationally in average attendance during the lone non-NCAA Appearance year (no data available for 2020), the Dunkin’ Donuts Center is definitely an underrated home court. With CBS Sports analyst Gary Parrish predicting Providence to be a top-5 Big East team over the next five years as well, it’s a great time to be a Providence fan.