Providence Basketball only managed to go 13-13 in their 2020-21 campaign, despite having two of the better players in the conference in Nate Watson and David Duke. Ed Cooley has consistently kept his Friars in postseason tournaments throughout his tenure, but if he wants to continue that trend he must rely on some new faces for 2021-22.
David Duke (16.8 ppg) departs for the NBA, leaving Nate Watson (16.9 ppg) as Providence’s only double-digit scorer returning. Cooley will attempt to make up for this loss by committee. He brings in four new faces who he hopes can contribute right away, including a pair of 3 stars that make up the 64th best-recruiting class in the country to go along with the two incoming transfers.
The Friars will also bring back the remaining three starters to play alongside Watson in: A.J Reeves, Jared Bynum, and Noah Horchler. This group will have to step up and mesh well with their new teammates if they want to have any chance of staying in the upper half of the Big East. Providence’s recent history of transfers has been up and down but under Coach Cooley, has a good reputation in developing three-star prospects into all-conference players.
One newcomer on the roster not mentioned in the piece was Matteus Case, a former guard at Pennsylvania who didn’t play last season due to the Ivy League canceling the season. Look for the freshman guard to compete for minutes in his true freshman campaign for the Friars.
Let’s take a look at the new faces that Ed Cooley will be welcoming into the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.