Providence Basketball: Can Friars steal the 2021-22 Big East title?

Providence Basketball wasn’t viewed as a Big East contender for the 2021-22 season but after a strong start, things may have changed.

The Big East season started with one obvious contender: the Villanova Wildcats. Sure, the UConn Huskies and Xavier Musketeers were among the other threats to win the conference title, but Villanova appeared to be the easy favorite.

Providence wasn’t necessarily seen as a contender when the year started out. Star David Duke was off to the NBA and they were coming off a 13-13 season, the program’s worst since 2021, Ed Cooley’s first year in charge.

But the Providence Friars have proved to be formidable this season, setting themselves up for a potential run to a Big East title.

This week, the Friars found themselves in the AP poll for the first time in more than five years. The team is ranked No. 22 in the nation after starting the season 11-1.

The one loss was not a great one. Providence lost by 18 points to a Virginia team that is not the same Final Four-caliber squad of years past. The Friars managed just 40 in that harrowing defeat.

But there are some good wins in there too against Wisconsin and Texas Tech. The most recent victory came on the road at a ranked UConn squad, a defensive slugfest that ended 57-53 in favor of the Friars, their first Big East game of the year.

Providence is tied with Creighton for the best overall record in the conference at 2-0, though that could be subject to change as the Big East reconsiders its forfeit policy; one of the team’s two wins was a forfeit by Georgetown.

The Friars are rocking one of the best defenses in not just the conference, but the entire nation. The team is allowing just 61.5 points per game. Providence has surrendered more than 70 points three times this season, never more than 73. They haven’t allowed more than 58 points in each of their last four games.

Providence lacks an elite scorer – Nate Watson leads the way at 14.8 points per game – but the team has plenty of veteran leadership. Watson, Al Durham, and A.J. Reeves are the team’s three leading scorers and they’ve combined to spend 14 years in college, including this year.

One area Providence likely needs to improve upon is three-point shooting. Of the players who receive regular minutes, none are a three-point ace and none are hitting at least 40 percent of their threes. The leader among rotation members is Noah Horchler, hitting 38.6 percent of his threes.

The Big East is a loaded conference, but Providence has a relatively favorable schedule following their road tilt at UConn. The team has more than a week off before they host Seton Hall. Games at DePaul, Marquette, and at home against St. John’s follow.

An unpredictable aspect of the season is the novel coronavirus, which has been wreaking havoc in college basketball in recent weeks – the Big East has been no exception, affecting DePaul, Seton Hall, and Georgetown. Conference rule changes are worth following.

Entering the season, Providence was projected as a middle-of-the-pack team in the Big East. The goal was to try and parlay a decent but not excellent team into an NCAA Tournament outfit. Those expectations are rising.

Since the Big East reconfigured for the 2013-14 season, it has been largely dominated by Villanova. Providence actually won the first Big East Tournament but has never taken the regular-season crown.

At this point in the season, however, the Providence Friars can start asking themselves: Why not us?