Seton Hall’s great stretch, Bryce Hopkins’ injury among Big East Basketball storylines
By John Makuch
It's been a wild past week for Big East Basketball, including one team having a big week, while another will be without a key player for the rest of the way. Here's a look at some of the biggest storylines from the past few days.
5. Bryce Hopkins out for the season
The Providence Friars suffered a major loss during their loss to the Seton Hall Pirates in an awful blow to their hopes for this season. Superstar Bryce Hopkins tore his ACL in his left knee, and he is now out for the rest of the year, and for a player that was looking to truly stamp himself that is just an awful moment for the young star.
For a team that was ranked, Providence now has to pick up the pieces and take who they have to find a way to compete. For a young head coach in Kim English, this is a big test for him at this level to guide a team through injury, especially to their lead star. They were unable to beat Creighton following the Seton Hall game, and they will now have to stabilize things with St. John’s, Xavier, and DePaul coming up.
It will be up to players like Devin Carter and Josh Oduro to step up and keep things strong for this team, and a guy like Rich Barron will start to see more minutes here. There is no way to replace Hopkins, but the Friars will have to have that next-man-up mentality if they want to still compete in this conference. Moments like these are where you find out a lot about the resiliency and the mentality of a team, and for English’s squad, it will be a great feat if they can stay solid throughout this.