2008 Providence Basketball Predictions & Season Preview
Written October 17, 2008 by Jack Jones
Keno Davis enters his first year as head coach of the Providence basketball team and knows that he has quite a challenge ahead of him. Davis was a hot commodity in the coaching world after leading Drake to a 28-5 record a year ago when he took over for his dad, Tom Davis. He also has a little experience with the Big East due to his father being with the Boston College Eagles early the in conference’s history. Davis is hoping that he can follow the foot steps of some other great coaches like Rick Pitino and Rick Barnes, who coached the Friars before moving on to major programs. He will have the chance to get off to a good start with so many players returning which is a big reason why Providence is listed at 15-to-1 to win the Big East conference. It’s obvious that the college basketball odds makers think this team is going to be better than 6-12 in the conference.
Geoff McDermott needs to have a big senior season for this team to reach the NCAA tournament. Last year he was finally healthy and managed to lead the team with 151 assists, put up 8.1 rebounds and 10.3 points per game. He can play a variety of positions and logs more minutes than anyone else on the team. Randall Hanke is the team’s center, but he needs to do better than the 3.6 rebounds he brought down a year ago. He could also score a few more points (averaging 8.7 last season), but he does make 63.3% of his shots. Jamine Patterson is athletic and could break out as a pretty good player this year. Then there is Jonathan Kale, Ray Hall, and Alex Kellog to provide some depth down low.
The backcourt Providence has is one of the deepest in the league. Sharaud Curry only played in one game last season, but should start at the point. Jeff Xavier filled in nicely for Curry in averaging 12.4 points and 2.26 steals per game. He will move over to the off-guard spot in order to get more open looks. Brian McKenzie played a lot at the two-spot a year ago, and is a sharpshooter who nailed 41% of his 3-point attempts. Weyinmi Efejuku moved to small forward last year and did a nice job improving his outside shot. He’ll back up both wing spots in 2008-09.
Final Analysis
Many thought that Tim Welsh got a bad deal when was fired with so much talent coming back, but that should give Davis the chance to get his tenure off on the right track. This Friar team is going to be better and we think they will make the NCAA tournament, but at BetUS the odds of them winning it are at 500-to-1.
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If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
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- 2009 Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Predictions
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