Providence Friar Homer

As 2009 approaches, any number of monumental events could occur that might just change the world as we know it.

-Osama bin Laden is found in a posh cave somewhere (then promptly shot in the face).

-An African American is inaugurated in as President of the United States for the first time ever.

-It’s the economy, stupid.

-Providence College makes the NCAA tourney for the first time since, like… the Croshere-Shammgod days.

This dude the other shammgod, the hack from Talk Practice, would love nothing more than to see Providence dancing in March. Screw terrorism, liberalism, and the economy, the other shammgod wants some Friar magic this year.

Total Homer.

the other shammgod is our guest crack addict today, but more than anything, he’s our out of touch Homer of the moment. Your Welcome.

———

“This is the year.

Let us begin with that phrase. This is the year.

This is the year Providence Friar fans have been waiting for since 2005. That’s when a really good high school quarterback (and forward) from New York chose Providence College over Duke and Boston College. That’s when an undersized point guard from Georgia chose Providence over Texas A&M and Clemson. That’s when the amazing local kid from St. Andrews high school chose to actually stay in state unlike his predecessors Tony Robertson and Demetris Nichols. That’s also when a kid with a crazy name and crazy hops chose Providence even though he was a McDonalds All American nominee (and those guys always avoid us).

2005 was the year we signed Geoff McDermott, Sharaud Curry, Jonathan Kale, and Weyinmi Efejuku.

McDermott, Kale, and Efejuku are now seniors. Curry was injured last year and redshirted, so he is currently a junior. Providence also has another senior, a guy named Randall Hanke who has been playing at Providence for seemingly 12 years. He’s still here because he also redshirted a year.

No Providence fan can understand the lack of respect this team has gotten coming into this year. The best player on the team (Sharaud Curry) was injured last year. So a team without its best player went 15-16 and won 6 Big East games, including two victories over No. 17 UCONN. Not bad.

Another reason to think the Friars can outperform their non-existent expectations? The team lost one senior from last year, and it was their WORST player: Charlie Burch, a player so bad I don’t even think he played on senior night.

The Friars have a new coach, coach of the year Keno Davis who took Drake to the NCAAs.

Still not enough for you? This may be biased, but the Friars are a classic example of an underachieving team. They have suffered countless close losses in recent years. Most recent example: missing approximately 26 layups en route to a 58-53 loss in the Big East Tournament to a West Virginia team that looked horrible against them, but made the sweet sixteen and beat Duke.

Three years ago, as we watched an extremely young overmatched team get pushed around but never give up, we all had the same thought- wait ’til these guys are seniors, that’ll be our year. Well, this year is that year.

With Efejuku perhaps finally achieving his near limitless potential (we call him “air juku” for a reason), Curry leading the team, McDermott averaging 15-8-8 like we know he can, and Kale and Hanke dominating down low, I see no reason why this team can’t win 20 games. Throw in transfer Jeff Xavier and a few younger guys, including Clark Kellogg’s son Alex, and you have a tournament team, seriously.

Sharaud Curry is probably the team’s best player, almost certainly a top 20 Big East player if his past injuries don’t bother him. People wondered why the Friars didn’t go after local “Street-cred Jason Kidd who had to wear a tie everyday to school” Joe Mazzula. They didn’t need another inconsistent lifetime backup point guard. They had Sharaud Curry. And Brian McKenzie. And (at the time) Jamal Barney. Barney is gone now, but McKenzie is a serviceable backup and Curry may be a top 3 point guard in the Big East. Curry’s like Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Silverstars. He runs the team, racks up assists, and hits tons of open shots (that ref was for you Ryan).

It’s up to Sharaud...

Both McDermott and Efejuku could give Curry a run for title of “best player on the team”. If McDermott could ever get his turnovers under control, while still keeping his amazing passing skills (especially for a big man), he’s a potential NBA draft camp invitee. There’s a reason Duke wanted him.

As for Efejuku, it’s easy to pick out any player and say this is the guy that will determine how far this team goes, or something shortsighted like that, but Weyinmi Efejuku is immensely important to this team. He is the wild card. He could score 20 a game. He could average under 10. He averaged 14 two years ago, but only 11 last year. I rarely compare anyone to the definitive best ball handler to ever touch a basketball, but Efejuku is a lot like former Providence point guard God Shammgod. Shammgod could get to any point on the court that he wanted to, but inability to finish and overall laziness did him in. I can’t tell you how many times Efejuku effortlessly goes by his man, soars to the hoop, and then throws an ill-advised pass away or bricks a lay-up that he could have just dunked.

This team has some tough games. People always say the ACC is the toughest conference, and that may be true, but no conference tests your will quite like the Big East. In the Big East, officials let you hack and grab and push down low. It gets intense. This is why Big East teams look bad in the regular season, but then during tourney time they occasionally beat those soft ACC/Big Ten teams. Playing all fifteen other Big East teams at least once (while playing three twice) is not an easy task. For this reason, I’m willing to argue that if PC can get through its schedule and make it to the tourney, it is very dangerous. VERY.
Face it people. Their entire team is back. They can, and will, make a tournament run. This is the year.

(unless they go under .500 again. Then next year will be the year.)”

———-

Nicely done shammgod, good luck in the NIT.

At least you will always have the memories of God to cherish.