Providence hires Kim English as next head coach

Associated PressMar 23, 2023, 4:39 PM EDT

Jake Crandall/USA TODAY NETWORK

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Kim English is just 34 years old, but has already moved around a lot in his coaching career, serving as an assistant at three schools over six years before landing his first head coaching job at George Mason in 2021.

It was going to take a special opportunity for him to pack up and move again.

“Every place I’ve been, I’ve wanted to stay there forever. I really want to stay at a place for a long time,” English said Thursday. “I’m sick of moving,”

He believes he has found that place in Providence.

English was named the Friars’ new head coach, ending a fast search by first-year Providence athletic director Steve Napolillo that was created after Ed Cooley left to take the job at Big East rival Georgetown.

English becomes the 16th coach in school history. Cooley resigned on Monday following 12 seasons. He complied a 242-153 record with the Friars that included seven appearances, but just three March Madness victories.

English was 34-29 in two seasons at George Mason, leading the Patriots to a 20-13 record this past season. It was the first time the school reached the 20-win milestone since 2016-17.

George Mason president Gregory Washington said it would begin a national search to replace English.

In English, the Friars get a hungry, young coach who has built his reputation on recruiting. He said his secret sauce finding players is simple.

“You work at it. You do it every day. You’re relentless,” English said.

He played college basketball at Missouri and was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the second round in 2012. But his NBA tenure was short and he was waived in 2013. He had a brief stint with the Chicago Bulls in 2014 and also played two years professionally overseas.

English began his coaching career as an assistant under Frank Haith at Tulsa in 2015 and spent two seasons there before being hired by Tad Boyle in 2017 as an assistant coach at Colorado. In 2019, former Friars coach Rick Barnes brought English to Tennessee as an assistant coach and he stayed until being hired by George Mason

He feels as if he has found a kindred spirit in Napolillo, who sold him on the passion the administration and community have for the Friars’ basketball program.

The intel he got about Providence and Napolillo aligned with what he observed when he got the chance to meet him.

“His passion, his fire, his love for Providence basketball really speaks to me. It really spoke to me what he was looking for,” English said. “As a first-year athletic director to be in this situation and to go at it and not just do what other people may have been comfortable with. … That’s what you want in a partnership.”

English also said he’s impressed by facilities at Providence that he said are among the best he’s seen.

Napolillo said the reason he was able to move so quickly on the hire was because he heeded the advice of his mentors who told him to always be prepared to have to fill a coaching vacancy.

“You always need to have names in a drawer for any coaching situation. You never know what’s going to happen,” he said. ”This year, as noise kept growing and growing, I had a list in my drawer.”

That list also included a Sports Illustrated article he saved from last year that listed some rising coaches. He can’t recall why, but for some reason he highlighted English’s name in the story.

English has already started working and began recruiting not long after signing his contract on Wednesday night, he said.

He also confirmed that Dennis Felton, one of his assistants at George Mason, will join him at Providence. Felton served as a Friars assistant under Barnes from 1992 to 1994.

In a Big East that is stacked from top to bottom with coaching talent, English feels as if the pieces are in place to build something special.

“I’ve had no reason to take a bad job,” English said. “I was a 20-something-year-old assistant in the SEC. I didn’t have to rush. If I’m going to have interest in it, it’s going to be really good.”

For him, that translated into being in a position to bring the Friars a national championship.

“If you want to win the big trophy, you’ve got to be in the big dance,” English said. “At the mid-major level it’s getting increasing harder to get to the big dance. This gives us an opportunity. If we are competing for Big East championships, we’re going to be in the show.”

Georgetown hires Providence’s Ed Cooley as head coach

Associated PressMar 20, 2023, 4:50 PM EDT

Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

WASHINGTON – Ed Cooley is the new head coach at Georgetown, hired away from Big East rival Providence in the hopes of rebuilding a once-proud program that dropped to new lows under former star player Patrick Ewing.

Georgetown announced the move on Monday, after Providence issued a news release saying that Cooley had resigned.

“I plan on hitting the ground running, getting to work on the court and cultivating relationships in and around the District,” Cooley said in a statement released by his new employer. “Accepting this opportunity with Georgetown is not a decision I took lightly.”

He leaves the Friars with a 242-153 record after 12 years and seven March Madness appearances with a total of three wins in the tournament; the highlight was a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2022. His team went 21-12 this season, closing with four consecutive losses, including in the first round of the Big East Tournament against Connecticut and the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Kentucky.

“Coach Cooley is a mentor to young men, and a consistent winner with an impressive body of work,” Georgetown athletic director Lee Reed said. “His previous experience gives him an understanding of our Jesuit values and I am confident that he is the coach to return our program to prominence within the Big East and nationally.”

Cooley’s name was linked to the Georgetown job even as Providence’s season was still in progress, and so he was asked after the 61-53 defeat against Kentucky on Friday whether he would be returning. The initial reply: “Next question.”

When a follow-up query came about whether there was a chance that was his last game with the Friars, Cooley avoided a direct answer.

“There’s all kinds of rumors and speculation, and I know you guys are trying to do your job. I get it,” said Cooley, whose daughter is a student at Georgetown. “But after a game like this, I just think it’s fair to talk about our players. I think it’s fair to talk about the game.”

The Hoyas will be the 53-year-old Cooley’s third team as a college head coach; before Providence, he was at Fairfield for five seasons. He is the first Georgetown head coach in about a half-century without a direct tie to the late John Thompson Jr., who took the job in 1972, was in charge of the team when Ewing was a player, then was succeeded by assistant Craig Esherick, who was followed by Thompson’s son, John III, who gave way to Ewing.

Ewing was fired on March 9 after going 75-109 in six seasons, 13-50 over the past two. Georgetown made only one March Madness appearance in that time, bowing out in the first round in 2021.

It was quite a difficult stretch for Ewing and the school he led to a national championship in 1984 and helped make two other runs to the title game.

His last two contests in charge at his alma mater were a pair of losses by a combined 72 points, one to close the regular season against Creighton and one in the Big East Tournament against Villanova.

Tshiebwe’s 25 boards helps Kentucky top Providence in NCAAs

Associated PressMar 18, 2023, 12:14 AM EDT

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Oscar Tshiebwe kept battling for position, pushing his way to daylight and grabbing seemingly every loose rebound with a rugged relentlessness.

No one was going to stop him, either.

When it was over, the two-time Associated Press All-American had turned in the best rebounding performance in the NCAA Tournament in nearly a half-century – and Kentucky was free to move past last year’s one-and-done showing.

Tshiebwe pulled down 25 rebounds and Antonio Reeves scored 22 points, helping the Wildcats beat Providence 61-53 in Friday night’s first round.

Tshiebwe’s rebounding output represented the most in any tournament game since 1977. Eleven of his rebounds came on the offensive glass – a big factor in the sixth-seeded Wildcats (22-11) staying in control as both offenses grinded to a halt after halftime.

“I told (my teammates), I said, ‘This year we come in and fight, last year doesn’t matter anymore,'” said Tshiebwe, who entered as the nation’s leading rebounder at 13.1 per game.

The “last year,” of course, was the shocking first-round exit against 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s that had hung over the program all season. Now the Wildcats are moving on to face the Montana State-Kansas State winner Sunday in the East Region.

“Yeah, it was a big relief obviously,” forward Jacob Toppin said.

When the horn sounded, guard Cason Wallace let out a scream before giving a chest bump to Reaves. And Tshiebwe soon emerged from a postgame TV interview by gleefully skipping his way off toward the locker room.

His rebounding total was the most in the tournament since Michigan’s Phil Hubbard had 26 boards against Detroit Mercy in 1977.

Behind Tshiebwe, Kentucky finished with a 48-31 rebounding advantage, controlling the offensive glass (plus-10) and dominating in second-chance points for an 18-2 edge.

That was vital considering shots weren’t falling; Kentucky shot 36.5% overall but just 7 of 28 (25%) after halftime.

Reeves hit five 3-pointers to lead the offense, while Toppin had his own big game with 18 points. Tshiebwe managed eight points, but he was still an indomitable force that the 11th-seeded Friars (21-12) just couldn’t manage.

“Sometimes you just have an ‘it,’ a la Dennis Rodman, Ben Wallace,” Providence coach Ed Cooley said. “Those guys just have an ‘it’ for it. Some guys have an ‘it’ to score. Some people have an ‘it’ to pass. He has an incredible ‘it,’ an elite ‘it’ to rebound.”

Ed Croswell scored 16 points for Providence, which shot just 36.2% while making 5 of 24 3-pointers. The Friars matched the Wildcats’ second-half troubles, making just 8 of 27 shots (29.6%).

“You can say you wish you could win this game and all that,” Friars guard Jared Bynum said, “but you have to embrace the moment at the end of it.”

BIG PICTURE

Providence: The Friars have been to the NCAAs seven times in the past nine seasons under Cooley, including last year’s Sweet 16 before falling to eventual champion Kansas. But they entered this game just 3-6 in NCAA games under Cooley.

Kentucky: The Wildcats got off to a successful though grinding start to March Madness – and that was good enough for coach John Calipari.

“If in this tournament, winning is a relief, what the heck are you doing here?” he said. “This is joy.”

KEY STRETCH

Tshiebwe came through in a tight game, starting with – what else? – his rebounding.

With Kentucky leading 50-46, he leapt to dunk home Wallace’s missed drive. Minutes later, he came up with a steal, then an offensive rebound off his own miss before feeding Chris Livingston on the other side of the paint for the layup and a 54-46 lead with 2:43 left.

BUMPY REUNION

The game marked a reunion between Providence star Bryce Hopkins and the Kentucky program he left behind. Hopkins came in averaging 16.1 points, but finished with just seven on 2-for-9 shooting in a tough night while being chased primarily by Toppin.

Hopkins fought back tears as he made his way through the postgame handshake line with Calipari and former teammates.

FULL STOP

The game’s oddest moment came at the foul line.

With 8:36 left before halftime, Providence’s Clifton Moore launched a free throw that hit the rim on the left side and rolled all the way around the inside of the rim before popping out and sitting on the back of the goal.

And then, it just stopped and stayed there.

The 6-foot-9 Toppin stood next to an official under the net looking up at the ball, his hands on his hips, before jumping to tap it loose.

It went down as a miss. Moore made the second.

LOOK-INS

The upset by 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson against No. 1 seed Purdue in Columbus, Ohio, drew a captivated audience in Greensboro Coliseum for live look-ins being shown on the scoreboard.

During one timeout, with Fairleigh Dickinson up five in the final seconds, fans in Greensboro began chanting “FDU! FDU!” and booing whenever the game was taken off the scoreboard even when Providence-Kentucky had resumed on the court below.

Hawkins, No. 11 UConn hold off Providence 73-66 in Big East

Associated PressMar 10, 2023, 12:49 AM EST

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK – Playing in front of a packed house, heavy on Huskies fans, fourth-seeded UConn looked like the favorite to win the Big East Tournament – at least for a while.

Jordan Hawkins scored 19 points and No. 11 UConn held off a furious, second-half rally to beat Providence 73-66 on Thursday in the Big East quarterfinals.

The Huskies (25-7) advanced to face top-seeded Marquette in Friday night’s semifinals at Madison Square Garden.

UConn led by as many as 26 with 12:30 left against the Friars.

“For like 28, 30 minutes, we were the best version of ourselves,” coach Dan Hurley said.

The Friars (21-11) turned up the pressure and had the lead down to five several times in the final few minutes.

“I’m really proud of how we responded,” Providence coach Ed Cooley said. “A lot of teams that would have been a 35-, 40-point loss.”

Alex Karaban made a 3 from the wing for UConn with a minute left to push the lead to 71-63. Noah Locke (14 points) responded with a 3 for Providence to cut the deficit back to five, but the Friars didn’t score again as UConn pushed its winning streak to six games.

“Tell me a team in America playing better than the team we just played?” Cooley said.

The Huskies will be making their third straight Big East Tournament semifinal appearance since rejoining the conference in 2020-21. They have won this tournament seven times, second only to Georgetown’s eight, but they have not played in the championship game since 2011.

Bryce Hopkins scored 16 points to lead fifth-seeded Providence, which has lost three straight and four of five.

The first Big East Tournament meeting since 1998 between two of the conference’s original members was indicative of their recent trajectories for the 33 minutes.

The Huskies got contributions from up and down the lineup and found good looks all over the floor.

Andre Jackson Jr. had an active all-around game with nine points, 11 rebounds and six assists and Tristen Newton scored 16 points with four 3s.

Providence was a step behind on defense and settling for 3s that weren’t going in (6 for 23).

Jackson’s transition dunk sparked an 8-1 closing run in the first half for UConn and 3s by Karaban and Newton started the second half as the Huskies lead reached 21 before many even had time to settle back into their seats.

Jackson turned a Providence giveaway into another fast-break dunk that made it 47-23 with 16:23 left. Cooley called a timeout to try to slow down the Huskies and regroup his team.

Providence managed to whittle the lead to five with 3:33 left, its press rattling the Huskies. UConn turned it over 18 times.

“They feasted off our mistakes,” Hawkins said.

Locke’s corner 3 for the Friars was followed by a steal in the backcourt and layup by Corey Floyd that made it 63-58 and forced Hurley into a timeout as Providence fans came to life.

Cooley came out of the timeout waving his arms to urge on the crowd and try to get his team all the way back.

But it was UConn that responded. Hawkins made a long 3 that reawakened the UConn fans.

“You just got to stay composed in that situation, stay with your team, stay in that tight huddle and just believe,” Hawkins said.

BIG PICTURE

Providence: The Friars head to the postseason hopeful that the late-season skid won’t cost them an NCAA Tournament bid.

“We’ll sit back on Selection Sunday and see where the Friars are going,” Cooley said. “Don’t be surprised if you see us in the Final Four.”

Defense has been a problem. Four of Providence’s last five opponents – including UConn twice – have shot better than 50% from the field.

UConn: The Huskies have won nine of 10 and, despite their seed, look like they could be the favorites to win this tournament.

SENDING A MESSAGE

Newton usually starts, but he came off the bench Thursday.

Hurley didn’t get into specifics, saying only he wanted to send a “small message” to Newton and fellow senior guard Nahiem Alleyne, who is usually the first guard off the bench but was last man in the rotation against Providence.

“Whether you’re playing for the Big East Tournament or a regular-season game, you’ve got to have principles and try to teach some larger lessons,” Hurley said.

Newton had seven assists and made two free throws in the final minute to seal it for the Huskies.

UP NEXT

Providence: A second straight NCAA Tournament appearance – probably.

UConn: The Huskies split with Marquette during the regular season, with each team winning at home.

Marquette’s Kolek, Smart collect AP’s top honors in Big East

Associated PressMar 7, 2023, 1:28 PM EST

Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Marquette’s Tyler Kolek is the Associated Press Big East player of the year and Shaka Smart is the unanimous pick for coach of the year after the two led the Golden Eagles’ surprising run to their first regular-season championship in 10 years.

Xavier’s Souley Boum was voted newcomer of the year in balloting by 11 writers and broadcasters who cover the conference.

Kolek and Smart led No. 6 Marquette to a school-record 17 conference wins and its highest national ranking since 1978.

Kolek, a unanimous All-Big East first-team pick along with Providence’s Bryce Hopkins, is among the conference leaders in five categories and is playing some of his best ball of late.

Kolek will enter the Big East Tournament at New York’s Madison Square Garden off three straight double-doubles, averaging 20.3 points and 11.3 assists in those games. His 7.9 assists per game for the season leads the Big East and is second nationally.

Smart combined high-scoring offense with aggressive defense to make the Golden Eagles the first team since the Big East formed in 1979-80 to win at least a share of the title after being picked ninth or lower. Marquette beat every league team at least once for the first time since it joined the league in 2005-06.

Hopkins, in his first season at Providence after transferring from Kentucky, has 10 double-doubles and leads the Friars with 16.1 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.

Joining Kolek and Hopkins on the first team are Boum and big men Adama Sanogo of Connecticut and Ryan Kalkbrenner of Creighton.

Boum played at San Francisco and UTEP before landing at Xavier this season, and he emerged as the Musketeers’ top player. He’s second in the Big East in scoring with 16.8 points per game and third in 3-point shooting at 42.2%. His 4.5 assists are second on the team and tied for sixth in the league.

FIRST TEAM

u-Guard – Tyler Kolek, Marquette, Jr., 6-3, 190, Cumberland, Rhode Island.

Guard – Souley Boum, Xavier, Gr., 6-3, 175, Oakland, California.

u-Forward – Bryce Hopkins, Providence, So., 6-7, 220, Oak Park, Illinois.

Forward – Adama Sanogo, Connecticut, Jr., 6-9, 245, Bamako, Mali.

Center – Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton, Jr., 7-1, 260, Florissant, Missouri.

SECOND TEAM

Guard – Kam Jones, Marquette, So., 6-4, 195, Memphis, Tennessee.

Guard – Colby Jones, Xavier, Jr., 6-6, 205, Birmingham, Alabama.

Guard – Jordan Hawkins, Connecticut, So., 6-5, 195, Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Forward – Eric Dixon, Villanova, Jr., 6-8 255, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.

Center – Joel Soriano, St. John’s, Sr., 6-11, 260, Yonkers, New York.

—

u-Coach of the year – Shaka Smart, Marquette.

Player of the year – Tyler Kolek, Marquette.

Newcomer of the year – Souley Boum, Xavier.

-“u” denotes unanimous selection.

—

AP All-Big East Voting Panel: Nick Bahe, Fox Sports; Adam Baum, Cincinnati Enquirer; David Borges, CT Insider (Norwalk, Conn.); Zach Braziller, New York Post; Jerry Carino, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press; John Fanta, Fox Sports; Akeem Glaspie, Indianapolis Star; Steve Greenberg, Chicago Sun-Times; Joel Lorenzi, Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald; Kevin McNamara, WPRO (Providence, R.I.); Ben Steele, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Houston, Alabama top AP Top 25; Marquette climbing, Pitt in

Associated PressFeb 27, 2023, 7:12 PM EST

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The top five spots in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll remained the same. The rest of the AP Top 25 was a big jumble.

Houston was No. 1 for the second straight week in the poll released Monday, receiving 49 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel. No. 2 Alabama had five first-place votes and No. 3 Kansas received eight.

UCLA and Purdue rounded out the top five. The Boilermakers held at No. 5 despite losing to No. 15 Indiana.

In the rest of the poll, only No. 20 Providence kept the same position from last week as teams get ready for conference tournaments next week and the start of March Madness.

Alabama held its spot after winning two games despite a challenging week off the court. Brandon Miller had a pair of huge games since police alleged that he brought a gun to former teammate Darius Miles, who is charged with capital murder in a fatal shooting.

Against Arkansas on Saturday, Miller’s regular pregame introduction with a Crimson Tide reserve player giving him a pat down didn’t sit well with coach Nate Oats – or anyone else.

“I can assure you it definitely will not happen again the remainder of this year,” Oats said.

Miller had 24 points in the 86-83 win over the Razorbacks after scoring 41 in a two-point win over South Carolina.

SOARING EAGLES

Marquette has made a quick rise under coach Shaka Smart.

The Golden Eagles wrapped up a share of their first Big East regular-season title in a decade with a 90-84 win over DePaul on Saturday and climbed four spots in this week’s poll to No. 6. It is Marquette’s highest ranking hitting No. 1 in 1977-78.

HOUSTON ON TOP

Houston moved into the top spot last week and held onto it after a pair of routs last week. The Cougars’ 76-57 win at East Carolina on Saturday clinched the American Athletic Association regular-season championship, the fourth time in five seasons they’ve at least shared the conference title.

“Our kids know how to win – I say that a lot,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “But we’ve figured out how to play our system, be unselfish.”

RISING/FALLING

Marquette matched No. 14 UConn and No. 18 San Diego State with the week’s biggest jump among teams in the poll, each climbing four spots.

No. 13 Virginia took the biggest tumble, losing seven spots following losses to Boston College and North Carolina last week.

IN AND OUT

No. 21 Maryland is back in the AP Top 25 after wins over Minnesota and then-No. 21 Northwestern.

No. 23 Kentucky returned to the poll after a seven-week absence. The Wildcats had a rapid fall from being No. 4 in the preseason poll, but reeled off wins over No. 12 Tennessee, Florida and Auburn.

No. 25 Pittsburgh is ranked for the first time since 2016 after beating Georgia Tech and Syracuse last week.

Northwestern’s return to the poll for the first time in two years didn’t last long. The Wildcats dropped out this week after losses to Maryland and Illinois.

Iowa State fell out from No. 23 after three straight losses and consecutive losses knocked out Creighton from No. 19.