Things are looking up for Friars
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| Keno Davis wants the Friars to run and play more aggressive defense. (Doug Benc / Getty Images) |
Starting point guard Sharaud Curry broke his foot on two separate occasions and logged a grand total of eight minutes the entire season.
Welsh benched arguably the team's most talented player, Weyinmi Efejuku, for two critical games — on the road against Notre Dame and at Pittsburgh — and hardly played the 6-foot-5 guard for several others.
The Friars finished with just six Big East wins and suffered through a 15-16 season — their third losing campaign in the last four years.
Even in a loaded Big East conference (which will likely be tops in America this season), the Friars certainly have a chance to make some noise this season.
With a bunch of experienced players.
And a new coach.
Welsh was fired after the season ended and after trying to land a few high-profile coaches, the Friars' administration settled on former Drake coach Keno Davis — last year's National Coach of the Year.
"I think it'll be good for the program," Efejuku said. "His philosophy is different so far from what I've seen and heard."
Translation: Davis and the team will get up and down the court consistently and play a man-to-man defense rather than the zone defense that Welsh employed for most of his tenure.
"He's real laid-back and straightforward," Curry added of the new man in charge. "He's stressed to us that we're going to run."
In all fairness, Welsh didn't have a true point guard a year ago without Curry in the lineup. He also had to deal with his top all-around player, Geoff McDermott, and chronic knee problems which hampered his play throughout the season. However, he never found a way to connect with much of the team, including Efejuku, who watched his production and playing time slip.
But now it's time to turn the page on the Welsh Era.
"It was time," Efejuku said. "It appeared as though whatever was going on wasn't working and not just from an individual standpoint, but for the team. I don't think the program was headed in the right direction."
Athletic director Bob Driscoll and school president Reverend Brian Shanley agreed.
Efejuku, McDermott and two more senior starters — big man Randall Hanke and Jeff Xavier — are all back. Curry told FOXSports.com that he is back working out and expects he'll be cleared in another week or two. Add in sophomore shooting guard Brian McKenzie, and you have six players all capable of averaging in double-figures.
"Last year was very frustrating because I had worked hard in the summer to improve my game," Curry said.
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| Sharaud Curry's comeback is key to Providence's hopes. (Jim McIsaac / Getty Images) |
The 5-foot-9 Georgia native was coming off a sophomore campaign in which he averaged 15.3 points and 3.6 assists. However, he injured the foot in a mid-October practice when he came down on it awkwardly.
Despite being in pain, Curry (with a little prodding from the staff) gave it a try on Dec. 19 against Sacred Heart but managed just eight ineffective minutes.
"It was killing me,"Curry said.
Curry decided to shut it down for a while and broke the same foot in January while working out. He had surgery in March in which a screw was inserted into the foot but shed his crutches a month ago and is now able to jump and run.
However, he's going to take it slow and make sure he's 100 percent when it matters.
"I think (the problem with) our program, as a team, is that we've never been healthy," Curry said. "If everyone stays healthy, it'll make a world of difference."
Maybe even enough so that this group of seniors can get into the Big Dance.
"Everyone I played with in high school and prep school has played in the tournament," Efejuku said. "Russell (Robinson, at Kansas) won a national title, Jessie Sapp (at Georgetown) has been to a Final Four and Jeff (Adrien, at UConn) has been to the tournament. I'm the only one who hasn't been, and I can't go out like this."
He's not alone.
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