Friar Basketball Newsletter: Providence announces the pending retirement of Bob Driscoll, while the Friars pick up a pair of wins following two weeks away

The past week turned out to be an emotional one in Friartown, as Providence returned to the court after a two-week COVID pause, and the school announced the pending retirement of long-time Athletic Director Bob Driscoll.

The Friars went 2-0 this week, with wins over Georgetown and Butler, to advance to 16-2 overall and 6-1 in the Big East. The 6-1 conference mark is Providence’s best ever through seven games.

Following a 69-62 win over Butler on Sunday, Ed Cooley spent the first few minutes of his press conference talking about Driscoll and the impact he has had on Providence and Cooley’s career.

In this week’s newsletter, I wrote about how Driscoll managed to balance moving Providence athletics forward, while staying true to the tradition and values that have made the program great. I’ll forever appreciate how well he treated me over the years.

Highlights from the win over Butler can be found here. Nate Watson led a balanced scoring attack with 18 points, while Ed Croswell shot 5-5 from the field. Croswell shot a perfect 12-12 from the field in two games this week. This article also includes Ed Cooley’s press conference, as well as Driscoll’s prior to the game.

It has been well-documented how well Providence has done in terms of getting to the free throw line this year. Another way in which they have done a lot of damage is on corner 3-pointers. This look behind those numbers includes shot charts and data on how the Friars have taken a big step forward on corner threes — and rank among the best teams in the country in that department.

This week’s News and Notes column delves into how Jared Bynum has become much more proficient when shooting from the paint, how effective PC has been in getting shots at the rim, Justin Minaya showing signs of life from beyond the 3-point arc, and much more.

Providence had perhaps its best shooting night of the season when they returned to the floor against Georgetown on Thursday night. You can see all the highlights here.

Lastly, while PC is off to an amazing start to this season, the week ahead provides yet another opportunity for them to make a statement. The Friars have won just once at the Cintas Center, and will look to avenge a heartbreaker on the road against Xavier a season ago. Then on Saturday, Providence will welcome the hottest team in the Big East to the Dunkin Donuts Center when Marquette comes to town. Marquette has won six games in a row — a streak that began when they blew out Providence in Milwaukee earlier this month.

This is such an amazing time to be a Providence fan, and we are so excited to continue to go in-depth in covering them. If you are enjoying Friar Basketball, please don’t hesitate to spread the word!