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2008 Providence Basketball Picks & Predictions

Written by Luke Knight

Keno Davis enters his first season at Providence, taking over a team that went 15-16 overall and 6-12 in the Big East last season. The Friars are the only original Big East member that has never won a regular-season conference title, despite the fact that it has produced some notable coaches such as Dave Gavitt, Rick Pitino, Rick Barnes, and Pete Gillen. Providence does return all but one key contributor from last year’s 15-16 squad. Keep reading our college basketball predictions to find out whether we think Keno Davis will take Providence back to the NCAA tournament after Tim Welsh managed only two NCAA bids in 10 years. Head over to BetUS where the Friars are at +1500 odds to win the Big East conference this season.

Geoff McDermott made it through a season without injury last year finally, and he posted a team-high 8.1 rebounds and a team-leading 151 assists, but averaged only 10.3 points per game. Randall Hanke returned last season to average 8.7 points, but for being 6’11” and a 240-pound center he averaged only 3.6 rebounds and must hit a higher percentage of his shots. Sophomore forward Jamine Peterson is a wild card in the frontcourt with incredible athleticism, and he should challenge for a lot of playing time. Jonathan Kale and Ray Hall will provide depth and size up front, and Alex Kellogg, who appeared in 24 games as a freshman, may be ready for more playing time this season.

Providence could be one of the Big East’s premiere perimeter shooting teams with four quality players competing for minutes. Sharaud Curry, junior point guard, missed all but one game last season, and senior Jeff Xavier filled in nicely leading the Friars with 12.4 points per game and led the Big East with 2.26 steals per game. If Curry returns healthy, Xavier will be allowed to play off the ball more, which should allow him to improve on his 36.4% 3-point shooting. Weyinmi Efejuku moved from off-guard to small forward when Brian McKenzie proved ready to play. Efejuku became a more consistent outside shooter and McKenzie shot 40.6% from beyond the arc and will remain at the 2-guard.

Final Analysis

The Friars could be very good this season, which would provide a nice jump-start to Davis’ tenure. Many think that the potential for the Friars’ success is the reason that Providence officials made the switch from Tim Welsh to Keno Davis at the end of the season, despite the returning talent. Providence returns four players who averaged more than 10 points per game last season, which doesn’t include Curry who averaged 15.3 points and 4.4 assists two years ago. With the talent level in Providence, our NCAA basketball picks have the Friars somewhere in the middle of the Big East pack, which should be good enough to garner an NCAA tournament bid. We don’t expect Keno Davis’s squad to make much noise once they reach the big dance and neither do the college basketball lines makers, but taking this team to the tournament for the first time since 2004 would be a great start to his tenure in Providence. BetUS has the Friars as 500-to-1 odds to win the NCAA Championship this season so this should be a team to keep an eye for basketball betting purposes as they play every game.

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