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Providence College

Huge get for PC and the Big East...!!!
He had offers from Florida, Louisville and Ohio State, and UNC was sniffing around too.
Go Friars!!!

Jalen (#32 ranked in ESPN Top 100): "I chose them because they were recruiting me the hardest out of everybody," he told Rivals.com. "Coach Cooley is the most sincere, hardworking, dedicated family type of coach I have ever met and that's who I want to play for."

Following up on the Lindsay commitment to Providence...

Remember guys-- the Big East is a basketball conference, top to bottom. Hoops is our top priority. Hoops won't be overshadowed by football. Every one of our schools has basketball at the top. Every one of our schools is in a major metro basketball hotbed.

High school kids will look to our conference to prepare them for the NBA. Every top prospect that any of our schools gets will make it easier for the rest of us to recruit.

Pretty significant for the Big East to get a commitment like this. Congrats Providence.

Great get Friars fans! #32 doesn't go to a mid. This helps the Big East. It's something other schools, especially the 3 newbies, to point to in recruiting.

We are really excited by this one. Coach Cooley and staff are really working extremely hard on the recruiting trail and getting kids the right way. Here's what Lindsey had to say:"I chose them because they were recruiting me the hardest out of everybody," he told Rivals.com. "Coach Cooley is the most sincere, hardworking, dedicated family type of coach I have ever met and that's who I want to play for."

Nice get. I've been preaching to anyone that will listen that I think Providence will return to their former glory very soon. I really like what Cooley is doing up there. He's grabbing a ton of athletic players and should be a really tough out for years to come. I watched them beat my squad twice last year and was impressed. I think they just need to learn how to win a bit more and they'll make a big leap forward. I remember hearing from some on this board (especially from fans of teams that were not yet BE members) that Providence (along with Depaul and SHU) should be shown the door when the new league was formed. They'll be a Top 20-25 team, if not this year, then next IMHO.

So much for the new league affecting recruiting negatively.

5 ESPN Top 100 players in the Class of 2014 (out of 33) already comitted to Big East teams. Good start. 2013 saw the league get 11 Top 100.

2013
MU - 3
Nova - 2
Gtwn - 1
SJU - 1
Prov - 1
Xavier - 1
SHU - 1
Depaul - 1

2014
Gtwn - 2
Nova - 1
Prov - 1
SJU - 1

Observations: Old guard BE doing well on the recruiting trail, esp MU, Gtwn, Nova, Prov and SJU. Even Depaul and SHU getting some players--awesome. C,mon Creighton and Butler, we need you guys to grab some talent too! (just busting chops). But seriously, if the talent keeps coming this conference will be in great shape for years to come.

Great news but a word of caution: Ricky Ledo was a 5 star kid who never played a minute for Providence. Cooley is a great recruiter but we need to develop these kids into Big East stars now.

GumbyDamnit! wrote:5 ESPN Top 100 players in the Class of 2014 (out of 33) already comitted to Big East teams. Good start. 2013 saw the league get 11 Top 100.

2013
MU - 3
Nova - 2
Gtwn - 1
SJU - 1
Prov - 1
Xavier - 1
SHU - 1
Depaul - 1

2014
Gtwn - 2
Nova - 1
Prov - 1
SJU - 1

Observations: Old guard BE doing well on the recruiting trail, esp MU, Gtwn, Nova, Prov and SJU. Even Depaul and SHU getting some players--awesome. C,mon Creighton and Butler, we need you guys to grab some talent too! (just busting chops). But seriously, if the talent keeps coming this conference will be in great shape for years to come.

Great for the conference. Kidding aside, Jay fans feel the need to get some guys too. We like the guys we have as freshmen this year, but no one yet for 2014. One problem is going after larger targets but getting in on them too late ( due to not knowing until spring about change to Big East). That could hurt recruiting this year, but we will see- hopefully the staff can pull some rabbits out.