1-on-1 with Coach Cooley: Regular season recap, awards, BET preview

All right, we are back here on Fox Providence with PC Hoops with Ed Cooley. And here is the head coach joining us as always each and every Sunday night in Ed. The regular season just a little over 24 hours complete. Now that it is officially over, as you look back on this last week, how do you compartmentalize what happened on the final two games on your home floor? Well, first, I'm very, you know, I'm very happy to say we had a good season. We didn't finish it at home the way we wanted to, the way we've been playing at home for the last couple of years, which is disappointing. Yet I think you have to look at the overall picture. Ending up 21-10, 13 Big East wins.

Opportunity to get a buy in the first round of the Big East tournament and headed to a really hard game against Connecticut on Thursday at 2.30. The overall picture is good, not great. Yet we have an opportunity to make great because now everyone's 0-0 and it's 1-0 and done in the post-season. It is a new season. How do you straddle that line when you do talk to your men before you make the trip to MSG about, you know, the season that they had at large and being in the position that they're in versus also, hey, there's still unfinished business and work to be done? Absolutely. First of all, we're going to try to come off a two-game lose, you know, two-game losing streak.

You know, we're going to go down to a building we just played in less than a month ago at MSG. The energy and atmosphere for post-season is unlike any other. We spoke, you know, we spoke last week about how, you know, how energized you get when you go into the garden and how special it is to play in there and represent Providence College and try to compete for a post-season Big East championship. Before we look ahead to the Big East tournament today, some news out from the conference. Bryce Hopkins, the unanimous first team all-selection. Devin Carter, honorable mention as well. When you look at Hopkins 31 games in a Providence uniform, how do you assess how he's played so far for you? Well, I'm proud of how much Bryce has developed from day one.

You know, you know, he's come a long way. He's a multi-positional player. You know, I think he's dealt with some adversity and, you know, just being a go-to person and a key figure and a rotation. He had to adjust to that. Overall, I'm very pleased with it, but he still has a lot more in the tank. You know, and, you know, I think there's a lot of deserving players in the league for awards and I'd be remiss if I had to talk about the defense of player of the year. Hopefully that's still something that Devin Carter is in consideration for and I'll be shocked if he doesn't win that award.

As we touch a little bit more on Bryce, two of the last three games I think the most telling stat is he did not get to the free throw line once. When you look at that, when you have those conversations with him before you go to play Connecticut, how much is it about continuing to stay aggressive as a player, you know, like him who uses his body to get downhill and get to the basket? Yeah, you know, he's got to stay in attack mode. You know, he's got to stay in attack mode. He has to utilize his strength, his length, his athleticism and his power to overwhelm people, you know, off the bounce, you know, in the post, you know, ISOs that we run for him. You know, he's got to continue to stay in attack mode and so, you know, it's a long season, as we said, that went really fast and he has to continue to be the player that he wants to be to make Providence College very successful. And yesterday you said that your kids just didn't show up. At the end of the day, they are 18 to 23 year olds.

How is you? How do you as a coaching staff make sure that they do show up when those lights turn on? Well, you got to show them some film. You got to show them the things. I'm always somebody who shows what we did well, you know, because at any end of the day, that's what the kids want to see. But they also have to watch what we didn't do well, whether it's our energy, whether it's sharing the ball, defensive rebounding, you know, make no mistake about it. Our defense, the last two games, actually three out of the last four, four to the last five just hasn't been up to par with championship caliber basket ball. So, you know, that's on me to fix it. That's on our staff to, you know, continue to work at developing this group.

But right now it has to be just a small tweak and the biggest tweak is your energy you will and want. How much is that when you do look at those some of those defensive breakdowns? How much is it will and want and effort versus, you know, just tipping your cap to the other team? Sometimes they scheme up well against your weaknesses or make tough shots? Absolutely. I think it's a combination of both because you never want to take away from the team that had success. Give them all the credit in the world that they exposed us at whatever they tried to go at. So give them credit for that. And on the other side, you got to tell your players, we all watch film. We understand what people's weaknesses are.

And if they're pointing you out as a weakness, then how do we correct that? Either you're going to get better at it or we're probably going to have to replace and put somebody else in there to play extended minutes. All right, last one before we let you go. Yukon has won eight of their last nine. They've seemed to, you know, get out of that funk that they were in midseason. They really should be feeling confident as they come into this game here. What are some keys for you and your team in that quarterfinal round? Well, Connecticut has played great over the last two and a half, three weeks. You know, we went down to their place in the sold out crowd.

You know, they did a great job. They're very good in transition. They have, you know, two elite level first team, all conference players, but Jackson is to me one of the best athletes in the country. You know, Hawkins is a first round pick. I think he'll be early first round picks. Sunogo is really big. You've got to rebound against them.

You've got to play tough. You've got to play tenacious and you've got to play right now against what I think is the best team in the country that they're playing at. You've got to play against their confidence. So we have a hell of a game, but so does Connecticut. Connecticut's going to have a hell of a partner that, you know, we're going to compete, try to try to get us a win. All right, to 230 tip at Madison Square Garden Thursday afternoon on FS1. He's the head coach Ed Cooley and we will be back here on PC Hoops with Coach Cooley right after this.

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