EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - As former Providence star and Brooklyn native Vincent Council goes through the NBA Draft process this spring, he can’t help but think a little about what could have been.

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound point guard averaged 15.9 points, 7.4 assists and 4.1 rebounds as a junior for the Friars to help raise expectations as a senior. Just five minutes into his senior season on Nov. 10 against NJIT, Council suffered a hamstring injury. He would miss 10 games, returning for the Friars’ final nonconference game against Brown, which means he was forced to dive right into Big East play five days later.

Had Council not gotten hurt early coming off that big junior year, maybe he plays even better, which could have possibly raised his draft stock and helped him to avoid the Nets Draft Combine. The two-day, 44-player event opened Wednesday morning and is typically reserved for mid or late second round-picks and players who figure to end up overseas. Council was obviously prefer to wind up in the former category as opposed to the latter.

“I think before I got injured, I was playing some of my best basketball,” Council told SNY.tv on Wednesday morning. “If I didn’t have to sit out for almost two months, rehab and then come right back into the Big East season instead of playing nonconference, it would have been better. But I think having to do that helped me mentally.”

Like many other participants on Wednesday, this was Council’s first time working out in front of NBA personnel. As the workout moved into live 5-on-5 play, he found himself matched up with one of the more intriguing names at the event in Matt Dellavedova. The 6-foot-4 Australian-born point guard out of St. Mary’s is the Gaels’ all-time leader in points (1,933), assists (778) and 3-pointers made (288) while also serving as the starting point guard for the Australian National Team, which advanced to the medal round at the London Olympics.

Dellavedova wound up being one of a few guys who left a very large impression on Wednesday thanks to his halfcourt play, specifically in the pick-and-roll and his decision making once the screen came. Council, though, more than held his own, leaving his own impression that some of his attributes would translate well to the NBA game, while others could still use some fine-tuning.

“He played very smart and he has an NBA handle, NBA passing ability,” a veteran NBA scout who was in the building told SNY.tv. “If you look at his percentages, his perimeter shooting leaves a lot to be desired, but he took it all in and played very well and very intelligently today.”

Council, who played for Lincoln High School and won a PSAL ‘AA’ title with third-year Indiana Pacers swingman Lance Stephenson, has the good fortune of being able to count former Friars star guard Marshon Brooks as a friend. Brooks, another high-scoring Big East guard during his tenure at Providence, just finished up his second season with the Nets and Council says he has not hesitated to pick Brooks’ mind for advice, not only on the draft process, but what life is like in the NBA.

“He says it’s been a humbling experience and that I just gotta keep working hard and hopefully get an opportunity,” said Council, who is represented by Pinnacle Management. “Only one team has to really like you for you to make it.”

After Wednesday, Council is slated to participate in ASM Pro Day, a one-day, 17-player event being held at Impact Basketball Skills Academy in Las Vegas on May 31. That event is being run by ASM Sports, which is based in Edgewater, N.J. Beyond that, no NBA workouts are scheduled, but the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats, Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic have called to inquire.

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NEW YORK

“If we don’t play in the NIT, our season is gone,” Cooley said following Providence’s 61-44 loss to Cincinnati in the Big East Tournament.

“I didn’t come to Providence College to play in another basketball tournament. If the standard is the NCAA, that’s the standard.”

Providence won seven of nine entering the Big East Tournament and harbored dreams of making an NCAA run.

They are now 17-14 and would appear to be a good candidate for the NIT.

“I thought our players did a tremendous job,” Cooley said. “I didn’t realize we started 0-3 to get to where we were to position ourselves to probably have success.”

A year from now, Providence could be a real force in the revamped Big East. Point guard Vincent Council is the lone senior on the roster, and the Friars will add transfers Carson Desrosiers and Tyler Harris, while Ricky Ledo is expected to be eligible, assuming he doesn’t leave and go pro.

“This is God’s basketball here in the Big East and it’s unfortunate, the things that have happened,” Cooley said. “Embrace change and look forward to a better future.”

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By BRENDAN McGAIR

Special to ZAGSBLOG 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – As difficult as it can be for a team on the rise to get up for a perceived weaker sister, Providence made sure not to let its guard down Wednesday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

Seton Hall certainly tried to provide a challenging test – the Pirates drop to 3-14 in the Big East after going down by a 76-66 count – but PC did to them what good teams do to bad ones. By taking care of business against one of the conference’s bottom dwellers, the Friars stand at 9-8, a mark equaled by Villanova for seventh-best in the league.

Based on sweeping the season series with the Wildcats, the Friars would enter the Big East Tournament as the No. 7 seed. Such a ranking would earn Ed Cooley’s club an opening-round game at Madison Square Garden against Cincinnati. The Bearcats – 8-9 heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale against South Florida – would be the No. 10 seed.

Speaking of the Bulls, they appear ticketed to lock horns with the Pirates when the curtain goes up on Big East tourney play next Tuesday night.

Wednesday saw Providence redshirt junior Kadeem Batts continue to state his case as to why he would be named Big East Most Improved Player. The burly forward stood toe-to-toe with Seton Hall man child Eugene Teague to deliver a game-best 27 points and 12 rebounds.

As a sophomore, Batts averaged 6.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in 19.7 minutes. Prior to taking the floor against the Pirates, his numbers stood at 14.8 ppg and 7.0 rebounds nearly 31 minutes.

“Clearly he’s the most improved player in our league,” said Pirates head coach Kevin Willard, whose team was without suspended big man Kevin Johnson.

Vincent Council flirted with a triple-double in his final Friar home game, finishing with 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds. The Big East’s all-time leader in assists received three separate standing ovations from the crowd, including one with 19.9 seconds remaining when Cooley removed his starting point guard.

“Over the past couple of days I talked to the guys about making sure we send Vincent out on a high note,” Cooley said.

Added Batts, “I’ve never played with a point guard that great, so that’s why we wanted to get this win.”

Despite humming along on offense, PC was up just 44-36 at halftime after allowing Seton Hall to shoot a blistering 55.6 percent in opening 20 minutes. Things turned in the Friars’ favor dramatically as the Pirates found the sledding tough, firing at a frosty 31-percent clip during the second half to finish the contest at 42.9 percent.

“They had a lot of easy looks in the first half, so we wanted to make sure we took away the three and played tough inside,” said Batts.

On that note, Seton Hall scored just 10 points in the paint over the final 20 minutes after torching PC for 22 in the opening stanza. The Friars held the Big East’s top 3-point shooting outfit to 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) from downtown.

“I thought they did a good job of putting a little more pressure on us in the backcourt. I thought our shot selection was good, but it wasn’t as good in the first half,” Willard said.

The Friars dabbled in double-digit leads in the first half and then again in the second, but it took until the final three minutes to put the Pirates down for good. Council applied the dagger when he sprinted into the frontcourt before kicking the ball to Bryce Cotton. The junior buried a trey that made it 74-64 PC with just over two minutes remaining.

Fuquan Edwin was one of five Seton Hall players to hit for double figures, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting. Teague added 13 points despite picking up his fourth foul with eight minutes remaining.

The win is PC’s seventh in eight tries with only a trip to Connecticut Saturday remaining in the regular season. Seton Hall now turns its attention to a New Jersey showdown with Rutgers on Friday night.

Photo: USA Today Sports

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By BRENDAN McGAIR

Special to ZAGSBLOG

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Steve Lavin has a message for the Big East – one regarding the Providence College squad that squeezed out a last-second 62-59 win over the D’Angelo Harrison-less St. John’s Red Storm Saturday night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

“They are the hottest team in our league other than Georgetown,” was the tip of the cap extended by Lavin, whose team’s NCAA Tournament chances took a major hit with the loss.

Given up for dead after ending January with a 2-7 conference record, PC reversed its fortunes in February with five wins in six opportunities. With the calendar flipped to college’s basketball most pulsating and heart-stopping month, the Friars kicked off March by evening their Big East mark at 8-8 – same as St. John’s and Cincinnati.

If the Big East Tournament kicked off today, PC would enter as the No. 8 seed based on tiebreakers. St. John’s would be the ninth seed followed by Cincinnati at No. 10. If Providence can win its final two games – Tuesday at home versus Seton Hall and Saturday at Connecticut – it would head to New York City with 10 conference victories against eight defeats.

Such an accomplishment didn’t seem possible two months ago when PC was in the midst of a five-game losing streak that featured stinging losses to Brown and DePaul. As head coach Ed Cooley pointed out, the Friars have come a long way in a relatively short period of time.

“I didn’t realize that we started the year 0-3 in the league until someone just told me,” Cooley said. “It’s a credit to the guys and their perseverance and believing one another … it’s the little things that help you win and I thought it’s the little things that got us over the hump (on Saturday).”

It doesn’t hurt to have a weapon like Bryce Cotton in the arsenal. A leading candidate for First-Team All-Big East honors, Cotton netted 19 of his game-high 24 points in the second half. The junior sniper was at his best down the stretch, scoring 16 of PC’s final 20 points that was highlighted by a rare four-point play sequence that put Providence up for good, 57-55, with 3:46 remaining.

“Even if you contain him for stretch, he’s always about to get hot,” said Lavin about Cotton coming to life after managing five points on 2-of-7 shooting in the first half. “He’ll start torching the nets.”

Lavin said that not much separated his team from Providence, and to a degree he was right. The second half featured four ties and 11 lead changes with St. John’s having several chances late to tie the game.

Trailing 61-59 inside 10 seconds remaining, Sir’Dominic Pointer made a move down the lane that featured plenty of contact but no whistle. After Cotton made 1-of-2 at the free-throw line, the Red Storm took over with 8.3 seconds left. With PC’s pressure-defense functioning at a high level, the best St. John’s could hope for was an off-balanced 3-pointer by prized freshman JaKarr Sampson. The bid was not even close to being on target as the final horn sounded.

Sampson finished with 22 points on 9-of-20 shooting with Pointer contributing 13 points and 10 rebounds. Aiding PC’s cause was redshirt junior Kadeem Batts, who had 15 points and nine rebounds.

Naturally, Lavin was asked if having Harrison down the stretch would have helped St. John’s chances. The talented but troubled sophomore guard was suspended for the rest of the season Friday. “What I try to do is coach the kids I have. D’Angelo has been suspended and this is the group I’m coaching,” said the coach. “I’m not thinking about outcomes when I’m coaching this group of kids. This is my basketball team right now and I’m moving forward with this group.”

St. John’s swings back into action Tuesday night at Notre Dame before closing out the regular season Saturday at Madison Square Garden against Marquette.

Photo credit: Jim McIsaac

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Ed Cooley and the Friars picked up point guard Kris Dunn, a McDonald’s All-American, and forward Sidiki Johnson, an Arizona transfer who is a mercurial talent.

In his debut after missing the first part of the season with a right shoulder injury, Dunn tied a freshman school-record with 13 assists in a 79-45 rout of Colgate at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. He added seven points and six rebounds in 27 minutes for the Friars, who wore green jerseys that read “Sandy Hook” on the back in honor of the 26 shooting victims in Newtown, Conn.

The 6-10 Johnson out of Harlem had eight rebounds, four points, three blocks and three turnovers in 16 minutes.

Junior guard Bryce Cotton led the Friars (8-2) with a game-high 21 points, including five 3-pointers. He entered the game as the top scorer in the Big East at 20.8 points per game.

Freshman Josh Fortune had 17 points and shot 7-of-10 from the field. Sophomore LaDonte Henton notched his fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Henton has 14 double-doubles in his career.

Providence could also get point guard Vincent Council, a preseason All-Big East first-team pick from Brooklyn, back from a hamstring injury for Saturday’s game at Boston College.

While Cooley won’t have scoring sensation Ricky Ledo until next year because he’s sitting out as a partial qualifier, the additions of Dunn, Johnson and Council are tantamount to adding impact players at the trade deadline.

While Louisville and Syracuse figure to end up 1-2 (in some order) in the Big East standings, watch out for the Friars going forward.

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How depleted are they?

So depleted that the most interesting game between the two teams might be a hypothetical three-on-three contest between each team’s best unavailable players.

Consider that Rhode Island (2-6) has transfers Gilvydas Biruta (Rutgers), Jarelle Reischel (Rice) and DeShon “Biggie” Minnis (Texas Tech) sitting out this year per transfer rules.

Providence (6-2), meantime, has All Big-East preseason pick Vincent Council (hamstring), Ricky Ledo (partial qualifier), Kris Dunn (shoulder injury) and Sidiki Johnson (transfer) sitting for various reasons. The 6-10 Johnson, an Arizona transfer from Harlem, is set to debut Dec. 18 against Colgate.

“Obviously, I’m not concerned with the guys that are not playing,” Providence coach Ed Cooley told SNY.tv. “I think those guys have a chance to be good. I’m more focused in on the guys that are playing.”

The status of Providence junior guard Bryce Cotton, the team’s leading scorer at 22.1 points per game, is also unclear after he twisted his knee while landing after a 3-point shot in the first half of Saturday’s win over Mississippi State.

“The MRI was good, now he’s just really, really sore,” Cooley said. “He’ll be doubtful, he probably won’t play.”

Without Cotton, the Friars have just five scholarship players and one walk-on.

“Think about it, I got one sub right now,” Cooley said.

First-year Rhody coach Dan Hurley, who shares a mutual respect with the Providence coach, has it good compared to Cooley. He has nine scholarship players on his roster, eight of whom are in the rotation.

Yet the bulk of the scoring is done by four guys — Xavier Munford (18.9 ppg), Nikola Malesevic (12.7 ppg), Andre Malone (10.4 ppg) and Mike Powell (8.1 ppg).

“People could make jokes about our rosters for this year’s game but it’s going to be a national game shortly,” Hurley said of the Providence rivalry. “And on Thursday night there will be two teams that play as hard as anyone in the country.”

It’s hard not to look ahead to the potential for both teams next year, and Cooley agreed that things should be different when the mentioned guys above all get healthy and/or eligible.

“I think both teams take a dramatic step in a different direction as far as just the amount of players we have on the court,” Cooley said, “let alone the talent level.”

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Austin picked the Friars over Texas and UConn.

“I liked the school, the community, the team, the coaching staff, all that,” the 6-foot-5 Austin told SNY.tv last month after his visit to the Big East School.

“[Coach Ed Cooley] said I would come right in and play up and down. Give me the ball [and] try to build a team around me and Ricky Ledo and Kris Dunn.”

Sources said Providence plans to play two point guards, Dunn and Austin, at times together in what will be a loaded backcourt.

“Him and Coach Cooley have developed a pretty good relationship,” Lonnie Lowery, Austin’s AAU coach, previously told SNY.tv.

“Just as far as how he thinks he can help him and help him develop, Brandon is very receptive to it. People have tried to negative recruit by saying they have Kris Dunn and Ricky Ledo. If they have those three [next year], they will be pretty good.”

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“It was pretty good,” the former Penn State commit told SNY.tv Sunday night.

“I liked the school, the community, the team, the coaching staff, all that.

“[Coach Cooley] said I would come right in and play up and down. Give me the ball [and] try to build a team around me and Ricky Ledo and Kris Dunn.”

The 6-foot-6, 175-pound Austin is listed as a small forward, but he says he’s a combo guard who can play the point.

“I’m a point guard,” he said. “I played the wing. I’m a point guard.”

Next up is a visit to UConn this coming weekend, and Austin said the Huskies are also recruiting him as a point.

“Basically the same thing,” Austin said. “Give me the ball, come right in and play. I just gotta get more information when I visit.”

He’s not familiar with the players at UConn, though.

“I really don’t know nobody on that team,” he said “I look forward to bonding with somebody up there.”

Austin is also considering Texas, UCLA, Georgetown, Syracuse and Xavier and has no timetable on when he might commit.

“I’m not sure. yet,” he said. “It’s a feeling thing, how I’m feeling on a certain school.”

There has been some talk of Austin and fellow Philly native Rysheed Jordan going to school together, but UCLA and Syracuse are the only schools that overlap. Jordan visited Syracuse this weekend for Midnight Madness.

Lonnie Lowery, Austin’s AAU coach, recently told SNY.tv he hasn’t heard much from Syracuse and UCLA in recent weeks.

“I’m not pushing that [playing with Jordan] to be my main priority but if it happens,” Austin said, “it happens.”

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“It went good,” the 6-foot-2, 200-pound shooting guard from Brewster (N.H.) Academy told SNY.tv Sunday. “They have a nice gym. They said I would be a go-to guy, like a scorer.”

Patterson said he likes head coach Ed Cooley’s approach.

“He has a real posiitve attitude about my recruiting process,” Patterson said. “He recruits hard, he’s real cool. He’s different than other coaches.”

Patterson said he’s also considering Xavier, Villanova, SMU, Florida State and Syracuse and said he holds offers from all of them.

He heads to SMU for an official visit Wednesday.

Asked what he knows about SMU, Patterson said, “Larry Brown’s the coach.”

Patterson has already visited Xavier officially.

He said he has no timetable for announcing and could wait.

“I might wait till the spring,” he said.

Wherever he goes, he plans to bring, “A lot of defense and a lot of offense.”

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Bullock told SNY.tv he chose the Friars over Clemson, Xavier and Old Dominion.

“I think it fits my style of play and I’m going to bring lots of versatility,” he said.

Bullock, who averaged about 19 points and 9 rebounds last season, is ranked the No. 30 power forward in the Class of 2013 by Rivals.com.

“He’s a four guy who can do a lot of three things,” said his high school coach, Ivan Thomas. “He’s a multidimensional player. He can guard maybe a two, three and four and can play a two, three and four at times. He’s a 6-7 kid who can do a lot of things.”

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