The Friar Podcast - Billy Ricci

Friar Family, I want to thank @CoachBHodgson for joining me for Episode 112 Loyalty and Authenticity are both very apparent in everything Coach does Excited to see all the offseason work take the court on Saturday! open.spotify.com/episode/0xw…

The Friars drop another one at Mohegan 67-58 My thoughts: 1. Friars were clearly searching for that go to guy on offense with Byrd in foul trouble 2. 18% from 3 feels like past Mohegan performances coming back to haunt us 3. Curious why we didn’t see much of Samson Aletan tonight

It feels like a lifetime ago PC beat Florida State and Notre Dame at Mohegan in 2014 LaDontae Henton had 24 and 38 in those back to back games That was when playing at Mohegan felt like an extension of home court Let’s get it back this weekend

Elijah Saunders… In Rhode Island speak is the kid who shows up to Hendricken or LaSalle and just automatically makes Varsity He was probably in sweatpants a couple of weeks ago and buried those two threes against Maine. I’m intrigued about his role going forward

Friar Family, @Kevin_Farrahar and I are back together again for a Maine win recap and a Nebraska preview Believe it or not it’s more fun to actually talk about a win…hope y’all enjoy open.spotify.com/episode/2Yj…

The Friars start the Hodgson era with a comfortable win over the state of Maine 83-56 My thoughts: 1. It’s Jacob Bannarbies world and we’re just living in it. 7-7 from the field and 10 boards 2. Miles Byrd 7 steals in his debut - brought a smile and a leadership energy from tip off 3. 39 bench points and 29 points off turnovers is great to build off of On to Mohegan…

100 years of Friar Basketball… It’s crazy to think I’ve seen a third of it myself but probably even more crazy 2/3s of it comes from watching old film of highlights. Above anything else the highs and lows of being a Friar fan rival some of the greatest roller coaster fandoms in all of sports. For every Dave Gavitt moment there was a Keno Davis one For every Rick Barnes moment poetically enough there was a Kim English moment For every Ryan Gomes moment there was the end of the Texas game… There were the Kris Dunn injuries before his rise to All American There was the beauty and heartache of the 1996-97 Elite Eight that could have been our third final four losing in OT to Arizona The 1973 and 1987 Final Fours were great and the first round tournament exits to Pacific and Dayton stung And of course there were the coaches that left us for “bigger and better jobs” - including our hometown hero who became a zero Ed Cooley… The point is if you’re like me, you wouldn’t trade the ups and downs of being a Friar fan for anything in the world. Because you can’t really experience the highest levels of joy like the 2014 Big East Tournament Championship or 2021-22 Big East Regular Season Championship without feeling the pain of Ricky Ledo or Dink Pate being ruled ineligible. Or Bryce Cotton coming up short in the game of his life against UNC. Some would say it’s all part of the plan, and I would say being a Friar fan isn’t for everyone but it’s always been for me. - Billy Ricci (Providence born, educated and forever grateful to be a Friar)