Providence started the game with a 14-5 run, but New Hampshire stayed at least within striking distance the entire half. The Wildcats took a two-point lead early in the second half, but Providence regained the lead and New Hampshire stayed right with Providence for a while. As the half went on it looked like the Wildcats wore down and Providence eventually built the lead up to 19 at one point.

Tuesday’s game was like several others thus far. The Friars have allowed some teams to hang around for much of the game before pulling away late. Their smallest margin of victory is five, an 82-77 win over Holy Cross late last month. While allowing teams to hang around is concerning, the ability to put teams away is not something minor, and head coach Ed Cooley said they work on this constantly in practice. The big message is to stay with the game plan down the stretch, and they appear to be doing that thus far.

“It doesn’t matter who scores, it doesn’t matter who passes it,” said Cooley. “At the end of the day, we just need positive results, and I’ve been proud of our guys in close games.”

Providence has won thus far with a balanced attack that has included players who some might not have figured to be in such roles before the season. Freshman LaDontae Henton has quickly made an impact, while sophomore Bryce Cotton has been the real discovery as he has broken out thus far. Henton posted his second straight double-double and third of the season on Tuesday, while Cotton has gone from averaging over 15 minutes to scoring 16 points per game. They are among four Friars who average in double figures, and while there’s not great depth, they haven’t needed it thus far. Getting Kadeem Batts back helps in a frontcourt that has question marks but has received a boost from the defense of Brice Kofane thus far.

The bigger thing behind the winning has been how they have won. Cooley has highlighted the team’s preparation and playing like a team increasingly as the season has gone along, after at first sounding like a coach who had his hands full.

“They continue to learn, continue to battle, they’re learning to play together a little more,” Cooley said.

The knock on what the Friars have done is that it hasn’t come against a group of world-beaters, and they have played just four of their 12 games away from the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Their best win thus far came against either one of Fairfield, a good team but not one sure to be in the NCAA Tournament, or South Carolina, who has not played well and whose coach may be on the hot seat. Both came on the road, and that is a plus considering the next three games are all away from home starting with Friday’s matchup against arch-rival Rhode Island.

Speaking of the Rams, Cooley talked about that game on Tuesday. The young Rams are struggling mightily, but they have two transfers that are now eligible and should make an impact right away. He also knows it’s a rivalry game, hence the records don’t matter, and has been on the other side of the rivalry as a former URI assistant.

“It’s a challenge that I think we need,” Cooley said, before alluding to their first two Big East games that follow. “It’s a challenge to help us prepare to go on the road at St. John’s. It’s a challenge for us when we go to Georgetown.”

The wins still can have a nice cumulative effect for this team. The Friars have built confidence by having something to show for their efforts on the bottom line. They have won games playing well, as well as when they haven’t played their best. They have also shown an ability to be more coachable.

All of that adds up to a significantly better start than just about anyone could have expected with this team. With Big East play around the corner, the question is if the confidence they’re gaining and the improvement they are showing will tell the tale, or if it will be told more by the competition going up a notch. Friday night’s game at Rhode Island will start to tell that story.

No one really keeps track of which conferences go the longest without a loss, but hoops pundits love to banter about which conference is tops in the game. The ACC hasn’t been part of that conversation for a few years now, despite claiming two of the past three champions and a contender or two for this year’s title.

As of this week, the ACC has North Carolina, Duke and Florida State in the top 25. No other team even received a vote from the pollsters. As Rodney Dangerfield often lamented, this conference doesn’t get any respect these days, with everyone focusing on Tobacco Road and ignoring most of the rest of the conference. That would be a mistake this season.

Already, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Virginia have flashed plenty of promise. They’ll need to bring down some of the big boys from conferences like the Big East, Big 12 and Big Ten before they rise into the public spotlight. That’s probably going to start happening in the next couple of weeks as the early season tournaments gain steam and more power conference squads go head to head.

When it’s all said and done this season, don’t be surprised if at least five different ACC teams spend some quality time in the top 25, and the conference once again joins the discussion as tops in the land.

We go coast to coast with other news from the college basketball nation.

• New Providence coach Ed Cooley and the Friars returned to his former employers at Fairfield Monday, and Providence escaped with a hard-fought 80-72 win, according to a CBS Sports.com report. The Friars’ head honcho had plenty of reason to feel emotionally torn after enjoying success in the MAAC in his first coaching gig and building strong relationships with players such as Rakim Sanders, writes Matt Norlander.
• UCLA suspended Reeves Nelson for bad behavior after the junior forward blew off a practice Monday and looked selfishly frustrated in the Bruins’ opening loss to Loyola Marymount, writes Peter Yoon for ESPN Los Angeles. The Bruins dropped their second consecutive game Tuesday when Middle Tennessee State handled the Nelson-less squad.
• After an 0-2 start, UCLA fans must be yearning for the golden age led by the legendary John Wooden. Those days are long gone, but Wooden — or at least a statue bearing his resemblance — will greet every player and fan entering the renovated Pauley Pavilion, Peter Yoon writes on ESPN.com.
• St. Bonaventure will play the rest of the season without forward Marquise Simmons, who tore his Achilles tendon against Cornell, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. The junior provided solid depth for St. Bonaventure, averaging about four points and rebounds per game last season.
• If “best” refers to most talented, CBS Sports.com’s Jeff Goodman explains why Kentucky, not North Carolina, is the best team in the country this season.
• No sleep till Brooklyn! The Beastie Boys can lend that motto to Kentucky and Maryland next year when the Wildcats and Terrapins meet in the first-ever Barclays Center Classic, to be held at the new arena under construction in Brooklyn, N.Y., according to the Associated Press.

Coleman started 29 of the 31 games he played in last season and was third on the team in scoring. As he is the second-leading returning scorer, he wouldn’t seem like a candidate to come off the bench, especially since the Friars don’t exactly have great guard depth. That would improve if the NCAA eventually clears Kiwi Gardner, but he is still a freshman. But there’s a reason new head coach Ed Cooley is doing this, and he arrived at it just before the season opener, although Coleman didn’t start both exhibition games.

“We need somebody to come off the bench and give us some firepower, and we think he can really score,” Cooley said.

Coleman did just that, leading the Friars with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 28 minutes in their season-opening 72-61 win over Fairleigh Dickinson. He led them in rebounding and had just one turnover, so it was all in all a good effort for the athletic sophomore. Saturday’s game wasn’t played at the fastest pace, which has often been a problem for him as he’s at his best when the game goes up and down but is often a different player when it’s a halfcourt game.

Two nights later, Coleman again played an integral role in the game, this time in a road win at Fairfield, Cooley’s former school. In 33 minutes, he scored 17 points to support the big game starters Vincent Council (26 points) and Bryce Cotton (24) had. The three guards combined to go 25-41 from the field.

The biggest adjustment for Coleman will be mental. Although it’s never easy from the standpoint of starters being perceived as the better players, it’s not likely that Coleman will have a problem as far as that goes. Character is not a concern with him, and he just wants to win. But the big difference will be the approach to the game.

A starter comes in knowing what he will want to do as part of the team’s game plan. A reserve, on the other hand, needs to study the game while on the bench to see how it is developing, and gets sent into the game often in response to what is happening on the floor. The reserve doesn’t know when the game starts what the game will be like when he takes the floor and will have no say in it since he has not been on the floor to that point. Adjustments have to be made by all players, but for a reserve it starts out that way.

Coleman understands the game enough to know that while he’s used to starting, he’s not being demoted. He’s simply being asked to play differently, and Cooley will demand that he defend better, something he’s very capable of doing. Coaches have come up with ways to de-emphasize starting, often mentioning finishing the game in addition to how many minutes someone plays or the scoring chances they get. Coleman may not need that to help with this.

“At the end of the game, whoever is in there, that’s pretty much who the coach trusts,” said the sophomore guard.

Coleman has started for a long time in the game of basketball, so there is an adjustment. Right now he appears to be doing well with it, and there’s little reason to think that will change. The Friars hope the bottom line doesn’t change in future games as well.

Now that we are a week into the 2010-11 college basketball season, the Big East started the day as one of four conferences that could say every one of their teams made it through the opening weekend without suffering a loss; the ACC, Big 12 and Mountain West are the others.

Although you would expect most of the Big East to make easy work of their early season cupcake opponents, the parity of college basketball that has become prevalent in recent years showed itself once again with some big-time programs needing some solid play to hold off so-called mid-majors.

St. John’s kicked off the BE season with a pair of wins against William & Mary and Lehigh last Monday and Wednesday, respectively. Both games weren’t all that convincing for St. John’s, however, the Johnnies leaned hard on sophomore Nurideen Lindsey and junior college transfer God’s Gift Achiuwa, and both answered with big games.

Let’s take a look at some of the other close calls.

Friday, Nov. 11:

West Virginia 78, Oral Roberts 71: The Mountaineers opened their season facing a stout Oral Roberts squad that was the preseason pick to win Summit League. Kevin Jones led four West Virginia players in double-digits with 20 points. Truck Bryant added 17 points, including the Mountaineers last eight.

Rutgers 62, Dartmouth 56: Another young team, the Scarlet Nights jumped out to an early lead, only to be matched by Dartmouth. Rutgers got their lead up to eight in the second halfbut couldn’t close the door completely, mostly due to their lack of ball security. The Scarlet Knights turned the ball over 16 times. Dane Miller led the way for Rutgers with 12 points.

No. 4 Connecticut 70, Columbia 57

No. 8 Louisville 83, Tennessee-Martin 48

No. 11 Pittsburgh 89, Albany 56

No. 21 Marquette 91, Mount St. Mary’s 37

Villanova 106, Monmouth 70

DePaul 91, Texas-Pan American 72

Saturday, Nov. 12

South Florida 61, Vermont 59: A close game throughout, South Florida’s lead was cut to a point with 10.5 seconds remaining. Shaun Noriega made the second of two free throws, giving the Bulls a two-point edge. Vermont’s Four McGlynn missed a game-tying layup with one second remaining and Matt Glass’ putback came after the buzzer, allowing South Florida to escape. SF’s Noriega led the Bulls with 17 points, and both Augustus Gilchrist and Victor Rudd Jr. had 12 points.

Seton Hall 75, St. Francis (NY) 71 OT: The Hall’s senior guard Jordan Theodore scored a career-high 25 points, including a game-tying bucket with a second remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime. Herb Pope was a force down low for the Pirates recording his first double-double of the season with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Trailing most of the game, Seton Hall scored the last six points of regulation and took over in the extra period to get their first win of the season.

No. Syracuse 78, Fordham 53

Georgetown 83, Savannah State 54

Notre Dame 80, Mississippi Valley State 67

Providence 72, Fairleigh Dickinson 61

Sunday, Nov. 14

No. 8 Louisville 68, Lamar 48: The Cards didn’t have much trouble with Lamar but took a major hit as Mike Marra went down with a torn ACL. He’ll miss the rest of the season.  The injuries woes continue for Louisville who has already dealt with Peyton Silva, Stephan Van Treese, Rakeem Buckles and Wayne Blackshear all missing time due to injury.

No. 11 Pittsburgh 86, Rider 78: The high expectations of Pitt this year could have taken a hit as they played a sloppy opener against Rider that required a 16-5 to end the game to give the Panthers their second victory of the year. Ashton Gibbs scored 24 points and Nasir Robinson added 22

No. 22 Cincinnati 65, Alabama State 40

St. John’s 82, UMBC 59

Monday, Nov. 15

Providence 80, Fairfield 72: In a game that pitted new Providence coach Ed Cooley against his former team, the Friars got a big game from Vincent Council, who had 26 points and seven assists, and Bryce Cotton, who scored 24 points. Although the win is a good building block for Providence, it probably put a dent in Fairfield’s NCAA Tournament hopes. Already with the tournament, you ask? Yup.

Notre Dame 59, Detroit 53: Without their leader and top returning scorer, Tim Abromaitis, the Fighting Irish found themselves in a dogfight with Detroit. The Titans’ Ray McCallum lit up the Irish for 20 points. With 14 minutes left, McCallum scored giving Detroit a 41-33 lead. ND answered with a 14-0 run and kept Detroit at bay the rest of the way.

No. 4 Connecticut 78, Wagner 66

No. 5 Syracuse 92, Manhattan 56

No. 21 Marquette 99,  Norfolk State 68

Georgetown 86, UNC Greensboro 45

South Florida 81, Marist 67

DePaul 80, Mississippi Valley State 70

Game to look forward to:

St. John’s vs. (16) Arizona, 11/17, 9:30 p.m., ESPN2: The Johnnies will have their tallest task of the season Thursday when Arizona comes into Madison Square Garden for the 2K Sports Classic. Sean Miller’s Wildcats have been far from convincing in their first three games, and this is the type of game that Lavin can get his guys up for, especially playing in the Garden where the Red Storm thrived last season.

Last Year:

15-17 overall, 4-14 Big East (14th)

Coach:

Ed Cooley (1st season, 92-69 at Fairfield Univ.)

Projected starting five:

G: Vincent Council, Jr.
G: Gerald Coleman, So.
F: LaDontae Henton, Fr.
F: Kadeem Batts, So.
C: Bilal Dixon, Jr.

Important departures:

Marshon Brooks 24.6 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 36.5 mpg
Duke Mondy 7.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg

Inside the numbers:

56 percent scoring returning
60 percent rebounding returning

Additions:

F: LaDontae Henton, 6’6”, 215 – ESPNU Pos. #47
G: Kiwi Gardner, 5’8”, 155 – ESPNU #55

Schedule:

Toughest nonconference game: 12/1 at South Carolina
Toughest in-conference stretch: 1/10 – 1/25 vs. (8) Louisville, at (5) Syracuse, vs. (21) Marquette, at (11) Pittsburgh

Prediction:

16th in BE; 10+ wins

What to expect:

The Friars are coming off an underachieving season that saw standout Marshon Brooks head to the NBA and coach Keno Davis chased out of town. Bilal Dixon and Vincent Council remain as the elder statesmen who plan to take Providence into the Ed Cooley era.

Council will be the leading scoring threat for the Friars this season, but Gerald Coleman should start in the backcourt and give him some offensive help. Down low, Dixon will pair with Kadeem Batts and either LaDontae Henton or Bryce Cotton.

Providence had no problem scoring last season, but their inability to stop a thing is what brought in Cooley and his defensive mindset. It may take some time for Cooley to get his run-and-gun team to buy into the defense-first philosophy, so don’t expect too much from the Friars this year.

Next: Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Back to Big East preview

Last season was a forgettable one in Friartown, at least once Big East play began. The Friars looked improved in non-conference play, especially defensively, but they did that against a weak schedule. That became apparent once they started losing games in Big East play en route to a 4-14 mark, which led to the end of the Keno Davis era and the hiring of Providence native Ed Cooley to take his place. Cooley’s hire brings excitement because of his track record and being a hometown hero, but the story doesn’t end there.

The areas for improvement are numerous. The most notable is at the defensive end, where the Friars allowed opponents to shoot nearly 45 percent from the field, including 47.5 percent in Big East play, and they were also out-rebounded badly in conference play although they had a slightly positive margin for the entire season. But they weren’t exactly stellar offensively, either, shooting just 42.4 percent for the season and having eight more turnovers than assists.

Much of that team is back, so the improvement will have to come from the same players that produced last season’s bad output. The only newcomers are true freshman LaDontae Henton and redshirt freshman Brice Kofane, with true freshman Kiwi Gardner awaiting an appeal to an NCAA ruling that his initial eligibility doesn’t meet NCAA requirements.

The Friars aren’t lacking backcourt talent with junior Vincent Council and sophomore Gerard Coleman projecting as the starters. They also return sophomore Bryce Cotton, but after him there isn’t any depth unless Gardner is ultimately deemed eligible. Cooley said there is no timetable for finding out the results of their appeal with Gardner’s eligibility.

The frontcourt has a few more bodies, but the jury is out on how much they will produce as there’s no one who strikes you as a solid post scorer. Bilal Dixon is the seasoned veteran, but he needs to be a better factor on the boards and still hasn’t been able to stay out of foul trouble consistently. He’ll be pushed by Kofane, who’s lanky but has potential as a complementary player, and Henton, who could be a nice player for them down the road. Lee Goldsbrough has been an intriguing talent and had some good moments in the exhibition game against UMass-Lowell, and sophomore Ron Giplaye will be in the mix as well.

There is also Kadeem Batts, who had his moments last year, but he’s also a symbol of another issue that plagues this team: intangibles. Cooley said after Saturday that Batts will be suspended indefinitely, “because right now I don’t feel he’s doing the right things off the court to earn his way on the court.”

The Friars have some talent but also some questions from a talent and experience standpoint. But the big concern will be intangibles. Cooley talked about having to coach effort and having to address toughness with this team, and those questions may linger. Not only that, but they need to show a better basketball I.Q. as a whole, something he talked about when noticing that they took just six three-pointers on the evening compared to what they’re trying to do offensively.

“Obviously, our strength isn’t three-point shooting, so we’re trying to get our guys stuff around the basket,” Cooley said. “We’re trying to use precision, meaning passing and cutting, and we’re not getting that.”

There is some excitement for the future in part because of the new coach, as well as what has happened in recruiting. The Friars have secured commitments from two of the top players in New England, hometown kid Ricardo Ledo and Connecticut native Kris Dunn. Both will give the Friars an instant boost of talent when they arrive next year. But for this season, it’s more likely that the Friars will look a lot like last year than a new team.

“We felt a little less pressure as a team from having knocked off Louisville,” head coach Keno Davis said. “We just focused on how hard we could play, and we’ve been doing that all year.”

The Friars started Big East play with six straight losses. At that point, one could figure their non-conference record was getting exposed, as they went 11-2 with losses only to La Salle in Cancun and at Boston College. They put up the gaudy record while looking very much like a changed team, one that could defend well after being dreadful at that end of the floor last season.

All night long, Providence contained the Villanova guards. In particular, seniors Corey Fisher (2-10 from the field, 0-4 on three-pointers) and Corey Stokes (2-16, 1-9) struggled all night long, scoring just seven points each. The Friars shut off their penetration, and neither tried to involve the Wildcat big men much. Although Maalik Wayns had 18 points on 7-15 shooting, he wasn’t a big factor. The shocking stat of the night was that Fisher had seven assists, considering the big men didn’t seem to get nearly enough touches inside.

Although Antonio Pena had 17 points and 15 boards, going 8-18 from the field, a fair number of his shots came outside the paint. But look at the other Villanova frontcourt players and it’s clear that they weren’t involved much. Mouphtaou Yarou was 1-6 from the field, Isaiah Armwood made his only shot in 13 minutes, and Maurice Sutton didn’t take a shot in nine minutes.

“We’ve had a lot of success with our guards controlling the game, and not tonight,” said Villanova head coach Jay Wright. “Their guards dominated the game.”

By shutting off the penetration, the Friars neutralized much of the Wildcat offense, and that also allowed them to go small once again. The Friars post players were in the game for a combined 44 minutes, meaning Marshon Brooks again played a good number of minutes at power forward. That enables them to run more when they get the chance, and they’ve had that chance lately.

“Once we believe we can actually close games, we’ve done a good job of it since,” said Brooks. “Our halfcourt defense has been very good over the last few days. When we get defensive stops, we can play our game, and that’s what got us the win. If they score on us, it’s hard to run.”

There hasn’t been any concern about the Friar offense, and that was still the case Wednesday as Brooks led five players in double figures with 20 points. Gerard Coleman has really hit his stride and had 16 points on 5-9 shooting, and looks more and more like the player he was billed as.

Providence now heads to Seton Hall to take on a Pirate team that is very capable offensively, although they will play a little differently. The Pirates like to shoot from long range, as opposed to Villanova where the guards will drive first. A year ago, this is a game that would have been a matchup of similar styles, where one could figure the score would be something like 95-92. Jeremy Hazell is back and playing well, giving them a formidable offensive team, so the Friars will have a stiff challenge and need a similar defensive effort. But recent games have changed the outlook for that.

“We know what losing feels like, we know what winning feels like,” said Coleman.

Two wins in a row will help make that challenge more manageable, especially considering who it came against. They beat a Louisville team that likes to push the pace and also shoot three-pointers, and then beat a Villanova team with a guard trio about as good as any in college basketball. Now that their efforts are being rewarded with wins, and they feel they can pull out a game late, the Friars’ confidence is likely about as high as it’s been all season to this point.

There was a feeling of relief in the locker room after they pulled out a game that got sloppy in the second half. All night long, the Friars never allowed the Cardinals to break the game open. Every time Louisville got up by more than five, it was short-lived as the Friars would respond with a couple of baskets in short succession to cut into the lead. In the second half, the Cardinals never led by more than the four-point halftime margin before the Friars took over in the final minutes, leading twice by seven in the final minute.

Providence knew that like many of Rick Pitino’s teams, this Cardinal team likes to shoot three-pointers and entered the game leading the Big East in made three-point shots. They held Louisville to 4-23 shooting from behind the arc, including 0-12 in the second half.

“We wanted to make them put it on the floor so they couldn’t do that.” said Gerard Coleman, who scored 19 points on 7-12 shooting.

For Coleman, as well as other Friars, this game was perfect in its speed as it went up and down. It wasn’t a game to be a big man, as Providence’s Bilal Dixon had no points and two rebounds in 15 minutes and Louisville’s Terrence Jennings had eight points and two rebounds in 17 minutes and was never a factor. Instead, it was a game for the likes of Coleman, a quick slasher who was a big factor in transition, and Marshon Brooks, who continues to have a terrific season.

“I think he’s a fast kid, one of the fastest kids in the Big East,” Brooks said of Coleman. “When he gets the ball in his hands, he just takes off.”

Coleman had a slow start this season, but has come along since the first couple of weeks. Head coach Keno Davis said he had a couple of his best practices leading up to Saturday’s game, further showing how players play the way they practice. The long and lanky wing is looking more and more like the player many projected him to be, and on Saturday he was very much in his element.

“Everybody knew it was going to be a fast game,” said Coleman. “We play fast anyway, so we just had to control our poise and play as a team, and that’s what happened.”

Brooks had a quiet first half, but exploded in the second half for 20 of his game-high 27 points. He was 6-8 from the field in the second half, including 4-5 from long range. The Friars have gone small at times and played him at the power forward spot, which can bring advantages since he’s much more athletic than most power forwards. They did that in the second half on Saturday. After the Cardinals appeared to scout him well in the first half, his teammates kept him going and it showed with the results.

“I think he’s the best scorer in the Big East, so I knew he was going to come around,” Coleman said of Brooks.

Much has been made of how inexperienced the Friars are. They are certainly more experienced now than at the start of the season, although they’re a ways from being the most experienced team in the Big East. This is still a team that starts one senior and four underclassmen, two of whom have redshirted. Brooks is certainly playing like a great leader and was a very deserving selection to the Wooden Midseason Top 30 list a couple of weeks ago.

Both Davis and his opposite number, Pitino, noted how this team was right there against St. John’s and Pittsburgh early on in Big East play. They lost both games. Davis has cautioned the fan base about this team’s inexperience, but can see them learning from what they have gone through. Still, breaking through with a win was the goal, and doing so could change something for this team.

“When we’re tied up with four minutes left, we believe we can actually win the game,” Brooks said.

Providence broke through on Saturday to finally get their first Big East win. To a man, they talked about how they can’t enjoy it for long because Villanova comes to town on Wednesday, so they know what lies ahead. But they can go into that and future games with what Brooks touched on, and for a young team that previously was seeing its efforts not result in wins, that can make a difference.

To be sure, the Friars haven’t exactly played a schedule full of world-beaters. Their strength of schedule is just barely in the top half entering this week, hence the 10-2 mark gets them an RPI just inside the top 60. But for a team with so little experience entering the season, the important things were to get better and ideally do that through wins, which is largely what has happened. The idea was for the team to build confidence by the time they reach the Big East at the end of the month.

“They knew that the non-conference part of our schedule was going to be very important, and yet demanding with so many games in so few days,” head coach Keno Davis said. “For a young team to be able to recover and come back and have the kind of effort they’ve had in just about every game is a real credit to the type of young men that we have in our program.”

Effort hasn’t been a concern save for some stretches of games. Additionally, this team is developing some depth, although a lot of it is young, and it has shown. The Friars have on several occasions turned a close game at halftime into a blowout in the second half, blitzing the opposition at some point in the latter frame. They are outscoring opponents by an average of 12 in the second half, including a 54-20 edge over Central Connecticut and a 52-30 margin against Brown.

“I think that’s why we’ve been successful in the second half of games this year, is we’re a deeper team,” Davis said.

This team continues to do it with defense as well, something no one would have figured after seeing this team last season. Opponents are shooting just over 40 percent and turning the ball over nearly 15 times per game against the Friars.

Most of all, this team has done it with so little practice time. Davis said the short times in between games of late has meant they haven’t really practiced over the last couple of weeks. He has limited the practice time so that players stay fresh come game time, instead opting for more film and walk-throughs. This has happened as they have started to face more zone defenses, which began in Cancun but has continued of late. Considering they don’t have anyone who strikes fear in opponents as a shooter, they may face more of it.

Few young players know how to attack a zone defense, a big reason Syracuse continues to have a great deal of success with its 2-3 zone defense. The Friars aren’t exactly shredding the zones they are facing, because they’ve managed to control the pace of the game, but they are managing well against it. Given the lack of real practice time with it of late, that’s a credit to how they are learning.

Perhaps the best example of the learning with this team came in Saturday’s 82-70 win over Alabama. There were times where it looked like Alabama might get its first road win of the season, but Marshon Brooks and Gerard Coleman carried them later in the second half as they took it home. It was three days after a tough but well-deserved loss at Boston College, one they almost stole when Vincent Council’s last-second heave went off the backboard and hit the rim but was too hard and fell harmlessly to the floor.

Wednesday night, it wasn’t hard to tell who was the veteran team and who was the young team. Boston College played with a good deal of poise, as they have most of the season thus far, while Providence looked like a young team learning the game. The Friars were impatient on offense, while the Eagles methodically moved the ball and got good shots, several coming at the end of the shot clock. A late run almost bailed them out.

On Saturday, they didn’t need that.

“We didn’t start playing until the last five minutes of the game,” Coleman said after scoring 18 points on 8-12 shooting against Alabama. “We didn’t want to make the same mistake twice, so we played with the same energy we played with the last five minutes of the BC game. If we do that, we could walk away with this game, and we did that.”

In particular, Brooks has played like a senior leader of late. He started and ended the three-game week with 33-point, eight-rebound outings and had 28 and 10 rebounds at Boston College mixed in. The Friars have at times gone smaller and used him at the power forward spot, and he’s done well in part because the opposing lineups haven’t always been big but also because he’s used his advantages.

“We were having a problem rebounding, so I just took it upon myself to get every rebound I could,” Brooks said after Saturday’s win.

Brooks added that he’s showing an extra gear in terms of offensive aggressiveness, and lately his confidence appears to be as high as it’s been. His aunt, who is a referee, told him to go to the rim, and he certainly did that on Saturday as he got to the foul line 16 times.

The Friars head into final exams on a good note. They are learning despite limited practice time, and they understood why they lost at Boston College. With one more non-conference game left, they’ll need to keep that up, because the Big East has proven its mettle in non-conference play and the Friars already saw what can happen to young teams there last year. This year’s team may be a little different, but it’s still young. Unlike last year’s team, this one appears to be learning and improving.

“After three games, we’re leading the Big East in field goal percentage defense, so if the season were to end today, we would win that title,” Davis said with a smile indicating there was some humor intended.

As he went on to note, it’s a bit early to anoint the Friars a shutdown defensive team. But thus far the numbers are nice to see if you’re a Friars fan, as opponents are averaging 54 points per game and shooting 29.7 percent from the field. For the first time since late in the 2003-04 season, the Friars have held three straight opponents under 60 points.

Clearly, this is not the same team as last year. That may be obvious for many reasons just by looking at the roster and seeing the nine freshmen, but it’s clear that the change is deeper than on the surface.

“We’re not the best defensive team in the Big East, and I don’t want our fans to think that I’m saying that,” Davis added. “But we are much-improved. I think the intensity, the effort, is something we were lacking last year.”

Indeed, talk to anyone in the program and that’s what you hear. Marshon Brooks, the team’s top player, admitted that even he didn’t play as hard as he could have played last year at the defensive end. That effort was certainly lacking in the halfcourt set, as the Friars had their share of success with the press. This year’s team isn’t loaded with players who are physically at their best for defending given the youth, but there’s a toughness element that was lacking last year.

“We’re playing harder,” said Brooks, who led the Friars with a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds. “I don’t think we played as hard as possible last year, but this team is playing really hard.”

Davis’ attempt to measure his words is understandable, and not just because someone would surely run with it otherwise. The sample size is obviously very small, and the Friars have played all three games on their home floor. Additionally, they haven’t exactly shut down the most dynamic offenses known to mankind. They did this against a Dartmouth team that didn’t have a double-digit scorer last year, a Yale team that lost its best scorer and recently lost a veteran post scorer, and a Morgan State team that has some newcomers to integrate in the lineup.

In all, it came against two Ivy League teams, neither of which is likely to be a contender, and a MEAC team that is a two-time defending champ and favorite again, but in a conference that’s not exactly loaded with great teams.

So one shouldn’t get too excited yet. But there’s still a lot of room to be positive because of how this has happened. Besides, the Friars could have simply dropped all three games or won them solely by out-scoring the opponent in a shootout. Instead, the defense is clearly better, which will bode well for them later.

Although Thursday night’s game was a blowout, it’s the kind of game the Friars likely would not have won last year. If they ever shot below 40 percent from the field, including a 1-16 showing from deep, the Friars would surely have lost. But they held Morgan State down in every major defensive metric: 30.6 percent from the field, 18 turnovers and a 51-40 edge on the glass.

“This year, we’ve got a team that can find other ways to win,” Davis said. “We’re not where we need to be in any facet of the game except for team effort, and our effort from each and every player on the court – they make the wrong decision sometimes or miss some three-point shots, as they did tonight – but I can’t fault their effort and I think they’ll improve very rapidly this season.”

The effort is the big reason for optimism and the new identity of this team. It’s translating into better defense, and this time around the idea that the team will improve as the season goes along may not be simply theory.