Providence coach Ed Cooley is 'surprised' and hopeful over Friars' strong start

Providence — picked to finish ninth in the Big East in the preseason coaches poll — has started 8-2 on the young season, including a win over then-ranked Rhode Island and its only losses to No. 13 Virginia and Ohio State. We recently caught up with Friars head coach Ed Cooley.

FOX Sports: How pleased are you with the outcome of the season so far?

Ed Cooley: I am, I’m surprised, I’m really happy for our guys who are trying to buy in and find an identity, sharing the ball, I think our camaraderie is good. You don’t want to get too excited because you have a long way to go, but in the short term, I’m definitely surprised at how quick our group is coming together.

FS: How hard has it been to replace Kris Dunn (drafted by the NBA's Timberwolves)?

EC: Kris and Ben [Bentil] were the identity of our organization and this team has totally gone away from that in a way that’s more systematic, group effort, where they just love being around one another.

(Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports)

FS: At Big East media day you predicted that Kyron Cartwright would be the most improved player in the Big East. Although league play hasn’t started, do you think he’s lived up to that type of statement this early in the season?

EC: I think he is. I think there are a lot of players getting better in our league, but again being very biased I think he’s been one of the most valuable players for our team for what we’re trying to get because he knows what we’re trying to do.

FS: Rodney Bullock averaged 11 points a game last season. He’s up to 21 this season. Did you see this type of improvement coming?

EC: Honestly, I did. He differed a lot to Ben and Kris and it was his first year of playing college basketball, so you know if there was a most improved player in the league right now it would definitely be Rodney.

FS: For this team to reach it’s full potential, what do they need to do going forward?

(Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports)

EC: We could handle the ball a little bit better. In the half court, we got to execute. And honestly we just got to continue to improve. If we continue to improve and trend up, we’re going to find ourselves in a lot of good games.

FS: You all are shooting around 41 percent from three. Did you think that would be a strong point?

EC: I thought we had some shooters. I think keeping Kyron aggressive because we want him to shoot the ball, but Jalen [Lindsey] we recruited as a shooter, Ryan [Fazekas] we recruited as a shooter. But the biggest surprise has been Emmitt Holt being able to stretch the floor from the 5 position.

FS: You’ve talked about changing your identity. How hard is that?

EC: It’s hard. But our team is turning into a more fundamental and defensively sound team, and we’re going to need that in order to continue to improve.

DANJEL PURIFOY’S DEVELOPMENT

(Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports)

On Monday during Auburn’s pregame shootaround for their matchup with Boston College, I spent some time talking with Bruce Pearl about his team. During that conversation, we discussed Danjel Purifoy, specifically about his development and how far he’s come over the last two years.

Pearl raved about Purifoy’s improvement. After sitting out last season, Purifoy has been a star for the Tigers, averaging 16.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and three assists a game.

In the loss to the Eagles on Monday, Purifoy scored 27 points on 8-for-14 shooting, including 4-for-7 from three-point range. That was the fourth time in eight games that Purifoy had hit three or more three-pointers.

That’s notable because in high school, Purifoy was known for his slashing and athletic ability, not his shooting. In fact, he would have been classified as a well below average shooter for most of his high school career.

Then his senior season at Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy, Purifoy started to show improvement. I watched him twice that season and he made shots each time, but I thought it was more fool's gold than anything. Turns out, I was wrong.

Since that season, Purifoy has steadily improved his shooting and developed his all-around scoring attack. On 49 attempts this year, Purifoy has made 20, putting his three-point percentage just under 41 percent.

NOTES

(Aykut Akici/EB via Getty Images)

— Mark Gottfried will get Omer Yurtseven eligible on Thursday when the Wolfpack play against Appalachian State. Yurtseven was docked nine games by the NCAA due to his professional ties overseas. Yurtseven is a former five-star recruit and a standout from Turkey that opted to come to the United States to play at NC State instead of signing what could have been a very lucrative professional contract in his home country. The 6-foot-11 post player is expected to make an immediate impact for NC State.

— Mid-year transfers are starting to add up. On Monday, Sam Cunliffe opted to transfer from Arizona State. Cunliffe was a top-50 prospect and the highest-rated prospect of the Bobby Hurley era. To go with Cunliffe, former four-star recruit Harry Froling opted to transfer out of SMU, junior Isaac Copeland is leaving Georgetown, Yankuba Sima will transfer from St. John’s and Camron Justice is leaving Vanderbilt.

— There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding Villanova starting guard Phil Booth’s knee injury. Jay Wright told FOX Sports late Monday evening that he is “still a few weeks away” from returning. Booth had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee back in May. After playing the first three games for the No. 1-ranked Wildcats, Booth has missed the next seven. Remember, Booth led Villanova in scoring with 20 points in the national title game this past April.

(AP Photo/AJ Mast)

— Indiana coach Tom Crean told FOX Sports that OG Anunoby is expected to play on Saturday against in-state rival Butler. Anunoby injured his ankle in the Hoosiers' big win over North Carolina two weeks ago. Anunoby, who averages 12.5 points and six rebounds a game, was actually cleared to play against Houston Baptist this past Saturday, but Crean held him out for precautionary measures.

— One of the best available high school prospects, Trevon Duval, told me on Saturday at the National High School Hoops Festival in Washington, D.C. that he has a list of five potential colleges and is gearing up to take his official visits at the beginning of the year. Duval is considering Arizona, Baylor, Duke, Kansas and Seton Hall. Duval is regarded as the No. 1 point guard prospect in the 2017 class.

— Another recruit getting a lot of attention right now is Hamidou Diallo. The senior at Putnam (Conn.) Putnam Science Academy graduated high school last spring, but opted to do a post-graduate season. Because of that, he technically could apply for the NBA Draft this coming June, despite still being in high school. Over the weekend, with a handful of NBA scouts looking on, Diallo scored 29 points on 13-for-19 shooting. At this point, Diallo is likely headed to college, but the option does remain. Diallo’s school list consists of Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky and Syracuse.