BIG EAST RECRUITING UPDATE: PROVIDENCE

February 19, 2009


VERBAL COMMITMENT ALERT: Russ Permenter, 6-foot-9 PF from Temple (TX) College

Keno Davis continues to re-shape the future Providence basketball roster as Russ Permenter Commits to Providence (Providence Journal) following a weekend visit to the school for their game with Rutgers.



Projected 2009-2010 Roster


Seniors: Sharaud Curry (PG), Brian McKenzie (SG)
Juniors: Jamine Peterson* (F), Marshon Brooks (G), Alex Kellogg (F), Kyle Wright (G/F), Russ Permenter (PF)
Sophomres: Bilal Dixon** (F)
Freshmen: Duke Mondy (G), Kadeem Batts (PF), James Still (C), Johhnie Lacy (PG), Vincent Council (PG)


Notes:
* Expected to redshirt the 2008-2009 season which would place him as a sophomore on the 2009-2010 roster

** possible 2008-2009 redshirt which would place his as a freshman on the 2009-2010 roster



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The Providence Friar recruiting class is now seven deep with the latest addition of 6'9, 235-pound forward Russ Permenter of Temple (TX) College. Permenter is a product of Temple (TX) High School and spent his freshman season at the University of Texas-San Antonio before coming back home for his sophomore season. At Temple College, Permenter was leading the Leopards with 18.9 points a game and also 8.5 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game.

A preseason hand injury limited Permenter's freshman season at UTSA to just 14 games, averaging just over 3 points a contest. At one time, Permenter was committed to TCU, but reopened his recruitment and chose UTSA.

Back Home in Temple, Permenter Hoped a Big Season Created a Second Division 1-A Shot (Temple Daily Telegraph) and it worked well as he is headed to the Big East. Permenter also had interest from Pepperdine, Santa Clara, South Alabama, Idaho, Tennessee-Chattanooga and Gardner-Webb while Penn State had begun to call as well.

So while Davis Adds yet Another Recruit in the 6'9 Permenter (Providence Journal), making seven in the class, things look to be finally completed in the PC class of 2009 with five incoming frosh and two JUCO transfers.

One of the quickest ways a new coach can resurrect the program he inherits and increase the of success is finding the perfect point guard to run his system. Keno Davis believes he has succeeded in such a quest by adding two candidates now in the 2009 class to fill that role. Back in early January, the first year PC head coach received a verbal commitment from Brooklyn native Vincent Council and, along with the last minute signing of Johnnie Lacy in the early signing period, the Friars should have their backcourt of the future.

Council has been gaining more and more recruiting interest as a prep student at the Patterson School in North Carolina. Playing for coach Chris Chaney at the high profile school, Council picked up serious recruiting interest from Rutgers, UCF and Arkansas.

Council is a tough point guard with good size for the Big East in the typical NYC point guard mold. Council previously attended Lincoln HS in NYC where he was a tammate of Lance Stephenson, among others, on a very highly successful team.

The addition of Lacy and Council had made it pretty clear that Antoine Allen, who was verbally committed to the Friars through the summer, is not part of the Future plans for PC. As the signing period passed, it was noted by Allen's prep coach at Notre Dame Prep that he had academic work to accomplish before he could think about signing a commitment with a school. Allen then left Notre Dame Prep and in recent weeks, he has de-committed (publicly) and is now committed to Miami.

Lacy, a native of Milwaukee (WI) is a jet-quick point guard that is finishing up his prep career at, incidentally, Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg (MA). In the uptempo attack that Davis hopes to install with the Friars, having a point guard with the jets that Lacy possesses is a must. Lacy will be asked to push the ball and find the shooters on the wing that Davis will hope to have lined up for him, similar to the attack he used at Drake last season. Over the summer, Lacy played very well for the Playground Elite AAU team and had been hearing from schools such as Tennessee, Marquette, Minnesota, Purdue and Cincinnati during the recruiting process.

Council and Lacy offer a different skill set and compliment each other in their style, so they could play together in the future backcourt.

The recruiting action around the Providence Friar program happened fast and furious this past fall as Keno Davis locked up four other commitments for the class of 2009. Prior to Lacy and Council, Detroit big man James Still was the latest addition to the program. Still is a 6-foot-10 center from Community High School in Detroit and averaged over 14 points and 12 rebounds as a junior. Still visited PC back in September and chose the Friars over Duquesne and Detroit. Still is an athletic big man that is very comfortable running the floor and stepping away from the basket.

Still needs to get stronger to battle in the paint in Big East match-ups. He has a lot of potential because of a high skill level and the ability to move well at 6'10. His best days are certainly ahead of him on the basketball court.

Just prior to Still, Monroe College wing Kyle Wright, who originally began his career at Stony Brook and spent last year as a redshirt with Colorado, committed to PC. Wright previously prepped at Brewster Academy where he played for coach Jason Smith at the New England prep power.

After Brewster, Wright spent one season at Stony Brook where he averaged just under three points a game, appearing in 23 contests and averaging nearly 11 minutes a game. Wright is a skilled backcourt player that has versatility and can shoot it from long range, a skill that fits well in Keno Davis' preferred system. for more on Wright, see the story on the Newest Friar: Kyle Wright.

Earlier this fall PC got a little bigger by receiving a verbal commitment from Kadeem Batts out of Powder Springs (GA) while he was on an official visit to the school. In the July evaluation period, Batts turned heads playing for the Smyrna Stars and had several high-major schools checking him out. The NBE Basketball Report was impressed with Batts' play this summer on Wednesday at the Reebok All-American Camp where he showed the tools necessary to compete in the Big East. Batts is athletic and with a strong body can mix it up inside on the boards and defensively he can block and alter shots. He also showed his offensive game is coming around as well, too.


The commitment from Batts came just a week after another commitment from a campus visit came from Michigan native Duke Mondy. Mondy is a 6-foot-3 guard out of Catholic Central High School in Grand Rapids (MI). As a junior, Mondy averaged about 15 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists for coach TJ Carnegie at Catholic Central and his Coach Had Nothing but Praise for Mondy on and off the court.

Mondy had already been familiar with coach Davis prior to him taking the PC head coaching job last April as Davis was recruiting Mondy to Drake, where he was previously the head coach. Mondy decided on Providence over Western Michigan and also had offers from Ohio, Toledo, Central Michigan and others.


The Friars are also keeping a watchful eye on the class of 2010 as interest has been evident in players such as NYC's David Coley, BF Carson Desrosiers of Lawrence (MA), Evan Smotrycz of the New Hampton School, Tilton School guard Gerard Coleman and small forward Shaquille Thomas, now at Mountain State Academy.

The current PC staff, led by hard-working assistant Pat Skerry, have been working the New England prep schools really hard and recently welcomed Coleman, Smotrycz, class of 2011 guard Naadir Tharpe of Brewster Academy and highly regarded 2012 recruit Nerlins Noel of Everett (MA) High School who already stands 6'8, to campus when PC played DePaul in a Big East conference match-up.

Desrosiers and Coleman seem to be getting the most attention from PC in the class of 2010, according to a recent Providence Journal article. Desrosiers was expected to visit recently as well, but was ill.

With many positions open to fill, we expect the PC recruiting news to be plentiful this fall as Keno Davis looks to make his mark on the Providence program and Big East recruiting battles. We will follow these stories closely as they begin to develop.