Dribbling Down the Providence College Basketball Lane - Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

Dribbling Down the Providence College Basketball Lane - Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

We have been enthusiastic fans for years, remembering the Gordie Holmes last-second mid-court shot in Alumni Hall on campus to beat Notre Dame and put The Friars on the basketball map. The shot propelled us into the future, and from that moment on, we were hooked on Providence College basketball. As undergrads, we traveled to Madison Square Garden to see the first National Invitation Tournament win, at the time a triumph that meant The Friars had reached the top.

Last week, our deep tradition continued as we, a group of Friar grads who have been lunching monthly for twenty-five years, reached another pinnacle. We dined in the environs of The College’s new, “second-to-none” athletic facility, the Ruane Center, with Steve Napolillo, the Athletic Director, and Kim English, the new head coach. It was a trip down two lanes: one memory, the other present. And what a journey.

The coach helped us understand some of the intricacies of the game, not just coaching, but details about the athletes and their ability to combine athleticism with culture, strategy, teamwork, and moments of individual brilliance.

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The game was different and easier to understand when we became initiates.  Now it is more fast-paced with stronger, quicker players. Word-of-mouth recruiting was long gone. It is so much more complicated, so much more rule-oriented, so much more following potential players at early ages. It was down to knowing the body mass index of the recruit, his arm span, his jumping ability, and on and on.

As I sat enraptured, I was thinking, “All I want to do is go to a game, look at the bench, and then be sure of the players.” I thought basketball was easy to understand . . .  you know . . . five guys, a weave, pass, layup,  get the rebound, etc. But today, the games start long before that.

But some things don’t change. Team play, highlight reels, slam dunks, behind-the-back passes, the coaching chess match, strategy, split-second decisions, and the drama, buzzer beaters, overtimes, intensity with electrifying moments of brilliance.

But this day at lunch, there was something different happening to us. The game was the game, but there was a change. The change was that we were more involved, or at least we thought we were. The coach looked at us as if we were on his team. He and the AD made us feel that way.

And if he could take a bunch of old-timers, and suit them up to sit on the bench, we were in!

What a day. We believed we were on that bench in that marvelous facility, with the coach and the athletic director making us feel special.  For years, we have been lucky. It just keeps getting better.

I’m not sure what I had for lunch, or that I even had lunch, but I had a certain feeling that I was walking out with a trophy. Hmmm . . . there’s the old gym. That’s where the energy began. Maybe I’ll try a jump shot.