3 potential bracket busters to watch this weekend

Providence Friars (21-12) | Tournament Odds: 200/1

The Friars have put together a season that could be described as impressive.

They’ve quietly strung together wins over top conference opponents including Xavier, Villanova, Creighton and Marquette. In those four marquee wins, they had three different leading scorers.

Friday night, in the Big East semifinals, Providence not-so-quietly stormed back from 17 down to beat a potential No. 1 seed in Xavier (for a second time this year). As they’ve been all season, the Friars were balanced and poised in the upset win. Four different players chipped in with at least 14 points and they forced seven second half turnovers to push the game to OT before outlasting the Musketeers.

Providence didn’t have many individual stat leaders, nor did it collectively lead many statistical categories in the conference. Senior guard Kyron Cartwright did however, lead the Big East in assists with just under six per game. The Friars’ offense starts with Cartwright facilitating and creating but he can also score. Putting up 11.6 a night, he was third on the team in scoring.

Fellow upperclassmen Rodney Bullock (14.2 points per game) and Jalen Lindsey (9.1 points per game), along with Cartwright, account for most of the team’s scoring. That being said, sophomore guard Alpha Diallo might be the team’s most valuable player. His 12.7 points were second most and he also led the team in rebounds. As a 6’7 guard, he creates mismatches at both ends of the floor.

This is Providence’s fifth straight 20-plus win season and will be their 5th straight tournament appearance under Ed Cooley. The Friars aren’t loaded with NBA talent and there’s a reason they have long odds. But there’s also a reason they’ve won three games against top-five opponents and will be playing a championship game Saturday in a conference that has no worse than two of the top six teams in college basketball.

They’re scrappy, they’ve been here before, they believe (and have proven) they can beat anyone, and you can’t beat them by shutting down one or two guys. They’re not going to be a final four team. As an 8-10 seed though, if they win their first round games, Providence is not a team any top seed can expect to walk over.