The 2008–09 Providence Friars men's basketball team represented Providence College in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

. The team finished with a 10–8 conference record and a 19–14 record overall. In March 2008, head coach Tim Welsh was fired by the school after finishing with a losing record for the third time in four seasons. In April,

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. His ...

head coach

Keno Davis Keno Emlen Davis (born March 10, 1972) an American basketball coach who is the head coach for the Flint United. He was most recently the men's basketball head coach at Central Michigan University. Davis was previously head coach at Drake Univers ...

replaced him; Davis was named the 2008

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

National Coach of the Year in his first and only season as a head coach at Drake. The Friars had previously been turned down by

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

head coach

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA ...

, who coached Providence to the 1987 Final Four, George Mason University head coach

Jim Larranaga Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim ...

, a Providence alumnus, and

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

head coach

Travis Ford Travis Ford (born December 29, 1969) is an American college basketball coach, who is currently the head coach of the Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball team. He was also previously the head coach at Campbellsville University, Eastern Kent ...

. Davis inherited all five starters from Welsh's final season with the Friars. However, prior to the season junior guard Dwain Williams transferred to

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

, while reserve forward Charles Burch was the team's lone departing senior. At home, the Friars twice defeated ranked opponents; on January 28 they defeated #15 Syracuse, and on February 24, the Friars knocked off #1

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, the first time the school had accomplished the feat since 1976. The Friars received votes in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

after each win, but were not ranked at any point in the season. Finishing with a 10-8 record in the Big East, the Friars began the 2009 Big East men's basketball tournament as an eighth seed, defeating DePaul in the first round before falling to top-seeded

in the quarterfinals. They missed the NCAA tournament for a fifth straight season and lost in the first round of the NIT to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Roster

Depth chart

Incoming recruits

Schedule

, - !colspan=9, Exhibition games , - !colspan=9, Non-conference games , - !colspan=9,

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

regular season , - !colspan=9, Big East tournament , - !colspan=9, NIT

Rankings

Awards and honors

References

External links

2008–09 Providence Friars men's basketball media guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Providence Friars men's basketball team Providence Friars men's basketball seasons Providence Providence Providence Providence