It started in Ed Cooley’s second season at Providence, when Kris Dunn separated his shoulder in the offseason, Vincent Council injured his hamstring in an exhibition game, and freshman Ricky Ledo was deemed academically ineligible.
The following year saw the Big East title return to Providence, albeit without Dunn and freshmen Rodney Bullock and Brandon Austin — all expected to be critical pieces in what would have been an impressively deep team.
The years passed, the challenges continued (the late transfers of Josh Fortune and Paschal Chukwu, the knee injury to top 100 big man Alex Owens come to mind), but Cooley just continues to win.