Providence Friars

From Hoopedia

Providence College is a Catholic college in Providence, Rhode Island, the state's capital city. With a 2004-2005 enrollment of about 3,900 undergraduate students and about 900 graduate students, the college is known for its programs in the liberal arts and sciences. Founded in 1917, Providence College has been ranked by US News and World Report as one of the top two Regional Colleges in the Northeast for the past nine consecutive years. Furthermore, it is the only college or university in North America administered by the Dominican Order of Friars (Dominican College of California, Aquinas College of Michigan, and St. Thomas Aquinas College in New York all have Dominican heritage, but none is administered on a day-to-day basis by the Dominicans).

The school's men's and women's sports teams are called the Friars, after the Dominican Catholic order that runs the school. They are the only collegiate team to use the name. All teams participate in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big East Conference, except for the Men's and Women's Hockey program, which competes in Hockey East and the Men's Lacrosse program, which competes in the MAAC.

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Men's Basketball

The men's basketball team won the 1961 and 1963 NIT championship, arguably the national championship in those years, and participated in the 1973 and 1987 Final Four. Overall, the team has 15 NCAA basketball tournament berths and 16 NIT berths, as well as twenty four basketball All-Americans. Notable coaches of the team have included Joe Mullaney (the creator of the zone defense), Dave Gavitt, and Rick Pitino.

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