Here's Why I Was Cheering For Providence Yesterday

Obviously, the story of Doug McDermott winning the Big East tournament in his one trip through the league would have been a pretty great story. But it wasn't one that I really found myself invested in at the end of the day.

Now Providence native Ed Cooley coaching one of the shallowest rotations in college basketball and the Energizer Bunny himself, Bryce Cotton? That's a story you can get behind. The part where Providence winning would clinch another bid for the Big East and therefore another share of the NCAA television money? Well, that played a part, too.

But that wasn't even the reason why I was cheering for Providence.

After the game, Friend Of The Show @friarblog went justifiably bananas on Twitter. Here's just some of the tweets that he either passed along or replied to as part of the jubilation.

@friarblog congrats!

— VUhoops.com (@VUhoops) March 16, 2014

@friarblog I got one question for ya: ARE YOU READY TO BITE SOME ASSES IN THE BIG DANCE? #pcbb

— A Daly Dose Of Hoops (@DalyDoseOfHoops) March 16, 2014

@friarblog Congrats, man. Way to represent the old guard.

— Casual Hoya (@CasualHoya) March 16, 2014

@friarblog Congrats from a contingent of Syracuse fans...thanks for keeping it in the Big East family!

— Bill Walsh (@bill_walsh) March 16, 2014

(all that said, congrats to @friarblog. it's always fun to have another team to root against in the tournament)

— We Take The Stairs (@NoEscalators) March 16, 2014

@friarblog Great game. Great coach. Great team. Congratulations.

— Joseph Dzuback (@vbtnBlog) March 16, 2014

Congrats to all the Friar bloggers out there @friarblog @FriarFrenzy @UndercoverFriar

— Greg (@eagle98alum) March 16, 2014

@friarblog Congrats!

— Dave White (@Dave_White) March 16, 2014

@friarblog genuinely excited for you and the fan base. Kick some ass.

— Paint Touches (@PaintTouches) March 16, 2014

Or to summarize it:

Nice to see all the Big East fans whose school have kicked the crap out of Providence for years reach out to @friarblog. Good stuff all.

— Jared E. Smith (@JaredSmithCNY) March 16, 2014

All in all, a wonderful moment. Well wishes and congratulations were pouring in from all corners.

Well, not from ALL corners.

@friarblog rather lose the championship game and make it to the second weekend in the big dance. Have fun getting bounced first round

— Dusty Cunningham (@dustycunningham) March 16, 2014

And that's why I was cheering for Providence. Evidence after the fact, sure, but there is no chance in hell I'm cheering for a team with a fan base that thinks it's okay to run over and piss on the PC's fans fire because they got slapped around twice by the Friars this season. Even more than just getting jumpy about their loss, this particular Bluejays fan doesn't seem to understand the financial and respectability implications of Providence locking themselves into the NCAA tournament, much less what it means if the Friars advance.

This is the second time this season that I've either seen or heard about Creighton fans being poor visitors or poor sports. Spread the word, Bluejays fans. That's not how we roll in the Big East.