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There was almost a chance in 2012 that Nerlens Noel would choose to play for my local Division 1A college basketball program. It was an unlikely rumor at the time that, in retrospect, would have resulted in lost scholarships or vacated wins had it all actually come together, but the very thought of Noel and his flat-top blocking shots for the Providence College Friars almost had Chris and I scrambling to split season tickets. Alas, Ryan Gomes’s place as the “Greatest Friar of the Last 50 Years” was safe, as Noel committed to the reigning-NCAA champion University of Kentucky Wildcats instead, but he could have single-handedly changed the direction of a young and rebuilding men’s basketball program at PC, had he chosen to. Although his sole season with Kentucky was cut short by an ACL tear, Nerlens Noel now has the opportunity to change the direction of a young and rebuilding professional basketball franchise when he makes his NBA debut with the Philadelphia 76ers.
