The Providence Friars are not likely to be as good as they were last year in Internet betting as leading scorer Jamine “Greedy” Peterson was dismissed from the team for violating team rules. He led Providence last season, averaging almost 20 points per game. His loss is a big one to Providence and they could be a team to avoid in online betting this season.
Internet betting stats indicated that Providence was not that great last season as they went 12-19 straight up and 11-15-1 against the spread. It is unlikely they are going to be improved this season without their top scorer. The team is already dealing with the arrests of James Still and Johnnie Lacy. With Peterson leaving, Providence is going to struggle this season.
Peterson said that he is going to prepare for next year’s NBA Draft. He missed out on the 2010 NBA Draft and now he will have to play in the D-League or overseas next season. Internet betting reports are that Peterson has received interest from teams in Italy, Greece, Spain and France.
There is definitely some debate as to what exactly happened with Peterson and Providence. Head coach Keno Davis released a statement saying, “Jamine had a productive season in 2009-10. However, regardless of his athletic accomplishments, it is essential to the integrity of the program that every student-athlete meets the high standards and expectations we have at Providence College.” On the other side, Peterson has said that he was going to the NBA all along. That doesn’t seem likely since he already missed out on this year’s Draft. “The (Providence) program is great; the coaches are great,” Peterson said. “I was just basically looking to go into the NBA Draft, but they had me going in the second round. I’m focused on doing what I have to be a first-rounder in next year’s Draft, and I think I can do that overseas.”
Peterson was not a fluke this past season as he was one of the best players in the Big East. He was right with Luke Harangody of Notre Dame as the best big man in the conference. He will be a huge loss for Providence to overcome vs. online betting odds but Davis is a good coach and perhaps the Friars will be able to recover from the loss of Peterson in time.