In his fourth season at Providence, Cooley led the Friars to a 22-12 record and went 11-7 in the Big East while finishing in sole possession of fourth place in the conference. Cooley received a boost by a dynamic recruiting class which included 3 composite Top 100 recruits (Paschal Chukwu, Jalen Lindsey, and Ben Bentil), as well as the return of Kris Dunn from his redshirt year due to his shoulder injury the season prior. Despite losing sharpshooter Josh Fortune as a result of transfer to the University of Colorado, Cooley gained the eligibility of transfer guard Junior Lomomba, who was forced to sit out the season before due to NCAA regulations. After beginning the season 5-0 (including an exciting 75-74 victory over Notre Dame in the championship game of the Hall of Fame Tip Off Tournament at Mohegan Sun), Providence was ranked #25 in the coaches poll, their first ranking since the 2003-2004 season. They later debuted in the AP poll on February 23, and peaked as high as 23rd in the polls. The Friars run in the polls was aided greatly by co-Big East Player of the Year Kris Dunn, who averaged 15.6 ppg and 7.5 apg in his return season, while senior forward LaDontae Henton added 19.7 ppg. Both players were named to the 2014-2015 First Team All-Big East team. Once again, the Friars faced St. John's in the first round of the Big East tournament, winning comfortably, before setting up a matchup against #4 Villanova in the second round of the tournament. Despite being heavy underdogs, Providence fought valiantly, only to be called for a controversial foul with 3.1 seconds left which led to two Ryan Arcidiacono free throws to seal a Villanova 63-61 victory. Villanova would later go on to win the Big East Tournament. As a result of its excellent season, Providence would be selected as a 6 seed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament East Region and faced the 11 seeded University of Dayton. Controversy again ensued for Ed Cooley's Friars, as the site of the game would be played in Columbus, Ohio, just 80 miles from Dayton's campus. Despite having qualified for the game two days before and being undersized, Dayton controlled the pace of play, and PC struggled after star guard Kris Dunn picked up 2 fouls in the first 2:42 of the game. After Providence cut the lead to 44-41 with 6:43 left, Dayton would go on a 14-4 run over the next 5:08 and go on to win comfortably 66-53 to end the Friars season. After the season, with star forward LaDontae Henton already graduating from the program, the other starting forward for the Friars, Tyler Harris, decided to explore a graduate season at the University of Auburn, and the Friars also lost highly regarded freshman Paschal Chukwu to Syracuse as a late transfer, a decision that surprised and confused Coach Cooley. After flirting with the NBA draft, Kris Dunn decided to return to Providence despite being considered a potential lottery pick in many NBA Draft projections.
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