By KEVIN McNAMARA

David Duke first met Brycen Goodine as a middle schooler on the AAU scene. Now he’ll get to run with his pal in the Big East.

Goodine finally received the good word Wednesday morning when PC announced the transfer guard had received his waiver from the NCAA and is cleared to play this season. A New Bedford native, Goodine left Syracuse after playing minimally as a freshman and landed back near his family and is excited to join the Providence program. The NCAA has granted immediate eligibility waivers to hundreds of transfers but Goodine’s case lingered through the summer and into the fall.

“We were working out this summer and talking about how it would be if he got his waiver. It would be like old times,” Duke said. “He can shoot the ball extremely well, is very skilled, a great teammate on and off the court. He’ll be a great addition to the culture of the team.”

Goodine is a 6-4 combo guard who will compete for playing time right away at PC. Along with another transfer, point guard Jared Bynum, Goodine will team with junior holdovers Duke and A.J. Reeves and incoming freshman Alyn Breed in a talented backcourt.

“He’s learning, he’s adjusting,” said coach Ed Cooley. “It’s a different way we do things.”

Asked what Goodine brings to the program, Cooley said “he adds another dimension that can make some shots from the perimeter. Extremely, extremely elite athlete. We’re excited to have him here and, hopefully, he can contribute to a winning team.”

While Cooley has all sorts of combinations to play with at the forward and center positions, he will lean heavily on Duke, Bynum and now Goodine for the bulk of his team’s ballhandling duties. He said early turnover woes have plagued the team in practice but he likes his group. He also noted that the players are practicing while wearing masks to limit opportunities of contracting COVID-19.

“It’s been sporadic,” Cooley said of his team’s practice play. “We’ve been very cautious with our guys and with their soft tissue because we haven’t practiced all summer. You can’t go 100 miles an hour with your guys because we don’t play for another month.”