Change is everywhere with the Providence College basketball program.

Not only is Keno Davis set for his first season on the job, but the Friars are looking forward to moving into a fully refurbished Dunkin’ Donuts Center and are also pouring several hundred thousand dollars into facilities at Alumni Hall. The basketball office suite, including the locker room and offices for Davis and his staff, is currently a work zone.

Plans call for an entirely new layout of the area, with Davis having a large say in how everything unfolds. Work on a new athletic training area is also nearing completion.

The extensive work has restricted how often Davis and his staff bring recruits to campus. With five seniors on his first PC team, Davis is facing a very important summer on the recruiting trail, but he says most of the work at Alumni is scheduled to be completed by Labor Day.

“It’s all good,” he said. “By the time we bring recruits on official visits in the fall, they’ll be able to see the progress and what’s happening. It’s a lot of work but exciting for everyone.”

Davis is in Las Vegas for one of the busiest weeks on the recruiting calendar. Close to 900 AAU teams are playing in three different tournaments throughout the area. The Friars are involved with a slew of prospects, both in the New England-New York area and in the Midwest, where Davis and the two assistants he brought with him from Drake — Chris Davis and Rodell Davis — own significant ties. Former URI assistant Pat Skerry is working East Coast prospects for the Friars.

The Friars need a little bit of everything in this class, from a point guard to big men, and are looking at both prep and junior-college players. Among the players who say they’re hearing a lot from PC’s staff are Connecticut forward Jordan Williams, New Yorkers James Padgett, Kevin Parrom and Paris Bennett, and New England prep stars Givon Crump, Thomas Robinson and Daryl McCoy. Guards Chris Colvin, Nik Garcia, David Brown, Marcus Jordan and Matt Vogrich are all from the Chicago area and hearing from the Friars.

“I’m really happy with the high-caliber players my staff has gotten us involved with, and we’ll keep working and see who we come out with,” said Davis.

Others are in Orlando

While Davis and hundreds of other coaches are in Vegas, the other half of the college coaching world is in Orlando watching the national AAU championships and other events. Among the teams in Florida are the Rhode Island Hawks and Expressions, a team that includes Smithfield’s Mike Marra and West Greenwich’s Ben Crenca. Crenca, a 6-foot-9 center, is hearing from plenty of schools but is said to be leaning toward Vermont. Providence’s Corey Wright Jr. and Woonsocket’s Mike LaPlante also run with Expressions.

Leading the Hawks this summer are several Rhode Islanders, including Sam Martin (West Warwick), Greg Newton (Barrington) and Pucci Angell (La Salle).

Focused on Olympics

College coaches in Las Vegas will be watching as many games as possible, except one. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski is in Vegas, but he’s putting the U.S. Olympic team through practices, not worrying about his Blue Devils.

“I’m trying to win a gold medal,” Krzyzewski told the Los Angeles Times. “If a recruit doesn’t understand that, that’s too bad.”

Krzyzewski is under immense pressure to win a gold medal in Beijing and help a U.S. team with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James make amends for the bronze-medal showing of 2004. “Someone asked if I was going to try to get over to the games at night. … No,” Coach K said.

Brown’s recruits

Craig Robinson left four recruits behind for new Brown coach Jesse Agel. Jean Harris, a 6-2 guard from Los Angeles, averaged 27 points a game as a senior. Marques Coleman of Glendale, Ariz., is a 6-3 point guard who missed his senior year due to injury. Noel Hollingsworth, a two-time All-State selection in Utah, is a 6-9 center who averaged 20 points and 13.5 rebounds a game. Stefan Kaluz, a 6-9 forward from Corona Del Mar, Calif., scored more than 1,600 points in his career.

Double dribbles

URI may lead in the chase for Hartford Public center Daryl McCoy. … Contrary to Internet rumblings, PC will not see Dallas-area shooter Trey Anderson enroll as a walk-on. … Three of the top five recruits in the country — big men Derrick Favors and Renardo Sidney and guard John Wall — are all unsigned. Usually the top seniors-to-be are locked up by now. The two best prospects in the East — New York guards Dominic Cheek and Lance Stephenson — also haven’t picked a school.

kmcnamar@projo.com