Providence Recruiting – A Comparative Analysis to the Rest of the Big East

In the article written here about the importance of the 2022 recruiting class (https://theprovidencecrier.com/2021/01/06/why-stars-matter-a-look-back-on-recruiting-classes-showing-why-pc-must-continue-to-land-top-tier-national-recruits/#more-2939), we highlighted the noticeable downtick in recruiting over the past few years. A ominous sign for the future is that most of the Big East has improved its recruiting efforts, while Providence has seemingly taken a step back from years prior.

See below when looking at the recruiting classes from 2018-2021.

2021 Class (Technically, not yet complete)

Providence – 11th place out of 11 Teams in Big East, 59th Nationally – Two 3 Star Commitments

2020 Class

Providence – 10th place out of 10 Teams in Big East, 94th Nationally – Two 3 Star Commitments

2019 Class

Providence – 9th Place out of 10 Teams in Big East, 120th Nationally – One 4 Star Commitment

2018 Class

Providence – 2nd Place out of 10 Teams in Big East, 21st Nationally – Two 4 Star Commitments and Two 3 Star Commitments

Comparing 2018 – 2021 Recruiting Classes to 2014- 2017

During the 4 year recruiting span of 2018-2021 (not inclusive of transfers), Providence has brought in Three 4-Star recruits and 6 3-Star Recruits. 9 Recruits over a 4 year span averages out to over 2 recruits a class. The average national class ranking is approximately 74th. The average Big East Ranking during this time is 8th in the conference. It is amazing that Providence has continued to produce at a high level despite the obvious fall-off in high school recruiting.

Compare these numbers to the four years of recruiting prior (2014-2017 recruiting classes). Cooley brought in 7 Four-Star recruits and 7 Three-Star Recruits. The average national class ranking was 38th nationally. The average Big East ranking during this time was approximately 4th (4.25, to be exact).

Thus, when comparing the four year sample sizes, PC’s national recruiting ranking over 4 years has dropped 36 spots (38th to 74th). More importantly, in my opinion, their recruiting in the Big East has dropped 4 spots on average over the 4 years (4th to 8th in conference).

Comparing 2018-2021 Recruiting to Other Big East Programs

The following Big East programs have brought in more four & five star recruits from 2018-2021 than Providence’s Three 4-Star Recruits during the same time period:

Villanova: 10; Marquette: 7, Creighton: 6; Xavier: 5; Georgetown: 5; UCONN 5*

UCONN – 2 year sample size from year of inclusion in Big East

When comparing 2018-2021 to 2014-2017, Providence has brought in less total players from the high school ranks, while also not landing the same caliber of recruits from a star ranking perspective. No matter which way you slice it, this isn’t a good trend.

It appears Cooley has pivoted to bringing in more transfers recently, which I personally am not a fan of. Your hit rate needs to be higher on these transfers, as you have them in the program for a shorter time period than a high school recruit.

Conclusion

When looking at the program in isolation, the recruiting has not met the standards met from years prior. This is particularly perplexing due to the basketball only facility recently put on campus. What is more concerning is that it appears most of the programs in the Big East have improved their recruiting at a time when PC has gone in the opposite direction.

This is why we continue to reiterate on this site the importance of the 2022 class and rewriting the recruiting narrative around the program. The 2022 class can be the building blocks for the Providence Friars future post David Duke and Nate Watson.