If you have been following The Providence Crier at any point during the last 12 – 24 months, you’ll know my primary concern with the future of the Providence Friars has been the frontcourt in 2024-2025 and beyond.
Josh Oduro is an incredible band-aid for the 2023-2024 season, but the outlook of the frontcourt prior to this past week was rather grim. Josh Oduro will be out of eligibility, Bryce Hopkins is not a guarantee to return after this year and is coming off a serious lower body injury that will restrict him until November or December of 2024, Rafael Castro hasn’t been able to crack the rotation despite being in the program for 3 years, and Eli DeLaurier was a reclassification who we shouldn’t expect much from next year as he is still developing as a basketball player. In short, the frontcourt was a glaring weakness for the 2024-2025 season.
That is until this past week. In the span of 3 days, Providence completely restocked the frontcourt cupboard with the commitment of 2025 elite big Oswin Erhunmwunse and Junior College big man Anton Bonke. The surprise news of Bonke was overlooked amidst the disaster that was the Xavier game, but Bonke committed to the Friars, is enrolled as of Saturday, and will be redshirting the spring semester of this year in preparation to play for the 2024-2025 season. If Oswin decides to reclassify from 2025 to 2024, which is the speculation running rampant, Providence now has two extremely solid frontcourt options alongside Hopkins, Castro, and DeLaurier. There is both quality and quantity there now for the future. That wasn’t the case a week ago. Great job by English and Staff to seal the deal.
Below, we break down the Bonke commitment, what it means for the 2024-2025 season and beyond, and how Bonke and Erhunmwunse will pair together in the frontcourt.
Frontcourt Recruiting Articles
Impact of Bonke Committing
Kim English and staff trusted their early evaluation on Bonke before other noteworthy schools tried to jump into the mix. Bonke is the perfect complement to Big Oswin. While Oswin is a true “modern” big that rim runs, jumps out of the gym, and sends shots into the stands, he is honestly not all that big of a frontcourt player at 6’9/6’10. There will be games where, despite his superior athleticism, he is overmatched when a player has 3-4 inches on him and takes the game into his body to mitigate his leaping ability.
Insert Anton Bonke. Bonke is all of 7’2 with the physical frame to handle the rigors of the Big East. For somebody that is only a freshman in college, he is already well built. Normally, these tall guys tend to be rails and struggle to put on muscle and weight. Bonke is not that.
If Providence has a match-up against the Kalkbrenners and Clingans of the world, Bonke at least has the height and size to be their physical equals (to be clear, I’m not saying his talent level is on par with these unicorns). Bonke can be a shot blocker and shot altering player due to his height and length. He can wall up without leaving his feet and make life difficult for the opposition.
Bonke and Oswin will absolutely play on the court together. They can both dominate the glass and protect the rim. While Bonke will be assigned to the traditional 5, Oswin is honestly athletic enough to guard the 3-5. It wouldn’t be detrimental to have both of them on the court at the same time due to their vastly different play styles.
The appealing thing about Bonke and Oswin is that they are both still so raw and have multiple years in college to develop. As has been noted, Bonke is really in his first year of competitive basketball. Their best is yet to come.
It cannot be overstated how important it is for Bonke to enroll this year in the second semester. For one, it gives him an extra semester of practicing with the Friars without losing any eligibility. He will develop at a more accelerated rate playing with a Big East team than he would at a Junior College. By enrolling early, as opposed to in the Summer, his chances of playing next year increase exponentially.
Secondly, this is a huge lift for the current Friar program. Bonke can be a practice player that mimics the style of play of Kalkbrenner and Clingan. This will help Oduro and Castro as they prepare for playing against these giants. There is nobody on the roster physically who is like Bonke. By adding Bonke, English added a player that was missing on this year’s roster (with Will McNair probably being the closest similarity).
In summary, Bonke and Oswin answer a lot of questions about the future of the Friars. The lead guard position is in a healthy place with Pierre and Dual. Providence lacks lethal shooters, but has capable wings beyond this year in Fernandez, Floyd Jr., Mela, and Barron. The missing ingredient was in the frontcourt. The question that remains about the frontcourt is, “Are the Friars Done?”.
What’s Next
I live by the motto of planning for the worst and hoping for the best. I think this is the appropriate stance for Kim English when it pertains to frontcourt recruiting.
While the Oswin and Bonke commitments were incredible lands for the future of Providence basketball, there is still a world where the following happens:
- Oswin decides to remain in the 2025 class
- Hopkins decides to go pro
- Castro decides to transfer to get more playing time elsewhere
- DeLaurier needs more time to develop
This is why I think Providence should go into the offseason trying to add ANOTHER big man via the college transfer portal. It can be a one-year rental like Josh Oduro that is Big East ready Day 1 and can start at the 5 the moment they enroll. By doing this, it gives Oswin and Bonke the luxury to continue to develop on their own timeline instead of being thrust into the fire early due to necessity.
Three frontcourt additions in one season seems a bit outlandish, but it is needed, as the future frontcourt prior to this week was not even close to Big East caliber. With Bonke and Oswin, English has at least done what is necessary to avoid any glaring holes. Adding one more big truly makes the frontcourt go from a weakness to a strength.
In my opinion Bryce is not ready to go pro. Given he is a prolific rebounder ( which we are sorely missing now) but his shooting this season has not been up to his ability. I say he comes back next season and has an awesome return. He will deliver BE player of the year caliber play and be a high draft pick after playing his Senior year. Carter will be a very high NBA draft pick in this years draft which he so richly deserves! He will be missed next season. Go Friars!