Eli DeLaurier’s freshman season with the Friars was cut short by 24 games. Suffering a foot injury early in the season, Eli was seen most of the year in street clothes with a walking boot. Given the injury DeLaurier was granted a medical redshirt and now returns to Friartown as a redshirt freshman.
When the 2023-2024 season wrapped for Providence on Selection Sunday, you’d probably figure DeLaurier would have a role with the graduation of Josh Oduro and Anton Bonke being the only other center on the roster.
Things certainly changed over the next few months with the addition of Christ Essandoko from St. Joe’s and Oswin Erhunmwunse reclassifying and enrolling this summer. Now all of the sudden, the Friars have quite the crowded frontcourt.
If you recall DeLaurier also came to Providence earlier than expected, with Kim English and staff looking for some assurances in the frontcourt after the departure of Will McNair. DeLaurier reclassified a year early, but was clearly not ready to play high level college basketball even when ready. At the time of his early enrollment Eli had offers from West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Miss St.
It would appear DeLaurier would be 4th on the depth chart for big men in 2024. So barring injury, it doesn’t appear that he will have a huge role this year. However, there’s reason to believe he can develop into a key rotation piece in the future. Eli more than doubled his scoring from his second to third year at The Miller School. While not a blue chip prospect, he was still ranked slightly outside of the top-100 for his class rankings. Regardless of his role this year, if he sticks with the program for the long term, he will certainly be a guy that has a role with the Friars. We just don’t expect it to be this year.
BOC: I’ve long said I don’t like a player reclassifying unless they are a Top 25 player in their class and they are fast tracking their entrance to the NBA. Corey Floyd Jr. and Eli DeLaurier are two examples of players who may have been better served staying in high school, improving at that level, and then coming into college. A high school senior playing against grown men in college can really hurt the confidence and psyche of a player.
I’m less optimistic on DeLaurier than The Crier, but I do think he could become a serviceable Big East player by his third or fourth year in college. If he sticks with Providence and waits his turn, I’ll applaud him for biding his time. There’s no reason he cannot become a poor man’s Noah Horchler as a stretch 4 as a junior.
Providence Crier Player Preview Articles
Christ Essandoko – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/10/02/providence-crier-player-preview-christ-essandoko-the-next-starting-5-man-at-pc/
Jayden Pierre – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/09/25/providence-crier-player-preview-jayden-pierre-all-conference-season-upcoming/
Corey Floyd Jr. – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/09/19/corey-floyd-jr-player-preview-trust-the-process/
Anton Bonke – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/09/10/anton-bonke-international-man-of-mystery/
Justyn Fernandez – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/09/09/providence-crier-player-preview-is-the-hype-too-early-for-justyn-fernandez/