Providence has had immense difficulty winning the close games this year, and yesterday was no different. To date, PC is 1-6 in games decided by one possession or less (3 points). It is a culmination of a depleted roster, opponents making plays end of game, and PC tactically coming up short in the final seconds. The consistent theme has been PC more often than not on the losing end of these tight games. With the season and a lack of NCAA tournament birth long decided already, it is a humbling necessity for English to go through these growing pains and come out on the other side. Providence, Kim, and the team will be beneficiaries of this season in 2025 and beyond.
We break down the game below.
A lot of the things that have ailed Providence all year again appeared, specifically a lack of frontcourt depth outside of Oswin and a need for bigger players in backcourt for defensive purposes. With all that said, Providence is truly running on fumes right now. Hopkins has been out for the season since December, Cardet has been MIA for the last month with a mysterious knee injury, and now Jabri Abdur-Rahim is done for the season. On top of all that, Essandoko didn’t make the trip to Indianapolis due to a sickness. When it rains, it pours.
When evaluating portal needs, I would really do some soul searching to see if the current 5 men behind Oswin can give you solid Big East minutes. If not, you need to double down and add another 4/5 who can play the 5 position when Oswin is in foul trouble. Additionally, we saw Telfort and Brooks have their way offensively with Joseph and Pierre. That tough assignment is due to the litany of injuries, but magnified that our lead guards are short in stature and can get exposed defensively. This wasn’t a one game occurrence. An upgrade in height at the lead guard spot is another necessity for defensive improvement alone.
Despite all that, Providence fought valiantly, led by Joseph, Barron, and Floyd. There was a point in the second half where the Friars seemed to run out of gas, but, just like St. John’s, they never quit and clawed back with a chance to win. You admire that as a fan who can acknowledge the season hasn’t gone as expected, but that they are essentially playing with one hand behind their back.
Regarding the end of game play, you tip your cap to Thad Matta who astutely fouled twice in the waning seconds to run the clock down. It seemed to get PC out of sorts. The final play, down 1, being a contested deep ball hoist by Joseph was very clearly not the plan of attack for English and showed a failure in execution. It looked like Pierre was designed to get the ball, but he was covered. From there, panic ensued with Oswin getting the inbound and trying to dish it to Joseph. He had to scramble to even get a prayer up.
It was extremely poor end of game execution, and you have to wonder why the shot choice was a deep three ball down 1. You would have liked to see a Joseph or Floyd driving downhill with a shot at the rim, especially only down 1 with 4+ seconds on the clock. It’s okay to support English, but also question some of the decisions. This is one where you are left scratching your head a bit about the strategy here.
Joseph scored 26, Barron showed why he was an All Freshman Conference pick last year with 23 and 7 three’s, and steady as they come Floyd finished with 17. Three of the top four scorers in this game will have eligibility to return next year, so you can find a lot of good in an otherwise disappointing season.
I truly feel the growing pains of this year will lead to success next year. Call me a homer or blind optimist, but I am ecstatic about next year’s potential and am enjoying seeing the young guys battle this year. The team hasn’t quit on the season, and fans should act the same.
Go Friars.
BOC, I’m a big fan but today your take on the future of this program borders on being a fan/boy. You’re better than that and often times, you have provided examples. Today not! So, let me provide some true realism. The current team as its constituted has so many flaws on both ends of the court. Unfortunately many of those who are committing these errors are coming back. Lets take JP. He’s not going to grow anymore at his age so, being small for BE standards can’t be fixed. He is a liability on defense against bigger guards and is not as quick or fast as we thought coming into the season. Can’t fix that! The hot and cold CRJ. He’s like a box of chocolates because you never know what your gonna get. He’s also a smaller guard and will not grow. Both he and JP are mediocre ball handlers and while that can improve with practice both will be entering year 4 so, improvement will be minimal at best. Christ is overweight, out of shape and sickly which is not a good prescription for vast improvement next year. He has very little moves down low and has difficulty getting even a dunk. He basically sets screens and occasionally banks in a 3pt shot. Mela, fooled us for a few weeks until the league realized that he can’t or won’t shoot unless he’s going to the basket. Add that to the fact that he constantly gets beat on defense. Oswin, way over-hyped for his class. Can jump out of the gym but rarely uses that gift to his advantage. Soft hands, soft strength and no post moves. I concede that his upside is better than those other teammates mentioned above. Little used Barron and Fernandez may in fact, be our best options for next year. They have size and when compared to the current gang that can’t shoot strait, they may be more accurate from three. Bonk, omg. Eli omg. So what is it that you’re so excited about next year. Clearly, not one of the players I mentioned is a GO TO end of the game player, not one.
So, our optimism is based on a player who hasn’t played in almost 2 year, who is limited to scoring in the paint and rebounding. Two incoming highly touted freshmen, a big holes at PG, Power Forward and a center who can be a rim runner in KE lousy offense.
Lastly, we’ve got a coaching staff that doesn’t seem to be flexible in what they want to do. Even when the players they have don’t fit their vision of offense and defense.
When it all adds up, our future is going to rest heavily on the portal once again and our coaching staffs ability to get those portal players to meld into a cohesive unit. They failed miserably this season.
Alfred, what do you think?
Russ- you are obviously frustrated by this team as am I. I agree with most of your analysis for the most part except for Bryce Hopkins. He can score in the paint and is an excellent rebounder. However, there are no guarantees he will ever return to the Friars.
I think Bonke and Oswin have promise if they are both coached well during the off season and are willing to put in the work. Their size is important in the BE. I was actually glad to see KE show some life and get T’ed up twice and ejected. Bottom line: we need the consistency from beyond the arc. Players like Ashworth, Scott, Karaban etc. Even Kalkbrenner can score from outside! Scoring predominately in the paint for two points no longer cuts it in College basketball. Period.
NIL and the Portal have completely changed college sports and NOT for the better.
Go Friars!