The long wait is over. The 2025-2026 Providence Friars commence their season on Monday at the AMP.
A lot is riding on this season for Kim English, and it would be refreshing to get off to a quick start on the season. Providence is going to have one of the oldest starting 5’s in all of college basketball. Despite there likely being 3-4 new starters in the starting line-up, this roster is seasoned and an acclimation period should not be an issue.
Injuries, which were the story of the offseason (and season) last year, are not an issue besides a few minor injuries to Barron and Floyd Jr. PC can make a mini-statement by opening up with a decisive victory against Holy Cross.
While you will never learn everything about a team in the season opener, you can sure as heck learn a lot. If you recall, Providence started 5-0 last year, but the warning signs were glaringly evident if you took off the rose colored glasses.
The home opener was an ugly victory, winning 59-55 against Central Connecticut State with only Bensley Joseph scoring in double figures. Issues all season of turning the ball over, a lack of offense, and no depth at the 5 showed themselves in Game 1.
While a season opener may be misleading or fool’s gold, a lot of times the team will tell you who it is after 40 minutes.
Below, we get you familiar with Holy Cross and their roster, along with provide some key action items we are looking for ahead of the game.
We’ve waited a long 8 months for Providence basketball. The wait is finally over!
What to Watch For
Health Status of Floyd Jr. and Barron – Floyd Jr. has been self-titled as PG1 on this team, but he was held out of the Harvard exhibition for precautionary reasons. Brendan McGair’s latest article on the season opener was a bit ominous, as Kim English was non-committal on Floyd Jr. playing in this one.
If Floyd Jr. doesn’t start, who gets the nod? My guess would be Daquan Davis gets the start, and he has the opportunity presented to him to not let go of that starting position if he puts together a strong opening game. Don’t lose sight over there being questions around if we have a true lead guard on this roster. It’s not as if Floyd Jr. has a long leash as starting point guard. Davis can make a statement in this opening game if Floyd Jr. can’t go.
Too many times last year we bemoaned our players not seizing the opportunity when presented with playing time. The only one who really took the opportunity and ran with it when presented was Ryan Mela (DeLaurier receives honorable mention too), and he turned out to be one of the lone bright spots in a down year. Daquan has the opportunity to do something similar.
If Floyd Jr. can’t go, I’d bet heavily that Davis is next man up, but I do wonder if Vaaks gets serious consideration as well. The locker room is a delicate ecosystem, so I doubt English would put Vaaks in over Davis, but who knows.
The minutes allocation at the lead guard spot was always going to be intriguing, but this adds another layer of intrigue if Floyd Jr. is out with an injury.
Rich Barron has been out the last two exhibition games with a concussion. Even if he is a “full go”, I’d expect his minutes to be extremely limited or potentially a DNP because he presumably hasn’t practiced in a while. A healthy Barron was going to have to scrap and claw for minutes. Now, he’s really behind the 8 ball.
Let’s hope these are the last injury concerns we have heading into the opener. There was a calamity of mind numbing injuries last year that seemingly popped up out of nowhere. I pray that trend of surprise injuries discontinues.
Rotations – I’ve already discussed the balance of playing time with Floyd Jr., Vaaks, and Davis above, but I am very curious to see how English handles a deep roster and rotation. It wouldn’t surprise me if we see 12 total players play, with 9 in the regular rotation before the game is comfortably in hand.
English was very upfront about each player knowing his exact role heading into this season, so I’d imagine the rotation we see in game 1 is similar to the rotation we see throughout the year (barring injuries).
I’m really looking forward to seeing the minutes played by bench guys like Mela, Vaaks, Hargrove, Jones, Davis.
Who is the first guard off the bench?
Is Mela a super sub for both the backcourt and frontcourt? Does he play starter minutes despite not being in the opening five?
How much time does Hargrove play?
Is the Jamier Jones hype real or just a preseason story?
All of these rotation questions are extremely riveting, and I cannot wait to see it all shake out.
Development of Oswin – I’ve said all preseason this team will go as far as Oswin takes them. The growth Oswin made in the middle of his freshman year was stunning. I’m cautiously optimistic we see another leap by the sophomore big. Can he play more minutes consistently? Has he developed more of a back to the basket offensive game? Are the silly fouls a thing of the past? These are all questions I have.
Offensive Tweaks – The hiring of offensive coach Bryan Tibaldi will hopefully yield some better results. Last year, the offense was abysmal, and I think equal blame is to be shared on the lack of talent on the roster, injuries to said roster, and a subpar offensive strategy that was too reliant on one man beating his defender with the rest of his teammates standing and watching.
I’m hopeful the coaching staff realizes that these kids aren’t NBA professionals, and that midrange shots, especially against certain defensive strategies like drop coverages, are quality shots. Analytics be damned. Here’s to hoping the Tibaldi hire unlocks this offense.
Mela’s Three Point Confidence – I truly don’t care if Mela goes 0-4 from three in this one. What I want to see is him let it fly without hesitation. If he does that, we’ll know he has confidence in his shot, which was a bit broken last year. We’ve heard all offseason that he’s worked on this aspect of his game. Let’s see if he has fixed the yips from deep.
Defense Fixed? – Providence has given up 81 and 75 points in their two exhibitions. If they let their opposition average 78 points a game, this will be another subpar year.
I’d love to see Providence hold Holy Cross to under 30 points each half. They have the athletic advantage and talent to do so, so it is merely a want-to thing on the defensive end. I’m hopeful the additions of Powell, Sellers, and Davis increase the intensity and effort on the defensive end.
Predictions
BOC: All is well in Friartown. The offense is humming, the entirety of the bench contributes, and the offense and defense look miles better than they did last year. PC wins 85-64 and gets bumped down in KenPom for not covering the spread. Sigh.
Crier: The one thing that’s special about the Providence program is how the fanbase/community rally around the team especially during hard times. We saw it when Cooley left and we started to see it this entire offseason after a 12-20 record last year. I do worry about the team meshing early and potentially letting the local mid-major hang around but I think the crowd won’t let that happen. The place is going to be juiced to see their Friars in a new year with a new squad. I got the Friars winning 85-59.