With the departure of Kim English, who recruited Mela to Providence, there was some concern that the “hometown kid” from Natick may look elsewhere with uncertainty around Bryan Hodgson and how he’d fit in his system. Those concerns have been assuaged, as Mela has decided to return to Providence for his junior year.
Impact of Return
With his return, Hodgson is able to retain one of the fan favorites of Providence who put together a solid sophomore year campaign after a completely surprising freshman year that led to All Freshman conference honors. Mela’s return provides stability at the 3/4 spot where he can play interchangeably. Mela also can play some point forward in transition and set up the offense in a lead guard role in spurts.
I’m a huge fan of Mela returning because he is a kid who has shown a propensity to work and augment his game from one year to the next, and you can never have enough of those players on your roster.
Mela was an afterthought recruit, with most of his offers outside of Providence being of the mid-major variety. Mela burst onto the scene in a disappointing 2024-2025 season to get All Big East freshman honors. In his second year, he improved his stat-line across all metrics.
Analyzing His Career to Date
Let’s do an analysis of his stats freshman year to sophomore year, which illustrates why we should all be so bullish on the upperclassman to be.
Games Started: 9 Freshman, 22 Sophomore
Minutes Played: 19.6, 25.8
Points Per Game: 6.4, 9.9
Field Goal Percentage: 45.8, 50.2
3 Point Field Goal Percentage: 30.0, 32.1
Free Throw Percentage: 57.4, 80.5
Rebounds per Game: 5.2, 5.3
Assists per game: 1.9, 2.0
In almost every area of his game, Mela improved. And that wasn’t necessarily a given when looking back at the start of last year. There were many who thought Mela may be the odd man out with Sellers, Jamier, and Powell vying for time. Instead, Mela arguably showed himself to be a consistent Top 3 player on the Providence team night in and night out.
I expect Mela to continue to develop and improve. Just look at his improvement at the charity stripe. That shows an acknowledgment of his weak spots in his game and working to fix that. It gives you hope that he can eventually be a knock down perimeter shooter, and I pray he becomes close friends with Mr. Hassett this offseason.
Next Steps in His Game
The next step in Mela’s progression is becoming a consistent three point weapon, and that is even more of a necessity under Bryan Hodgson. Mela did improve to become a 32% three point shooter, but for most of the season, he was still the hesitant guy who wasn’t actively hunting his shot from deep.
What provides me with some optimism is that in the last five games of the season, Mela went 9-16 from three, which comes out to 56.3% from deep. In those same five games, he averaged 16.8 points. So, he is clearly ending the season on a high note, and I’m optimistic he can carry that over into offseason workouts and then the start of his junior season.
What I love most about Mela is you don’t have to design plays for him. He produces and is effective at his job without demanding the ball at a high rate. He has a very savvy basketball intellect and always seems to put himself in the right position to make a play, whether that’s an assist to a teammate or a massive offensive rebound that extends a possession. He’s a gamer and just seems to know where to be at the right time. You can never have enough of those guys.
Beyond continuing the evolution of his three point shot, Mela also needs to work on his handle. When going up against stingy man defense, he sometimes had games where he would turn the ball over carelessly and seem completely out of sorts. Mela had 6 games where he turned the ball over 3 times, and he needs to improve upon that to make himself that much more valuable to Hodgson and the Friars.
What’s Next
With this Mela news, I’m eagerly awaiting what happens with Jamier Jones. If Jones decides to return, Mela and Jamier form quite a tandem at the 3/4 spot. These two players couldn’t be more dissimilar in how they play, but I like them together at that big wing three/small ball four spot. They are both versatile pieces in their own way.
If Wes Enis decides to come to Providence and follow Hodgson, Coach Hodgson may have his 2-4 starting spots all locked up already, and he can focus his time on going big game hunting at the 1 and 5 spots to round out the starting line-up.
Summary
While I’m thrilled with the decision Mela made as it pertains to his on the court production, everybody knows I am a big fan of roster continuity, and I love that Providence can secure another year (or two) of Mela. Mela comes across as a no drama, great locker room guy who will be the bridge for Hodgson as he familarizes himself with all things Providence. It’s also a great sign that Mela came back despite his two years in college being sub .500 years in Friartown. He clearly feels some connection to the city and school, and that is such a rarity these days. We should be celebrating Mela just for that alone.
The Providence Crier will continue to keep you up to speed on all things roster movement. Go Friars!