With Providence seemingly having a complete roster, sans a few late summer additions that will serve as presumably rounding out the bottom of the roster for depth purposes, the Friars have in essence built out their team for the 2026-2027 season. What do we think?
At The Providence Crier, we have written up individual player previews and impact analyses on each of the players. Take a look at those articles if you want a deep dive on each player and what they’ll bring to the 2026-2027 Friars.
Below, I take a holistic look at the roster and analyze the perceived strengths, potential weaknesses, and current unknowns as we head into the dog days of Summer. Let me know what you think, where you agree with me, and where you may differ in opinion.
As always, Go Friars!
The Good
Versatility at the Wing Position
Coach Bryan Hodgson and Staff have built out an incredibly deep roster at the wing position, which I’m broadly defining as anywhere from shooting guard to traditional wing to small ball four. Essentially everything but the 1 and 5 on the court.
Not only did Hodgson throw bodies at this position, which will allow for playstyle versatility, this is without a doubt the strongest unit on the entire roster where I’d imagine we’ll see the majority of the offensive production come from here.
The additions of Byrd, Pate, and Vanterpool give you a trio of players that can be interchangeable. They each can play the same position, but will bring something unique to the team. Each of them are best suited as traditional 2’s or 3’s, but the length of Byrd and Pate also give Hodgson the ability to slide them down to the 4 position defensively if needed and if Hodgson has an appetite to go “small”.
Retaining Ryan Mela is something we’re going to come to greatly appreciate this season. Beyond the fact that he pledged his loyalty to Friartown when he could have played for a plethora of high major programs, Mela is the Swiss Army knife that can play the 2, 3, or 4 without skipping a beat. He is an extremely versatile player, and I think his offensive emergence late in the season will carry forward into his junior year.
I stand by my word in my proclamation two years ago that Mr. Mela will be an All-Conference player before his time is done in Friartown.
The Italian wing Leonardo Marangon fits the bill here too as a guy who can defend on the wing, has good size at 6’7, and can knock down the three ball, but I need to see him up against high major college talent before elevating him into the tier of the others listed in this section.
While there may be some question marks still at the 1 and 5 (more to come on that later), I’m extremely bullish on what Hodgson built on the wings. He added offensive firepower in Pate, a DPOY candidate in Byrd, and a well-rounded 2/3 in Vanterpool. Layer in Mela, and you have to feel fantastic about the wing position for the Friars in 2026-2027.
Emphasis on Defense
I’ll be the first to admit that one of my main reservations with the Hodgson hire was going back to the well of a Kim English offense of running and gunning from deep and trying to build a team that wins by simply outscoring the opponent. It isn’t a fair criticism, as Hodgson’s USF team actually was better metrically defensively last year than they were offensively, but the Nate Oats background and PC’s historically bad defense last year had given me a bit of PTSD.
Hodgson has quelled my concerns to date here by prioritizing and aggressively targeting players whose best attributes are on the defensive end. The additions he made of defensive wizards has me most excited about this roster next year, if I’m being completely honest.
As mentioned above, Byrd has shown the ability to shut down the opposition year over year at San Diego State. The days of the opponent scoring their season and career high are long gone. I feel confident in saying Byrd is a Top 20 defensive player in all of America.
Hodgson doubled, tripled, and quadrupled down on prioritizing defense by adding defensive stalwarts in Vanterpool, Aletan, and Hightower. Vanterpool is a different defender than Byrd in that Vanterpool excels defensively with athleticism and raw ability (while Byrd excels on defense due to anticipation and length). Vanterpool is going to make a few eye popping plays defensively throughout the season and will use his athleticism and physicality to make his mark on defense.
Aletan was a targeted addition by Hodgson whose best traits are rim protecting and being a solid body at the 5 position.
It’s early, but I have a feeling Gavin Hightower is going to be in the running for my favorite player on the roster next year. It may just be coincidental timing, but I did notice he was one of the first transfer commitments. On top of that, he’s the sole USF player who Hodgson brought to Providence. There’s something to be said for that, as he was a clear priority.
I love his on-ball defense, take no prisoner attitude on the court, and willingness to scrap. He’s a culture addition who Providence and the fanbase are going to love on the court because he won’t back down on the defensive end.
We saw last year that a good defense beats a good offense every day of the week, and I think there’s a world here where Providence next year is more known for their defensive aptitude than offensive firepower. Can PC be a Top 20 defense in America? Sign me up for that.
Frontcourt Depth
The commitment of Bannarbie eased a lot of my concerns. Prior to him joining the team, I made clear on social media that there was one gap to this roster composition, and it was missing another 6’9+ body that could play the 4 and 5.
This is not to say that I don’t think Page and Aletan can play the 5 position. I do. What concerned me was what has concerned me over the past three years under English. By only having two five men on the roster, we were relying on a. Both players translating to Big East play seamlessly, which we’ve seen is a foolish assumption b. Both players staying healthy the entire season, which is another foolish assumption.
By adding Bannarbie, it gives you another body to play at the 5 behind those two players, and the season isn’t in peril if *knocks on wood* one of Page or Aletan get hurt.
Providence can now throw three bodies at the 5 position, and you feel confident that at a minimum 1 of the 3 can level up and play the center position effectively at the Big East level.
Well done by the staff on eliminating a clear weakness to the roster build.
The Bad
At the risk of sounding like a complete homer, I don’t see any glaring issues with this roster. Hodgson not only landed high end talent in Pate and Byrd, he built out depth across every single position. The ceiling for this team is unknown, but we aren’t walking into the season knowing the Friars are weak in a certain area or position. That’s a welcome and refreshing change.
The Unknown
Can Mack be the Guy?
Malik Mack made the switch in conference from Georgetown to Providence, and I think a lot of Friar fans are banking on Mack playing in a new system under Hodgson to unlock a higher level of play than we’ve seen from him while playing under Ed Cooley.
For what it’s worth, if Mack replicates his production from his two years at Georgetown, I think this Providence team is still a tournament team. Mack was a solid player at Georgetown, but they asked too much of him, in my opinion. That won’t be the case here at Providence.
If Mack makes a jump and becomes one of the top point guards in the Big East, we’ll be talking about this Providence team not as a bubble squad/last in tourney team, but as a consistent Top 25 squad and second weekend NCAA tournament team.
The Five Men: Can They Produce in the Big East?
This is different than my point above about five man depth. I’m happy with the bodies at the position. My question here that is yet to be answered is if one of the three in Aletan, Page, and Bannarbie can step up and show to be a quality starting five man at the Big East. That’s probably my biggest question mark on the season and roster to date.
Aletan was a productive player at Yale, but playing in the Big East is vastly different than the Ivy. Bannarbie was a role player on the UNLV squad, so expecting him to start and be a high end big in the Big East in 2026-2027 is wishful thinking at best. Bannarbie may be tasked with being a starter in 2027-2028, but I doubt he gets a ton of time this year.
That leaves us with Arrinten Page. The up and down big man has all the physical talent in the world, but his production really tailed off in Big 10 conference play last year. Can he perform consistently enough to be a starting caliber five man in the Big East?
Can 1 of these 3 emerge or will it be a shuffling of the deck night in and night out depending on who is hot and who is cold? We shall see.
These are all questions I have, and this position and its production will ultimately determine the ceiling for this team, in my opinion.
The G-League Quandary: Can Pate Break the Mold?
Expectations are sky high for Dink Pate, and Hodgson has done nothing but fan the flames on the hype, which I’m sure Pate appreciates from his head coach. With that said, the few players who have come from the G-League back to college haven’t exactly produced at a high end level, so I think it’s okay to be in wait and see mode on Pate. Can his game translate at the college level in the way it has in the G-League? That sounds silly to ask, but we all know defense is optional at that level, and it is more about showcasing your individual skills than playing a true game. I don’t think it’s unfair to question his fit in a college system until we’ve seen him do it.
If he hits like everybody is expecting, we may have an all-conference player on our roster. I can’t wait to see him in the preseason.
Roster Continuity For 2027-2028?
We debated this on the last pod, but with the 5 for 5 rule likely to pass heading into next year, was Hodgson playing 4D chess and landing players that will be true seniors in 2026-2027 with the possibility of them getting another year of eligibility in 2027-2028?
Tin-foil hat on for BOC? Conspiracy time? Maybe.
If this rule passes for current players, the only player without eligibility heading into 2027-2028 would be Miles Byrd. This means 10 of the 11 players could in theory be Friars again in 2027-2028. Roster continuity!
And that, my friends, is my version of basketball heaven.
Summary
BOC: Even with the unknowns listed above, I genuinely love this roster composition for its versatility and defense-first focus. As of right now, I see this as a tournament team, but I’ll need to see how the three “five” men in Page, Aletan, and Bannarbie perform in the preseason before being more definitive on my stance on this roster.
Go Friars!