You know the season is close by when the Big East releases the conference schedule for each team. On Monday, the Big East did just that, and I have spent the past two days picking apart the schedule (yes, I fully understand how pathetic that reads). Below are my thoughts on the schedule. At the bottom, I give my conference prediction for the Providence Friars.
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Javon Bardwell Commits to Providence
The news dropped from the sky on a quiet Sunday evening as I was pulling into the parking lot of an Italian restaurant in Asbury Park.
Recent reclassified 2026 recruit Javon Bardwell, a Top 20 2027 five star recruit and now Top 40 2026 recruit, pledged his allegiance to the Providence Friars. The one-time Kansas Jawhawk commit (revenge for Naadir Tharpe?) will now be enrolling at Providence and eligible to play this year.
We break down the athletic wing’s commitment and how he fits for the 2026-2027 season and beyond.
Continue reading “Javon Bardwell Commits to Providence”Crier Recruiting Corner, Transfer Portal Edition: USF Guard Joseph Pinion
At the end of summer media gathering, Coach Bryan Hodgson spoke about a multitude of different subjects. One comment that slipped under the radar, but now has massive ramifications due to the NCAA ruling on an extra year of eligibility for the Class of 2022, is that his former player Joseph Pinion has been practicing with the Friars. Additionally, they were seeking a waiver for his eligibility to play this year. With the court ruling yesterday, Pinion should have an extra year to play collegiate basketball. It would appear the Friars have the inside track on landing the 6’5 sharpshooting guard.
We provide a breakdown of his game below.
2026 – 2027 Providence Crier Fan Survey
With the summer here, Mike and I will spend the dog days of the offseason bantering about team expectations, ceiling and floor for this squad, MVP candidates, surprise candidates, etc. Inevitably, Mike and I will yell at each other over text saying one of us is right and one of us is wrong. I’m usually right, but that is besides the point…
What better way to get a pulse on how the fanbase is thinking about this upcoming year than an anonymous fan survey? I put together 10 questions that I thought would give readers a good sense of how the average fan is thinking about this roster. We received approximately 300 responses, so clearly even in July the energy around the program is palpable.
Without further do, see the results below.
Continue reading “2026 – 2027 Providence Crier Fan Survey”OTE Prospect Commits to Friartown; Will Reclassify
Coach Hodgson and staff welcomed Ryan Mela and the 10 transfer portal additions to campus earlier this week and there’s more players on the way. The Friars landed Overtime Elite wing Clyde Walters. The Birmingham, Alabama native was the 82nd ranked prospect per 247sports composite in the 2027 class. Instead the six-seven wing will reclassify and enroll at Providence immediately.
Continue reading “OTE Prospect Commits to Friartown; Will Reclassify”Providence Crier Offseason Musings: The Multi-Year NIL Contract Attempting to Stabilize College Sports
We are entering peak offseason time where news about the Providence Friars will be sparse. We’ll keep everybody up to date as we hear things about the new staff, new players, and outlook on the 2026-2027 season.
With that said, we’ll take this slower news cycle to analyze certain aspects of college sports that are changing and how it’ll impact the Providence Friars and college sports in general.
Our first topic will be the introduction of multi-year NIL agreements. We detail below.
Continue reading “Providence Crier Offseason Musings: The Multi-Year NIL Contract Attempting to Stabilize College Sports”BOC’s Preseason Analysis of 2026-2027 Roster: The Good, The Bad (?), and The Unknown
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!
Continue reading “BOC’s Preseason Analysis of 2026-2027 Roster: The Good, The Bad (?), and The Unknown”Providence Crier Portal Player Preview- Jacob Bannarbie
The Friars roster rebuild is nearly complete. Coach Hodgson and staff have been busy this spring building the Friars roster from the ground up. Currently the Friars have ten players on the roster with the ability to add five more. With the additions that they’ve made thus far, they seem to be mainly guys who will be major contributors on next year’s team. Now the staff is tasked with filling out the rest of the roster. In steps UNLV forward Jacob Bannarbie, who per Kevin McNamara is completing a visit at Providence.
2027 Recruiting Primer, Hodgson Edition: Version 3.0
*Updated as of 8/25/2026*
At The Providence Crier, we take pride in keeping the readers up to date on all things high school and portal recruiting. With the hiring of Bryan Hodgson, I was thinking about editing our last version of the 2027 Recruiting Primer that we put together while Kim English was at the helm, but the offers have been so drastically different from one regime to the next that we figured we’d start fresh with a new 2027 Recruiting Primer.
This is Version 3.0 of the Providence 2027 Recruiting Primer. Since our initial draft, we’ve added a 2027 recruit in Clyde Walters that reclassified to the 2026 class and is currently enrolled at Providence on a two year NIL contract.
More important, the 5 for 5 ruling passed so all of the 4th year “true” seniors on the roster, of which there are a plenty, will have another year of eligibility. This is vital because there are currently 4 players that have now been gifted an extra year that we thought had to be replaced after this season. Two of them, Samson Aletan and Arrinten Page, man our frontcourt, while the other two in Malik Mack and Ryan Sabol are in contention to run the show at lead guard. If this ruling didn’t pass, I was expecting the staff to add likely 3-4 players at the 1 and 5 positions exclusively via high school recruiting and the transfer portal, so this ruling is certainly a windfall for Providence in that roster continuity can legitimately be a real thing next year.
This is all to say that there are not any glaring needs in the 2027 class given this rule change, but I do have a gut feeling on the positions Hodgson is going to prioritize.
If you want to take a look at the previous 2027 Recruiting Primer under Kim English, feel free below. I’m certain there will be names offered by the prior staff that also get offers from Hodgson.
Mike and I will be updating this daily as news comes in with new offers, visits being set, etc.
Below, we’ll list the 2027 recruits with offers, and I also added a section of players I think should be offered by the Providence staff for a multitude of different reasons.
Lastly, and this is new to the 3.0 version, I’ve provided a way too early prediction on who makes up this 2027 class. Enjoy!
Continue reading “2027 Recruiting Primer, Hodgson Edition: Version 3.0”A Hoya Changes Allegiances: Malik Mack Transfers in Conference to Providence
We have talked the past few days about two remaining needs for the 2026-2027 Friars before we deem the roster complete and no longer lacking any holes. One of those pressing needs was a lead guard to complement ascending talent Gavin Hightower. Providence has checked the box on one of those needs with the transfer commitment of Georgetown point guard Malik Mack.
Mack may have been playing on a basement dweller in Georgetown the past two years, but who are we to judge? The past two years for Providence have been abysmal, so I think it’s fair to wipe the slate clean for Mack and Georgetown and objectively analyze how he performed at the Big East level the last two years.
We go into detail on his game, what he does well, what he needs to improve on, and what he’ll bring to Providence.
Friars Add Italian Wing Leonardo Marangon
European pros have infiltrated the college game these past few seasons. Last season you saw the Friars embrace this trend by adding Estonian guard Stefan Vaaks and Latvian big man Peteris Pinnis in the offseason.
This year under new head coach Bryan Hodgson and staff that trend doesnt seem to be changing anytime soon. The Friars got a commitment from Italian wing Leonardo Marangon, who played professionally for UEB Gesteco Cividale in Italy’s Serie 2 division.
We provide a glimpse into his game and what he’ll bring to the 2026 Friars.
Continue reading “Friars Add Italian Wing Leonardo Marangon”Friars Bolster Frontcourt & Land Northwestern Big Arrinten Page
The roster is starting to crystallize for the 2026-2027 season for the Providence Friars. Last night’s commitment of Northwestern big man Arrinten Page gives Providence a nice 1-2 punch at the 5 position with Page and Yale transfer big Samson Aletan.
Page’s commitment is a massive win for the Friars. His career has been up and down, but when the motor is on and engine is running consistently, he’s has shades of an NBA big. I found myself wondering why he wasn’t more of a wanted commodity and known name this portal cycle, and I have to think it was because of the following:
1. Northwestern’s lack of success
2. His hot/cold streak. One game he looks like an NBA big. Another game he is a no-show.
3. This being his first year in three years of college producing.
Whatever the case, Providence is looking to build off Page’s breakout junior season at Northwestern.
He has untapped potential that many big men do not possess. He has the tools, and you hope Hodgson and staff can turn that potential into consistent production.
We break down the commitment below and project Page’s roster fit for 2026-2027.