Five takeaways after Kim English met with the local media, season ticket holders

Providence head coach Kim English and Athletic Director Steve Napolillo spent some time last week with the local media, and took part in a broadcast for season ticket holders with WPRO’s Kevin McNamara.

Here are five takeaways:

1. English believes he has many options at the one.

While Providence won’t enter the 2025-26 campaign with a proven pass-first point guard, English sounds as though he believes there are more than enough options available on next year’s roster to get the job done.

Transfers Daquan Davis (Florida State) and Jason Edwards (Vanderbilt) bring firepower to the backcourt. Edwards is a proven scorer in both the American Conference at North Texas and at Vanderbilt in the SEC. English spoke highly of Davis’ defensive ability with the media prior to the season ticket holder broadcast.

English could choose to play Edwards and Davis together in a smaller/faster backcourt, while Edwards recently told Billy Ricci on The Friar Podcast (in an episode that will drop later this week) that he wants to be more of a facilitator this season.

Edwards is an explosive scorer (19.1 ppg at North Texas, 17.0 at Vandy) who often played off the ball next to bigger point guards the past two seasons. There’s a chance we could see something similar next year, as English cited veteran guard Corey Floyd Jr. and incoming freshman Stefan Vaaks as potential options at the one.

Vaaks suffered an MCL injury recently, and English told the media there’s hope that Vaaks will be ready for the start of the season.

English also shared this tidbit on Floyd, who floated the idea of transferring to his head coach this spring: “When a player has told me he wanted to transfer, I’ve never said anything other than, ‘Good luck. I love you.’ Corey told me he was thinking about it, and it’s the only time in my career I got up, I walked around the table, and I shut the door. And I said, ‘No, you’re not,’ because he’s everything that’s right about college basketball.”

English spoke with Floyd about how Providence will forever be his home, much like Missouri is for English. He also said that Floyd is everything Providence College, and the basketball program, are about.

As far as playing more lead guard, the head coach pointed out Floyd’s success in getting into the paint, spraying it out to shooters, and finding Oswin Erhunmwunse for lobs at the rim.

2. The frontcourt will be smaller, but more athletic.

“We don’t want big, lumbering guys out there,” English said of the construction of this roster and the defensive struggles of a season ago. He also vowed to play differently on the defensive end, but wouldn’t get into specifics on what that will look like.

On the interior, PC will obviously rely on the sophomore Erhunmwunse to anchor the defense, and the staff likes the strength and athleticism of 6’9 Drexel transfer Cole Hargrove. English also noted that Georgia Tech transfer Duncan Powell (6’8, 235 lbs.) will get looks at the five in a smaller lineup with shooters across the court. The coaches liked what they saw from the team when they went small against BYU last December.

3. Fixing the defense is a clear priority.

The Friars went from one of the better defensive teams in the country two seasons ago to one of the worst in high major hoops last year. English said the fault lies with him: “There’s a thin line in coaching between ‘Do we need to do it better, or do we need to do it differently?’ I’ll take all the blame. Our defensive faults were because of me and my stubbornness to adjust to the personnel we had.”

English told the media that this projects to be a more athletic group, which should benefit them on the defensive end. It’s clear the defensive shortcomings ate away at him.

From the outside looking in, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Friars push to turn opponents over more frequently. PC ranked 346th in the country in Defensive Turnover Rate last year.

4. Providence approached the transfer portal differently this spring.

English emphasized that his staff did its homework last spring, but in both the media session and season ticket holder broadcast, he alluded to a subtle divide between the returning players and the newcomers last season.

Providence took steps to alleviate that issue this offseason by having its returnees serve as recruiters, to a certain extent — with players asking former teammates and AAU running partners about portal prospects the Friars were interested in.

“One of the huge things we did this season was with the involvement and integration of our current guys. We got those guys talking and meeting, and it started a bond between our current guys and our incoming guys that wasn’t quite there the last time,” English said.

The coach also noted there is less guesswork when welcoming players like Edwards, Powell, Davis, and Jaylin Sellers from high major conferences: “It’s less of a projection when you see what Jason Edwards or Jaylin Sellers or Daquan Davis or Duncan Powell did in the Big 12, SEC, or ACC.”

English might have found a kindred spirit in the hard-charging Sellers, a transfer from UCF who missed much of last season with a back injury.

“He has a seriousness about himself that really jives with me,” English said. “Players that I’ve had the most success with, it’s when our seriousness and level of professionalism match.”

English and Napolillo emphasized how Providence’s donors made this roster a possibility.

“Some of our most generous donors stepped up in a major way,” English shared. “Money is never the reason we don’t get a kid, but we want kids that want to be at Providence for something a lot more than money.”

5. The transfer portal is not true free agency.

English finally said what this writer has been thinking for the better part of two years: the comparisons of the transfer portal and NBA free agency aren’t apples to apples.

“There is not annual free agency for every player in the NBA,” English said when asked about recruiting in the portal era.

To further the point, the NBA has a collective bargaining agreement, anti-tampering rules, ownership, a salary cap, and public contracts.

Where the Portal Era has helped Providence is in their ability to rebuild an entire roster in one offseason with immediately eligible transfers. The Friars finishing 12-20 a season ago doesn’t feel so dire when they aren’t relying solely on development, sit-out transfers, and high school/junior college recruiting to right the ship.