Oswin Erhunmwunse reclassifies to 2024... and what it means for next year's Friars

What had long been rumored (and expected) in Providence came to fruition this week when Oswin Erhunmwunse announced that he was reclassifying to the class of 2024. As a result, Erhunmwunse officially became a Friar and is eligible to play during the 2024-25 season. He is on campus and will begin taking classes this summer.

“Oswin is an elite talent and we are excited that he will be joining our team this season,” Kim English said in a statement released by the team. “Oswin has the ability to score the ball in a number of ways and is dominant on the defensive side of the ball. Most importantly, he has an infectious personality and he will be a great fit for the culture of our program.”

What does this mean for both the immediate future and over the long-term for Providence?

A new-look frontcourt is complete

On paper, the addition of Erhunmwunse certainly gives the Friars more versatility on the interior. Once Bryce Hopkins went down with a knee injury in early January, Providence was almost singularly reliant on Josh Oduro inside, with the slender Rafael Castro struggling to hold up and the 190-pound Davonte “Ticket” Gaines spending the remainder of the season battling players 30-40 pounds heavier at the four spot. Providence’s margin of error was razor-thin from that point on.

Heading into next season, PC already had a pair of massive centers in the fold in redshirt sophomore Christ Essandoko (7’0, 290) and sophomore Anton Bonke (7’2, 270). With the addition of a potentially elite shot blocker in Erhunmwunse, this group should provide English with something he didn’t have a season ago: options at center. Erhunmwunse could also see time at the four next year, as either a backup to Bryce Hopkins, or spotting minutes if Hopkins isn’t ready to go by November.

While the addition of Erhunmwunse was expected, it is also critical. Two of the most significant question marks on next year’s roster revolve around the return to health of Hopkins and the new-look center position.

Perhaps no position on the team could swing the fortunes of the 2024-25 Friars more than center, where Essandoko showed flashes of greatness at St. Joe’s, Erhunmwunse is as exciting a shot-blocking prospect as Providence has ever brought in, and Bonke has intrigued Friar fans due to his size and untapped potential.

There will be a wait-and-see approach from outside of the program about a rotation featuring a sophomore that averaged 8.2 points and 5.7 rebounds at St. Joe’s, a junior college recruit who is still very new to the game, and a first-year big man (no matter how talented he is). The upside is tremendous, but questions about their experience are fair.

If all goes according to plan, Essandoko will emerge as the anchor — a third-year center who is capable of stretching the floor beyond the arc, distributing from multiple areas on the floor, and punishing smaller players in the post. Erhunmwunse would slot in behind both Essandoko and Hopkins in what would be an ideal role for the freshman: playing substantial minutes as a reserve tasked with changing the tenor of games defensively, and cleaning up around the rim on offense.

How will Erhunmwunse’s game translate in year one?

Erhunmwunse blew scouts away at both the Pangos All American and NBA Top 100 camps this spring, receiving praise from a variety of publications as a standout at both camps.

Ryan Cassidy of Yahoo Sports wrote of Erhunmwunse after seeing him at the Pangos All American Camp: “A staggering blend of size, elite-level athleticism and burgeoning skill, Erhunmwunse is the kind of prospect that turns heads in warmups before a game even begins. The 6-foot-10 forward is plenty effective once the first whistle blows, however, and showcased fluidity and a good basketball IQ at Pangos.

At one point, he impressed onlookers with a standstill dunk that saw him stick his elbow through the rim and hang for a few seconds after the finish. Combine that sort of athletic prowess with his knack for shot-blocking and his ability to put the ball on the floor, and you have a recipe for versatility at the college level. There’s almost no doubt that the Providence commit will be able to impact Big East games from day one of his freshman season.”

Providence will shift from having virtually no rim protection a year ago to welcoming one of the best shot-blocking prospects in the game with the addition of the left hander. Erhunmwunse’s athleticism is elite, his timing on blocked shots is exceptional, and he doesn’t chase blocks for the sake of padding his stats. His athleticism pops when he suspends in the air for an extra split second to finish a contest, bounces quickly off the floor to snatch rebounds with his head at the rim, and on those instances in which he doesn’t just block a shot attempt, but catches it out of midair.

The Pangos and NBA camps were a continuation of what had taken place all spring. Each of these blocks came in a 13-game sample on the Adidas circuit with BABC:

How dominant was Erhunmwunse on the Adidas circuit defensively? Opponents shot just 1-15 against him in isolation this spring. In just over 28 minutes per game for BABC he averaged 9.6 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks per game, while making 57% of his shots from the field.

Offensively, his scores will come mainly on put-backs and lobs, as a rim runner, and on the occasional post-up next year. Erhunmwunse made 14-16 of his attempts in transition for BABC (95th percentile), 10-18 on post-ups (60th), and 14-22 after offensive rebounds (79th). While he made free throws at a good clip at the All American camps this spring, he shot 43% on the Adidas tour.

On the defensive side of the ball, the best way to attack Erhunmwunse at this early stage of his career will be to make him chase stretch bigs. Opponents were 14-32 against him when spotting up this spring, and in the prep national championship in March five-star big man Niko Bundalo got loose from the perimeter in Western Reserve’s win over Putnam Science in the title game. PC mainly played drop coverage with Oduro a season ago, and will likely dare opponents to play downhill against their newest defensive weapon next year.

On sheer size and athleticism, Erhunmwunse is the type of big man that the likes of North Carolina, Kentucky, and Texas A&M threw at Providence in NCAA Tournament games over the past decade or so — the type of athlete that eventually wore down the Friar frontcourt and ended their season.

Erhunmwunse missed the better part of a year following shoulder surgery, returned in January, and really started to find his footing by the time the postseason rolled around in March. It seems as though every national scout who watched him this spring highlighted him as one of the best players they viewed. He has the ability to dramatically alter the way Providence defends, providing serious doubt to anyone attacking the Friars on the interior.

English set out to make Providence more physically formidable in the paint, and in Oswin Erhunmwunse he added one of the best shot-blocking prospects in basketball.