Providence Offseason Q&A Series with Brendon Desrochers
With the calendar turning to August, we are looking forward to ramping up our coverage previewing the 2024-25 season. Just last week, Bill Ricci sat down with Dennis Felton for an insightful one-on-one interview. We will also have an interview with former Friar Jalen Lindsey coming out shortly with his thoughts on the current state of the program, as well as a podcast with a newcomer to this year’s Friars. August will also kick off our Friar and Big East team previews.
Today we have content I’m really excited to share. I met Brendon Desrochers at the Big East Tournament in March after reading his work for a long time at Scout Friars and now his terrific Substack. We thought it would be fun to go back-and-forth about a number of Providence and Big East-related topics in the weeks leading up to the season. This is our first “conversation.”
Brendon: Thanks so much for putting this together — really love your content and consistency as you balance work and family. It’s incredibly impressive and also humbling.
As we start this series, I want to start with the question I’ve been itching to get your take on. Kim English and his staff masterfully managed the Portal process this spring, taking a “strike early” drama free approach that lended them the guard (Bensley Joseph), center (Christ Essandoko), wing (Jabri Abdur-Rahim) and shot creator (Wesley Cardet) they needed to complement the returners (Bryce Hopkins, Jayden Pierre, Corey Floyd, Rich Barron, etc.). They’ve also nailed the 2025 class with Oswin Erhunwunse (since reclassified to 2024), Jamier Jones and Jaylen Harrell.
As someone who follows the talent acquisition aspect of the sport, particularly at the prep level, as closely as anyone in the Northeast, what is the sense you get for how Coach English’s staff goes about its business, for how Providence is now perceived on the prep and AAU scene, and for what the staff might be setting up to close out 2025 and nail for 2026?
Kevin: First, thanks for taking part in this with me. I consume so much college basketball content and really appreciate your writing because I genuinely always feel like I learn something after reading your work. I’ve had this idea for a while and can’t wait to pick your brain on a few things.
Regarding recruiting, English and his staff weren’t afraid to set a high bar when they came here. As I’ve written before (but it’s always stuck with me) I was told pretty bluntly, “Kim believes he will get five-star guys here” shortly after he was hired, and that’s been the case with kids like Oswin and Jones, who are at least bordering on five-star rankings. It wasn’t “He thinks he can”, but rather “He believes he will” get this caliber talent.
English is pretty much perfectly suited to recruit in 2024 — he has NBA experience, he’s young, he’s relatable, and he’s hungry. NIL wears out so many veteran coaches, but doesn’t seem to faze him. His assistants also seem to be really cohesive, at least outwardly, and that isn’t always that case. The Devin Carter rise should open so much up for them, and it’s really pretty incredible to look back on what they’ve accomplished in the portal and in getting both Jamier Jones and Jaylen Harrell. What a great four-month run they are on. They aren’t swinging and missing much. This just feels like a really accessible, relatable coaching staff that is moving with conviction.
Now we get to see if their conviction in terms of who they targeted in the portal was well founded. On paper, I like how this group fits together.
This transfer class is so intriguing, which leads me to my first question: Who are the two or three players on this roster you are most intrigued by heading into next season?
Brendon: It’s interesting — just this morning (it’s Thursday as I type this), I was walking from the subway to my office (I live and work in Manhattan) and ran into a former co-worker and good friend who graduated from PC in the early ’90s. We typically go to a couple games together each year. We’ve seen some good ones — PC’s win at Seton Hall to start out conference play in 2022-23 — and some ugly ones — the gross neutral-court losses to Florida at Barclays and Virginia at the Rock. Anyway, after catching up on how our families were doing and summers were going, he asked for my thoughts on the roster, and that was a great mental preparation for this question. Here are my top three:
#1, Wesley Cardet: My biggest concern about this PC team is shot creation — who can go get a bucket? We’ve seen Hopkins do that at times from the elbow or mid-post, but he’s coming off a major knee injury. Jayden Pierre showed flashes, particularly in the Big East Tournament, but he’s small and he can’t do it by himself. And that’s where Cardet comes in. He’s big, broad-shouldered, athletic, dynamic as a pick-and-roll ball-handler and can gash gaps in isolation. But he has been at Chicago State for two seasons, so how will that translate? He had some good games against good competition — check out Northwestern and K-State — but was poor in others — hello, Wisconsin and Oklahoma State. The body should translate — 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds — along with the athleticism. But what about his efficiency and his decision-making when he’s no longer physically dominant compared to the competition? Smart people I’ve talked to think he has an All-Big East season in him. If he does, PC’s offense can be much better. But if he’s just a rotation piece, the offense may come and go with the 3-point shooting, which was often the case last season.
#2, Bryce Hopkins: No one on this roster has played more minutes in a Friar jersey than Hopkins, and yet he may be the biggest swing piece this season. On Jan. 3, he suffered that devastating ACL tear vs. Seton Hall. A week later, Sean Jones had a similar injury for Marquette, and Jones is thought a potential red-shirt candidate this season, while Hopkins is a core piece of a team with hopes of a deep NCAA run. Of course, not all ACL tears are equal; not all bodies recover equally; and not all surgeons are equal. But I am worried about what Hopkins looks like this season. First, when is he back on the court; second, how long does it take to get back to full speed; third, what does his best this winter look like? Even without a major injury, Hopkins would have a lot to prove after he looked out of sorts playing within Coach English’s offense. His defense was excellent and his rebounding never strayed, but his confidence on the ball came and went. The best version of this team has Hopkins as an all-Big East caliber player, and I’m just not sure it’s fair to expect that considering the nature of his injury and the areas of his game he needed to improve even apart from the injury.
#3, Oswin Erhunmwunse: Oswin is the type of talent that can transform a team, and the type of athlete that doesn’t typically enroll at Providence. No one wants to put too much pressure on a freshman, but his combination of rim protection and play-finishing will make him someone other teams need to account for. How does his game mesh with the team’s other centers? Can he play at all at the 4, especially if Hopkins is unavailable, and considering Christ Essandoko’s potential to spread the floor at the 5? And what might that mean for PC’s defensive ceiling? Despite reclassifying and having what appears at first to be a raw game (not to mention missing time last year due to injury), his game is actually more refined that meets first glance. I can’t wait to see how this coaching staff elects to deploy this weapon, and how that evolves from November to March.
Any players I miss that really intrigue you (Corey Floyd and Ryan Mela are two more guys I want to see this fall; and who can forget Anton Bonke)? Anyone you’ve either seen at summer practice who have really popped in a surprising way or that you’re most looking forward to seeing? Any new Legend of Oswin stories to share?
Kevin: I’m a little worried that Bonke-a-mania is placing unfair expectations on a kid who has played a year of organized basketball. It was encouraging when Coach Felton told Billy on our most recent pod that Bonke is as fast a learner as he has coached, but my expectation is that he gets third center minutes behind Essandoko and Oswin. I also wondered if Oswin might swing over to the four when Hopkins is sidelined, especially with a center in Essandoko who can spread the floor, but I would be surprised to see Oswin there while Hopkins recovers. Georgia transfer Jabri Abdur-Rahim most likely gets those minutes as a smaller stretch four with Eli DeLaurier (a forgotten man in some corners of Friartown) backing him up in early November.
The logjam at the 2-3 spots is real. At least on paper. You’d think that will be an absolute battle for minutes, but then again, these types of August logjams in Friartown haven’t come to fruition once the ball tips in November. Assuming Pierre and Bensley Joseph get big minutes at the one (as well as playing together at times) and Cardet has a significant role, there’s a group of four who will battle it out — Barron, Floyd Jr., Justyn Fernandez, and Mela — for minutes. Mela would seem to be at the biggest disadvantage as a freshman, as Floyd Jr. is in his fourth year on a college campus, Fernandez returns for his second season of action after missing last year with a torn ACL, and Barron became indispensable late last year. This time a year ago I thought Floyd Jr. was an opening night starter, while Fernandez is potentially dynamic. It will be interesting to see who emerges, and how Kim English manages their playing time.
Fernandez is particularly intriguing. Prior to his injury he was a 6’5 head-at-the-rim athlete who shot 34% from three as a freshman. Once he turned a corner defensively two years ago, his minutes jumped. Perhaps no player has earned as much praise for his work ethic from this staff. Fernandez could be a real difference maker, assuming he’s close to his pre-injury form.
His grassroots highlights are pretty wild, and he also showed an ability to score and create a bit as a freshman at George Mason.
Part II will be published on Brendon’s Substack.