Will McNair Jr. is gone, Eli DeLaurier next at Providence... and what it means for the Friars; plus previewing Creighton, a look at six Mason games from last year, King Cotton, Josh Oduro and more

Well, this was a new one. Providence picked up a commitment from power forward Eli DeLaurier, a skilled stretch four, this week — a day after Will McNair Jr. decided to leave the program.

McNair was a late addition to the program, a June signee whom the staff pivoted to after aiming for a few higher upside targets via both the transfer portal and prep ranks. The Philly native came off the bench in all but one of the 34 games he played at Mississippi State last season, a year after starting in 27 for an NCAA Tournament team in New Mexico State in 2021-22. It was during that season in New Mexico that McNair put up career highs in points (6.6), rebounds (4.9), and minutes (22.9) per game. Those numbers dipped (3.3/3.3/12.6) when he moved to the SEC.

Regardless, the loss hurts because it is nearly impossible to find a suitable replacement in September for a 6’11, 260 pound center with experience to come off the bench. In a year in which the likes of Donovan Clingan, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and Joel Soriano are expected to make significant impacts in the Big East (and in March) the suddenly downsized Friars have one less massive body, and five fewer fouls to throw at the All American level centers they will see more than once in 2023-24.

Kim English and his staff almost immediately turned around and picked up a commitment from Eli DeLaurier, who was originally a member of the class of 2024, but reclassified to 2023 and will immediately join the Friars. He shouldn’t be expected to pick up the minutes McNair left behind, but the staff has liked the Virginia native for a while and adding him seemed like a no-brainer with another scholarship open.

DeLaurier is a shooter who measured 6’10 in shoes, with a 7’1 wingspan. He’s a skilled forward with above average passing ability, who plays hard. His brother, Javin, played at Duke, and both spent their springs and summers playing with Team Loaded on the Adidas circuit. The program has produced the likes of Bam Adebayo, as well as Caleb and Cody Martin. DeLaurier’s mother played at Rutgers.

He averaged 15.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game at the Miller School in Charlottesville, VA last year. English and his staff offered DeLaurier a scholarship while they were at Mason, and he stated he also had offers from Mississippi State, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, West Virginia, Radford, and Old Dominion last winter. DeLaurier scored a team high 15 points in a 42-40 loss in the state championship last March — a game that can be seen here:

While the addition of DeLaurier gives Providence a long-term development piece on the interior, the departure of McNair chips away at the different lineups the Friars can go with next season. More significantly, it makes them a lot leaner in the frontcourt. PC was already planning on relying heavily on Bryce Hopkins and Josh Oduro in the frontcourt, now they will need to get something out of Rafael Castro in his second active season.

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Also on Friar Basketball this week…

We wrapped up our podcast with Josh Oduro late last week and should have it posted soon. Here is Oduro on his relationship with Kim English:

As noted last week, subscribers to the site will have access to articles in which we dig into George Mason games during Kim English’s time as their head coach. The first of these articles includes breakdowns and video from Mason’s closely contested game at Kansas in 2022, in addition to their first five games of last season.

Observations from Watching Kim English and George Mason Take On Kansas and Their First Five Non-Conference Opponents of 2022-23

Subscribers can also read our season preview of Creighton, a year after they came within a point of reaching the program’s first Final Four.

Creighton has turned a corner, eyes its first Final Four in March

Bryce Cotton put it on the young guys from G League Ignite in Las Vegas, dropping 40 points. The G League Ignite squad may have had a pair of projected top five picks in next June’s draft in Matas Buzelis (17 points) and Ron Holland (33), but the veteran Cotton shot 8-10 from beyond the arc, 8-8 at the free throw line, and added six assists and five rebounds. Cotton, of course, is a three-time NBL MVP.

Blue Ribbon came out with their 2023-24 season preview earlier this month, and Providence is predicted to come in seventh in the Big East. The league is getting all sorts of respect, with Connecticut ranked third nationally, Marquette fourth, Creighton ninth, and Villanova coming in at #24. Four Big East players were named to their Preseason All American team: Tyler Kolek of Marquette and Justin Moore of Villanova on the first team, Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner on the second, and UConn’s Tristen Newton third. It’s worth noting that Kolek and Bryce Hopkins were the only unanimous Big East 1st Team selections at the end of last season.

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