Providence Scouting Report

[gsmooth]

Historically Providence has usually been a rock fight. As
long as we we win this likely rock fight tomorrow all will be ok. For medical reason I am not allowed alcohol so I will forced to wash down my by standard game food of chicken wings and shrimp on sticks with do not tell anyone with make believe “beer”. I am ashamed. My wife who loved to have shrimp during UCONN BB games passed away so I have shrimp in addition to chicken wings in her honor.

Condolences to you for your loss. I know the mentality. When my wife was having emergency surgery for her brain aneurysm I ordered my usual chicken sandwich at BGood, but instead of the regular fresh hand cut fries, I got the fresh hand cut sweet potato fries because that is what she normally ordered. She is alive and has recovered nicely, but like I said I understand the mentality as at that moment she was close to death.

 

[gsmooth]

Yeah you have a pretty good take on that. Im not sure Hopkins is able to redshirt, hard to sort out what any rules actually are these days. But if he can, I don't think you see him at PC next year no matter what. You're not wrong about English, he preached getting "13 dudes" after having obvious depth issues last year past Carter and Oduro, and from all accounts was given a pretty fat checkbook to get some players out of the portal. It seems that they are all misses to varying degrees.

Essandoko is a disaster and is pretty much benched and was supposed to be their starting center. Abdur-Rahim not getting much run now, was supposed to be a lights out three guy but hes not making them at a good clip and is so soft in other aspects of the game he is virtually unplayable. Wes Cardet was talked up as a big scorer that they were looking to maybe be a lead scorer, but his overall floor game is wildly inconsistent. He has some good flashes but overall has been disappointing to this point. However his style of play is one that fits the Memphis/Colorado mode of attack against us, so he possibly could cause some issues Sunday. Hard to keep from the rim one on one. Bensley Joseph is the 4th portal guy and to my eye the only one who has delivered anything to PC from the portal, been decent, but its not like hes setting the world on fire either, just more or less a serviceable guard along with Pierre.

That's a lot of swings and misses, and while that can happen and does happen (not every portal player turns out like Cam Spencer as we well know) , that is when floor coaching gets put in the spotlight, and thus far English, while taking accountability for the poor play, has looked like a deer in the headlights at times, and doesn't seem to be adjusting the team away from what they are failing at and making adjustments. THAT is where a coach butters his bread. I won't entirely write off their season yet, it is almost a annual Providence tradition that they are pretty bad OOC and in early season and then amass some wins in the middle of conference season. This year feels different and its hard to see them turning around something this bad (losing 7 of 9) but things happen. Nova seems to be turning it around a bit this season. English is a young guy with a good energy and seems to be a good recruiter, so he can afford a bad year, but he will definitely be under a microscope next season if this season plays out how it's feeling.

Yes if this season plays out poorly he will definitely be under a microscope next year. Like you stated, PC has a good NIL fund and players such as Christ Essandoko,Jabri Abdur Rahim, Wesley Cardet Jr, and Justyn Fernandez are not exactly lighting the world on fire. Cardet Jr, has been soldi, but the Essandoko and JAR have been a disaster up to this point and these are players English chose to use his NIL for in the transfer portal. Bensley Joseph has been good and he is their #1 option, especially in clutch, high pressure, need a basket situations.

I was watching the Dayton-George Washington game earlier today that GW won by a 20 pt blowout. Guess who averages close to a double-double. Rafael Castro, who played at PC the last 2 years. He looked like such as scrub at PC. Why were Cooley and English unable to get so little out of him? That's not a good look for English.

Rafael Castro 2024-25 Stats per Game - NCAAM - ESPN

The 2024-25 NCAAM season stats per game for Rafael Castro of the George Washington Revolutionaries on ESPN. Includes full stats, per opponent, for regular and postseason.

www.espn.com

 

[HooperScooper]

Do we know if Hopkins is playing tomorrow? This makes it sound like there's a chance he'll play.

"Bryce had a catastrophic knee injury on Jan. 3 (of 2024) -- catastrophic," English said. "And when he's back we're not going to risk re-injury there. He's doing everything in his power to get back. He had a good day (Monday), about half the practice, and hopefully he'll do more (this week) to get ready for Connecticut on Sunday."

Both teams look for improvement as Providence visits No. 11 UConn

Injuries are the main storyline for both Providence and No. 11 UConn entering a Big East matchup between those teams on Sunday in Storrs, Conn.

www.cbssports.com

Saw this in the Providence Journal article on the game:
Providence won't issue an update on Hopkins until pregame Sunday and Carter isn't walking through that door.

 

[Bazz2014]

Historically Providence has usually been a rock fight. As
long as we we win this likely rock fight tomorrow all will be ok. For medical reason I am not allowed alcohol so I will forced to wash down my by standard game food of chicken wings and shrimp on sticks with do not tell anyone with make believe “beer”. I am ashamed. My wife who loved to have shrimp during UCONN BB games passed away so I have shrimp in addition to chicken wings in her honor.

So sorry for your loss. We always get wings for each game but we’ll be adding shrimp to our order tomorrow. Let’s go huskies!

 

[F101Voodoo]

Condolences to you for your loss. I know the mentality. When my wife was having emergency surgery for her brain aneurysm I ordered my usual chicken sandwich at BGood, but instead of the regular fresh hand cut fries, I got the fresh hand cut sweet potato fries because that is what she normally ordered. She is alive and has recovered nicely, but like I said I understand the mentality as at that moment she was close to death.

May God.watch over your wife and best of health to both of you.

 

[F101Voodoo]

So sorry to hear about your wife.
My wife, in an effort to control her calories, tried and likes Athletic
IPA so you might want to add that to your menu.

That is alchohol free I assume based on your recommendation.

 

[woodchuck68]

That is alchohol free I assume based on your recommendation.

Pretty close. I think its .05% alcohol. I drink it as a beer substitute on a random monday. But if you have a health or other issue that precludes you from having ANY alcohol, it might not be for you

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Some key updates after last matchup:

• Providence has lost six of its last seven, including recent 21 point losses to Georgetown and a 30 point loss to Marquette.
• 5Y forward Jabri Abdur-Rahim is out for the year with a knee injury (7.2 ppg, 36 3P%)
• Sophomore big Christ Essandoko has missed time intermittently through the last few weeks due to an ankle injury (10.6 mpg in Big East play)
• Wesley Cardet missed six of last ten games with a knee injury
• Still no Hopkins (3 games played this season)

Basically, Providence's best shot to win the game is to get hot from three as the Friars' perimeter offense has been solid in conference play. The backcourt duo of Joseph/Pierre is quite good and there are a bunch of supporting guys (I'm a fan of Mela and can see him be an impact starter as an upper-classman), but this team is a shell of itself.

 

[Deepster]

Can't wait for the first "they always play us tough, this should be a close game" post.....

 

[AllHusky]

they always play us tough, this should be close.....
there, all done!

 

[Son of Robert]

View attachment 107305
Some key updates after last matchup:

• Providence has lost six of its last seven, including recent 21 point losses to Georgetown and a 30 point loss to Marquette.
• 5Y forward Jabri Abdur-Rahim is out for the year with a knee injury (7.2 ppg, 36 3P%)
• Sophomore big Christ Essandoko has missed time intermittently through the last few weeks due to an ankle injury (10.6 mpg in Big East play)
• Wesley Cardet missed six of last ten games with a knee injury
• Still no Hopkins (3 games played this season)

Basically, Providence's best shot to win the game is to get hot from three as the Friars' perimeter offense has been solid in conference play. The backcourt duo of Joseph/Pierre is quite good and there are a bunch of supporting guys (I'm a fan of Mela and can see him be an impact starter as an upper-classman), but this team is a shell of itself.

Mela is a good player, lots of IQ.

 

[HooperScooper]

Still no Hopkins (3 games played this season)

They announced about a month ago that he was done for the season.

Friars' Hopkins again has season end with injury

Providence forward Bryce Hopkins, who missed most of last season with a torn ACL, will miss the rest of this season after suffering a knee injury.

www.espn.com

 

[HuskyHawk]

I'll be at the Dunk. Looking forward to seeing PC somehow shoot 50% from three against us like every team seems to. Think I'll wear my UConn Hockey jersey. Yes, @Deepster they always do play us tough in Providence. It's their Super Bowl.