Four Questions Facing Providence After a Promising Offseason Overhaul

Photo courtesy of FAU Athletics

After a pair of challenging seasons that saw their beloved Friars combine to go 13–27 in Big East play and finish 11 games below .500 overall, this spring has felt rather cathartic for Providence fans.

The overhaul of a roster returning only one scholarship player feels all but complete as June approaches — and you’d be hard-pressed to find many in Friartown disappointed with Bryan Hodgson’s first portal haul.

As always, these rankings should be taken with a grain of salt, but Providence sits near the top of virtually every transfer class ranking, with 247 Sports slotting them in at ninth in the country — one spot behind North Carolina, and two back of Duke.

For all of the positive press surrounding this group, Friar fans have been burned by the portal one too many times over the past two years to get too far ahead of themselves.

This certainly has the making of PC’s first NCAA Tournament team since the 2023 squad fell to Kentucky in the first round, but like every program in the current landscape, there is a higher level of uncertainty with all the roster turnover.

What are the biggest questions facing Providence as players make their way to campus?

Is Dink Pate ready for year-one stardom?

Hodgson didn’t mix words on The Field of 68’s Off the Carousel series earlier this spring. He expects big things from G-League-to-Providence wing Dink Pate.

There will be an adjustment period after Pate spent the past three years playing in the G League, but Hodgson noted, “When it clicks, he’s going to be special.”

“I did as much homework on him as any young man I’ve ever recruited,” Hodgson said. “I called six NBA front offices and eight NBA G League head coaches, and it was a unanimous no-brainer. One G League head coach was like ‘Is this a serious question? He had 25 against us and the guy I had guarding him was an ACC Player of the Year a few years ago.’”

Pate became the youngest American professional basketball player in history when he turned pro at 17 — and he brings terrific credentials with him to Providence three years later: 16 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game for the Westchester Knicks this year. It was a season highlighted by a 37-point, 11-rebound, 13-assist triple-double in December.

The freedom Hodgson provides offensively should help the transition to the Big East (Pate shot 40% on spot-up opportunities this year). However, unlike in the G League, every game feels like life or death in college.

Providence may not necessarily need him to be an alpha scorer come February and March, but if they do, will Pate be ready to deliver?

As the rest of the country tripped over themselves adding big men, where do Samson Aletan and Arrinten Page slot in among the rest of the Big East’s centers?

Full disclosure: I loved Providence’s approach to the center spot this spring. As the price tag for bigs exploded, PC’s coaching staff landed a tough defender who did nothing but win at Yale the last three years in Samson Aletan, while they’ll look to channel the Arrinten Page that Northwestern saw in November and December into a full season of productivity.

PC has lacked a 1-2 punch at center in recent seasons, but that shouldn’t be the case next year — despite the wings and guards grabbing headlines.

Looking around the Big East, DePaul leaned hard into the big man market. They nabbed two terrific pieces in Magoon Gwath from San Diego State and Fresno State freshman transfer Wilson Jacques (8.8 PPG, 8.8 RPG). Gwath was a terrific shot blocker for one of the best defensive teams in the country in San Diego State (2.6 BPG as a freshman), while Jacques was a nightly double-double threat.

Meanwhile, Georgetown (Chol Machot/Charleston), Marquette (Sananda Fru/Louisville), UConn (Najai Hines/Seton Hall), and Xavier (Michael Nwoko/LSU) all added promising starting centers — and of course, Creighton picked up former Friar Oswin Erhunmwunse.

Yet, despite the popular sentiment that Providence prioritized guards and wings, none of these names feel like the type of matchup problem that Zuby Ejiofor or Tarris Reed presented for Providence inside last year. Expected Aletan and Page to hold their own against any big in the league next year.

Aletan is a very solid piece — a defender who also hits the offensive glass hard and finishes at the rim — while Page could be a swing player for this group if he taps into his potential. He averaged double figures last season at Northwestern (10.2 ppg), even though his production dipped later in the year.

Page put up 15.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.6 assists a game in November, and 14.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in December, but didn’t average more than seven points or three boards in any month for the rest of the season.

Can Malik Mack approach the lofty expectations set when he left Harvard?

It’s been a wild ride for Mack — one that will end in the most unlikely place in Providence.

Considered one of the top ten prospects in the portal after his freshman season at Harvard, Mack was supposed to help lead a resurgence for Ed Cooley and Georgetown. Instead, he’ll wrap up his career at Providence.

Just when it seemed nothing could surprise more than Pate committing to Providence out of nowhere, a few weeks later Mack shocked everyone by becoming a Friar.

Headlines aside, Mack brings a ton of experience to Providence (90 career games, 90 career starts) and a familiarity with the league, but he’ll be hounded by efficiency questions until the ball tips in November.

Mack shot 38% in each of his two seasons at Georgetown, and saw his 3-point percentage fall from 35.5% two years ago to 29.8% last season. On pure point and assist numbers, Mack has certainly been productive. He’s never averaged below four assists a night, and his scoring averages were 17.2 as the Ivy League Freshman of the Year, 12.9 as a sophomore at Georgetown, and 13.6 last season.

He’ll be flanked with shooters next year in a system offering great freedom. Providence doesn’t need him to be a star, but Friar fans would love to see him go from villain to a maestro effectively running the show at the AMP.

How does the off-guard position play out?

Hodgson has two new intriguing options at the two-guard in Devin Vanterpool (FAU) and Ryan Sabol (Buffalo).

Vanterpool brings good two-way versatility — a 15.2 point-per-game scorer who also grabbed six rebounds a night, all while serving an outstanding 3-point shooter from the wing.

Sabol is one of the best shooters in the country, putting up 18.9 points per game and making nearly 40% from three — on a ridiculous 122 makes from deep.

Both Sabol (9.8 per game) and Vanterpool (6.1 per game) took a lot of shots beyond the arc last year. That will only continue under Hodgson.

There’s some positional versatility here as well. Vanterpool at 6’4, 190, provides a little more physicality, while Sabol has more game off the bounce than one would expect from such a pure shooter.

Could Sabol potentially play lead guard alongside Vanterpool? Can Vanterpool set the offense, or even swing over to the three in a smaller lineup? Can Mack, Sabol, and Vanterpool play together in a three-guard lineup? All seem like possibilities, and it will be interesting to see how Hodgson deploys them.

Each of these options highlighted above, combined with the returning Ryan Mela and a top 10-20 portal addition in Miles Byrd have Providence heading into the summer with plenty of intrigue and high hopes for next season.