It seemed Providence might have been on its way to making significant news on the recruiting trail as star guard Abdou Toure neared his college decision this week.

Toure, the 37th ranked player in the class of 2026 per 247 Sports, has been the best player on back-to-back state title teams at Notre Dame-West Haven — and he is the reigning Gatorade Player of the Year in Connecticut.

He’s 6’6, athletic, and immensely talented.

Earlier this week, Toure said he would announce his decision on Friday from a group including Providence, UConn, and Arkansas. Local media outlets in Connecticut were quick to give Husky fans the heads up that he wasn’t going to stay in-state, while 247 Sports had a “crystal ball prediction” of Toure to Providence earlier this week.

With Kim English visiting Toure mid-week, and Arkansas already holding a commitment from a similar type of player in five-star shooting guard JJ Andrews, things certainly seemed to be trending upwards for PC.

Yet, when a recruit is in the days leading up to his decision we often have a sense of if a player is going to pop for the Friars. That wasn’t the case with Toure — and on Friday he announced that he is heading to Arkansas to play for John Calipari.

“It was neck to neck, but it came down to trust,” Toure told 247 Sports on Friday. “Coach Cal, what he’s done and his track record. I know he can help me get to that next level.”

It’s hard to argue with that logic. Calipari can point to the dozens of players he has sent to the NBA over the past 30 years (last year at Arkansas was the first he hadn’t produced a first round pick since 2008). Meanwhile, Providence put together such a strong transfer haul in the spring that we almost forget that they are coming off a 12-20 season — with an important year ahead.

Recruiting isn’t as cut and dry as it was just a few years ago, however. There are financial considerations, and almost every top-40 prospect is thinking about the NBA — especially during a year in which a record 11 frosh were taken in the lottery (versus one sophomore, one upperclassman, and one international prospect).

You’ll never hear us talk about another program giving a player “the bag” in this space, but there’s certainly much discussion to be had about how Providence should spend theirs.

In the days leading up to this announcement, I found myself pondering the best way to approach freshman recruiting.

There are freshmen like recent visitor Caleb Holt (perhaps the top shooting guard in the class of 2026), that you pull out any stop to land. Holt has true one-and-done potential and there’s a good chance he’ll be a top-ten pick after a short stint in college.

That’s an easy one.

Players in the 30-40 range will require a staff to have a lot of conviction that they’ll get strong play out of them in year one. And there are other considerations at play as valuations are increasing by the year.

If Providence were to give Toure a significant valuation, how will that impact their ability to retain veterans next spring?

Does Toure even stick around for a sophomore leap if his freshman season doesn’t go how he envisioned?

Are you going to get more production from a freshman ranked around 40 than a solid college upperclassman at a similar cost?

Let’s take a look at the recruiting class of 2024 — players who just wrapped up their freshman seasons who either hailed from New England or committed to a Big East school.

Cooper Flagg is obviously the outlier — the top player in the class who excelled at Duke and went first in last spring’s draft, to the surprise of no one.

Here are 247 Sports’ top 75 players from New England, or those who committed to Big East schools, who just wrapped up their freshman seasons:

Liam McNeeley, UConn (national ranking: 10): Thought to be a potential top ten pick at this time a year ago, McNeeley was good, but not efficient (14.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 38% FG, 31% 3PT) for UConn last season. He entered the NBA Draft and slid to #29.

Joson Sanon, Arizona State (national ranking: 24): There were some who thought Sanon (a five-star scoring dynamo out of Vermont Academy) could have cracked the top 15-20 in the draft prior to last season. Sanon had a good freshman year (11.9 points, 37% shooting from 3), but Arizona State went 13-20 and he left for St. John’s after one year.

Ahmad Nowell, UConn (national ranking: 33): Nowell played in just 18 games for a UConn team in need of help at point guard. After averaging 1.5 points and 1.1 assists he left Storrs and is now at VCU.

Jackson McAndrew, Creighton (national ranking: 39): McAndrew was named Big East All-Freshman last year after averaging 7.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, but more significantly, he will serve as a key piece and building block at Creighton going forward.