Wednesday, August 06, 2025
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Kevin Stacom, Sports Analyst PHOTO: Golocal
Among all the rapid fire changes that have taken place in college basketball the last few years the one that has fallen below a lot of fan’s radar amidst all the tumult of NIL, the Portal, the huge sums of money involved and the concurrent legal wrangling present and to come, is the fact that a few years ago the NCAA allowed for and put forth regulations concerning summer workouts for men’s and women’s basketball teams.
The basic guidelines are that basketball players can participate in a limited amount of athletically related activities, including strength training, conditioning, and skill instruction, up to 8 hours per week, with a mandatory 2 days off per week.
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Within the last few weeks, I was fortunate enough to attend a few of these sanctioned workouts along with a couple of my former teammates. On display was the majority of what is to be this year’s upcoming 2025-2026 Providence roster.
Like a light summer breeze, these observations are meant to be a general impression of the type of talent that’s been assembled, hinting at some possibilities for the upcoming season rather than a detailed scouting report.
As is the case in most colleges, rosters are made up of guards and wings, which, in a lot of cases, especially in today’s game, are interchangeable positions. About 9 or 10 of these guys will be competing for minutes. It seems just about all of them have something different to offer
The first and last impression you come away with after observing some of the drills and controlled scrimmages from the onset is that there is a lot of overall speed, quickness, and athleticism throughout this roster.
After watching a few possessions by the portal acquisition from Vanderbilt, Jason Edwards(6’1” 180lbs), I turned to my friend Ernie D, knowing how much he appreciates aggressive scorers, and said, “Well, not hard to see his mentality”, to which Ernie replied, “he’s going to attack!” He’s very quick off the bounce, is not afraid of contact, and is not going to be discouraged by a few missed shots. He lead Vanderbilt in scoring last year at 17 points a game and you can see why He also brings a lot of experience and maturity, having started his college career in the Junior college ranks where he was 1st team JUCO All-American, parlayed that into 1st team All AAC at North Texas before ending up at Vanderbil,t achieving 3rd team All SEC.
A player that should be sharing a good amount of time with him in the backcourt is another portal acquisition, DaQuan Davis (6’1” 185lbs), from Florida State. Whenever I was scouting a player, I would attempt to form a profile on the type of player they were and would initially simply note where they were from. Some generalizations do hold up, and one of them is that guys from the Baltimore area tend to be tough, aggressive competitors who don’t shy away from guarding people or taking it to the hoop. Davis seems to fit that stereotype with very good quickness on both sides of the ball, along with showing the ability to pull up with a sound midrange game.
Another new entry that stood out was Jaylin Sellers (6’5”, 205 lbs) from Central Florida. He was also another player that Ernie was very complimentary towards, and those of us who know. Ernie, know those aren’t achieved easily. Ernie and I were very impressed with his speed and quickness, as when in line drills, comprised of baseline to baseline sprints, he almost effortlessly slid ahead of the pack every time.
He’s another guy bringing good experience, as he spent his first two years at Ball State before landing at Central Florida University, where he averaged just under 16 points/ game in his junior year ( he sat out last year due to a back problem). He looks to be dangerous attacking from the wing, along with a respectable 3-point shot. His length and quickness should also be an important part of whatever defensive scheme Coach Kim English decides upon
Continuing on with the theme of this infusion of heightened athleticism someone who needs to be mentioned is true freshman Jamier Jones, a 6’6” 218 lbs from Sarasota, Florida I had seen some film on him but it’s always good to have it confirmed in person. Stated plainly, Jones is an NBA athlete. Without a lot of effort, it seems half his body is above the rim. According to English and all other reports, he’s a great, coachable young man, which only feeds into a lot of optimism about his basketball future.
The other incoming true freshman from Boston, Jaylen Harrell, 6’5”, 210 lbs, also looked very good. He can shoot it and also has a very good feel for the game.
In addition to these very good athletes are two excellent athletes who elected to remain with the program, Corey Floyd Jr, and Oswin Erhunmwunse. It appears at this point that the mantle of team leader will fall to Floyd Jr, who, as a redshirt Senior, gives maximum effort at all times.
Oswin, now a sophomore, seems to be playing with more assertiveness and confidence, aided by the obvious work he’s put into his strength training, looking closer to 6’10” 235 rather than the 220 he played at last year.
Stephan Vaaks, the 6’6” 206 lbs, freshman from Estonia is nursing a meniscus knee injury for the next few weeks but he also looked very good in the mostly light shooting drills he was able to participate in. Another old teammate of mine, Joey Hassett, concurred that Vaaks looks like he has a shooter’s form and excellent mechanics. Joe, having been a pure shooter himself, is another one who doesn’t give out many compliments on how good a shooter someone is, so I took his evaluation seriously!
Ryan Mela looks like he got the message of not turning down open shot opportunities and has worked on that part of his game, which should only add to his effectiveness, complementing the other instinctive attributes he brings to this team -passing, rebounding, and steals.
The other reinforcements that have been brought in to bolster the frontline, Cole Hargrove (Sr. 6’8” 245 lbs, Drexel), Peter Pinnis (So. 7’0” 260 lbs- Latvia), and Duncan Powell ( Gr. 6’8” 240 lbs., Georgia Tech), all seem willing and able to play whatever role they can. Hargrove played hard, Pennis rebounded in his area, and his 7’ frame will be a welcome piece, while Powell especially played with a lot of infectious enthusiasm.
Whatever challenges arise for this year’s team, chances are they won’t be as severe as last year’s impossible situation of your best player not playing, when is he going to play?, he’s playing!, and then he’s not playing, effectively gutting out all rational preparation or chances of sustainable success for the season.
Believe it or not, returning five veteran players to a Big East roster( Rich Barron Jr, Ryan Mela So, Corey Floyd R-Sr., Nilavan Daniels So., and Oswin Erhunmwunse So.) places PC amongst the upper echelon in the league, and in the high D-I in general, in terms of continuity within a program.
Also, according to English, the hiring of Ryan Gomes is already paying dividends as he is witnessing the respect the players are showing him during skill development drills.
In his post summer session presser Coach English, stated that he and his staff wanted to work on their connectedness as a team, begin to establish mentally the pace they wanted to play at, and also begin to form an identity in terms of defense This group looks like it could apply a lot intense pressure on that end of the floor if they’re willing to “buy in” as a group.
It was fun to observe this new iteration of Providence’s basketball roster. There is a good amount of athletic ability, experience( 5 seniors), and youthful potential. You can’t help but be a bit optimistic about their chances of gelling into a successful team!
Kevin Stacom is one of the most accomplished Providence College basketball players in history. An All-American at Providence, Stacom was a second-round NBA draft pick, played six years in the NBA, and won an NBA championship as a member of the Boston Celtics.
After his playing career, Stacom coached at the college level and served as an NBA scout for nearly 30 years for the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks.
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