Committed to Kim: Christ Essandoko (again!)

The one time Friar commit is headed back to Providence

The Player:

Name: Christ Essandoko (Already on the All Time Friar Best Names List)

Measurables: 7’0, 280 pounds

Previous School: St. Joseph’s (PA)

Eligibility Remaining: 3 Years (Essandoko redshirted and then played 1 season at St Joe’s)

2023-24 Stats: 21.1 minutes, 8.2 points (50.0% FG, 36.8% 3PT, 64.9% FT), 5.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 blocks, 2.0 turnovers per game

The Committment:

Essandoko entered the transfer portal earlier this month and was contacted by just about every school you could imagine. UConn was in the mix, and I can tell you for a fact that Rick Pitino and St. John’s were pulling out all the stops to get Essandoko to commit to the Red Storm. I suppose the pull of Divine Providence was just too much to turn down!

As many of you may remember Essandoko originally committed to Providence a few years ago under Ed Cooley. A combination of factors that were outside his control (e.g., credits transferring from France to the United States) ultimately forced him to decommit and sit out his first year at St Joseph’s. The NCAA is bizarre, none of that matters now. What does matter here is that Kim English beat out some pretty heavy hitters on the recruiting trail for Essandoko’s services.

What It Means:

I think we can learn so much if we just listen to what people say. Actually pay attention to the words that come out of people’s mouths and you’ll generally have 75% of the information you need. Especially in college basketball. This isn’t the CIA.

Back in January Kim English made what I thought was one of the most telling statements of the season. “From a size standpoint… we don’t look like a Big East team right now”, he said in the midst of the Friars 4 game losing streak in January. That quote tells you all you need to know about how the head coach was planning to attack the transfer portal (and the high school ranks). Next thing you know, 7’2 Anton Bonke, 7’0 Christ Essandoko and 6’10 Oswin Erhunmwunse are all slated to join Kim English’s squad for the 2024-25 season (I’m not sure how Essandoko’s committment will impact Oswin’s plans to reclassify, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there). Frankly the lack of size killed Providence at times last season, and it was an achilles heel that was impossible to ignore. You have to give the head coach massive credit here, it’s one thing to identify a problem, anyone that watches the Friars religiously can do that. It is an entirely different ballgame to identify a solution to said problems, and then execute on those solutions. Christ Essandoko is a solution to the biggest problem the Friars faced last season.

As for Essandoko’s game, I think it’s a bit naive to expect him to come in and immediately replicate what Josh Oduro did last season from a production standpoint. Oduro was superb. I’m not quite sure Essandoko is quite there yet, especially on the defensive end, but the good news is that he (in theory) has 3 years of eligibility left to continue to improve. Similar to Oduro, he has the ability to step out and shoot the 3, and has a soft touch around the rim. Oduro was probably a bit of a better passer at this point in their respective careers, but you can clearly see that Kim English has a type when it comes to big men. You have to be a threat on offense. We have to be able to throw it to you on the block and expect to get a bucket. I personally love that philosophy, we just saw UConn go back to back based largely on the versatility of their offense. You have to be able to score the ball in multiple ways to win at a high level, and Essandoko is a promising piece to that puzzle.

One thing that I can’t quite wrap my head around is why Essandoko only averaged a hair over 20 minutes a game at St. Joseph’s last season. His efficiency numbers were great, and although he dealt with a toe injury at times last season he was still one of the two or three most talented players on a team that quite frankly wasn’t very good. I’m not going to pretend I watched all that much St Joseph’s games this year but it seems odd that he was only 6th on his team in minutes at 21.1 per game. Perhaps the toe injury was a bit more nagging in nature or maybe his coach wasn’t very good, but I’d expect to see a jump in minutes, and hopefully production, from Christ this season in Friartown.

What’s Next:

Kim English still has 2 (or 3, depending on what you think Oswin will do) scholarships left at his disposal to bring in a few more reinforcements. For now, the roster matrix looks like this:

Red - Freshman, Orange - Sophomore, Green - Junior, Blue - Senior, Purple - 5th year / COVID / Graduate year

It’s a promising roster, but there’s still room for improvement, especially on the wing with another shooter or two. Here are some names to keep an eye on.