How Low Can Rock Bottom Go?

If you thought getting dismantled by Ed Cooley’s Georgetown Hoyas was the low point of the 2024-25 Providence College basketball season, you were wrong. Not to be outdone, Providence suffered their worst home loss in 6 years earlier this week when they dropped a fell to DePaul 80-77. Per KenPom, DePaul is the lowest rated (136th) to win in Providence since the University of Pennsylvania (141) shocked the Friars at the Dunk in 2019. Make no mistake about it, it was a new low in a season full of them.

If you want some more statistics to measure the futility, I have them for you, but fair warning you may want to pour a stiff drink beforehand.

The Bad:

• Assuming Providence loses later today to Xavier (they will, Xavier is at home and playing for their NCAA Tournament lives), the Friars will finish the season 12-19. That will go down as the worst win-loss record for a Providence team since 2009-10 when they also finished 12-19 in Keno Davis’ second season at the helm. I will spare everyone the Kim English / Keno Davis comparisons (for now). But suffice to say, worst season in 15 years!

• Providence will finish the season having lost 9 of their last 10 games, and the last 5 in a row. If not for Kyle Neptune (who will be getting fired in a matter of days) and the current ineptitude of Villanova, the Friars would have dropped their last 10 games of the season and we very well may be having an uncomfortable discussion about Kim English’s future.

• Today is March 8th. Providence has won 6 basketball games since December 8th.

• Providence has not won 3 games in a row since November 12th - 19th. The opponents were Hampton, Green Bay and Delaware State.

• This will be the second season in a row the Friars will miss the NCAA Tournament. The last time Providence went 3 seasons in a row without an NCAAT appearance was 2010-2013.

• The problems that plagued this team opening night against Central Connecticut never improved (probably the most concerning trend for me long term, but we’ll save that for another day. Providence ranks 268th in the country in assist to turnover ratio, 259th in turnovers per game, and 189th in scoring defense. Put simply, on offense they throw the ball away, on defense they are easy to score on.

  

  

  

• In a down year for the Big East, Providence is going to finish with just 6 Big East wins. That will be their lowest total since 2011-12.

• Providence has played away from home 15 times this season. They are 2-13 in those games.

• From January 2020 - March 2023 the Providence Friars lost 1 time on their home court. From November 2023 - March 2025 the Providence Friars have lost 10 times on their home court.

• Kim English missed so badly in the portal it’s hard to describe. He needs a different approach. Needless to say if he misses in the portal anywhere near this level next season it will be tough to come back from. With one game left to go in the regular season here are the season long stats for the 4 players he imported last offseason.

  • Christ Essandoko

    • 22 games (7 starts), 14.9 minutes, 4.3 points (50.7% FG, 21.7% 3PT, 52.8% FT), 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 turnovers per game

  • Bensley Joseph - shoutout to Benz. He single handedly won the Friars 3 games this year (that’s 25% of their wins!)

    • 30 games (25 starts), 29.6 minutes, 12.5 points (41% FG, 38.2% 3PT, 75.3% FT ), 3.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.1 turnovers per game

  • Wesley Cardet

    • 24 games (18 starts), 21.2 minutes, 8.4 points (46% FG, 40.4% 3PT, 62.1% FT), 3.1 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.4 turnovers per game.

  • Jabri Abdur-Rahim

    • 22 games (1 start), 16.4 minutes, 7.2 points (37.6% FG, 36.6% 3PT, 87.5% FT), 2.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game

The Ugly:

So yeah, the team is bad! Maybe it was the injuries, maybe it was the enormous misses in the transfer portal, maybe it’s a young coach who’s in a bit over his head against hall of famers and national champions on the opposing sideline every game (it’s all 3, to be clear). But this past week the season took a turn from bad, to ugly, when Kim English got into a verbal spat with a Providence fan during the game.

To be clear, I was not there, so I can’t confirm exactly what was said or what was not, but you can imagine the internet had a field day with this one.

At first, I didn’t truly believe this, especially when English didn’t make mention of it in his postgame press conference. But several fans in the building confirmed it, and English addressed the incident on his weekly radio show on Thursday night.

So yeah, this happened.

Obviously, you cannot chirp your own fans. Obviously, you cannot get into a back and forth with your own fans during a game in which you are blowing a 16 point lead to DePaul. To say this reinforces the prevailing thought (in my head) that Kim English is in a bit over his head would be an understatement. I’m sure he’s frustrated. I know frustration boils over. But you can’t chirp your own fans who spend way too much money and 3 hours of their Wednesday night to trek to downtown Providence to watch a 12-16 team blow a double digit lead to lowly DePaul. You just can’t do it. The face of your Program cannot be behaving like that.

Now, I do not think challenging some guy who’s had a few too many (even if he is a Friar fan) is a fireable offense by itself. But combine that with the worst season in 15 years and we are likely looking at a make or break year 3 for Kim English. I get the sense that with all that is going on with Providence College - the construction of a new nursing school, an ongoing bidding war for the naming rights to the school of business, the search for a new full time Provost - that Father Sicard has had his hands full over the last 12 months. I can’t blame the guy! He’s the President of the College and as much as we’d like to have it otherwise, basketball is not always the top priority for him. At least it hasn’t been so far. I get the sense that this incident, combined with the on court product will have Fr. Sicard paying much closer attention to how next season transpires. We’ve all had a hands off boss who all of a sudden becomes much more interested in our day to day after we fuck up. This situation is not all that different.

Some free advice to the head coach from someone not all that younger than him, log off of the internet and stop caring so much about what other people are saying about you. You’re 36 not 13. If you win, they’ll love you, if you don’t, they’ll be out of your life soon enough anyway.

If you’re looking for a silver lining, this age of college basketball allows for an immediate rebuild every year. Providence was down in the dumps after the 2021-22 Covid-impacted season. Cooley reeled in Al Durham and Justin Minaya and saw massive improvement from Ed Croswell and Noah Horchler. Next thing you know the Friars were in the Sweet 16 and 6 minutes (and an all time bad charge / block call) from going to the Elite 8. It can happen that quick. If you’re looking for another silver lining, Jamier Jones and Jaylen Harrell represent two of the highest rated recruits in the school’s history. Time will tell if they are as advertised, but for all of our sakes, let’s hope so.