Saturday, October 11, 2025
View Larger +
PC Coach Kim English
Although we were able to squeeze out a few more precious days of summer-like beach weather, fall is definitely here. October Major League baseball playoffs, along with College and NFL football, fill up cable and network television, and, with Providence College’s Midnight Madness solidly behind us, our attention as local college basketball fans will assuredly begin to focus on one of the State’s premier programs — the one that shares the same name as its host Capital City.
The institutionalized chaos and economic mayhem wrought upon college athletics by the brave new world of the portal and NIL has had the unintended consequence of creating its own heightened sense of anticipation borne out of the necessary frenzied process of compiling a competitive roster out of what talent becomes available at the end of every year and then, in a relatively short amount of time, assess what you truly have and reassemble those pieces into a functional competitive team.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE — SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
Unlike last year’s portal acquisitions, just about all of this year’s have major college conference experience:
#1- Jason Edwards Gr. G, 6’1” 180, Vanderbilt- SEC
# 2- Jaylin Sellers Gr. G, 6’5” 205, University of Central Florida- Big 12
# 3- DaQuan Davis So. G, 6’1” 185, Florida State University- ACC
#4- Duncan Powell Gr. F, 6’8” 240, Georgia Tech, ACC
# 5- Cole Hargrove Gr. Sr. F 6’8” 245, Drexel- Colonial Athletic Conference
Although Hargrove is the outlier here in terms of big-time conference experience, I’ve found through the years that rebounding is one skill that, in general, tends to translate across all levels of competition- rebounders rebound wherever they play.
In addition, with regard to this year’s roster, in terms of the continuity of retaining five players from last years roster, including 4 of them that at some point were starters, Corey Floyd Jr, Rich Barron, Ryan Mela, Oswin Erhunmwunse, and Nilavan Daniels — this fact puts PC’s roster towards the upper echelon in comparison to other Big East squads. Only Marquette (a big outlier with nine and zero transfers!) and Creighton (6) have more returning players than PC.
Some things that tend to stand out after observing a few practices.
Everyone capable of playing at this level is a good athlete, but there is a very high level of athleticism throughout this roster, and there are those who may not be as vertically gifted as others, but nonetheless do possess excellent horizontal quickness.
View Larger +
PC Freshman Jamier Jones PHOTO: PC
Among the uber athletes are newcomers Jamier Jones, a 6’6” 218 lb freshman from Sarasota, Florida. You get the feeling watching him, that as talented as he is, his best days are ahead of him. His challenge is to keep putting in the work to continue to graft on the necessary skill sets to his considerable physical abilities. He is an elite athlete even by NBA standards — very explosive and a big-time leaper with a good overall feel for the game.
Another addition with elite athleticism is aforementioned transfer from UCF is 6’5”, 205 lb, Jaylin Sellers. He has the easy speed of a natural sprinter ( Those old enough to remember Randy Smith, who played with Ernie D for the Buffalo Braves). Very fast with excellent quickness, he will be tough to contain in an open court. He can make open shots but loves aggressively attacking the hoop in transition.
Continuing with the theme of the high level of athleticism on this year’s team, Corey Floyd is back to complete the occasional alley oop finish at the rim and to stand in as the 5th-year senior leadership role he’s inherited. High character, hard worker who has improved scoring ability to go with his always present defensive effort
Coach Kim English also restocked his backcourt with two very quick players – Jason Edwards, a 6’1” 180lbs, 17.0 points/ game guard from Vanderbilt(3rd team all SEC), and DaQuan Davis, a 6’1” 185lb guard, from Florida State. They are also very physical, aggressive players. Edwards is more aggressive on the offensive end of the floor. He is very quick off the bounce. He can create his own, either getting to the hoop where he is not afraid of contact and finishing through it, or pulling up for the J off 1 or 2 bounces. Has a pure scorer’s and shooter’s mentality-he will not get discouraged if the first one or second one don’t go down.
Daquan Davis is a very strong point guard who applies his aggressiveness to the defensive end of the floor. Like a lot of players I’ve seen from Baltimore, they seem to reflect the hardscrabble nature of their hometown in their style of play. He has the ability to be one of the better menacing defensive on-ball defenders the school has seen in a while. Davis can also get to the hoop to challenge the bigs. He appears to be clever in a Chris Paul kind of way, getting in the creases to do damage with a nice pull-up in the elbow areas of the lane.
The other good-looking freshman to come in with Jamier Jones is Boston native and Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the year, Jaylen Harrell, 6’5”, 210lbs. He is a very good shooter and scorer who also has a very good feel for the game – he can put it on the floor and is also comfortable with the catch and shoot 3-pointer. He’s capable of being a serious contributor on a very deep roster.
View Larger +
Sophomore Ryan Mela PHOTO: PC
Oswin Erhunmwunse and Ryan Mela
As mentioned, it was fortunate that Coach English and his staff were able to retain the two significant now sophomores from last year’s class, Oswin Erhunmwunse and Ryan Mela.
Oswin appears to have gained an additional 15-20 lbs of good weight on his lean frame and looks a lot more comfortable in his own skin. Playing with a better cast of athletes should make life a lot easier and open up more opportunities for him to finish around the rim, as there are now a number of guys able to penetrate and lob in his direction. His defensive presence and rebounding will still be his main contributions and role if this team is to have any success.
Ryan Mela also looks ready to go and pick up where he left off last year. He also looks like he tightened up his body with a good amount of conditioning and appears to be more aggressive in squaring up and taking advantage of launching the open 3 when the opportunity presents itself. He’s still showing good nose for the ball on the glass and is still clever, being deceptive off the bounce, getting to the basket. Always good to have a good chemistry guy to plug into various lineups.
Kim English and his staff also acquired a couple of reinforcements for the frontline to take some pressure off and complement Oswin — Duncan Powell, 6’8” 240lb forward from Georgia Tech, and 6’8”, 245lb Forward Cole Hargrove from Drexel.
Powell, who spent 2 years at North Carolina A and T, a year at Sacramento State, was skilled enough to start for Georgia Tech last year and averaged over 12 points a game. He also plays with a lot of aggressiveness on the defensive end, and is more than willing to throw his body around on the glass along with knocking down the occasional 3 Hargrove seems to be one of those team oriented role players, who’ll be a welcome addition to help fill in a depleted front court He’s a big body who seems content to play the important role of another rebounder to complement Oswin on the glass and occasionally perhaps play backup center depending on possible shifting lineups.
Rich Barron is also back as the program’s lone Junior. He appears to be completely healed from last year’s nagging injuries and will be called on again to be a valuable utility piece, adding another versatile defensive piece, contributing a consistent physical presence whenever he’s on the floor – also capable of knocking down a 3 when positioned as an outlet in a lot of half-court schemes.
At this point, I should also mention returning sophomore Nilavan Daniels, 6’3”, 180lb guard, who you can tell is appreciated and respected by Coach English and his staff for his constant high effort at every practice, and at times showed the ability to make shots on the perimeter when inserted into games at certain times.
Rounding out the 2025-2026 roster are the addition of 2 foreign-born players, Stefan Vaaks, Freshman G, 6’7” 206lbs, (Estonia), and Peteris Pinnis, Freshman C, 7’0 260 lbs (Latvia).
Vaaks has great size for the position. He seems to have an excellent floor game, can shoot it very well with very good mechanics, and has an easy range for the 3. He’s another valuable asset who’ll make a serious case for getting minutes due to his offensive versatility
Pinnis is a legit 7-footer with a 260 lb frame and decent mobility who seems to be working hard on a developing skill set- a decent jump hook with either hand, decent FT shooter with about a 15-17 foot range to keep defenses honest.
It’s not my intent to put the burden of high expectations on this group, but there are some interesting high-level pieces on this roster. And again, there is more overall athleticism, speed, and quickness than I’ve seen at Providence College in a good while.
A lot of these players have the potential to be part of a team that can put a lot of pressure defensively on their opponents, enabling them to get out in the open court, where most of them should thrive.
With all this depth, it will be interesting to see how they come together as a team and find their identity, and to see what combination of players develops the best chemistry.
I know many PC fans, and I will be looking forward to the journey that’s about to begin!
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.
Related Articles
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.