French Big Man Christ Essandoko has announced that he has de-committed from the Providence Friars after receiving approval from the school to be released from his National Letter of Intent (NLI). Essandoko was one third of a trio of incoming Freshman that were due to replenish the Friars squad with some of the older guys riding off into the sunset. The other two players still due to join the team for the upcoming season are Christ’s own teammate, guard Quante Berry, and Jayden Pierre.
The three-star Center has already heard from Illinois, Missouri, Maryland, Seton Hall, ORU and Wisconsin since opening his recruitment back up, so he want be lacking in options of where to choose to pursue his athletics and academics.
With the departures of Nate Watson, Noah Horchler, and Justin Minaya, the Friars will have the returning Ed Croswell and the increasingly improving redshirt Freshman Rafael Castro in their frontcourt for next season. Obviously, there are a lot of moving parts, but, the main focus for Ed Cooley and his staff is now on acquiring a big man from the transfer portal to replace the loss of Essandoko. The Friars were previously involved in the recruiting of transfer portal members Wildens Leveque (South Carolina) and Bryce Hopkins (Kentucky) which could potentially fill the scholarship for Providence.
6’3” South Carolina Guard Devin Carter has already named Providence to his Top 6 schools that he is considering transferring to, so a pair of SC Gamecocks heading to PC following what a success Justin Minaya was would be very intriguing.
I do wish Christ the best of luck wherever he decides is best for him and his family to pursue his college career. Nothing but love and respect for the big guy.
The Morning Hangover 