With all the talk about Providence losing recruits (Drew Fielder, Kayvaun Mulready) and players entering the transfer portal (Jared Bynum, Jayden Pierre), I thought it was a good idea to remind Friartown of the guys that are choosing the road less traveled, believing in what new Coach Kim English is putting together, and continuing to rep Providence College for this upcoming season.
1) Corey Floyd, Jr.
It started out as a bit of a cryptic tweet from English with a shot of Floyd’s locker that some interpreted as a shout out to mentor and former colleague, head coach Rick Barnes from their time at Tennessee.
After the introductory press conference this afternoon, Floyd reiterated that he never wanted to go anywhere else when the coaching changed happened following Providence’s exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Coach English confirmed that Floyd was the first player to commit to him and he owes him for life in doing so.
Even though Bryce Hopkins and Devin Carter haven’t officially announced their intentions for next season, the following comments from Coach English have to make Corey feel wanted and reassure him that he made the right choice in staying for the foreseeable future.
2) Alyn Breed
I was a little worried that Breed might try and get a fresh start somewhere new after seeing his role on Coach Cooley’s teams go through ebbs and flows and constantly shift. Based on Coach English’s ideal offensive philosophy of running a 4 out, 1 in type of scheme, Breed is going to have to put in a lot of work on his outside shot this summer. Breed is a career 25.2% three-point shooter in his three years at Providence, never having hit the 28% mark in any single season. His free throw shooting has always been a major strength of his game (career 79.2%) so the ability appears to be there to be able to translate into improved shooting from beyond the arc. Hopefully with an increased confidence in letting it fly from his coach, Breed can expand his skills to include a threat from three to go along with my favorite floater on the team.
3) Quante Berry
Lost in all the hullabaloo is Quante Berry, a 6’4” shooting guard from Tennessee (played high school ball at Winston Salem Prep in North Carolina), who redshirted last season with the influx of guard transfers that came into the program (Carter, Locke, Floyd).
A fun little coincidence, Tennessee offered Berry in 2021. So, the recruiting team and assistant coaches for the Volunteers, who are also close with Coach English who was there for two seasons, were probably able to tell English all about Berry as a person and player and it most likely made him more comfortable to stay for his upcoming Freshman season at Providence.
Here’s some highlights from Berry pre-PC to give you a little feel for his game, which has only been able to develop since then.
4) Donovan Santoro
The lone commit from Southern California Academy who re-upped with the Friars after the departure of Ed Cooley. His teammate, Garwey Dual, de-committed from Providence, although Coach English was out in California to speak with him this past weekedn (along with Santoro). His other teammate, Drew Fielder, de-committed from Providence and subsequently announced his commitment to Ed Cooley and Georgetown.
Santoro, a 6’7” wing, has a lot of length and ability to rise and shoot over defenders, which makes sense as to why Creighton also offered him.
It’s refreshing to see this type of loyalty and it says a lot about how these guys feel about Kim English. Let’s keep the good news coming, shall we?
The Morning Hangover 
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