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5 questions with Providence’s Kim English

Kim English has quickly made a strong impression at Providence. After just missing out on March Madness last season, the 35-year old head coach has revamped the Friars’ roster. I caught up with English on Thursday in Providence to discuss the Big East, being on the bubble, the health of Bryce Hopkins, and much more.

Jon Rothstein: You’ve been a part of a lot of great conferences in your career as both a player and a head coach. How is the Big East different?

Kim English: No football. There’s great cities and basketball is everything. Basketball is obviously important in the Big 12 and the SEC too, but it’s everything in the Big East. It’s important and it’s really, really fun.

Rothstein: What was the experience like last year being on the bubble after you lost to Marquette in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament?

English: I didn’t think that we would get in. I don’t think back to that time much because it’s over, but there were so many upsets in college basketball that Saturday. I didn’t think we would get in, but it’s a great lesson to us that we need to take care of business when we have the opportunities.

Rothstein: What were the biggest things that you wanted to address during the offseason so that you would make the NCAA Tournament in 2025?

English: We just needed to get better. We needed to get better from a ball security standpoint. We needed to get better from a rebounding standpoint, especially offensive rebounding. I think we addressed a lot of issues, most importantly depth. We were a top-20 team before Bryce (Hopkins) went down. Depth was obviously the biggest area that we wanted to address. We think that we’re protected from an injury or two, but we obviously hope that doesn’t happen. All of our newcomers have been really good when healthy. Christ (Essandoko) has been incredible. He’s different than Josh Oduro. He’s a shooter and he can shoot the ball really well. Wesley Cardet has had a great summer. Jabri (Abdur-Rahim) is really good. Bensley Joseph has been incredible. He and Jayden Pierre — they’ll play together a lot. They’ve all had really good moments.

Rothstein: You mentioned Bryce Hopkins, who was playing like a Big East Player of the Year candidate last season prior to his season-ending knee injury. When do you expect him to be fully cleared?

English: We don’t know. It probably won’t be game one, but day-to-day thereafter and we’ll go from there. But he’s had a great summer. He’s shooting the ball. He’s running. When we get back from break, he’ll do some lateral movements. He’s had a great summer. We’re really excited to get him back.

Rothstein: What are the biggest keys for this specific team to be a formidable team at the start of 2025?

English: Just overall connectivity. I heard Amir Abdur-Rahim (South Florida) say this: He has a group now and they need to become a team. It’s a great analogy and it holds true. We need to become a team together, playing for each other on both sides of the floor.

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