Measuring Carson Desrosiers’ Value

Until Tuesday night’s blowout loss at Villanova, Carson Desrosiers had started every single Providence College basketball game this season, his final in a Friar uniform. The 5th year senior 7-footer missed that Villanova loss due a knee injury suffered during Providence’s blowout win at DePaul on February 18th. At the time the injury didn’t look all that serious as Desrosiers ended up returning to action later in that same game.

Four days later – and two days prior to the Villanova game – would be the first inkling of an issue when Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal reported on his Twitter account that Desrosiers knee was bothering him and his “status for [the] Villanova game [is] unclear.” Desrosiers missed the game, Providence got smoked on Villanova’s Senior Night and the latest news from Ed Cooley is that Desrosiers still hasn’t returned to practice as of Thursday. That news was first reported by Brendan McGair of the Woonsocket Call.

I don’t believe having Carson Desrosiers available to play against Villanova would have made a difference in a game that saw Providence lose by 28 on the road. What I do believe is that Providence needs Desrosiers to be healthy if they have any hope of repeating as Big East Tournament champs and getting over the hump of winning an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 1997.

The reality is that freshman Paschal Chukwu just isn’t ready at this point to play much more than the 9.5 minutes/game he currently averages. Chukwu has played in all 28 games to date and has shown flashes but the most minutes he has played so far this season is 23 during the Friars’ improbable road win at Butler in early January using the “All-Toughness Team” for the second half of the game. Chukwu is not physically ready to take on Georgetown’s Josh Smith or Villanova’s Daniel Ochefu or Xavier’s Matt Stainbrook. Fellow freshman Ben Bentil is too undersized to play major minutes at the center position and Bentil has also been foul prone. He’s averaging 5.1 fouls/40 minutes.

In terms of statistics Desrosiers isn’t a juggernaut. He averages 7.2 points/game, 4.6 rebounds/game, 2.6 blocks/game, shoots 46.4% from the field and 70.0% from the free throw line. The only standout stat of that bunch is the 2.6 blocks/game. That ranks 2nd in the Big East behind Chris Obekpa’s 3.19 and 24th nationally. The best way to describe Desrosiers’ game is that he’s steady. A season ago you could routinely see him playing hot potato with the ball but he has much more poise this year. Being a 5th year senior and having played in a total of 123 games Desrosiers is every bit the veteran those facts imbue.

So when trying to measure Carson Desrosiers impact for this Providence team its important to look beyond the stat sheet and realize that his steadying influence in the middle of the zone, hitting clutch free throws late in games and altering countless shots in the lane are very valuable things. Those are things that winning teams need and get from veteran players. Providence appears headed to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. If Desrosiers isn’t healthy enough to play I’m not sure I love the Friars’chances of advancing. The good news is there are more than two weeks until the Friars will have to play an NCAA Tournament game. Unless the injury is more serious than Providence is letting on I would expect to see Desrosiers back in the Friar lineup before the Big East Tournament begins on March 11th. They need him.

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Mike Hopkins

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