Ben Bentil Will Remain in 2016 NBA Draft

Providence will lose two players to the NBA Draft with sophomore Ben Bentil confirming on Sunday that he’s foregoing his remaining eligibility and will join teammate Kris Dunn as draft eligible underclassmen. It isn’t clear if Bentil has officially signed with an agent, but he presumably will soon now that he’s definitely leaving school. Bentil is being projected as a late first or early second round draft pick after a strong sophomore season in which he improved his scoring by nearly 15 points/game to lead the Big East at 21.1 points/game.

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While this is a big blow to Providence for the 2016-17 season, it will give Ed Cooley more to brag about on the recruiting trail. Providence has never had two players drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft and that possibility certainly exists in 2016. Dunn is being projected to go inside the top 6 picks in most mock drafts while 5 mock drafts have Bentil being picked in the first round.

Cooley has had a very good spring on the recruiting trail but short of adding an experienced graduate transfer to plug and play next season, the Friars will be looking for big leaps by players currently on their roster. Losing Dunn and Bentil means losing 53% of scoring from last year’s Providence team that won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 1997. Rising juniors Kyron Cartwright and Rodney Bullock will likely be counted on to increase scoring and become team leaders next season. Providence will not have a single senior on their roster next season but they will have a cadre of players with lots of game experience.

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Mike Hopkins

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