Big East Basketball: Top 5 rising sophomores for 2018-19

4. Nate Watson, Providence

Another former top-100 recruit, Nate Watson had a big impact inside for Providence as a freshman. The Friars typically play a small lineup at Watson, at 6-foot-10, does not particularly fit with that system. Regardless, he is a highly-touted player who was deserving of some playing time in just his first year on campus. Even though he did not play a tremendous of minutes, he made a massive impact in his time on the floor. In fact, his averages of 6.8 points and 1.9 rebounds per game are quite impressive considering he only played 13.7 minutes per game. These numbers would turn to 19.5 points and 5.9 rebounds (2.2 blocks as well) per 40 minutes on the floor if he kept up his usage rate (22.8%) and field goal percentage (59.5%).

Because Providence is returning a lot of talent from last season and still does not run many lineups with a true big man, it will be interesting to see how much Watson’s role expands as a sophomore. His talent was fairly clear last season but it is hard to say what head coach Ed Cooley will do with him. 6-foot-7 wings Rodney Bullock (33.0 mpg) and Jalen Lindsey (32.8 mpg) are both gone after playing small-ball four/five roles at times last season. Maybe some of these minutes become Watson’s.

Regardless, it seems fair to say that Watson will see more minutes as a sophomore. There are not many big men with his size and skill level in the Big East, a traditionally small-ball conference as of late, and he can cause major damage. What really needs to improve, though, for Watson to become a dominant force is his rebounding. At his size, Watson should be a lock for far more than 5.9 rebounds per 40 minutes.