With Folgueiras and Stillwell off the board, where does Kim English turn?

Two recent portal misses force a quick pivot

Last week I laid out two priority transfer portal targets, Alvaro Folgueiras and Jamichael Stillwell, that Kim English had identified to round out the roster and add some much needed size to the current group of players. Folgueiras, a rising junior and horizon league player of the year from Robert Morris was down to a final 3 of Providence, Villanova and Iowa, with official visits to all 3 schools occurring over the last 7 days. Stillwell, a 6’8 forward from Milwaukee never physically made it to Friartown (Folgueiras was the clear #1 priority for Kim English) and instead had a virtual visit with the coaching staff before deciding between Providence, Memphis and Central Florida.

Stillwell committed to Central Florida on Wednesday which in a vacuum is not that big of a deal. Fine player, would have brought some needed physicality and size to the roster, but not the caliber of player that I personally am going to lose sleep over missing out on. However, Stillwell’s early committment to UCF did mean that now all of Friartown’s eggs were in the basket of Alvaro Folgueiras prior to his official visit to campus.

By all indications Folgueiras had a positive visit to Friartown. Facilities, coaching staff, fan engagement, NIL money were all the selling points we as fans expect them to be, but it’s always tricky when you have a transfer portal target in for an official visit and let them leave without getting a committment. When I learned that Folgueiras was still planning to visit Villanova and Iowa post his time in Friartown it left me uneasy. A few days (and a few rounds of bidding) later Folgueiras has officially committed to Ben McCollum and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Alas, no Easter miracle in Friartown this year. So with Kim English’s top 2 frontcourt targets off the board, and with only 48 more hours for players to enter the transfer portal, where does the coaching staff look to for big man reinforcements? Here’s a few names that I would expect Providence to be in the mix with as soon as this week.