With Garwey, Castro, and Santoro Out; Who's In?
A Late March Update on Providence's Transfer Portal Activity
With the end of Providence’s season almost a week old, it is officially transfer portal season. Nearly 800 Division 1 players are currently in the portal, and more than 400 entered on the first day it was opened last week. As a reminder, the NCAA waived the multi-time transfer rule so players can now transfer multiple times without having to fear sitting out a season. That new reality plus the emergence of NIL (players getting paid upwards of a million dollars in some cases, while in others being promised the world and actually receiving 0) has made the college basketball offseason a modern day version of the wild west. There are very little rules, regulations or things you can’t do. While I’m sure those conditions are a headache to operate in and try to build a team within, I must admit it’s pretty fun to write about from a storyline perspective.
This offseason I’ll take a look at the transfer portal developments around the Program anytime there’s significant roster movement or I get some information worth sharing, probably every week or two realistically (remember, Providence had meaningful roster movement last offseason from March all the way through September with Will McNair’s last minute departure). For the first iteration of the portal activity, let’s take a look at who’s out (so far) and who may be on their way in to Friartown.
Who’s Out:
Garwey Dual
2023-24 Season Stats: 33 Games, 6 starts, 18.6 minutes, 3.3 points (33.1% FG, 25.0% 3PT, 66.7% FT), 1.9 assists, 1.3 rebounds, 1.0 turnovers per game
Analysis: This one is a shame because anyone with eyes can see the enormous potential that Dual displayed at times this season. But the bottom line is, you can’t have your third highest player average 3 points a game. Especially at a school with deep-but-not-unlimited NIL resources like Providence, you just cannot allocate your roster budget in that way. Clearly that wasn’t going to be the case for the 2024-25 season. In terms of on the court impact, Garwey just didn’t shoot it well enough the season to have defense’s view him as a threat. If he develops a reliable jump shot at his next stop (look for SMU or Indiana as 2 potential landing spots) he will certainly draw heavy NBA interest. For now it appears that Kim English is focused on production over potential.
Rafael Castro
2023-24 Season Stats: 34 Games, 0 starts, 9.2 minutes, 2.9 points (67.8% FG, 50.0% 3PT, 41.9% FT), 2.4 rebounds per game
Analysis: Another casualty of Kim English’s production over potential philosophy. Castro simply never developed into a reliable player and after 3 years in the program, it was time for both sides to move on. Probably best served playing at the mid major level, his recruitment took place during 2020 and 2021 when the world (and the recruiting world) was almost completely virtual and upside down. Certainly an understandable miss. Castro’s departure means that only the only players in the Program with any ties to the Ed Cooley era are Bryce Hopkins, Jayden Pierre and Corey Floyd Jr.
Donovan Santoro:
Analysis: Santoro only saw action in 11 games this season and likely saw that the writing was on the wall for next season as well. Similar to Castro, will likely find his footing at the mid major level. The Southern California product was also locked in on the bench though, which is easier said than done when you’re not getting much playing time.
Who’s In:
So, that’s 6 players out in total. The 3 mentioned above along with Josh Oduro, Ticket Gaines, and Devin Carter (not yet official, but really, who are we kidding). I wouldn’t be surprised, at all, if one more Providence player entered the portal before it’s all said and done, but for now let’s just roll with what we know. Given those 6 names, Kim English will have to replace 65% of the scoring, 67% of the rebounding and 63% of the assists from this past season. Even if Bryce Hopkins makes a full recovery and returns to his former All Big East level of play, that’s still a lot of production to backfill.
Let’s take a look at 4 names that I believe Kim English is prioritizing early on here in the offseason to bolster next season’s roster:
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