Former Robert Morris POY Enters Transfer Portal After Magical NCAA Tournament

The transfer portal era of college basketball presents a lot of tough decisions for coaches and players alike. One of the toughest decisions any head coach had to make this week regarded a former Robert Morris standout as Iowa head coach Ben McCollum needed to make the decision this week to either pay and bring back forward Álvaro Folgueiras or not.

The two sides met up this week to discuss the future and the talks ultimately ended with Folgueiras deciding to enter the portal for the second-straight offseason, per Jonathan Givens of DraftExpress.

Despite playing starter-like minutes throughout the season, Folgueiras, the former Robert Morris standout, made his biggest impact of the season in two of the Hawkeyes’ three NCAA Tournament games as he hit the game-winning three against Florida in the second round and then came up with a huge second half in a comeback win against Nebraska in the Sweet 16.

In his lone season with the Hawkeyes, Folgueiras averaged 8.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists. He shot exactly 50% from the field and his game-winning three against the defending champs etched his name into Iowa Basketball history forever.

Two seasons ago while at Robert Morris, his second season at the school, Folgueiras won the Horizon League Player of the Year award after he averaged 14.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game and helped take the Colonials back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015.

Robert Morris forward Alvaro Folgueiras wins Horizon League Player of the Year award — RMU Athletics

At 6-foot-10, with the ability to facilitate the ball and shoot the three at a high-level, and NCAA Tournament experience, Folgueiras should not be short of potential suitors in the portal this offseason. Many high-major programs expressed interest in the big man last offseason and it should be expected that even more get involved this go around.

Folgueiras’ decision to enter the portal follows suit with his fellow award-winning frontcourt mate from his Robert Morris days as Amarion Dickerson also entered the portal when it opened up earlier this week after just one season at USC.

While returns to Robert Morris are not going to happen due to the money that each will command in the portal, both Folgueiras and Dickerson have to chance to go to new programs for their senior seasons and compete for starting roles.