What Alvaro Folgueiras Brings to Louisville

The Louisville men's basketball program recently secured another impact transfer in the front court.

This past Tuesday, former Iowa forward Alvaro Folgueiras announced that he has committed to the Cardinals. He's the fourth transfer portal pickup for UofL in this cycle, joining Kansas' Flory Bidunga, Oregon's Jackson Shelstad and Arkansas' Karter Knox.

The 6-foot-10, 230-pound forward was a key reserve for the Hawkeyes this past season. Folgueiras averaged 8.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 37 games (plus one start), and shot an even 50.0 percent from the field and 33.3 percent on three-point attempts.

But beyond his stat lines, what else does Folgueiras bring to the table for the Cardinals?

The best way to describe Folgueiras' game is that he's a bruising stretch four. He's not super speedy on drives to the rim and doesn't rely on simply dribbling past his man, but he can get to the paint with sheer force. He's got a decent jab step at the top of his drive for someone his size, and once his drive starts, he uses pure physicality - mainly with his shoulder - to create a lane.

When comes to his post-up game, it might not be Folgueiras' bread and butter, but he fairs well here. He actually has a pretty good drop step move that can consistently give him enough room for a clear look at the rim. He sometimes struggles against bulkier post players, but feasts when facing a mismatch - which shouldn't come as a surprise.

Whether it's on the drive or posting up, Folgueiras is a strong and aggressive finisher at the rim. He doesn't play above the rim per se, but he has a good enough vertical to where he is a consistent dunker even through heavy traffic. Even when he doesn't slam it home, he's got great touch on his finger roll layups. He's also broken out a good euro step in the open floor and in transition offense. Folgueiras finished the season shooting an impressive 82-of-104 (78.8 percent) on dunks and close twos this past season.

Folgueiras has also shown that he knows how to execute off the ball as well. He's shown flashes of being a good cutter to the rim simply because he can nail the timing of when to do it, and against zone defense, he positions himself well down low in the post and when double teams sag off of him. He's also a very willing screener - although his form could certainly use some improvement. Though he has shown that he can be an asset in screen-and-roll and give-and-go situations.

Of course, you can't be a stretch four without having three-point shooting capabilities, and Folgueiras certainly has that. He's a good spot-up shooter from all around the perimeter, but especially in the corner - as evidenced by his game-winner against Florida. It's a fairly compact jump shot with not a lot of moving parts, but it's one that stays high and gets off fairly quickly.

An underrated aspect of his offensive game is that he has good playmaking ability with cutters to the rim or when low post double teams crash on him. While he only averaged 2.2 assists per game, he posted an impressive assist rate of 20.7 - which was sixth in all of D1 among players who are 6-foot-10 or higher (min. 40 percent of minutes played).

Over on the defensive end, there's some to like, and some that leaves a bit to be desired. He's not super switchable, but he does defend low post fours fairly well. His lateral quickness could be better, which sometimes leads to him falling behind when defending a three point shooter or when his man does a reverse pivot.

That being said, he can withstand a number of post moves that go right into his chest, and seldom allows his man to just plow right through him. His height and 7-foot-4 wingspan allows him to do a great job defending post players who try to go straight up. While Folgueiras is not someone who has a lot of burst, he's occasionally shown that he can jump passing lanes for steals (his 2.7 steal percentage was third-best on the team).

As far as rebounding goes, Folgueiras is a little better than the numbers suggest. Sure, he's not a massive factor in this department on the offensive end, but on the other side of the floor, he posted an 18.1 defensive rebounding rate.

In fact, Folgueiras is much better overall player than his stat line suggests. Not only did he come off the bench, which limited his total minutes played, but he it came on an Iowa that had the fourth-slowest pace in D1. When you look at his averages per 100 possessions, Folgueiras put up 25.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 2.7 steals. For comparison's sake, J'Vonne Hadley averaged 23.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.0 steals per 100 possessions this past season.

Overall, this is a good pickup for Louisville. While there are some limitations in Folgueiras' game, he does a lot of things to a high degree, and is the kind of player to have a bigger impact on a game than many realize.

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