I would not be surprised if Iowa & Alvaro part ways.
As you can see below,
he cost IOWA at least $1 MILLION this season. Is an inconsistent player worth that? You might say "yes" after what he did in our postseason run but what about for one more year? Alvaro "showed up" about half the time this season and Ben obviously doesn't care for those types of players.
Will Ben want to put up with his up & down play for another year? Or, is Ben ready to move on to
second year player Trey Thompson, who has an amazing offensive game (& his defense is about there, too, per Ben)?
From Leistikow's postgame column:
On a related note: Why did Alvaro Folgueiras disappear?
The hero of Iowa’s NCAA Tournament run was a non-factor against Illinois: Zero points, zero rebounds, zero assists, two turnovers in nine minutes.
McCollum was piping mad at Folgueiras during his first stint coming off the bench. The 6-10 junior who delivered the winning shot against top seed Florida and had scored 44 points in Iowa’s first three NCAA games played only 1:46 in the second half.
“I feel bad. I never got in the game. Those early mistakes,
my coach thinks I wasn’t ready to go,” Folgueiras said in an honest postgame interview. “In the Elite Eight, I would never let that happen. This March was great. I had some great moments. It just wasn’t there (today) … as a team and as a player. I feel bad.”
McCollum has been frustrated with Folgueiras’ inconsistency since the Robert Morris transfer arrived. Facing Illinois requires a physical brand of basketball, McCollum said, and that’s not the lankier Folgueiras’ strength. So, McCollum opted to go with more of 6-9 Manyawu (four points, five rebounds, three assists, 26 minutes) at the “5” spot.
“It was a tough game for Al,” McCollum said. “Cam is such a big body, and so he's just strong. Al, it was just hard. He had to play the 5. We just don't have a true 5.”
Folgueiras was a big-ticket acquisition in the transfer portal.
His future will be interesting to watch. He said it was his “intention” to return to Iowa for his final season of college eligibility but would meet with coaches soon about it. Dollars will be a part of that conversation, surely.
And it’s hard to imagine McCollum wanting to commit seven figures again to an inconsistent player.
Thus, it’s possible that Folgueiras doesn’t play again for the Hawkeyes. But we'll see.
“He was frustrated, that’s why I didn’t play very much,” Folgueiras said. “That’s the reality of it. I’m just glad he can be real. It’s my job to come back better.”
