SMU Transfer Harry Froling Will Visit Marquette

Fox Sports college basketball insider Evan Daniels made things interesting for Marquette basketball fans on Thursday morning when he reported that SMU transfer Harry Froling will visit Milwaukee early next week.

I don’t want to put any pressure on anyone, but that visit will be a lot more fun if Marquette beats #1 Villanova on January 7th.

Froling will have three years of eligibility remaining, but he’ll have to sit out until at least the end of the first semester of the 2017-18 season, per NCAA transfer rules. From what I can tell, he already visited Oregon State and his Dayton visit was the only other visit he had planned.

Froling, who is listed as a forward at 6’11” and 260 pounds, appeared in 10 games for the Mustangs. He averaged 4.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in a bit under 15 minutes per game. His best game was probably an 11 point, five rebound night against Delaware State. Froling posted double digit rebounding rates on both ends of the court (good!), but also turned it over on 30% (bad) of possessions when he was on the court. He also shot 3-of-10 from behind the three point line.

Froling, who was ranked #130 in the class of 2016 by 247 Sports’ Composite system, had this to say in a statement upon his departure from SMU:

“I have loved my teammates and my coaches here at SMU, but I was hoping to play a much more significant role than the one I have here now. It was a big sacrifice for me to leave Australia and come to the United States, so this has been very difficult for me. I am going to look at all of my options collegiately and professionally back home.”

I can say this much: With Luke Fischer’s eligibility up at the end of this season, Froling would be able to play as many minutes as he could earn next season. Froling could provide an interesting development to the roster as well. As a 6’11” forward that’s comfortable shooting it from outside, it would seem to be possible that he could play with 6’10” center Matt Heldt or possibly even 6’9” freshman Theo John or 6’9” freshman Ike Eke. The goal of recruiting basketball players is to find the best very tall guys to play, and if Steve Wojciechowski can add a 6’11” dude that could play alongside another very tall guy as well as the 6’7” Sam Hauser, well, that could work out very well for everyone.

Marquette currently has one scholarship available to use immediately, which is good news when it comes to adding Froling to the roster. MU is currently looking at three open roster spots next fall, and filling in one of them with a transfer would be a pretty smart way to fill in the gaps.

Here’s what the scholarship situation looks like right now for next fall and beyond: