Folgueiras was Iowa's March hero, but inconsistencies ultimately doomed him in his only season with the Hawkeyes.
Outside of Bennett Stirtz, Iowa men's basketball's most highly-anticipated transfer was probably Alvaro Folgueiras.
The massive ray of optimism was warranted, too. Folgueiras made a name for himself with Robert Morris, earning Horizon League Player of the Year honors in 2025 while returning the Colonials to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 10 years.
Folgueiras' commitment immediately gave Iowa experience at a crucial position. Before the season started, I was on record saying Folgueiras, Stirtz, and Brendan Hausen would form a new "Big Three" for Ben McCollum's first Hawkeye team.
But as the year wore on, that statement clearly proved incorrect.
Here's Folgueiras' 2025-26 season grade:
The rundown
Folgueiras recorded double figures in four of the first five games of the season, but it became pretty clear early on that he struggled to match up against larger, tougher frontcourts such as Illinois (a little foreshadowing for what happened in March). Folgueiras would seemingly disappear in these games, and that directly correlated to the outcome of Iowa's games.
When Folgueiras would score over 10 points, the Hawkeyes would win games. When he didn't register double figures, Iowa would lose. It was that simple, and the Hawkeyes' poor finish to the season coincided with that. As fellow Iowa beat writer and 247Sports analyst Eliot Clough would always say on X, "a confident Alvaro Folgueiras is a good Alvaro Folgueiras."
That confidence just never could string together, however. A perfect example of this came in the season's final weeks. Folgueiras had a dominant 20-point outing in a win over Ohio State, but didn't reach 10 or more points until the NCAA tournament.
Had Iowa's season ended early in the Big Dance, then Folgueiras' grade probably falls in the C range. In this day of college athletics, you have to expect the unexpected, and even the most loyal Hawkeye fans thought their team would have a swift NCAA exit.
Instead, Folgueiras ended nearly three decades of NCAA tournament futility with a tournament showing for the ages. His triple with four seconds remaining against top-seeded Florida sent Iowa to its first Sweet 16 since 1999, and Folgueiras followed that up with two incredible late dunks to cap off an efficient 16-point outing in the 77-71 South regional semifinal triumph over Big Ten rival Nebraska.
That win clinched the Hawkeyes their first trip to the Elite Eight since 1987, but that's where Folgueiras' troubles resumed. He played only nine minutes and didn't record a single point in Iowa's season-ending loss.
Folgueiras' incredible March moments will always place him in Hawkeyes fans' hearts, but his failure to live up to his offseason hype hurts his grade. He will play his final season of college basketball elsewhere, so it will be interesting to see where he ends up.
Grade: B-
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