USF Transfer Luis Santos Commits to Saint Louis Billikens

Travis Ford picked up a commitment from another Division I transfer on Friday.

Since taking over as the Saint Louis Billikens’ head basketball coach last March, Travis Ford has had plenty of success with recruiting Division I transfers to the university. He brought in three of those players before his first season as head coach even began, then recruited freshman point guard Ty Graves to SLU after he decided to transfer from Boston College in December.

Ford’s success with D1 transfers continued on Friday, as the Billikens picked up a commitment from forward Luis Santos, a former four-star recruit who announced his intention to transfer from South Florida last month. Santos will have two seasons of eligibility remaining after sitting out the 2017-18 campaign. Jon Rothstein of FanRag Sports first reported the move.

Santos, a 6-foot-9, 266-pounder from the Bronx, averaged 17.1 minutes, 6.2 points, and 4.1 rebounds per game during the 2016-17 season after receiving sparse playing time as a freshman at USF.

The addition of Santos really sheds light on what Ford’s prototypical big man looks like. Whereas his predecessor, Jim Crews, preferred lanky centers who were generally in the 7-foot range and often lacked elite athleticism, Ford seems to like forwards who are built like NFL tight ends. He’s already added D.J. Foreman, a 6-foot-8, 240-pounder who will get back on the court with the Billikens this season after sitting out the past year following his transfer from Rutgers, and 6-foot-7, 230-pound freshman Hasahn French is scheduled to arrive on campus this summer.

Next: Austin Gillmann Withdraws from SLU Basketball Program

If 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward Carte’are Gordon maintains his commitment to SLU for the 2018-19 season, the Billikens could have as many as four players (Foreman, French, Santos, and Gordon) capable of slotting into the aggressive power forward role that Reggie Agbeko filled this past season.