Last June, the Big East conference got rid of the 20+ year rule of disallowing intra-conference transfers. The Friars are the first school to take advantage, as former UConn guard Corey Floyd Jr announced he’d be transferring to Providence Sunday afternoon.
The theme of this offseason appears to be transfers seeing the light and turning back to choosing Providence as their college destination after initially choosing a different school for a variety of reasons. Much like Noah Locke (and potentially another recruit to be named later), Floyd Jr. has decided to transfer to Providence.
Corey Floyd Jr initially was apart of the 2022 graduating high school class but graduated a year early and enrolled at Connecticut this past season. Floyd was a former top-100 recruit out of Roselle Catholic in New Jersey. He redshirted this past year which appeared to be Dan Hurley’s plan for the guard but that changed when he announced his intentions to leave the program on April 13th.
Lost amidst the redshirt year and non-impact this year at UConn is the fact that Floyd Jr. was a highly celebrated recruit coming out of high school. Even after reclassifying, he was still considered a Top 100, 4 star recruit. If he were to play high school ball this year, I presume his stock would have skyrocketed, and Providence fans would be singing the praises of Cooley landing a Top 50 4 star recruit.
Ed Cooley and staff heavily recruited Corey Floyd Jr out of high school. Corey’s father played at Providence 90-92. Floyd is a strong two guard, that showed elite slashing and shooting ability in high school. We wrote about Corey when Providence pursued last offseason.
Floyd now joins Noah Locke, Devin Carter and Clifton Moore as transfers coming to Providence from the portal. Providence has a plethora of backcourt depth of both youth and veteran players. Carter and Floyd appear to be the backcourt of the future for the Friars, while Bynum and Locke give the Friars veteran shot makers.
One thing is for certain about Floyd’s transfer and that is the rivalry between Providence and UConn is only going to intensify. You would think Husky fans would give Corey a pass considering his father attended the school but seeing interactions from fans on social media indicates that won’t be the case. Expect a not so welcome return for Floyd when Providence plays at UConn next winter.
Providence has two open scholarships for the upcoming season and they’ll probably look to get another wing/forward from the portal. The target many fans will be focusing on us Kentucky’s Bryce Hopkins. PC is really taking advantage of their success this past NCAA Tournament and the program seems to have a bright future.