Sananda Fru Commits to Marquette

 

Marquette has added Louisville transfer center Sananda Fru

Photo by Michael Hickey | Getty Images

Marquette has secured the services of the first men's basketball Division I transfer since Darryl Morsell committed in the summer of 2021 with the addition of 6'11" Louisville center Sananda Fru. Fru immediately projects as the starting center and the type of major impact piece Marquette wanted to announce their reentry to the transfer portal. Fru ranks as the #4 transfer in the country per EvanMiya.com and seems like a particularly good fit for Marquette's style.

The coaching staff first announced their intentions on February 14 through a sideline report from Jared Greenberg in the game at Xavier. Greenberg said "Marquette is the last high-major men's basketball program to resist going into the transfer portal, and now those days appear to be coming to an end."

So what do we know about Sananda Fru on the court? Let's start with a quick statistical breakdown:

On the offensive end, Fru is an elite player, ranking #39 in the country in offensive efficiency. This is largely because of his dunking ability, where he converted 62/68 attempts, which made up half of his two-point field goal makes. Fru was #2 in the nation in 2PFG%, something that was sorely lacking at Marquette last year. He's also a high-level offensive rebounder so he can give himself the chances to create those shots. Fru also does something Marquette hasn't seen much from the center position since Oso Ighodaro left. He scores 1.319 points per possession on Pick & Roll rolls to the rim. Coming from a Louisville program where more than half the attempts came from three, he will likely see more plays designed for him. While his three-point percentage looks impressive, I would caution that he only had eight attempts.

Fru might be an even better fit on the defensive end. This is in part because Louisville does not play the drop coverage that has grown in popularity but still isn't embraced at Marquette, which means he will already be familiar with switching and guarding different players. He's an excellent shot blocker and has good defensive activity. His DRAPM and DBPR scores, both metrics that measure overall defensive impact, are better than any returning Marquette player. Essentially, Fru gives Marquette a true rim protector and versatile interior defender with high-level athletic ability.

Every transfer will also come with some criticisms. Fru did lose his starting spot down the stretch at Louisville and Cardinal fans I've talked to have described him as soft. He committed 4.2 fouls per 40 minutes, a number that rose to 4.6 in ACC play and 5.1 against Tier A&B competition per kenpom. And while he gets to the charity stripe well (52.9% FT Rate) he only converts at a 61.1% clip, which is by far not the most important thing but will frustrate some fans. It's also worth noting that system fit makes a big difference. Years ago, Joseph Chartouny seemed like an ideal fit to create shots for Markus Howard and the Hausers while being the perimeter tip of the spear on defense, but the system muted his impact and that transfer never fully worked. Marquette fans will hope Coach Smart is better at fitting Fru into his system than Wojo was with Chartouny.

In addition, despite the demotion, Sananda Fru still managed to put up 10 points and 10 rebounds in Louisville's first round NCAA win over South Florida. Pat Kelsey said "Being nice to you hasn't helped, maybe I just need to scream my ass off at you and you play like a freaking monster." Big men often tend to do better after a transfer, possibly due to the new staff identifying players that have already proven at the D1 level they fit into the specific system a team will run.

Milwaukee should be a particularly good fit for Fru. He was born in Berlin, Germany and played professionally for Löwen Braunschweig, tallying 12.4 ppg and 6.2 rpg as he won Best Young Player honors in 2024-25. Few cities in the country have as many local ties to Germanic culture. I would point out to Fru that Milwaukee German Fest will be July 24-26, there are a number of German restaurants in Milwaukee including Mader's and the Old German Beer Hall, and volunteer opportunities reading to children at the Milwaukee German Immersion School.

Welcome to the transfer portal era, Marquette fans.