In what can only be described as a massive blow to Ed Cooley, freshman big man Paschal Chukwu is transferring from Providence, per a tweet from CBSSports.com’s Jon Rothstein. The 7’2 Chukwu just completed his first season at Providence and will have 3 years of eligibilty remaining after sitting out the 2015-16 season, per NCAA transfer rules.

The school sent out a release shortly after Rothstein broke the news to confirm that Chukwu was indeed transferring. “I would like to wish Paschal success in his future plans,” Cooley said. “He helped us have a successful season in 2014-15 and advance to the NCAA Tournament.”

This now leaves the Friars even more thin up front for next season as Chukwu was penciled in to start alongside fellow freshman Ben Bentil. With the status of incoming freshman Alex Owens uncertain due to his grades and knee this makes finding a big man or maybe even two big men critical for next season. This now makes two straight years with a puzzling May transfer from the Providence program as two-year starting shooting guard Josh Fortune left the Providence program just before Memorial Day in 2014. Fortune ended up at Colorado. Chukwu will undoubtedly have a long list of suitors. Providence now has 2 open scholarships for next season.

I’ll have more on this bizarre transfer as more is known. Stay tuned.

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