Temple’s Zion Stanford will transfer to Villanova to continue his basketball career

Temple transfer Zion Stanford, a two-time all-state selection at West Catholic High School, will continue his collegiate career at Villanova.

Stanford, who announced his commitment Monday on social media, visited Villanova over the weekend and is staying in the Big 5 after two seasons at Temple. He averaged 13.1 points and 4.5 rebounds during his sophomore season while shooting 34.9% from three-point range.

A 6-foot-6 wing, Stanford raised his stock over Temple’s final six games, scoring 19.6 points to go with 6.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists to close the season.

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Stanford’s commitment is Kevin Willard’s second portal pledge, and more additions are on the horizon. It was a busy weekend on campus with other visitors in addition to Stanford, like Maryland’s Rodney Rice, who is expected to make his decision — likely between Villanova and Tennessee — in the coming days.

Villanova is also involved with other transfer targets such as Robert Morris big man Álvaro Folgueiras. Reportedly, it also will soon host 20-year-old Bosnian forward Harun Zrno, who was originally committed to Indiana but is back on the market after a coaching change.

The Wildcats are also talking to incoming freshman Acaden Lewis, a 6-2, four-star point guard from Washington D.C.’s Sidwell Friends, where former Wildcats Saddiq Bey and Josh Hart attended. Lewis recently reopened his commitment after initially planning to go to Kentucky.

It’s unclear what role Stanford will fill with Villanova. As the depth chart stands, he would be a shoo-in starter, but Villanova is obviously in the mix with plenty of players and has at least six more roster spots to fill.

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Villanova has five players in the transfer portal after senior center Enoch Boakye put his name in Friday evening. Boakye doesn’t have any eligibility left but is pursuing a waiver to try to play a fifth season.

Boakye started his collegiate career at Arizona State, where he played two seasons before playing at Fresno State during his junior year.

It’s unclear what his path to a waiver would be, but Villanova needs an upgrade and probably doesn’t have time to wait for that situation to play out.

With all the movement, it’s fair to wonder who from this past season’s Wildcats will still be around after upcoming graduations and portal departures. That list is getting shorter. For now, it’s Tyler Perkins and Jordann Dumont as far as players who actually played, plus freshmen Matthew Hodge and Malcolm Thomas, both of whom redshirted.

Stanford is one of six Owls in the transfer portal, and they make up six of Temple’s top eight returning scorers.

Temple has yet to get a transfer commitment, but has been linked to many players in the portal and reportedly hosted Tulsa guard Isaiah Barnes this weekend.