Stanford Basketball Loses 6-foot-10 Freshman to UConn

Stanford's style of play may need to go through another transfermation in year three under Kyle Smith

Feb 14, 2026; Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons forward Tre'von Spillers (25) handles the ball defended by Stanford Cardinal forward Oskar Giltay (15) during the second half at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Stanford Basketball is losing some key pieces this offseason, with Ebuka Okorie set to enter the NBA Draft, while Benny Gealer and Chisom Okpara are in line to graduate. On top of that, five players have entered the portal, and the first of those dominoes just dropped with 6-foot-10 freshman Oskar Giltay heading to UConn.

Last season the Belgian played in 32 games, starting five of them, and averaged 3.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game while putting up 14.6 minutes per contest. He was a solid role player for the Cardinal in his first college season, and certainly looked like someone that could grow into a bigger role with the program as his career moved forward.

Heading to UConn, he'll be replacing center Eric Reibe, who committed to USC last week. Reibe is 7-foot-1 and hails from Hanover, Germany. In 13.8 minutes/game, he averaged 5.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocks, so there is a chance that Giltay could be a slight upgrade for the Huskies here.

Impact on Stanford

Mar 10, 2026; Charlotte, NC, USA; Stanford Cardinal forward Oskar Giltay (15) shoots in the second half at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

GIltay entered the portal fairly quickly after it opened, so it has been known that he would likely be leaving the Farm for a couple of weeks. That said, there is always a small hope that a player that enters the portal could end up returning, like Raynaud did before his senior season.

In terms of on-the-court impact, that will depend on how two players come out in 2026-27. Those two would be sophomore Kristers Skrinda out of Latvia, and junior Aidan Cammann. The simple reason being that they are the two biggest returning players on the team, matching Giltay's height.

Cammann was a fairly consistent starter, getting the nod in 15 of his 33 games played, and he ended up averaging 21.8 minutes per game. He's an interior guy, so he'll need to not only take command in the post, but also stay out of foul trouble.

Skrinda played in nine games last season, averaging 6.1 minutes per contest. He could end up being the one that needs to take a step forward earn a bump in minutes.

In addition to losing Giltay, AJ Rohosy (6-foot-9), Ryan Agarwal (6-foot-6), Jaylen Thompson (6-foot-7) and guard Jeremy Dent-Smith (6-foot-1) are all in the portal, leading to more losses in the height department.

The Cardinal will also be adding 6-foot-7 Aziz Olajuwon, 6-foot-3 Isaiah Rogers, 6-foot-5 Elias Obenyah and 6-foot-2 Julius Price to the roster next season as their initial crop of incoming freshmen recruits.

This past week, Stanford also made the addition of 6-foot-10 forward Drew Anderson official, giving the Cardinal at least one true big-man to work with. Each of these freshman additions is a four-star prospect, meaning there is plenty of talent here to deploy.

Much like how Stanford head coach Kyle Smith had to come up with a different style of play for his team from year one to year two with the loss of Maxime Raynaud, he'll be hard at work looking for a way to maximize his personnel in year three with a little less size, and without his star point guard.