Louisville Basketball: Top Graduate Transfer Spurns the Cards, Commits to Miami

Chris Mack and the Louisville basketball program hoped to receive a commitment from senior graduate transfer Zach Johnson. Unfortunately the Florida Gulf Coast transfer will be taking his talents to South Beach.

With only eight scholarship players currently on the roster for next season, Chris Mack and his new staff have acknowledged the amount of work that needs to be done in order to fill out the roster for 2018-19.

The staff has spent the last several weeks courting potential graduate transfer options, even hosting several on campus, while traveling to visit with others.

One of the potential options for the Card was Zach Johnson, a 6’2, scoring guard out of Florida Gulf Coast. After having the all Atlantic 10 guard in for a visit earlier this week, the Louisville basketball staff was hopeful that they had done enough to land the big time transfer.

Unfortunately for the Cards, Johnson wrapped up his recruitment last night, opting to take his talents to South Beach, spurning Louisville in the process.

https://twitter.com/ZachJohns5n/status/987125785621417984

There’s no denying that adding Johnson, who averaged 16 points per game in his final season at FGCU, would have been a huge haul for the Louisville basketball program and new Head Coach Chris Mack. In recent years at Xavier, Mack had done a nice job of bringing in graduate transfers such as Malcolm Bernard in 2016-17, and Karem Kanter in 2017-18. So many Louisville fans expected the staff to be able to replicate that success at a bigger, prestigious program.

While that still is possible with plenty other graduate transfers still available, fans will be disappointed to see one of the best eligible transfers scooped up by an opposing ACC school.

The Louisville coaching staff reportedly visited with Joseph Chartouny formerly of Fordham late last week, as well as Wake Forest transfer Keyshawn Woods this week. They also still have a visit planned with USC Upstate guard Mike Cunningham in a few weeks.

Louisville also has met with UNC Asheville transfer MaCio Teague, who is another big name on the transfer market. The 6’3 guard out of Cincinnati, OH, averaged 16.7 points per game for UNC Asheville during his sophomore season, after winning the Big South Freshman of the year award in 2017. While Teague could be a great add for the Cardinals, he would be forced to sit out the 2018-19 season due to NCAA transfer rules.

Mack also had a visit lined up with Courtney Ramey, the 40th ranked player in the 2018 class according to Rivals, in his hometown of St. Louis. However, due to Ramey playing in the 2018 Iverson Roundball Classic and a mix-up in travel plans, the visit was cancelled with hopes of rescheduling for another time.

Evans Daniels of 247 Sports said yesterday on The Drive with Mark Ennis (93.9 The Ville) that he did not believe the Ramey’s would be taking anymore official visits, and that the family hopes to wrap up in the recruitment process in the coming weeks.

While there are still a plethora of options available for Chris Mack and his staff, fans (and the staff) hoped that the first commitment would have been wrapped up by now. As the graduate market begins to dwindle down, the Cards will have to move at an even faster pace if there’s any chance of landing an impact player for next seasons roster.

Many expect new Miami guard Zach Johnson to be an immediate factor next season, landing on a team that lost guards Lonnie Walker IV and Bruce Brown to the 2018 NBA Draft.

Next: Louisville Basketball: 2018-19 Transfer Recruiting Update

Chris Mack and his staff will hit the road this weekend to visit with several big time 2019 recruits, and potentially some 2018 transfers as well.