Building a Louisville Basketball Transfer Wish List

Louisville landed their first commitment in the class of 2018 earlier this week when Georgetown, KY native Christen Cunningham pledged to the Cards. Who else would be a good fit for the Cards?

Each year the number of transfers across Division one basketball soars higher and higher, as guys ask for their release in order to move to another school where they may receive a better or different role. This has created a new “free agency” across college basketball of sorts, one that has made the basketball offseason more entertaining than ever.

This offseason Louisville basketball and new Head Coach Chris Mack are one of the teams who are out recruiting transfers during this so called “free agency” in attempts to fill the remainder of their open scholarships for the 2018-19 season.

After Head Coach Rick Pitino was fired back in September of 2017, and each of the recruits committed to the program backed off their pledges, the Cards were left with no incoming players for next season. With four open scholarships, Mack and his staff worked endlessly to target players who could contribute at the highest level in college basketball.

After getting the thanks, but no thanks from several graduate transfers, and the frustration building in the Louisville fan base, Chris Mack reeled in his first transfer. Christen Cunningham, an eligible grad-transfer from Samford who grew up right here in our fair state, committed to the Cards, giving them much needed depth at the guard position.

This was a great start for Mack and company, but now with three scholarships and more players needed, where do they turn?

Here are a handful of guys that we here at Big Red Louie wish could one day be Louisville Cardinals. Again, this list is to be nothing more than speculation and to have a little fun playing the “GM” role for the Cards.

Lead guard

There’s been several high profile transfers this offseason that have gotten plenty of attention from recruiting analysts alike, but one of the most high profile players available this spring is former five star recruit and North Carolina guard Jalek Felton.

Felton was suspended by North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams, for reasons that still to this day have not been made public, raising a lot of red flags. After that decision was made by Williams, Felton decided to withdraw from school, thus leaving the basketball team as well. Since then, only a few programs have been linked to the 6’3 point guard, those being Clemson and South Carolina. However, no reports have come out when a decision might be made by Felton on a new school or other schools who have shown interest.

Any player who is kicked off of a team, or leaves a school due to disciplinary reasons have to be thoroughly vetted before another program can take a chance on them. But for Chris Mack and the Louisville staff who have targeted a few other transfers, Felton might just be the perfect player to bring in. Why is that you ask?

Felton is need of a fresh start, and Louisville is need of talent to build on for the future. With all of the FBI allegations and issues still swirling around the program, and opposing coaches being able to recruit against the Cards, grabbing a player like Felton could be a great decision for the staff. Of course, they would need to do a deep dive into the red flags around Felton, but if all checks out there aren’t many players available more talented than him.

Coming out of high school, Felton was a five star recruit and one of the most talented players in the 2017 class. During his 22 games played, Felton averaged only 2.9 points, and 1.6 assists per game in just a little over 9 minutes played, with his highest scoring output coming against W. Carolina when he dropped 15.

He didn’t get much of an opportunity to play during his freshman season, playing behind senior Joel Berry II. but Jalek Felton is an explosive point guard with great ball handling and defensive abilities, that fits into the type of player Mack looks for on the recruiting trail. Where ever Felton lands he’ll have to sit out a season due to NCAA Transfer restrictions, but would be eligible to play in 2019-20 with three years of legibility remaining

Cohee is a name that the majority of basketball fans aren’t familiar with for obvious reasons, the biggest being that he’s played his first three years at Southern Utah, but now that the 6’4 Canadian guard has announced his intent to transfer for his final season, plenty of big time programs have him on their radars. Cohee would be a good complimentary guard for the current Louisville team that would provide a scoring threat off the bench and even better, would be eligible to play right away.

Cohee averaged 12.6 points per game for the 13-19 Southern Utah Thunderbirds of the Big Sky Conference, last season which was good enough to be the third leading scorer on the team (top three scorers averaged 12 points per game). He finished the season with 21 games of scoring 10+ or more points, and scored 20 or more points five times.

There’s always the question of whether or not a player who played in a bottom tier conference can transition to a program like Louisville in the ACC. But with Cohee shooting 40% on the season last year, and 38% from three, it seems likely that with better players around him those numbers could increase.

At 6’4, Cohee would give Chris Mack another tall, long guard to fit into his system, which usually features two-to-three guards on the floor at a time.

Wing

Let me first start by saying this is nothing more than a “wish list,” and if you feel the need to remind us of that, we’ll point right back to this.

I am 100% aware of the fact that Louisville jumped into the recruitment of one of the top graduate transfers Joe Cremo earlier this offseason, before moving on to other players. It is very unlikely that Louisville would still recruit Cremo, but he is the best wing player available this offseason and therefore is on my “wish list.”

Cremo is a deadly shooter from deep, which Louisville fans got to see up close and personal back when the Great Danes of Albany nearly pulled of the upset at the KFC Yum! Center early in the 17-18 season.

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The 6’4 wing averaged 17.8 points per game last season, while shooting an incredible 45% from deep. Cremo is being recruited by nearly all of college basketball’s blue blood programs such as, Arizona, Kansas, Villanova, and Duke, which means getting in this late is nearly impossible.

Cremo would fit right in with Louisville and Chris Mack, and could play both the two and three positions. Putting a lineup on the floor that includes Cremo and Nwora would be so much fun to watch, and would give opposing defenses nightmares because of their ability to knock down the three.

Whatever program is able to land Cremo, will get one of the nations top three point shooters who should be able to continue that could be even better at a higher level of competition.

After a solid freshman campaign for Avery Johnson at Alabama, in which he was named to the SEC all-freshman team, Key started this past season injured and never reached his full potential, bouncing in and out of the starting lineup. After averaging  just 7 points and 5 rebounds per game, the 6’8 forward decided to move on for a fresh start.

Key is a big wing/stretch forward who has the versatility to play the three and four positions. Key shoots the ball at a good mark, shooting 43% from the field and 33% during his freshman season. With the ability to score both inside and outside, he presents matchup problems for opposing wings, and even opposing big men. He’s got great length for his size, and does a tremendous job playing passing lanes. Key also is unique because of his ball handling ability for his size.

While I don’t think Key necessarily fits the mold of many players that Chris Mack has had in the past, as Mack plays more traditional “big men” at the 4 and 5 spots, he’s certainly good enough to be an impact player in just about any system.

Key will  sit out the 2018-19 season due to NCAA transfer restrictions, having two years of eligibility remaining starting for the following season. After this year Louisville will lose forward Dwayne Sutton, freeing up minutes at the 3 and 4 positions.

Big Men 

Yes, Reid Travis is technically still a member of the Stanford basketball program. However, if you are the fan that reads into rumors and message boards then you possibly know that there’s been a lot of talk of Travis’ graduating after three years and electing to play his senior season somewhere else. That’s if Travis even decides to play college basketball, as he declared for the 2018 NBA Draft with no agent early in April. . If that ends up happening, with “if” being the big key word, there wouldn’t be a more desired player in the country than the 6’8 big man.

Travis has been selected to the All-Pac 12 twice in his three years at Stanford, and is currently ranked in the top on the all-time scoring list at Stanford. Last season the versatile big man averaged 19.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, both of which were ranked third in the Pac-12.

If Travis were to transfer (I can’t say if enough) Louisville would be foolish not to pursue him. Though they have Malik Williams, Steven Enoch, and Dwayne Sutton on the roster, scooping up a player like Travis would take them from a borderline top 25 team, to a potential elite 8/final four team.

The Cards struggled with rebounding last season, even with Ray Spalding, and Anas Mahmoud on the roster. This season has the potential to be better with Enoch bringing the physicality to the roster that was missing last season, but bringing in a guy with the ability to provide 10+ rebounds a night would instantly make Louisville a top rebounding team in the ACC.

Not only would you get rebounding, but Louisville would have a go-to scorer. For two years Travis has been the primary scorer for a struggling Stanford team, who hasn’t had the talent to make any type of runs in the top heavy Pac 12. With shooters like Nwora and Williams on the roster, along with slashers Darius Perry and VJ King, adding a talent like Travis would give Chris Mack a roster could be special even going up against the likes of Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia.

The fun part of being a team looking to add pieces this late in the offseason is you get to have fun with thinking about players who won’t end up playing for your team, but that would be great to watch.

These guys are more than likely not going to be wearing red and black next season, but at least one or two more players available right now will be. Whether it’s a graduate transfer, sit-out transfer, or a member of the 2018 high school or JUCO class, Chris Mack and his staff still have room on their team to add some more bodies.

Next: Ray Spalding & Deng Adel Hopeful to Receive Combine Invites

Enjoy the offseason where speculation runs rampant!