Louisville Basketball’s Final Roster Addition Could Make Them Contenders

Louisville Basketball is looking to add a tenth player to the 2018-19 roster. That could make or break their success.

Louisville is still looking to add one more player to it’s roster this coming season. This is according to Luke Murray, who was on The Drive with Mark Ennis on 93.9 The Ville. “The eight that are returning, we believe in their talent and believe they are a great fit for how we want to play,” Murray said. Murray, an assistant coach of 11 years, including 3 under Chris Mack at Xavier, is more concerned about finding the right fit personality wise.

As reported by BRL last week, graduate transfer Tramaine Isbell and Louisville shared mutual interest, but coaches quickly shot down this notion.

Murray’s comments could indicate why.

In the past, Rick Pitino has brought players into the program, even if they had questionable pasts, or could have caused issues with team chemistry. Sure, the program has an overwhelming amount of great players, but also great people. That being said, Louisville has been comfortable bringing in outsiders if it gave the team added depth, regardless of their past. Chris Mack and company are not willing to take any risks to jeopardize the team’s chemistry by taking similar risks.

Louisville has a team filled with talent and chemistry as it is. Now, the coaching staff is looking for a player that is going to take a team that is good as is, and possibly make it a great team. “We are going to be really specific with the player we want to recruit, especially in 2018,” said Murray. “We really want to make sure that we have a group that is really together, and it’s challenging sometimes to add a player late in the game, and really assimilate that player into a group of guys that have kind of been established.”

Ultimately, the goal is for Louisville to add depth to the roster. Murray mentioned that in the new system, Louisville will play four ball handlers primarily, with one big man in the middle. This unique style allows Louisville to play the roster as is. With big man Steven Enoch down low, there will be Malik Williams backing him up sparingly, and Lance Thomas filling in. Other than that, there are already 7 players (including Williams) to split time at four spots. That is more than enough time to go around, and could potentially give Louisville a lot of different looks.

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The next player that is added to this years roster is going to be a guy that can contribute to the team right away. Most importantly, though, this will be a player that is the right fit for an already tightly knit team.

If Mack, Murray, and the rest of the staff can lock down one more player, he could be the X factor on what should already be an extremely entertaining Louisville team.

The 2018-19 roster will include sophomore’s Darius Perry, Malik Williams, Lance Thomas, and Jordan Nwora. Junior’s Ryan McMahon, V.J. King, Steven Enoch, and Dwayne Sutton. As well as incoming senior, graduate transfer Christen Cunningham. Chris Mack will also return walk-on’s Jo Griffin, and Jacob Redding.