Louisville’s Addition of Fore Shows Mack Isn’t Afraid to Play Small

Louisville added another small guard to the lineup on Saturday, bringing much needed depth to Chris Mack’s team.

University of Louisville basketball fans will probably never get tired of seeing these tweets from Chris Mack:

Mack tweets this out, and within minutes, positive recruiting news is sure to follow.

This was no different today, when graduate transfer Khwan Fore announced his decision to finish his career at Louisville.

Fore, a 6’2″ combo guard, who played his first four seasons for the Richmond Spiders, originally pledged to Tennessee, before withdrawing and going with the Cards.

Fore averaged 11 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and a steal in his final season for Richmond in which he missed the first month of the season due to injury. Fore is eligible for a fifth season after using a medical redshirt when he injured his foot during his freshman year.

Fore brings to the table a defensive tenacity, and the ability to create extra possessions for his teammates, that coach Mack loves. He is a poor mid-range and outside shooter, but possesses the ability to get to the basket craftily, and find an open teammate.

It should not go unnoticed that Fore played for some pretty bad teams for Richmond. At his time there, Richmond made the NIT in 2017, but that was their only wining season. It is a positive because Fore has a lot of starting experience, and playing experience, but it is negative due to his lack of playing time on any kind of big stage.

Regardless, Fore fills a much needed spot on the team. This depth allows VJ King to play at a much more natural position at the 3 spot, and gives McMahon, Perry, and Cunningham some much needed depth at the guard spots.

At the moment, here is what Louisville’s roster looks like:

This Louisville team will be much smaller than in years past. Mack, however, likes to play this way. His Xavier teams in the past only consisted of a handful of forwards, and typically didn’t have any “true” centers. He and assistant Luke Murray have noted that they want to play small, and will likely play Jordan Nwora, Dwayne Sutton, and Malik Williams all at the four spot. Look for Louisville to go small for the majority of the season like some of the Villanova teams that were so successful in the old Big East.

College teams are proving that you don’t have to have a ton of size to be successful. The addition of Fore is showing that Louisville is not scared to pile up the guards, and play a spread out type of game.

Fore might not be a huge blip on the radar on the national landscape, but he will be an important piece for the Cards if they want to have a solid first year of the Chris Mack era.