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Louisville Basketball: Graduate Transfer Big Man Could Be Worth a Gamble

By Jacob Lane

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A 7’0, 265 pound big man who tore his ACL in March has recently become available as a graduate transfer, and for Louisville basketball it could be worth the gamble.

Yesterday afternoon Jeff Goodman, formerly of ESPN, tweeted out that a new graduate transfer would be available, which as we’ve seen isn’t rare this time of year. This transfer could be, and should be a potential target for the Louisville basketball program.

The only caveat with this graduate transfer, who should attract some attention in the coming weeks, is that he has a pretty significant injury. A torn ACL usually takes about eight to 10 months of average to heal, and with the injury being sustained in the opening week of March, meaning this player wouldn’t be back until around November/December.

So who are we talking about? He’s a guy you’ve likely never heard about. I would like to think that I stay up on all things college basketball, probably more than I should, yet I had not heard of this player until today.

We’re talking about Kent State’s Adonis De La Rosa. The 7’0, 265 center, who averaged 11.8 points and 7.6 rebounds during his junior season is moving on and is in need of a new home.

While graduate transfers are a plenty during the college basketball offseason, trying to find a big man with size like De La Rosa’s is rare, even in this day-and-age.

With Louisville having just one “true” big man on the roster in Steven Enoch, and a “stretch” big in Malik Williams, the Cards desperately need to add another body inside the paint.

There aren’t many options available in any of the available outlets to acquire players, whether graduate-transfers, or the class of 2018, which makes the talented De La Rosa the perfect gamble for the staff.

Elton Alexander of the Plain Dealer lays it out perfectly.

"Clearly, DeLaRosa is gambling on himself to be ready for the bulk of the season, and any university he transfers to would be gambling a scholarship as well.Kent State has another player recovering from ACL surgery, 6-3 transfer guard Kain Harris, who has been sidelined since the last day of October 2017 and is yet to be cleared for summer team workouts or individual workouts with coaches."

A lot of schools at this point don’t have many scholarships available, making the ones they do have extremely valuable. Not being able to hit the court, for any type of basketball related activities, will likely eliminate more than half of the schools who could be interested.

Enter Louisville – a team with two to three open scholarships, and no “real options” to add at this point. Though we did touch on the transfer of former Cardinal Matz Stockman from Minnesota yesterday, there’s no clue on whether the staff would be interested in pursuing him. While Stockman is familar with Louisville, he is still very unproven. Adding a guy like De La Rosa, who is an experienced player, could be worth the risk.

De La Rosa could sit out and heal up with the help of the elite training staff at Louisville, and get ready to go for the most grueling part of the schedule in the ACC. The 7 seven footer would provide elite size behind Enoch and Williams when he returns, and could play anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes when fully healthy.

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The Cards would get a guy who as mentioned, averaged over 11 points and 7 rebounds per game, while also blocking one shot per. De La Rosa also shot 56% from the field, which isn’t the greatest number for a player that size – but keep in mind the talent that was surrounding him on a 17-17 Kent State team. A number that should be encouraging was his 79% free throw shooting percentage during the 34 games he played last season.

Having two big men, along with players like Jordan Nwora and VJ King, who could play some spot minutes as small ball 4’s, is probably enough to be successful during the non-conference schedule. But when the Cards get into the daunting ACC stretch and go up against elite big men like Zion Williamson, Luke Maye, Marques Bolden, and plenty of others, on a nightly basis, having someone with size and a big body will only help the Cards get where they want to go in 2018-19.

Next: Chris Mack Overcoming Obstacles on the Recruiting Trail

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