Louisville basketball recruiting: It’s not time to panic

College basketball recruiting cycle is completely different now than it was even two or three years ago

Let’s also not forget the changing landscape of college basketball.

First, the coaching carousel starts typically after the completion of the regular season for college basketball programs which oftentimes forces top commits to re-open their recruitments late in the cycle.

Players who once looked like solid commitments and even signees back out and reopen their recruitment after coaches are fired or chose to leave for another program. The ones who often benefit from those changes are programs who have scholarships open and have room to take on another player.

With Louisville having four or five scholarships available for the class of 2020, there’s a reason to believe that keeping a few spots open towards the summer would be smart.

Second, the “free agency” of college basketball in transfers and graduate-transfers has changed the way that coaches can add to their team. The days of only bringing in freshmen or sit-out transfers have come and gone, and adding eligible players right away can enhance a program’s recruiting class big time.

Each year multiple “Damion Lee-Esque” players come available late, giving programs another opportunity to add experienced college basketball players to their roster. In my opinion, these players can oftentimes be huge difference makers when it comes to making a run. Look at Matt Mooney from Texas Tech last season as the perfect example.

While a player transferring from North Dakota doesn’t come close to having the same appeal as a highly ranked four or five-star player, their experience and ability to learn at a higher rate often times can be the difference in making the tournament versus going on a deep run.

I get that it’s tough to think that we may have to wait until May or June to finish out the 2020 class after looking at one time that Chris Mack could be able to put together the best class in program history. But that’s exactly what we should do.

Finally, don’t forget about reclassifying players. It was a rare thing to see several years ago across the college basketball recruiting landscape, but heading into 2020 it’s become common place.

Just in the last several months, we’ve seen five four or five star players reclassify from the class of 2020 to 2019, including five stars RJ Hampton (who ultimately decided to play professionally) and Johnny Juzang. We’ve also seen several players decide to move already from 2021 to 2020 including Terrence Clarke and Cam Hayes.

This trend isn’t going anywhere and if Louisville has space they can always begin targeting one of these players, if they haven’t already – especially considering the relationships being formed with the class of 2021.

There’s a lot to digest when it comes to reasons for hope, but with the date only being September 25th and plenty of talented players available in the class of 2020 everything is going to be okay.

Yes, it may be alarming to miss out on some of the nation’s highest-rated recruits, but that doesn’t mean Louisville won’t be just fine in the long run.