A new(ish) target emerging for Louisville basketball in 2020 class

Louisville basketball has had a rougher go-round on the recruiting trail this summer/fall than they expected, but it looks like the Cards may have a new(ish) target in the class of 2020.

To say that recruiting hasn’t gone as expected for the class of 2020 may be a bit of an understatement at this point, but that’s not stopping Chris Mack and the Louisville basketball staff from turning every stone in pursuit of elite talent.

After looking like they were in a great spot for maybe their best class in school history, Louisville’s staff and fans watched as DJ Steward, Caleb Love, Jaemyn Brakefield, and Deivon Smith committed elsewhere, leaving Louisville with only one commit, Jay Scrubb.

Now with the majority of Louisville’s top targets off the board and past targets having cut their list, excluding Louisville in the process, it has left Mack and company with a depleted pipeline.

While the Cards are still in the thick of things with a few other four-star targets including wing Josh Hall, big man Gethro Muscadin (you can hear more about him on the BRL podcast), combo guard Adam Miller, and local forward JJ Traynor, there is a need for more names to pursue.

With the majority of players featured in the top 50 of recruiting services either committed or in the home stretch of their recruitment, it has left the talent pool rather scarce for Mack. But thanks to a recent decommitment, there could be a new name to add to the Louisville recruiting big board.

Jalen Terry committed to Tom Izzo and Michigan State back in April of this year after a deep run into the NCAA Tournament. At the time Terry was a fringe top-100 player who was seen by many expert recruiting analysts, as a player who would rise during the upcoming AAU period.

That’s exactly what he did, climbing all the way to number 56 in the 247 Sports Composite Rankings for 2020. But after six months of being committed, Terry took to Twitter yesterday to announce his intentions to reopen his recruitment.

https://twitter.com/TheDrJay__/status/1183791103184531457

Now with Terry’s options open, Chris Mack and his staff will likely look to get re-involved in the recruitment process for a guy who they once were pursuing.

Before Terry committed to Michigan State, Mack and his staff had visited with the 5’10, 155-pound guard on multiple occasions, including an unofficial visit to campus where they extended a scholarship offer.

After missing out on multiple point guards, Louisville will still have a shot at wooing a high-caliber four-star guard with the potential to develop into a really good collegiate player.

Terry is an explosive athlete who is able to make up for his lack in size, with quickness and speed on both offense and defense. He’s a terrific scorer at all three levels, and as a point guard, he shows great instincts when it comes to getting others involved.

As of now, there are no reports indicating that Louisville has reached out to Terry to get re-involved in his recruitment, but my guess is that will change over the coming days.

There’s still a lot of groundwork to be made up for Chris Mack and his staff, but it wouldn’t shock me at all to see Lousiville get involved and become a major threat to secure a commitment from Terry in the future.