Louisville basketball is a few veterans away from being an ACC contender in 2020-21. Why Justin Turner is the player the Cards need.
There is a lot of roster uncertainty for the second time for Chris Mack since taking over the Louisville basketball program two seasons ago. In 2018-19, Mack was fortunate to be able to talk the veteran holdovers already on the roster into returning but still had a ton of inexperience on the roster as well as open scholarships that needed to be filled.
Mack finds himself in nearly the same exact situation two years later. Six scholarship players have departed from the program by way of exhausting all collegiate eligibility, leaving for the professional ranks, or transferring, leaving several empty spots on the roster.
When programs lose six players in one offseason they typically don’t have seven five players returning capable of leading the program back on a similar quest the following season. While Mack is close to being able to say that about “Team 107” he still has players to find who will need to play big roles to help bridge the gap.
Graduate transfers aren’t a new thing for Louisville basketball, as the Cards have had plenty of success with these players on the roster. From Damion Lee & Trey Lewis to Christen Cunningham & Fresh Kimble, the Cards have been fortunate to land talented athletes with a chip on their shoulder with even better attitudes and leadership traits.
This offseason as Chris Mack and his staff look to fill out their roster, they’ll target a ton of different players (much like we’ve already seen) as they try to keep their pipeline full and options open. There are some big needs for Louisville, that if filled correctly, could put them back in a spot to compete at the highest level in the ACC. The roster is raw but talented, youthful but experienced, and now fairly confident and competent in speaking the language in Chris Mack, but with the right piece team 107 can become DANGEROUS if they reach their potential collectively.
Several players are more than capable of developing into star players with more experience, such as Jae’Lyn Withers, who sat out the 2019-20 season and could be the most talented player on the roster, Aidan Igiehon, Josh Nickelberry, Quinn Slazinski, and even Samuell Williamson to a certain extent.
Most of those players mentioned will develop into quality role players, while potentially overachieving and surpassing expectations, but all eyes will be on Williamson to become a star in year two (a common trend among Louisville players who have gone on to the NBA). Williamson showed flashes of NBA level play in very small doses in 2019-20, and with other wings leaving the program the potential will be there for him to blossom.
Jay Scrubb could easily take the baton from Jordan Nwora, who will leave for the NBA Draft as a junior, and develop into the Cards next star. Even if he does ever play for Louisville, there’s no guarantee that he will be able to develop into that type of player right away meaning the Cards still need someone who can become that right away.
Every year there are a ton of players from low and mid-majors (and I mean a ton) who decide to enter the transfer portal after having “success” at their respective level looking for a chance to move into the high major ranks.
Most go on to be role players for new programs and end up having a fair amount of impact on their team without ever being asked to be “the guy.” While others who do get that opportunity more times than not don’t ever end up reaching the expectations they are given by media and fans.
That’s where Justin Turner comes in.
Turner isn’t just another graduate-transfer who averaged double-figures for a season or two attracting enough attention to look for greener pastures. Instead, he’s a near clone of Damion Lee, a graduate-transfer that every person who roots for the Cards if familiar with.
Coming out of high school Turner was an underrecruited player out of the Detroit area who chose Bowling Green over several other mid-major programs late in the recruiting cycle. Once arriving to campus, it didn’t take long for those around the program to realize he was going to be a special player.
That’s exactly what he developed into over the course of his four-year career at Bowling Green. After an injury cut short his freshman season, Turner had a coming-out campaign as a sophomore going from averaging three points the year prior to16 (leading the team), making a mark as a scorer and looking like one of the next stars of the MAC conference.
As a junior, he bumped his averages to 18 points, three rebounds, and three assists per game as he carried Bowling Green to their first winning record since 2014-15 and was named Second-Team All-MAC.
In what was his final season at BG, Turner continued to elevate his game increasing his averages across the board and developing into a complete player while leading the program to a second-place finish in the MAC and if not for the tournament being canceled could have potentially been darkhorse to win an automatic bid to the big dance. He finished the season as the conference’s fourth-leading scorer and was named First-Team All-MAC.
Like many across the country, Turner’s rise to prominence gave him the opportunity to look for a bigger stage to play on in what will be his final season of college eligibility. He’ll now be attempting to find the best fit for him next season, likely looking for a staring role.
Turner talked with multiple recruiting outlets today, indicating that he’s narrowed his list of over 30-plus programs that expressed interest down to six. Bowling Green, Missouri, Xavier, Arkansas, Marquette, and Louisville were the final schools selected who will now all have to see what happens with recruiting restrictions and the Coronavirus as they try to woo the rising redshirt senior. As far as what’s happened for him and what’s next, he told 247 Sports:
"“It kind of surprise me that It’s moving so fast, but the first day I entered the portal everybody called so fast. It kind of helped the process go smoother. If I’m still in this process when things open back up to take visits, then I’d be open to take visits, but If I just so happen am ready to make a decision before then I wouldn’t be too worried about the visit.”"
The way I see it, Louisville needs Justin Turner and he needs Louisville
Louisville basketball has everything to offer that Turner could want in terms of fit, role, coaching all while playing on the biggest stage in the ACC. In his final year of basketball, Turner could be given the keys to a program that is just a few small pieces away from being a top 15 to 20 team. While Xavier, Missouri, Arkansas, and Marquette are all good programs who could have a lot to offer Turner, there’s nothing at any of those schools that compare to Louisville. Not the fanbases. Not the facilities. Not the coaching, and certainly not the stage of basketball.
Turner would provide the much-needed experience, leadership, and most important elite-level scoring that I think is needed to keep the Cards from having a mediocre/fringe-tournament season.
As the focal point at Bowling Green, Turner proved that he was capable of becoming an NBA caliber player (he declared without hiring an agent as a sophomore before returning), despite being an underrecruited player coming out of high school and playing for a team no one talks about.
There’s a reason he is considered the top transfer available in college basketball.
He has great size at the guard position at 6’4 and has shown over a three year period that he is more than capable of being a team’s offensive focal point with opposing defenses “S” on his chest each and every night.
Turner took a bad team and elevated them to a level that they hadn’t been for quite some time with his scoring ability. Each and every night he steps onto the court he is capable of dropping 30 in a heartbeat, all while doing so within himself and within his team.
If Louisville is going to take another step forward despite losing so much of their team, there is no question that Justin Turner is the guy that Louisville basketball has to have for the 2020-21 season.