Louisville basketball: 5 under the radar transfers for Cards

Aaron Estrada – PG

St. Peter’s, Freshman (6’4, 207)

2019 stats: 8.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.0 apg 

If we’re going to talk “under the radar” players in the transfer portal who may potentially be good fits for Louisville, we have to do it right. That means looking at players at just about every level of college basketball, including low-majors.

Louisville’s obviously had success with bringing in players from non-traditional conferences who have gone on to make huge impacts on the program including Luke Hancock (George Mason), Tony Hicks (Ivy League), Dwayne Sutton (UNC Asheville), Christen Cunningham (Southern), Damion Lee (CAA), and Trey Lewis (Horizon). While it’s easy to get caught up with where a player is coming from, we’ve seen it demonstrated just how good they can become with next-level coaching and talent around them.

That’s exactly what I think St. Peters’ freshman guard Aaron Estrada could be for a high-major program like Louisville. After a highly celebrated high school career playing for the legendary St. Benedict’s Prep in New Jersey, Estrada stayed close to home choosing St. Peter’s over East Carolina and Southeast Missouri State. It took him a little while to get comfortable with the college game, but once he got the hang of it big things happened.

Averaging 8 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist doesn’t sound like much, but it doesn’t come near telling the full story of how well Estrada played. After playing a bench role to start the season, Estrada moved into the starting lineup and his numbers quickly increased. In his final 11 games of the season, Estrada averaged 12 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists, flexing his ability to score the basketball, scoring in double-digits on seven occasions.

The MAAC took notice of his impact on St. Peter’s season, naming the MAAC rookie of the week on three separate occasions as well as naming him the conference Rookie of the Year, naming him to the All-MAAC freshman team as well as All-MAAC Third team – making him the first player in program history to achieve that feat.

So how does Estrada fit with Louisville?

First, he’s a bigger guard with extremely long arms that is capable of guarding multiple positions – something that will prove to be valuable next to David Johnson (should he play for a third season) and Josh Nickelberry.

He’s an aggressive down-hill attacker who has the ability to get past defenders and finish around the rim as well as hit mid-range pull-ups at a pretty high clip. In his freshman season, he displayed the ability to shoot the ball extremely well, connecting on 41 percent of his shots from the field and 34 percent from deep. Mack’s guards have always been known for their attacking ability first and foremost, but having shooters at the lead guard spot is something we’ve also seen work well.

Even after a year of college basketball, Estrada is rail-thin and could benefit greatly from a redshirt season – especially with Andy Kettler. He has legitimate potential to develop into a multi-year starting point guard at the power five level, something Louisville needs long-term.

Here’s the catch. The odds of Louisville getting involved with Estrada this late in the process are unlikely. He talked with Andrew Slater of 247 Sports about his final schools, which doesn’t include Louisville. However, you never know what can happen when certain teams get involved.

Even if Estrada isn’t the guy the same argument could be made about Sean East II of UMass who we detailed earlier this week.