Louisville basketball: Comparing the class of 2020 to past Cardinals

D’Andre Davis – SG/SF

6’5, 170 pounds

Player comparison: Reginald Delk

Here’s a blast from the past. Louisville basketball fans may often forget about Reginald Delk, the two-year transfer from Mississippi State, but he was a key contributor on some underrated Cards teams who started on some solid squads.

When comparing D’Andre Davis to a former Card, on the surface, Dwayne Sutton comes to min (as Jacob Lane wrote shortly after his commitment) but I think there’s a lot more guard in Davis than Sutton.

When you think of Davis, think explosive, aggressive, athletic rebounder with an improving shot and understanding of how to attack opposing defenses as a primary and secondary scorer.

That’s Delk in a nutshell. An increasingly reliable shooter from deep who can also put the ball on the floor brings rebounding from the two and three positions while giving opposing offensive players nightmares with his length and ability to guard multiple positions.

At 6’5, 170-pounds Davis could be considered “undersized” compared to what we see in college basketball now, but he plays very physical, tough-nosed basketball on both the offensive and defensive sides of the floor and is the perfect fit as the “glue guy” for Mack moving forward – a role that Delk also occupied for Louisville.

When I think about Davis, his upside is infinitely higher even in his freshman season than Delk as a senior. By no means am I saying that the ceiling for Davis is that of Reginald Delk, in fact, it’s quite the contrary. Davis is a player who fits everything that Chris Mack likes to do, both offensively and defensively, and while his game is still raw the chance to be a two to three-year starter and high- level contributor – something that Delk only did in small doses.

Davis has the potential to take those same skill sets that Delk had and use the natural talent and abilities that he has to elevate them to a level that the former Cardinal only wished he could’ve reached.