Louisville basketball: Chris Mack looking to hold off UNC for four-star guard
By Jacob Lane
Another name for the Louisville basketball recruiting big board.
Chris Mack and the Louisville basketball program have been offering scholarships left and right over the last few weeks in both the 2021 and 2022 classes. As we noted during our the most recent Big Red Louie podcast, the offers have been to players across a wide spectrum of the recruit rankings and show that there’s at least a new strategy in play for this class.
Louisville learned the hard way in the class of 2020 what can happen when you don’t a robust big board with talented players in a variety of positions. It felt like last year the Cards were all in on one or two guys at a time and when those players committed elsewhere, it left Mack in a difficult place.
It all worked out with Louisville bringing in JJ Traynor and D’Andre Davis, both fringe top 100 players, as well as graduate-transfers Carlik Jones and Charles Minlend Jr., who should go a long way in helping the Cards compete at the top of the ACC in 2020.
Louisville basketball now up over 25 offers for ’21
In recent weeks Mack has offered a variety of players in the class of ’21 including:
You can add another name to the list as Chris Mack and staff pulled the trigger on extending a scholarship to four-star guard, D’Marco Dunn out of Fayetteville, NC Ranked as 247 Sports’ 90th best player in the country and the 19th best shooting guard, the 6’4 combo guard holds over a dozen offers, including several high-profile programs including Louisville, Maryland, Xavier, and Marquette as well as recent offeree and likely team to beat, North Carolina.
Dunn’s recruitment has blown up over the last month or so, as he’s gone from a fringe top 250 recruit to a top 100 player, drastically changing the programs involved. After playing two seasons on the West Coast, Dunn transferred to Westover High School smack dab in the middle of Tar Heel country. In his first season, Dunn led his team to a 30-0 record while averaging over 20 points and seven rebounds per game, shooting a very efficient 45 percent from three.
Much like Josh Nickelberry, another North Carolina product, Dunn is a player who is defined by his ability to score. He’s a big guard who is adept at using his size to his advantage, whether it be getting to the basket and scoring through contact or rising up over a smaller defender to knock down a jumper. Just from watching a few minutes of highlights you can see that Dunn is someone who excels at moving without the ball and using screens to get open for jumpers – something we haven’t yet seen under Mack in my opinion.
We’ve yet to really see how a bigger scoring guard fits in Louisville’s offense under Chris Mack, but we saw at Xavier showed us just how dangerous a bigger player at that position can be. While still improving as a playmaker, Dunn shows the ability to be an elite scorer at the college level and a player capable of getting his shot off whenever he wants.
With North Carolina and Arizona getting involved in Dunn’s recruitment, it’ll be challenging for Mack to pull of a commitment, but not out of the question. Dan McDonald of Rivals.com wrote on Dunn’s recruitment a few weeks back and made it clear that the four-star guard isn’t slowing things down. He wrote:
"The new offers continue to roll in for Dunn and he’s still trying to get a grasp of the recruiting process. Clemson, Vanderbilt and Xavier were among the first schools to jump into the mix during his junior season. Marquette has used connections to its program to wiggle into a good spot early on as well and Maryland has started to come on strong since offering last week. This list will only continue to expand as more coaches become familiar with his game. Dunn maintains he’s wide open to all schools involved in his recruitment and in no rush to make a decision."
Louisville will need scoring during the 2020-21 season with Jones and Minlend Jr. exhausting their eligibility and Sam Williamson potentially being a draftable player, and Dunn is a player capable of making an impact right away.
Next. Class of 2021 recruiting big board 1.0. dark
Things are way too fresh to know just where Louisville might stand in his recruitment but don’t be shocked to see this one come down to Roy vs. Mack.