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Louisville basketball: 3 players who could be next commitment for Cards

By Jacob Lane

LOUISVILLE, KY - FEBRUARY 16: Head coach Chris Mack of the Louisville Cardinals is seen during the game against the Clemson Tigers at KFC YUM! Center on February 16, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY - FEBRUARY 16: Head coach Chris Mack of the Louisville Cardinals is seen during the game against the Clemson Tigers at KFC YUM! Center on February 16, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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LOUISVILLE, KY – FEBRUARY 19: Darius Perry #2 of the Louisville Cardinals dribbles the ball up court ahead of Quincy Guerrier #1 of the Syracuse Orange during a game at KFC YUM! Center on February 19, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville defeated Syracuse 90-66. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY – FEBRUARY 19: Darius Perry #2 of the Louisville Cardinals dribbles the ball up court ahead of Quincy Guerrier #1 of the Syracuse Orange during a game at KFC YUM! Center on February 19, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville defeated Syracuse 90-66. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

No. 3 – El Ellis – Guard

6’3, 175-pounds – Durham, NC (Tallahassee Community College)

Recruiting status: Top eight

Louisville finds them in a unique spot this recruiting cycle when it comes to pursuing players from the junior college ranks. As much as it hurts to think about, this time last year Louisville basketball head coach Chris Mack was hot after the nation’s top JUCO player and one of the hottest names on the recruiting trail, Jay Scrubb. Mack eventually sealed the deal and while Scrubb won’t ever suit up for the Cards, his recruitment process and picking the Cards won’t fall on deaf ears across this year’s crop of talent.

Enter El Ellis, this year’s consensus top junior college player and a guard that finds himself at the top of the big board for Louisville basketball. Even with the commitment of Bobby Pettiford Jr., who will mostly run the point during time as a Cardinal, Mack is still after Ellis and finds himself in a good spot to close on another top guard.

Ellis released his final eight schools on Friday, with Louisville making the cut along with Oregon, Texas Tech, UConn, Georgia, Iowa State, Ole Miss, and North Carolina Central from the HBCU ranks. The top JUCO guard spoke with Jake Weingarten and Stockrisers.com about his final schools, speaking highly of Chris Mack and Dino Gaudio when talking about Louisville:

"“Has the history of being one of the best programs in college basketball each year, Coach Mack lives having experience on his roster and Coach Dino has coached multiple point guards that’s in the NBA.”"

There are a lot of good programs after Ellis, and holding off the likes of Texas Tech, Oregon, and even NC Central could be challenging but it’s a battle I expect Mack to be in into the very end.

Reading his comments about schools and seeing how much he talks about great point guard play and looking for a coach who can develop those schools, I really think Louisville can be a great fit. Playing alongside Pettiford, both on and off the ball, would give Ellis the necessary space for slashing to the rim as well as getting nice looks from deep. He’s a versatile, high-scoring guard who really could compliment anyone thanks to his size at 6’3, and while he’s yet to really put two guards together that form a great one-two punch – Ellis & Pettiford could be to Louisville what Edmond Sumner and Trevion Blueitt were to Xavier.

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