Louisville basketball: 5 most intriguing recruits for 2021

Louisville basketball will look to close out the 2021 recruiting class with a bang.

While it is still very early in the year when it comes to recruiting, Chris Mack and the Louisville basketball staff ought to be extremely proud of the way they’ve recruited thus far in the class of 2021.

Thanks to the work of assistant coach and one of the nation’s best young recruiters, Luke Murray, the Cards were able to get on the board early with a rising star in Bryce Hopkins, giving them a much needed head start.

We knew the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations was going to be served sometime over the course of the spring and summer, and even with the 500-pound elephant in the room, the staff continued to push on.

Chris Mack joined the Big Red Louie Podcast earlier this summer and talked about how recruiting against a looming punishment was going. He said:

"“This is something that when I took the job we knew it was impending. we knew at some point we’d receive an NOA. Being that Louisville is really the only school that took the proactive measure that they did, from the President, board, Athletic Director, entire coaching staff, those are some real strong mitigating factors. So in that sense, we feel really good about what we’ve done and who we are”"

All while navigating the “new” pandemic recruiting landscape, the Louisville staff focused on strengthening relationships, identifying and offering new players (keeping the pipeline full), and pushing for commitments all from highly-sought after players.

That work led to commitments from four-star guard Bobby Pettiford Jr., followed by the nation’s top ranked junior college player El Ellis, as well as from 2021 reclassifying big man, Gabe Wiznitzer, who will join the team this season as a redshirt.

Now with as many as two or three spots remaining (assuming there’s players that go pro and no more scholarship penalties come into play) the Cards still have room to improve on their second best recruiting class.

There are still a ton of talented players on the board, including multiple five-star players which you can read about in our most recent recruiting big board. The five players I’ve identified on the list you’re about to read aren’t necessarily the highest ranked or most talented players that Louisville’s after but instead offer up the most intrigue.

Without further ado, here are my five most intriguing recruits on the board for the Cards.