WKU’s Stansbury appears to be on the outs. Could this mean Dayvion McKnight comes to Louisville?
Louisville native Dayvion McKnight currently plays for the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers under Head Coach Rick Stansbury. But, the rumors are that Stansbury could be on his way out of the university, which could open the door for a lot of movement in the Hilltoppers’ roster.
After a less than stellar season for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in which they finished nearly above .500 with a 17-16 overall record, there has been significant rumors surrounding the potential exit of Head Coach Rick Stansbury. Stansbury was hired in 2016 off of the coaching staff at Texas A&M and has led the Hilltoppers to four 20-win seasons.
However, it appears that his time in Bowling Green could be running out. No official reports have come out yet, but like the old saying always goes: where there is smoke, there is fire. And there are several different conversations surrounding the head coach’s exit.
Rick Stansbury was an excellent recruiter and seems to be a class act, but you hit the nail on the coffin there. We never won when it mattered. All our marquee wins came in Nov. or Dec. it seemed. Looking forward to a new era! #GOTOPS!
— Sam Osborne (@Samuelgarnettky) March 10, 2023
Some fans have already moved on from a seemingly role model coach, but if you can’t win when it matters, then the noise of the fanbase can’t get much louder. And that seems to be exactly what is happening here.
One of Stansbury’s players is Shelbyville, Kentucky native Dayvion McKnight who committed to Western Kentucky in 2019 as a member of the Class of 2020.
Louisville is in desperate need of guard depth and Dayvion McKnight would provide just that. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound combo guard would be a great addition to a depleted backcourt for the Cardinals. There’s no doubt that a player of his caliber, a former three-star prospect, would love to come home and play for the University of Louisville. Especially in a time where the hope and direction of the program hasn’t been higher in the past five years.
Head Coach Kenny Payne is seemingly on the verge of landing his first five-star recruit since taking over the helm in March 2022, in elite rim-protector Dennis Evans who recently requested out of his National Letter of Intent at the University of Minnesota. And on March 17, 2023, five-star Trentyn Flowers is set to commit to a university and there is a lot of smoke around him coming to Louisville as well.
Dayvion McKnight would make a great addition to this roster, especially because there is no doubt this roster will be completely flipped from this past season to next season, apart from former Tennessee transfer Brandon Huntley-Hatfield who will most likely stay unless he wants to transfer again and sit out for a year.
Last season for the Hilltoppers, the former three-star recruit played in and started all 33 games and averaged 16.5 points per game while dishing out 125 assists. He also recorded 59 steals and three blocks. Not a bad stat line at all and if he translates that kind of production to the Cardinals, then Louisville is one step closer to having an elite backcourt.