Illinois transfer G Skyy Clark sets official visit to the University of Louisville

The University of Louisville has been in the running for Top-50 national talent Skyy Clark even before he officially announced his commitment to the Illinois Fighting Illini. Originally, a Kentucky commit out of high school, Skyy Clark was set to join the Wildcats as one of their top recruits. However, due to an ACL tear and a broken hand, he decided to decommit from John Calipari’s squad and reopened his recruitment.

Once he did, he announced Louisville was in his Top 6 schools.

A member of the Class of 2022 recruiting cycle, the four-star guard elected to sign with Head Coach Brad Underwood and the Illinois Fighting Illini. He was excited for a fresh start at the Big Ten school, but unfortunately his tenure there was extremely short-lived. After only appearing in 13 games and scoring an average of 7.0 points per game, Skyy Clark elected to leave the program mid-season. A very uncharacteristic move by the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Montverde Academy product.

However, both Clark and Head Coach Underwood announced this his departure from the program was not basketball-related, and that Coach Underwood offered his full support to both Skyy Clark and his family.

"“Skyy has made the decision to take some time away from basketball,” Underwood said in a statement. “He remains a valued part of our program and will continue to receive our full support. Skyy is a thoughtful, caring young man who right now needs to prioritize himself and his family. This is bigger than basketball. We understand that and stand with him every step of the way.”"

The media storm following this news was on January 6, 2023 and there was even some speculation that he may never return to the game of basketball. However, those rumors were quickly silenced in late-February when he announced he was missing the game in a tweet that has since been deleted.

But, today, March 13, 2023, the NCAA transfer portal has officially opened for college basketball athletes and after it was announced that Skyy Clark was intending to enter the transfer portal, internet chatter picked up once again with rumors surrounding his coming to the Louisville basketball program.

This morning, Jake Weingarten of Stockrisers reported that Skyy Clark is planning an official visit to Louisville this week, only a day after five-star center Dennis Evans took a visit and proceeded to commit to the program.

The smoke around the Louisville-Clark connection even reached a University of Kentucky publications, A Sea of Blue, most likely due to the fact that he is a high-profile name and a former commit. And also that Kenny Payne was a former assistant under John Calipari. The writer of the article, Adam Haste, notes that Kyle Tucker of The Athletic and Andrew Slater of Cerebro Sports believe that Skyy Clark could be coming to Louisville.

"“After the report, multiple media members including Kyle Tucker of The Athletic and Andrew Slater of Cerebro Sports noted that they expect the Louisville Cardinals to be heavily involved.”"

After landing Dennis Evans and now having Skyy Clark on-campus in the same week, Head Coach Kenny Payne and staff are working tirelessly to turn this program around, which is igniting a fire of excitement in the Louisville fanbase. Stay tuned for further updates.