Yesterday, On3’s Joe Tipton reported that Louisville guard El Ellis planned on entering the transfer portal, while still maintaining his NBA Draft eligibility.
Louisville guard El Ellis will enter the transfer portal, he tells @On3sports.
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) April 6, 2023
Averaged 17.7 PPG and 4.4 APG.https://t.co/i6qnUgUPpG
Last season with the Cardinals, El Ellis was the offense for Head Coach Kenny Payne. The 6-foot-3 guard was the focal point of the offense and on several occasions, he was the only one who could score consistently. If he returns to college, it won’t be at the University of Louisville.
WHAS11 sports anchor, Tyler Greever, reported yesterday that the reason why Ellis is not returning to the Cardinals is, allegedly, due to him having to take on a different role next year than he had last year.
On El Ellis in the transfer portal: I’m told his first option is going pro. But if he comes back to college, then after talking to the staff after the season was over, he would have had to accept a different role with the Cardinals than what he had. So, that led to the portal.
— Tyler Greever (@Tyler_Greever) April 6, 2023
With Skyy Clark coming in, it could be assumed that he will be one of, if not the primary ball handler, which would force Ellis to play more of an off-the-ball type of position. Or at the very least, Ellis would have had to split the ball-handling responsibilities with Clark, and potentially even Trentyn Flowers.
So, this could have been part of the reason he wanted to pursue a career elsewhere, if his NBA Draft process doesn’t go as planned. Now, with Ellis gone, another scholarship opens up and the guards on the team for the 2023-2024 season are as follows:
- Illinois transfer Skyy Clark
- JUCO transfer Koron Davis
- Returner Hercy Miller
- Freshman Curtis Williams Jr., who acknowledged he would play the 2
- Freshman Trentyn Flowers, who can play the 1-3
There still remains opportunities for veteran players or one-year transfer players, particularly guards, to come into the team and help bolster the number of losses this team has endured. A lot of speculation started surrounding Kenny Payne and the Louisville program as to why there was no news of any Zoom interviews or on-campus visits other the past couple of weeks.
Programs from around the country have been pursuing top-tier transfer players relentlessly, but nothing was surfacing for the Louisville basketball program. But, last night, Louisville fans received the reason why that hasn’t been happening.
Rick Bozich, a sports journalist for WDRB, reported yesterday that Kenny Payne is currently in Saly, Senegal to scout the NBA Academy Africa prospect pool. After landing the commitment of NBA Academy Africa Emmanuel Okorafor mid-season last year, it opened the door for Coach Payne to come back.
There has been a plethora of theories, for months, surrounding another NBA Academy Africa product tying him to the University of Louisville. And that is, of course, power forward/center Churchill Abass. Abass played in Senegal prior to joining US Monastir as a part of the Basketball Africa League.
Now, his season is over in Tunisia, and planned on heading back to the States. But, very possibly could have traveled back to Senegal to meet with Kenny Payne. But, from the sounds of it Coach Payne was not only in Senegal for Churchill Abass, he is there to scout players at all positions.
Players he is particularly after are what he would describe as “workout animals.” After listening to the interview with Churchill Abass, it’s very evident he fits that description and undoubtedly shares the passion of some of the other prospects in the NBA Academy Africa program.