Wednesday morning, Louisville basketball landed its third transfer commitment in four days after Arkansas transfer Karter Knox committed to Louisville. Knox is a former 5-star recruit who ranked as high as No. 22 overall in the 2024 recruiting class, and after two seasons with Coach Cal and the Razorbacks, he entered the portal and will now for Pat Kelsey and Louisville next season.
Louisville's projected starting lineup with Karter Knox has Kelsey eyeing first Title
Kelsey has dominated the portal early on, landing two 4-stars in Knox and Jackson Shelstad and one 5-star and the No. 1 overall transfer in Flory Bidunga. The Cardinals are expected to stay hot in the portal as they are involved with some of the top players still in the portal.
Louisville has lost five players to the portal and lost nine of its top 10 rotational players from last season. Kelsey isn’t slowing down anytime soon, and he hopes to carry the momentum from landing Knox yesterday. So, with Louisville landing the former 5-star small forward Wednesday morning, here are five players on Louisville's Transfer Portal wish list after landing Karter Knox.
Adrian Wooley
We are going to start this list off from within and include Adrian Wooley. The former 5-star transfer is a key piece to Louisville’s offense, as he is a crafty guard who can create open shots for himself and his teammates.
In his first season with Louisville, Wooley had some growing pains, but he also showed why he was ranked as high as a 5-star. He played his two best games against Miami and Michigan State, where the combo guard scored 15 points against the Hurricanes, including a massive step-back 3-pointer to put Louisville up with under 20 seconds, and he scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field in the Cardinals' NCAA Tournament matchup with the Spartans.
Wooley would be a huge boost if he decides to return as he ranked as high as a 5-star transfer and No. 9 in the portal last offseason.
Juke Harris
If Louisville can’t find a way to land John Blackwell, a top player on their wish list should be Wake Forest transfer John Blackwell. The Cardinals reached out to the 4-star transfer early on, and while they haven’t had much noise with him as of now that could quickly change if they miss on Blackwell.
Harris is a unanimous 4-star transfer who ranks inside the top 7 in the Tranfer Portal. He can play small forwrd or shooting guard, and is one of the best pure scorers in college basketball. Last season, he ranked No. 2 in the ACC in total scoring, behind only Cameron Boozer, and No. 6 in Division I basketball.
He averaged an impressive 21.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, and is now ranked as high as No. 4 overall in the portal and No. 1 among shooting guards.
Paulius Murauskas
It is beginning to sound like Louisville and Kelsey are out on the race for the Saint Mary’s transfer Paulius Murauskas, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be on our wish list. The 4-star transfer would be exactly what Louisville needs at its power forward position as he spaces the floor out for Bidunga and company, but he also plays physical basketball and can dominate the paint.
Murauskas is an elite scorer who averaged 18.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game last season. He ranked No. 2 in the conference in total points and No. 3 in the conferecne in efficient field goal percentage. He made the First-Team All-West Coast Conference Team, scoring 20 points or more 15 times and 30 points or more twice.
The race is between Arizona State and the Cardinals and Murauskas ranks as high as No. 9 overall and No. 4 among power forwards.
Alvaro Folgueiras - PF
Louisville needs to add a true power forward, as Knox is a big-time get by Kelsey, but now, Louisville will need someone who can space out the floor for Knox and Bidunga. Someone at the top of Kelsey’s list at the moment is the Iowa transfer Alvaro Folgueiras.
Folgueiras played his first two years with Robert Morris, including his sophomore season, where he averaged career highs with 14.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 54.8 percent from the field. He is a stretch-four who made 45 3’s on 41.3 percent shooting from beyond the arc his sophomore season.
He had a big NCAA Tournament with Iowa, scoring 14 points twice in the first two games, and 16 points against Nebraska in the Sweet Sixteen. In the year he averaged 8.4 points and 3.6 rebounds while shooting 50 percent from the field and 33 percent from beyond the arc. He now ranks as a 4-star transfer, No. 53 overall and No. 13 among power forwards.
Related: Louisville basketball’s next No. 1 target is obvious after Karter Knox update
John Blackwell - SG
The No. 1 guy on the Cardinals' portal wish list is John Blackwell. The Wisconsin transfer ranks No. 2 overall and No. 1 among shooting guards, and with Louisville recruiting Blackwell heavily and recently adding him to its final six, the Cardinals are trying to secure commitments from the top two portal players.
Kelsey flew out yesterday to California to visit Blackwell after he recently visited UCLA. They also saw a new commit, Jackson Shelstad, recruiting Blackwell by commenting “No Sir” on Wisconsin’s transfer Instagram post when he posted him wearing a UCLA jersey. So, the Cardinals are all-in, but they are in a heated recruiting battle with UCLA, Alabama, Duke, Illinois, and Arizona. Blackwell is a pure scorer who averaged 19.1 points per game last season, and made a career high
while shooting 43 percent from the field and 39 percent from beyond the arc. He splashed a career high 96 3’s, while scoring 30 points or more in five games and 20 points or more in 16 games.
Related: Predicting Pat Kelsey's next 3 moves after adding Karter Knox to Louisville's core
Add us as a preferred source on Google