Former Louisville basketball 4-star commit enters Transfer Portal for third time

The Transfer Portal opened Tuesday morning at midnight shortly after the National Championship game concluded, and since then, college basketball fans have already seen over 1,600 athletes enter. Louisville basketball fans learned before the portal officially opened that three current Cardinals are expected to enter, and they also saw one former Cardinal enter.

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Pat Kelsey has had some big offseasons since becoming Louisville's head coach, as last offseason the Cardinals were ranked as high as No. 3 in the portal rankings. Louisville not only landed three elite transfers who ranked among the portal’s top 25, but also avoided nightmare scenarios of key pieces leaving.

That said, Louisville fans did see two players enter the Transfer Portal last offseason, James Scott and Koren Johnson, and it was reported yesterday that the former Cardinal guard will enter the portal for the third time.

Koren Johnson enters the Transfer Portal for a third time

Johnson was a 4-star recruit out of high school who committed to Washington over Power Five programs such as Oregon, Arizona, San Diego State, and others. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound guard was ranked as a consensus 4-star recruit and ranked as high as No. 127 in the 2022 recruiting class, No. 22 among combo guards, and No. 1 out of Washington.

He played his first two seasons with the Huskies, including his best collegiate season so far, where he averaged 11.1 points, 2.7 assists, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.2 steals while shooting 44.1 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from 3-point range. The former 4-star recruit earned Pac-12 Sixth Player of the Year honors and then entered the Transfer Portal for the first time.

He was one of Louisville’s highest-profile commitments from the portal that offseason, ranking as a 4-star transfer, No. 101 in the Transfer Portal and No. 24 among point guards. However, his lone season with Louisville was cut short, as he played in just two games before being shut down for the remainder of the season due to a shoulder injury.

In those two games with Louisville, he played a combined 39 minutes, where he scored six total points while shooting 3-of-11 from the field and 0-of-4 from beyond the arc. He also logged five assists, three rebounds, and three steals.

Now, Johnson is back in the portal for the third straight season after his lone year with Ole Miss. The former Cardinal ranked No. 303 overall in the portal last offseason and No. 51 among point guards, and played in 25 games this past season, starting one, averaging 9.6 minutes and scoring 1.8 points while shooting 26.7 percent from the field and 19.4 percent from downtown.

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