One of the most coveted players in the Transfer Portal right now is Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell. The 5-star transfer is coming off a dominant season in which he averaged over 19 points per game and splashed a career-high 96 3’s, and he is now one of the top-ranked transfers in the portal.
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Blackwell recently cut his list to just six schools, and in that mix is Pat Kelsey and the Louisville Cardinals. Louisville basketball is in a recruiting battle with Duke, Illinois, Alabama, UCLA, and Arizona, but just yesterday, 247Sports' Travis Branham gave a Blackwell that an ACC powerhouse is slowly gaining momentum, but unfortunately for Cards fans, it isn’t Louisville.
Travis Branham's latest update on John Blackwell
Just yesterday, Louisville got big news that Illinois star shooting guard Andrej Stojakovic will return to the Fighting Illini. Earlier this offseason, Illinois also earned a commitment from the No. 2 shooting guard in the portal, Stefan Vaaks, making it feel like Illinois is making a pivot away from Blackwell and leaving the race.
Arizona and Alabama haven’t made much noise in this recruiting process, so now many think this is coming down between UCLA, Duke, and Louisville.
“In the race for John Blackwell, I think this (Stojakovic staying) has a big impact and could knock Illinois out of that race, and that would follow suit with Arizona falling out of contention - and there’s been very little to no mention of Alabama, which was included in his final six,” Travis Branham stated. “So, now that brings this race down to Louisville, Duke, and UCLA. He visited UCLA and there's continuing, growing talk around the industry as Duke being a real,real contender here.”
Kelsey and Louisville made a push for Blackwell earlier this week, as it was reported that the Cardinals flew out to California to see the Wisconsin transfer after his visit to UCLA. However, Branham is reporting that the Duke Blue Devils are the ACC powerhouse gaining some real momentum right now, and growing into a “real,real contender.”
The Cards already landed the No. 1 overall transfer, Flory Bidunga over Duke, now Kelsey will try to do it again and land Blackwell over Jon Scheyer and Duke as well. The Cardinals portal class currently ranks No. 1 in the nation, and with Louisville trying to build a National Championship roster, Blackwell emerges as a top target.
It won’t be easy to earn Blackwell’s commitment as he ranks No. 3 overall and No. 1 among shooting guards in the portal, but Louisville isn’t out of the race just yet.
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