Louisville basketball’s Transfer Portal chaos isn’t slowing down anytime soon, as Pat Kelsey has this group right in the mix for one of the best transfers in the portal. John Blackwell is a 5-star transfer who the Cardinals continue to make a push for as Louisville got huge news over the weekend, as they will host him for a visit later this week.
Latest John Blackwell update seems promising for ACC powerhouse, but it's not Louisville
However, there is a massive catch. The Wisconsin transfer scheduled a visit for Duke today, Monday, April 20, which means the Cards hopes of brining in Blackwell likley hinges on today’s visit, and if the 5-star leaves Duke uncommitted then Louisville has a massive opportunity to land its second 5-star, but Duke will do whatever it can to not let Blackwell leave uncommitted.
Louisville basketball facing make-or-break moment for John Blackwell
The race for Blackwell is likely between Louisville, Duke, and UCLA. The 5-star shooting guard cut his list down to six schools, but there hasn’t been much noise with Alabama and Arizona, and Illinois appears to be out of the race after it landed the No. 2 shooting guard Stefan Vaaks and recently learned its starting 6-foot-7 guard Andrej Stojakovic will return.
So, the list of six certainly feels like it is now three, and UCLA earned the first visit, then Kelsey flew out to Blackwell, and now Duke has a visit today, and Louisville has a visit later this week. The Cardinals are very much still in this race. If Blackwell can get to Louisville uncommitted, the Cardinals would feel really good about their chancess.
It won’t be easy, as Duke and Jon Scheyer are going to try and make sure Blackwell doesn’t get to Louisville’s campus. The Cardinals already landed Flory Bidunga over Duke, and now that Louisville has the best portal class in the nation, Duke won’t want Louisville to land Blackwell, because they would have a strong case to be the ACC favorites and would be the Blue Devils biggest threat to a ACC Title three-peat.
Blackwell is a perfect fit for Louisville as he would be the Cardinals starting shooting guard. The 5-star transfer ranks No. 1 among shooting guards in the portal and No. 3 overall after his dominant junior season. He averaged over 19 points per game this past season while splashing a career-high 96 3’s and shooting 39% from three-point range.
The fight for Blackwell is beginning to heat up and these two ACC giants won’t back down easy. But today is a crucial day for Louisville and their efforts for Blackwell. The dream? Blackwell leaves Duke uncommitted and takes his visit to Louisville with a nice pen ready to sign.
Related: Pat Kelsey's latest move just confirmed Louisville isn't dropping out of John Blackwell race
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