Louisville basketball is in a two-way battle with an SEC powerhouse for one of the best players in this year's transfer portal.
The Cardinals are expected to spend between $8 to 10 million in the transfer portal this year. Pat Kelsey and his Cardinals are all-in on Isaac McKneely and are trying to land this elite combo guard from Virginia.
McKneely is ranked as a 4-star target in the transfer portal and is a unanimous top-10 player. He is ranked as high as the No. 6 player in the portal by On3, the best combo guard, and the second-best shooting guard.
Yesterday, it was reported that McKneely is visiting the Tennessee Volunteers after a visit with Louisville this weekend.
Latest Isaac McKneely update provides both good and bad news for Louisville
It is reported that the battle to land Isaac McKneely is a two-team battle between Louisville and Tennessee. While this is great news to hear, it also apparently is bad news at the same time.
Travis Branham of 247Sports went online to report that Louisville and Tennessee are now the frontrunners to land McKneely, but then reported the Cardinals were on the 'brink' of securing this massive commitment, which kind of threw salt into the Cardinals' wounds.
Louisville basketball fans were not thrilled to find out McKneely will visit Tennessee after a visit with the Cardinals. Branaham report explains that the Cardinals and Volunteers are in a fierce battle to land this sharpshooter from Virginia, and now the Cardinals may have blown their lead, and Tennessee might be the new favorite.
"It was a battle between North Carolina and Louisville, and frankly, Louisville was starting to run away with this one, and they were expected to land him potentially as soon as this weekend," Branaham stated.
Travis Branham of 247 Sports says #Louisville was on the brink of landing transfer Isaac McKneely but now Tennessee will get a visit from
— Jeff Lightsy Jr. (@jlightsy7) March 28, 2025
The sharpshooter on Monday. pic.twitter.com/evMcVsfueq
It is great to hear Louisville is at the top of McKneely's list, but it isn't great to hear that the Cardinals might be losing him to the Volunteers. Instead of hearing just great news, the Cardinals faithful are finding out their No. 1 transfer portal target is visiting other schools and is highly considering them.
Tennessee is now in the mix of this battle for McKneely, and Branaham reports that the Volunteers are officially getting a visit next week after McKneely visits the Cardinals. Louisville fans are shivering with fear and are now praying they hear the news over the weekend that the Virginia transfer officially commits to the Cardinals while he is on his visit and never even goes to his Tennessee visit.
"I think this has become a toss up." Branham stated. "where Louisville was on the brink of landing this one. It's now a toss up between them and Tennessee with North Carolina sliding into a distant third."
Tennessee being this involved in the race only implies that Louisville has blown a massive lead on this target. The Cardinals went from being on the "brink" of McKneely choosing Louisville to possibly losing him to Tennessee. The Cardinals have already lost their No. 1 target, Donovan Dent, to UCLA, so the chips are all in on McKneely.
For all the latest on Louisville basketball's offseason, stay tuned.