Louisville basketball recently added 4-star wing Boyuan Zhang. The 6-foot-8, 220-pound wing is an elite scorer who averaged 20.2 points per game in the Nike EYBL Scholastic League this past season. The Cardinals have had a dominant offseason, including Zhang, but Louisville fans still have a few questions.
Pat Kelsey’s monster offseason continues with Louisville’s latest 4-star addition
Pat Kelsey has done a phenomenal job this offseason, as Louisville now ranks No. 1 in the Transfer Portal rankings and No. 18 in the 2026 recruiting rankings. Kelsey’s rebuild has Cardinals fans truly believing this upcoming season could be the year Louisville snaps its Sweet Sixteen and Final Four drought, but they do have a few questions heading into summer practices, especially on the offensive end.
One glaring question Louisville fans are waiting to see answered is who will be the Cardinals' dominant scorer.
Pat Kelsey needs Adrian Wooley and Jackson Shelstad to be aggressive
When looking at the roster Louisville built, one player doesn’t stand out as far as a pure scorer. Last year, Louisville knew Ryan Conwell was an elite scorer, and Mikel Brown Jr. had the potential to be that elite scorer. This upcoming season, it is clear that Kelsey and the Cardinals need their two guards, Adrian Wooley and Jackson Shelstad, to take a jump and be the scorer Kelsey needs.
College basketball fans know Wooley can do it, as in his freshman year, he averaged 18.8 points per game while shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from beyond the arc. Now he has to do that at the next level against elite competition.
The lefty shooting guard needs to attack and get more shots up in his second season with Louisville, and while he was an efficient scorer with Louisville, he needs to play as he did against Clemson, Cal, and Michigan State. Last year, against Clemson, he went 7-of-12 from the field with 17 points; against Cal,, 9-of-14 with 21 points; and against Michigan State, 7-of-10 with 17 points.
He had only 7 games last season in which he attempted 10 or more field goals. And while that might not have been his role with Louisville this past season, the Cardinals need him to take that next step and get 10-12 shots consistently from game to game.
As for Shelstad, he showed this past season that, in just 12 games, he can score, averaging 15.6 points per game. And the Cardinals will need him to build off that and take similar amount of shots, as last year, he attacked, averaging 14.1 field goal attempts and 8.8 3-point attempts per game.
He scored 20 or more points in five of his 12 games and averaged 2.8 3-pointers per game, including three games with four 3-pointers and one with five.
These two guards are going to be huge factors next season as the Cardinals need each of them to be aggressive and take around 10-15 field goal attempts per game, but also each score around 15 points per game. If Wooley and Shelstad can do that, then that will open the frontcourt up and allow Flory Bidunga and Obinna Ekezie Jr. to do their thing and be those elite lob threats.
Also read: Louisville basketball's projected starting lineup for the 2026-27 season
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