Louisville coach Pat Kelsey went all-in on the transfer portal, landing eight new players, including Kansas big man Flory Bidunga, in an offseason move that saw nearly the entire Cardinals roster flip. Only guard Adrian Wooley, who averaged 8.7 points per game last season, remains from the scholarship players. It is all part of Kelsey’s plan to make up serious ground on perennial national power Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference and finally compete with college basketball’s most physical teams.
The New Reality of College Hoops
Kelsey wasn’t kidding around this offseason. After just dipping his toes in the portal his first two years, giving a flatlining program a new pulse, he went full throttle. He snagged eight transfers, building what 247Sports now ranks as the No. 2 incoming transfer portal class in the nation, sitting right behind St. John’s. Kelsey is embracing the chaos, saying, “It’s just how it is. It’s a version of professional sports now where everybody is a free agent every single year.” He admitted, “Obviously there are teams around the country that were able to retain more of their players from last year, but it’s not a rarity where these things happen.”
This massive turnover is wild, with Adrian Wooley being the lone scholarship player left from last season. Kelsey’s Cardinals have a 51-19 record, hitting No. 10 in the AP Top 25 in his first season and getting as high as No. 6 last year. But for all that, they have zero ACC championships and just one NCAA Tournament win to show for it. After getting bounced in the second round of March Madness by Michigan State last March, Kelsey and his staff took a hard look at the roster. Their conclusion? They had to overhaul the rebounding and defense, which meant adding size and rim protection. “It was a major emphasis on how we built our roster,” Kelsey explained. “Those big, physical, nasty, football-type teams are the ones that we struggled against last year. And we have to be able to fight fire with fire.”
Meet the New Muscle
Enter Flory Bidunga. This guy is a game-changer. The 6-foot-9, 220-pound center was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year last season. He jokingly called himself “a pretty good shot blocker” after recording a whopping 91 blocks with the Jayhawks. Bidunga also dropped 13.3 points and grabbed 9 rebounds per game. When he hit the portal, Kelsey went hard after him, desperate for that physical presence. Bidunga had nothing but good things to say about Kansas, but he’s ready for this new chapter. “I feel like we can do something great here with Pat Kelsey. … I guess I just wanted to see something else,” he said.
And Bidunga isn’t the only big addition. The Cardinals stacked up on talent with several 4-star players:
- 6-10, 230-pound power forward Alvararo Folgueiras from Iowa
- 6-6, 220-pound forward Karter Knox from Arkansas
- 6-4, 200-pound shooting guard De’Shayne Montgomery from Dayton
- 6-1, 185-pound point guard Jackson Shelstad from Oregon
They also landed 7-5, 230-pound center Gabe Dynes from USC, a three-star addition, plus 4-star guard Seth Trimble from North Carolina and forward LJ Wells from North Ke. This is a seriously different looking Louisville squad.
With this much new talent and a clear mandate from Kelsey to get physical, this season is gonna be a wild ride for Louisville. Can they finally break through in the ACC and make a deeper run in March? We are about to find out.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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