The transfer portal can be cruel. Just ask Illinois after losing Morez Johnson to conference rival Michigan, or St. John\u2019s after seeing their reigning Big East Player of the Year R.J. Luis hit the open market. It takes a perfect storm of circumstances and a lot of NIL money to walk away from the portal feeling better about your roster than before, and right now one school is standing about the rest.<\/p>\n
The most anticipated men\u2019s Final Four in recent memory is set for San Antonio, with all four No. 1 seeds still advancing to the national semifinals<\/a> for the first time since 2008. For every other program in college basketball, the offseason is already underway. The coaching carousel has landed new head coaches for Texas, Iowa, Indiana, Xavier, and others<\/a>, while the transfer portal is full of impact players<\/a> seeking big NIL packages and better roles. New names are being added to the portal daily until it closes on April 22, but one school is already cleaning up.<\/p>\n Pat Kelsey turned around Louisville basketball in his first season as head coach. The Cardinals hit rock bottom in Kenny Payne\u2019s tenure, with a disastrous 12-52 record across two seasons. When Kelsey was hired from College of Charleston, he found a couple gems in the transfer portal with Terrence Edwards Jr. and Chucky Hepburn, installed a fast-paced offense, and immediately saw his team finish second in the ACC to Duke.<\/p>\n Louisville got screwed by the Selection Committee<\/a> with a No. 8 seed and laid an egg against Creighton in their 2025 NCAA tournament opener, but overall the program had to feel great about Kelsey\u2019s 27-8 debut season. Hopes are going to be even higher for year two after Louisville\u2019s additions so far.<\/p>\n Michigan also has a claim to being the transfer portal\u2019s biggest winner so far after landing Illinois big man Morez Johnson and North Carolina point guard Elliot Cadeau. St. John\u2019s hit it big with Bryce Hopkins and Joson Sanon, though they lost star forward RJ Luis to the portal.<\/p>\n The Louisville roster isn\u2019t complete yet, but the work Kelsey has done in the portal so far is more impressive than any other program in America.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photo by Dylan Buell\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n It won\u2019t be easy to replace Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards Jr. in the Louisville lineup as both players have extinguished their eligibility. Hepburn was legitimately one of the best point guards in America<\/a> this season by blending scoring, playmaking, and on-ball defense at a high-level. Edwards was a versatile Swiss Army Knife as a forward. <\/p>\n The pieces are already coming together for next season, though, and could provide an even higher ceiling for the Cards.<\/p>\n Wooley was a personal favorite after emerging as the best mid-major freshman in the country. The 6\u20195 guard is an electric shot-maker with a slippery handle and real passing vision. Wooley averaged 18.8 points per game on impressive 62.7 percent true shooting with a 22.6 percent assist rate while making 41.4 percent of his threes on 152 attempts. Those are incredible numbers for a freshman even against weaker Conference-USA competition, and it puts him in position to possibly be a first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft with a big sophomore season.<\/p>\n Wooley is a late bloomer who grew two inches after his senior year of high school and added strength along the way. Wooley never lost his ability to change speeds and directions as a ball handler, but now he can play through contact on his drives. Only 21 percent of Wooley\u2019s rim finishes were assisted this year, a number that shows his remarkable creation ability.<\/p>\n Wooley is also a deadly shooter. He\u2019s close to automatic on catch-and-shoot opportunities, but the more exciting part of his shooting projection is his ability to self-create looks from three. Only 65 percent of his threes were assisted this year. <\/p>\n This is an NBA move from a mid-major freshman in a game where Wooley finished with 28 points, seven rebounds, and five assists on 10-of-18 shooting as Kennesaw State lost to Liberty in the C-USA semifinals.<\/p>\n Conwell is headed to his fourth different school in four years, but he keeps getting better every season. After playing a small role at South Florida as a freshman, he transferred to Indiana State and had a breakout sophomore season playing next to Robbie Avila. Conwell then left for Xavier and proved his production could sustain in a bigger league. He averaged 16.5 points and shot 40 percent from three on seven attempts per game at both Indiana State and Xavier. He seemed destined to follow his former coach Sean Miller to Texas, but Louisville swooped in and got him.<\/p>\n A strong 6\u20194 wing, Conwell is a high-volume, highly-accurate shooter who can takeover games when he gets hot. He\u2019s been a super efficient scorer the last two years (64.2 percent true shooting at Indiana State and 61.8 percent true shooting at Xavier) while doing a good job avoiding turnovers and adding a pinch of playmaking. Mostly, though, Conwell will be in Louisville to get buckets. He\u2019s very good at that.<\/p>\n Locking down two veteran off-ball scorers is exactly what Louisville needed next to its incoming five-star point guard. Mikel Brown Jr. is rated as the second-best recruit in Louisville men\u2019s basketball history<\/a>. The 6\u20193 guard is the No. 6 player in the class of 2025, and is already being projected as a top-10 draft pick. Brown is an advanced ball handler who can get anywhere he wants on the floor off the dribble. He showcases good passing vision, a solid jumper with three-point range, and sneaky athleticism. <\/p>\n Brown is very skinny and may need some time to adjust to the physicality of the college level. Having Conwell and Wooley take pressure off him is a best case scenario. When Brown is at his best, he looks like an NBA guard who can break down the defense off the dribble, attack the rim, and either score himself or kickout to shooters. <\/p>\n It\u2019s crazy to me that people aren\u2019t higher on Mikel Brown Jr. <\/p>\n He puts his lighting fast first step on display here. <\/p>\n Beyond just this one play, he is an extremely talented passer with really great floor vision and capable of hitting every spot of the court. <\/p>\n He can throw\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/uAYO3klh9W<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2014 Nic Thomas | NBA & NBA Draft (@NicThomasNBA) April 2, 2025<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Brown can be a star, but it\u2019s still hard to rely on a true freshmen in this era of college basketball. Wooley and Conwell are the perfect players to ease his burden, providing a high-level of both shot-creation and play-finishing that is ideal for a young point guard.<\/p>\n Louisville added another impact transfer on Thursday by landing a pledge from former Virginia sharpshooter Isaac McKneely. McKneely was one of the best shooters in the portal after stroking 42.1 percent of his threes on 7.5 attempts per game last year. He\u2019s averaged double-figures in scoring each of the last two years, and gives Louisville a 6\u20194 knockdown threat on the wing who can also make smart passing reads.<\/p>\n The big question now is what happens with Louisville\u2019s bigs. James Scott should be back for his junior year. He\u2019s a good finisher and rebounder who hammered home 79 dunks this season. He just doesn\u2019t do much outside of dunk on offense, and his rim protection is more solid than great. Louisville also has Aly Khalifa, a massive center from Egypt, who redshirted last year coming from BYU<\/a>. If Louisville can add one more dependable big in the portal, they will be cooking.<\/p>\n Kelsey is already earning rave reviews:<\/p>\n Maybe Louisville having Kenny Payne was the best thing that could have ever happened, because all the donors saw how bad it could be. And now they apparently have a magical infinite money chest <\/p>\n Conwell, McKneely, Wooley is a ridiculous haul<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2014 Jim Root (@2ndChancePoints) April 3, 2025<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n How about the momentum for Louisville? Cardinals make ANOTHER splash with Virginia transfer Isaac McKneely committing, joining fellow transfers Ryan Conwell and Adrian Wooley. <\/p>\n Pat Kelsey and his staff are loading up in a big way. Louisville has major upside for 25-26.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2014 John Fanta (@John_Fanta) April 3, 2025<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n The big fish still out there for the Cards is Nate Ament. Ament is a five-star freshman as a 6\u201910 forward who can handle and shoot<\/a>. Like Brown, he\u2019s painfully skinny right now, but his tools are so enticing that he\u2019s bound to be a 2026 NBA lottery pick. Ament has Louisville on his final list<\/a>, though his commitment feels slightly less likely after landing Conwell and Wooley. <\/p>\n I\u2019m a big believer in Wooley\u2019s offensive ability. Conwell was one of the better veterans in the portal, and Louisville landed him too. If Brown lives up to the hype as a freshman, Louisville has is a high ceiling squad that could again be the second-best team in the ACC behind Duke. The Cards could be looking at a top-15 preseason ranking. <\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to believe Louisville basketball has risen so quickly after the Kenny Payne era. Kelsey has proven he\u2019s the right man to turn around the program. Even after a disappointing tournament exit, the future of Louisville basketball is as bright as its been since the Rick Pitino era.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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