Pat Kelsey and Louisville hosting top transfers on Friday
It’s one of those rare weekends in recruiting when the spotlight is on one place. Right now, it’s shining on Louisville and head coach Pat Kelsey as he welcomes two of the top Transfer Portal prospects in the country onto campus.
The portal’s top-rated player, Kansas center Flory Bidunga, and veteran Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad will both be visiting visitng with the Cardinals.
Both highly coveted transfers rank inside the top 20 of On3’s transfer portal player rankings.
Bidunga and Shelstad are represented by the same agent, who will accompany them on the visit.
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Louisville has made the two a priority since the portal opened on April 7, with Shelstad quick to set up a visit with the Cards and, later in the week, cancel his trip to Arizona — the presumed top competitor to the U of L in his recruitment.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound guard spent three seasons at Oregon, where he was one of the most consistent scorers in the country. His junior season was cut short to just 12 games with a right-hand injury. Shelstad averaged 15.6 points, 4.9 assists, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 34.8 minutes per game. The West Linn, Oregon, native shot over eight 3s a game last season and made over two of them. And, Shelstad also saw a steady increase in his ball-handling duties, which he responded to well with a career-high in assists.
It’s easy to see why a player like Shelstad would fit in at a place like Louisville. The Cards see him as a two-guard and feel like the former All-Big Ten performer can easily slot into Ryan Conwell‘s role and handle a double-figure scoring load on a nightly basis.
Kansas’ Bidunga, the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and On3’s No. 1 overall player in this year’s transfer portal, has several other suitors and is still planning trips to Duke, St. John’s, and Michigan. But, Louisville does have a pair of advantages in the 6-foot-10 center’s recruitment. The Cardinals are just two and a half hours from where he played his high school ball in Kokomo, Indiana, and have the advantage of getting the first visit.
In a system like Kelsey’s, Bidunga is the perfect five-man. He may be the best shot blocker in the country and boasts one of the best block rates. Bidunga’s 2.6 blocks were the best in the conference, and he’s comfortable shouldering his team’s rebounding efforts. Around the basket
As a sophomore with the Jayhawks, Bidunga averaged 13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists while making 64 percent of his shots.
Louisville has a lot of work to do in the transfer portal. After all, Kelsey is losing star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. to the draft, seven players to graduation, and three players to the portal. Besides Bidunga and Shelstad, the Cardinals have set their sights on dozens of other prospects, but have put an early emphasis on locking up one of the country’s top centers and a proven perimeter scorer.
Transfer Portal: Live updates as Louisville, Pat Kelsey begin reshaping the roster
