LOADED FOR ‘27 HOOPS SUCCESS: Kelsey’s recruiting haul has Card Nation excited for future

By RUSS BROWN

College football season is next up on the major sports schedule, with Louisville's opening kickoff only about three months away on Sept. 6 against Ole Miss in Nashville. But it's the UofL basketball team that is dominating the conversation and media attention among Card Nation these days.

That's because coach Pat Kelsey's highly-regarded recruiting haul has Louisville fans dreaming of a return to national prominence during the 2026-27 season. UofL has spared no expense in going after the best players in the transfer portal, which closed on April 21, and it has paid off. At publication time, the Cards' six transfers were ranked No. 1 by 247Sports and The Athletic, and in the top 5 by most other rating services.

Centerpiece of the portal class is former Kansas big man Flory Bidunga, who was the top-ranked center among the transfers. Bidunga committed early in the process and that encouraged other promising prospects to join the parade to Louisville's campus -- Iowa forward Alvaro Folgueiras, Dayton guard De'Shayne Montgomery, USC center Gabe Dynes, Arkansas wing Karter Knox and Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad.

The Cards' roster was further bolstered when five-star center Bubba Ejezie Jr. reclassified into next year's class. Kelsey's most recent additions were high school recruit Boyuan Zhang, a Chinese product who attended Veritas Academy in Garden Grove, Calif. and is ranked as high as the No. 15 small forward in the country; and guard Isaac Ellis, who also reclassified into the 2026-27 class.

Although Adrian Wooley and former NBA G2 guard London Johnson are the only returning scholarship players, it's no wonder UofL fans are excited because the new roster has athleticism, depth and talent at every position.

A rising junior who was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Bidunga had declared for the NBA Draft, but was expected to withdraw his name by the deadline on May 27 and enroll at Louisville. He attended the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, where he totaled 18 points, 14 rebounds and three assists in two scrimmages.

As a sophomore with the Jayhawks last season, Bidunga was the only NCAA Division I player to average more than 13 points (13.3), 8.5 rebounds (9) and 2.5 blocks (2.6). He also tied for ninth in the nation with 13 double-doubles.

Kansas listed Bidunga at 6 foot 10, but at the Combine he was measured slightly under 6 foot 8 barefoot, making him the second-shortest center there. His standing reach of 8-10 1/2 was also next-to-last, but he topped the position in both standing vertical leap (34 inches) and max vertical leap (40-1/2").

Adam Finkelstein, 247Sports scouting director, estimated the Kokomo, Ind. product would have to be a top-10 pick in the NBA Draft to match the $5 million the Cards reportedly offered him in NIL money. Most analysts project Bidunga as an early second-round to late first-round pick. Under the NBA's rookie salary guidelines, late first-round picks (slots 20-30) are guaranteed approximately $5.5 million to $6.8 million over the first two seasons, whereas second-round picks (slots 31-40) receive no guaranteed money unless negotiated into a standard contract.

Kelsey was able to put together such a strong class despite an upheaval of his coaching staff during the important spring recruiting period when two of his longest-serving assistants took other jobs. Thomas Carr and Brian Kloman both unexpectedly departed in late March. Kelsey and Kloman were together for 12 years and Carr had worked with Kelsey since 2022-23 at Charleston. Carr took an assistant coaching job at Indiana, while Kloman was hired as Auburn's general manager.

To replace them, Kelsey hired former Campbell head coach John Andrzejek as associate coach and Sean Dixon, who was an assistant at Clemson the past four seasons. Kloman's role was general manager, but no new GM was named. Kelsey called Kloman's stint a "one-year kind of trial thing."

"It's important in any organization to have a very thought-out, detailed organization chart where people are responsible for certain things and they can focus on them," Kelsey told the Courier-Journal during the ACC spring meetings in Florida. "And I think we do a good job of that in recruiting. Hiring the right people that are very talented, give them the structure and just let them go."

One more big target was on Kelsey's radar at this writing -- Iowa State 6-8 power forward Milan Momcilovic, who could send UofL's fan base into a frenzy and immediately label the Cards as legitimate national championship contenders. 

But the competition is brutal, with Kentucky and St. John's also willing to open the checkbook for Momcilovic's services. His asking price is believed to be in the $6 million range, or he could stay in the NBA draft. Even if Kelsey loses out on Momcilovic, though, the Cards will still be in excellent shape for a prosperous 2027 campaign.