Breaking down the Louisville's men's basketball roster (2024)

Returning scholarship players (0): None

Returning walk-on (1):Aidan McCool

Transfer additions (12):Reyne Smith, James Scott, Terrence Edwards, J'Vonne Hadley, Aly Khalifa, Koren Johnson, Aboubacar Traore, Chucky Hepburn, Kobe Rodgers, KaSean Pryor, Noah Waterman, Frank Anselym-Ibe

Incoming freshmen (1):Khani Rooths

NOTE: Louisville hasnoremaining scholarship spots open

Senior guard Reyne Smithbecame the first commitment of the Kelsey era at Louisville when announced onMarch 30 that he was transferring for his final season to U of L.

"It was way too good of an opportunity for me to even think about anything else," Smith told Cardinal Authority.

The 6-foot-2 Smith, a native of Ulverstone, Australia, started 89 games in three seasons at Charleston. He finished as a double-figure scorer in each of those seasons, holding a career average of 11.9 points a game. He averaged 12.8 points this season and scored 13 points in the NCAA game against Alabama.

A second-team All-Conference selection this season, Smith is a constant threat to score from deep. He connected on a career-best 39.4 percent of his three-point attempts this season to up his career mark to 37 percent beyond the arc. He set a new College of Charleston freshman record with 90 made three-pointers.

This season he broke his own school record for most threes in a single game with 10 vs. Campbell for a career-high 32 points.

Smith hails from Tasmania, where he averaged 20.7 PPG while shooting 49.9 percent from beyond the arc while repping his home territory at the 2020 Australian National Championships. He averaged 7.1 points and 1.3 boards at the FIBA U19 World Cup, including a 19-point outburst vs. Puerto Rico and a 12-point outing vs. Latvia.

JAMES SCOTT, CHARLESTON

Former Charleston forward James Scott, who just entered the transfer portal onMarch 31, committed to the Cardinals on the same day. The 6-foot-11 Scott appeared in 35 games this past season, averaging 5.0 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks a game. Scott hit 79 percent from the field.

Named Coastal Athletic Association Rookie of the Week twice in December, Scott averaged 16.1 minutes a game as a true freshman for the Cougars. He scored in double figures six times, including back-to-back season-high 14-point performances against The Citadel and Coastal Carolina in mid-December.

Scott made ESPN's Sports Center top plays for a block transition to a dunk against Coastal Carolina. He entered the season as the fourth youngest player in Division I men's basketball. He was 76 of 96 from the field and 22 of 50 from the free-throw line.

After the breakout rookie season, Scott secured a spot on the CAA All-Rookie team

A native of Fayetteville, N.C., Scott was a three-star prospect out of E.E. Smith High School. He was voted the Most Improved Player by the Fayetteville Observer after the 2021-22 season. Scott also had offers from Georgia State, Appalachian State, Loyola Chicago, and many others before his commitment to the Cougars.

"James reminds me of a young Marcus Camby," Kelsey said last year when he signed with Charleston. ". . . he is still growing too. He is a legit 6-11 right now and he just turned 17. He has very good hands, touch, and skill. He moves and runs extremely well. He is a major lob threat, blocks shots, and affects the game in many ways."

Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Terrence Edwardsfrom James Madison was the next to announce he was headed to U of L on April 3.Edwards, who committed while on his official visit, appeared in 36games this season and averaged 17.2points, 4.4rebounds, and 3.4 assistsa game on 34.3 percent shooting from three-point range.

After winning Sun Belt Sixth Man of the Yearlast season, the 6-foot-6, 190-pound wingout of Atlanta earned Sun BeltPlayer ofthe Year honors this season prior to leading the Dukesto an NCAA tournament bid. James Madison won 32 games this season but lost to Duke in thesecond round of the NCAA Tournament.

Edwards played four seasons and 117 games during his career at James Madison. He scored 1,414 career points, while collecting 525 rebounds, 278 assists, and 111 steals. He hit 46.2 percent from the field during his career with the Dukes.

Once Edwardsselects his next school, he will have a year of eligibility remaining.

Edwards has had a bunch of schools reach out, including U of L, Florida State, Arkansas, Oregon, Tennessee, Auburn, Creighton, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Xavier, and others. He entered the transfer portal on Wednesday.

"When coach PK got the job - since he got the job, those guys instantly reached out to me,"Edwards told Cardinal Authority. "And, Coach PK is a great dude, man, he's a like a guy you can look up to actually be like a father figure. And I also used to play against Coach PK in the (Colonial Athletic) when I was here at James Madison two years ago (before the program left for the Sun Belt)."

The fourth new addition to the roster was former Colorado guard J'Vonne Hadley, who committed on April 16.Hadley had considered Iowa State and Michigan State before narrowing his list of schools to U of L and USC. The 6-foot-6, 205-pound shooting guard played limited time in one season at Northeastern before spending a year at Indian Hills Community College. He has been at Colorado for the past two seasons.

This past season, Hadley was a key cog in one of the best seasons ever at Colorado. Hadley started all 36 games he played in for the Buffaloes, averaging 34.6 minutes a game. He averaged 11.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.2 steals a game and shot 53.8 percent from the field.

Hadley had four double-doubles and had a season-high 24 at Washington in January.

Colorado finished 26-11 and reached the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament. Hadley averaged 8.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in six postseason tournament games.

In his first season at Colorado, Hadley ranked third on the team in scoring at 8.0 points a game and led the Buffaloes in rebounding average (5.9 rpg) despite playing in just 22 games. He shot 52.5 percent from the field and was fifth on the team in steals with 25. He had 16 points and eight rebounds rebounds in his debit against UC Riverside.

Hadley suffered a hand injury in early February and missed the final 11 games of the season.

In his first college season at Northeastern during the 2020-21 campaign, Hadley appeared in 13 games for the Huskies, totaling 11 points and 13 rebounds. He scored a season-best five points at Hofstra.

The St. Paul, Minn., native spent the next season at Indian Hills where he earned NJCAA Division I First Team All-America honors. He averaged 10.9 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds a game while shooting 54.8 percent from the field. He helped Indian Hills to a 27-6 overall record, the NJCAA Region XI regular season title, the region championship and the NJCAA North Central District Championship. He was the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference Player of the Year and earned All-Region XI First Team honors.

In 71 career college games, Hadley has made 55 starts and has 603 points, 359 rebounds, and 118 assists.

A finalist for Minnesota Mr. Basketball, Hadley is a 2020 graduate of Cretin Derham-Hall High School, but had played his first three years at Mahtomedi High School. Led his teams to four conference championships, two sectional titles and two state appearances. He was a four-time all-conference and two-time all-state first team selection.

BYU transfer Aly Khalifapicked the Cardinals on April 18 over returning to BYU or playing for his former coach Mark Pope at Kentucky. Kahlifa will transfer to Louisville and sit out next season to fully rehabilitate his injured knee.

The 6-foot-11, 270-poundKhalifa averaged 5.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.0 assists while shooting 31.5% from 3-point range in 19.4 minutes over 29 games for the Cougars as a junior this season. He scored 17 points in a win at UCF, had 21 points and 7 rebounds in a loss at No. 25 Texas Tech, and 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists in a win over No. 11 Baylor.

Khalifa, who began his collegiate career at Charlotte, holds career averages of 8.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.4 assists over 94 games with the 49ers and Cougars.

Originally from Alexandria, Egypt, Khalifa is a 2020 product of the NBA Global Academy in Australia.

247Sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein evaluated Kahlifa:

"Aly Khalifa may have had modest numbers last year at BYU (5.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 4 assists, 38.6% FG), but he was one of the best passing big men in college basketball and that was a key to unlocking Mark Pope's playbook for a Cougars' program that had a top-15 offense in the country and was 6th overall in assists per field goals made.

At 6-foot-11 and a listed 270 pounds, Khalifa's conditioning, mobility, and overall efficiency were all constant works-in-progress, but he showed an extreme overlap of size, skill, passing, instinctive feel for the game, and learned basketball IQ. His ability to thread the needle and hit cutters was obvious from the post, elbow, and high post area. He is an extremely clever screener who understood who to best utilize his wide-frame and has good footwork. He's also a capable floor-spacer and pick-and-pop threat, although his shooting numbers (32% from three and 62% from the free-throw line), were notably below where they were the previous two-years at Charlotte.

When everything is clicking for Khalifa, he looks like a potential NBA prospect. But he was far too inconsistent last year and also a liability at times, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. While his size is a deterrent in the lane, he provides limited true rim protection and is very limited when pulled away from the basket. He also needs to be more effective at finishing defensive possessions on the glass."

Former Washington guard Koren Johnson became roster member No. 6 when he committed on April 22.

The 6-foot-2 native of Seattle, Wash., was electric off the bench for Washington this season - averaging the most points (11.1 ppg) among Conference players with single-digit starts (five) and less than 25 minutes per game (23.7 mpg). He erupted for a career-high 30 points in an 85-65 victory over Stanford in February - the only one of the Conference's 22 30-point games accomplished by a non-starter - and reached double-figure scoring 17 times.

Johnson played in 31 games and averaged 11.1 points, 2.7 assists, and 2.2 rebounds a game, while also collecting 38 steals and shooting 42.5 percent from the field and 44.1 percent from three-point range. He had a shoulder injury later in the season that limited his shooting ability a bit, but he only missed one game.

Departing Washington head coach Mike Hopkins said of Johnson late in the season: "He's arguably the most talented player in our program. He can score, he can pass. It's the consistency part. He's dynamic. Student-athletes go through so many ebbs and flows in a season, being confident, not confident. That goes back to the consistency of work. I know with his shoulder it's been hard to shoot and he was afraid of having contact, but got in there and started working on his game a lot."

As a freshman during the 2022-23 season, Johnson came off the bench in 29 games and averaged 6.8 points a contest. He had a season-high 15 points along with four assists and three steals against Stanford. In two years at Washington, Johnson played in 60 games and scored 540 points. He averaged 9.0 points, 2.3 assists, and 1.7 rebounds a contest.

Johnson started his high school ball at Garfield High School in Seattle before heading to Wasatch Academy in Utah, and he played on the summer circuit for the Seattle Rotary Club.

In 2020, Johnson helped Garfield to the 3-A State Championship in Washington. In the shortened 2021 season, Johnson averaged 28 points, five rebounds, and four assists per game.On the EYBL, Johnson plays for the Seattle Rotary and averaged 13.6 points and 4.6 assists a game on 38.8% three-point shooting.

ABOUBACAR TRAORE, LONG BEACH STATE

On April 25,Long Beach Stateforward Aboubacar Traoreannounced for the Cardinals.

The native of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, a country located in West Africa, spent three seasons at Long Beach State where he averaged 10.2 points and 8.4 rebounds during that stretch. The 6-foot-5 Traore, a 55.4 percent career shooter, leaves the school with 1,033 career points while also dishing out an average of 3.1 assists per game.

As a senior, Traore was selected first-team All-Big West while also collecting the league's Best Hustle Player honor for a second consecutive season. Aboubacar has played in all 32 games, started 27 of them, and topped his team with 4.1 assists and 1.5 blocks while sitting second in steals (1.7) and shooting .544 from the floor.

Traore logged eight double-doubles this season, including a 23-point, 22-rebound outing against Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 28. Facing UC Riverside in the opening round of the Big West tournament, Traore recorded the-ever triple-double in Big West Championship history, totaling 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists.

A season prior, Traore was also an All-Conference honorable mention selection after averaging 10.1 points and 8.8 rebounds.

A consistently determined rebounder, Traore became the 19th player in Long Beach State history to record 500 rebounds in just two seasons. In three seasons at Long Beach State, he joined an exclusive group of alums - Lucious Harris, Ed Ratleff and Larry Anderson - as the only LBSU players to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, and 300 assists in their careers.

Traore has played at multiple levels with the Côte d'Ivoire National Team. He was selected for the 2023 FIBA World Cup provisional roster and competed with the team as one of 13 to play through the departure tour in Lebanon and the Philippines.

Louisville got the first visit for former Wisconsin guard Chucky Hepburn and he committed to the Cardinals on April 25 - while on the visit.

Hepburn started in all 103 games he played at Wisconsin.

A four-star prospect out of Bellevue West High School, Hepburn was a two-time first-team All-State selection and was named Nebraska Player of the Year in 2020.

As a freshman during the 2021-22 season, Hepburn was the first true freshman to start a season opener for the Badgers since 2001. He was named to the 2022 Big Ten All-Freshman Team after averaging 7.9 points, 2.3 assists, and 31 minutes a game in 33 games. He also led the team with 77 assists and had 36 steals.

Hepburn saw his numbers jump during the 2022-23 season when he was named All-Big Ten honorable mention. He averaged 12.2 points, 2.9 assists, and led the team with 99 assists and with 52 steals in 32 minutes a game. He started all 35 games. He had a game-high 22 points and seven assists on the road at Illinois.

As a junior, he averaged 9.2 points and a career-high 3.9 assistsa game en route to All-Big Ten honorable mention honors. He was also named to the Big Team All-Defensive Team and was selected to the Big Ten All-Tournament team.In three games during the Big Ten Tournament, he averaged 17.3 points, 5.7 assists and 2.0 stealsa game. He reached the 1,000 career point mark in the championship game against Illinois.

For his career, Hepburn has scored 1,013 points to go along with 313 assists, 268 rebounds, and 162 steals in 103 games.

KOBE RODGERS, CHARLESTON

Former Charleston guard Kobe Rodgers committed on May 2 and was the third player from Kelsey's former team. Rodgers is expected to redshirt next season.

The 6-foot-3 Rodgers, who is from Cincinnati, was injured in the NCAA Tournament loss to Alabama. A former standout from Nova Southeastern, Rodgers played just one season at Charleston. He had helped Nova Southeastern to a Division III national title two years ago when he averaged 13.2 points a game.

This past season, Rodgers appeared in 31 games and was a starter 18 times. He averaged 21.7 minutes a game and averaged 9.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.2 steals a game. He had 24 points in 23 minutes of action against Townson in mid-January.

Rodgers was named to the All-CAA Tournament team after 10.6 pointsa game in three games.

On May 14, Louisville added a big frontcourt piece when former USF standout Kasean Pryor committed.

The6-foot-10 forward, a product of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School in Chicago, Ill, will be playing for his fourth school. He began his college career at Boise State, spending two seasons with the Broncos, before transferring to Northwest Florida State for a season. He transferred to USF ahead of the 2023-24 season.

Last season at USF, Pryor appeared in 32 games, starting 21. He averaged 13.1 points and 7.9 rebounds to help the Bulls to a 25-8 record and reach the second round of the NIT. A threat to score from deep, Pryor connected on 35.2% (37 of 105) of his shot attempts from beyond the three-point line.

At Northwestern Florida State in 2022-23, he played in and started in 35 games, finishing second on the team in scoring (14.8 ppg) and third in minutes/game (28.1). He connected on 46.2% from the field, 35.2% from three-point territory, and 79.9 percent from the free throw line. He averaged 8.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.

Pryor spent two seasons with Boise State, appearing in 13 games during that span. As a sophom*ore, he averaged 2.3 points and 1.4 rebounds in 4.5 minutes per game. In five games a a freshman, he averaged 1.2 points and 1.0 rebounds in 3.3 minutes per game.

Four-star forward Khani Rooths, a top-40 prospect in the Class of 2024, committed to the Cardinals on May 15 after an official visit.

The 6-foot-8, 200-pound Rooths is a former Michigan commitment. Rooths committed to Michigan in mid-November and then de-committed on March 18 after the firing of coach Juwan Howard. Before his commitment to Michigan Rooths considered and took visits to the likes of Florida State, Georgia, Mississippi State, and Virginia Tech among others.

"Describing Rooths in just one word is pretty easy, he's versatile," 247Sports national basketball director Eric Bossi said. "Capable of playing as a big wing small forward or as a small ball four-man, Rooths has all of the tools needed to play multiple roles."

Rooths is ranked as the No. 31 player in the country and the No. 6 power forward by the 247Sports Composite Rankings, while he checks in at No. 39 overall and No. 7 among power forwards in the 247Sports rankings. He's a consensus four-star prospect.

He played for IMG Academy this past season.

BYU big man Noah Watermanwas added to the list on May 18 and will have one year of eligibility left.

The 6-foot-10 Waterman committed just after a visit to U of L.A native of Savannah, N.Y., Waterman spent the last two seasons at BYU following a couple of years at Detroit Mercy. He began his college career with a season at Niagra.

Waterman appeared in 66 with 47 starts during his two seasons with the Cougars. He started all 33 games this past season, averaging 9.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. A threat to score from three-point range, he connected on 37 percent (57-154) of his three-point attempts. The year prior, he averaged 4.6 points and 2.8 rebounds.

In two seasons with Detroit Mercy, Waterman appeared in 36 games with 29 starts. He averaged 9.6 points and 4.2 rebounds over those two seasons.

Waterman's college career started promising as a freshman at Niagra in 2019-20. He appeared in seven games, starting five, before suffering a season-ending injury.

Waterman played his high school ball at Finger Lakes Christian School in Niagara, N.Y., where he was selected MVP of the Empire State Christian Athletic League in 2017 and 2018. As a senior, he averaged 33.9 points, 12.6 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 3.9 blocks.

FRANK ANSELEM-IBE, GEORGIA

Georgia transfer Frank Anselem-Ibe,who started his career at Syracuse, played two seasons at Georgia before hitting the transfer portal. He became the final addition.

Anselem-Ibe was once again a reserve in 2023-24, but he still delivered some valuable minutes for the Bulldogs. He appeared in 29 games with three starts and ended the season averaging 2.6 points and 2.1 rebounds with 9.1 minutes per game. He shot 62.8 percent from the field.

Anselem-Ibe started in the final three games of the season because of injuries and averaged six points and seven rebounds.

Anselem-Ibe played in 31 games and started six times during his first season with the Bulldogs in 2022-23. He averaged 2.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, and a team-high 0.9 blocksa game with 14.6 minutesa contest. Anselem played in 32 games with six starts for Syracuse during the 2021-22 season. He averaged 2.5 points and 3.8 rebounds with 14.2 minutesa game while shooting 62.5 percent from the field. Anselem also brought down 123 rebounds — the fourth-most on the team — last season and logged double-digit rebounds in three games.

Anselem played a limited role as a freshman at Syracuse in 2020-21. He appeared in four games for a total of 26 minutes.

A native of Lagos, Nigeria, Anselem started his prep career at Westlake High School in Atlanta before transferring to Lincoln Academy.

Anselem capped off his high school career at Prolific Prep in Napa, California. With Anselem's help, Prolific Prep reached the 2020 Grind Session World Championship in a matchup against Our Savior Lutheran during which Anselem had 14 points and seven rebounds.

Anselem was ranked among the top 100 prospects in the class of 2021 before he reclassified to the class of 2020.