2021 Louisville Basketball Recruiting Board: Mid-May Update

A flurry of scholarship offers were sent out this month from the Louisville men's basketball coaching staff, so let's take another look at the '21 recruiting big board.

It's been an interesting recruiting month for the Cardinals. Once they found a pair of graduate transfers to fill the holes left by departing talent, head coach Chris Mack and the rest of the Louisville men's basketball coaching staff shifted their focus back to high school. 

The recent Notice of Allegations levied against the program didn't deter the recruiting efforts, as a flurry of scholarship offers ensued in the beginning of this month. As of May 19, Louisville has extended scholarship offers to 24 uncommitted Class of 2021 recruits.

So who holds offers now? Let's take a look:

Point Guard	Shooting Guard	Small Forward	Power Forward	Center
Hunter Sallis	Trevor Keels	Aminu Mohammed	Trey Kaufman	Efton Reid
Jalen Warley	Malaki Branham	Harrison Ingram	Mouhamed Lamine Mbaye	Charles Bediako
Tyrese Hunter	Matthew Cleveland	Quincy Allen		Roosevelt Wheeler
Bobby Pettiford	Dallan Coleman	Michael James		Micawber Etienne
Elbert Ellis	Jordan Hawkins
JD Davison	Jahmai Mashack
Jaden Akins	Blake Wesley

Point Guard

Two point guards that new additions to the mix are both Tyrese Hunter and Bobby Pettiford, Jr. Both are smaller than what you would expect from a Chris Mack-led system, but their scoring and ball handling abilities more than make up for it. The Cards are still very much in the mix for top 30 prospects Jalen Warley & Hunter Sallis, and it appears to be a two-horse race between Louisville & NC State for JUCO product Elbert "El" Ellis.

Shooting Guard

Mack has always preferred long and athletic two-guards that can also play on the wing, and freshly-offered shooting guard Jahmai Mashack certainly fits that bill. Elsewhere, the recruiting efforts for other off-ball guards are starting to reach a crescendo. 247Sports seems to indicate that it will be a battle with Florida State to land top 30 prospect Matthew Cleveland. Jordan Hawkins seems to be in good standing with Louisville, considering lead recruiter assistant coach Mike Pegues is from Hawkins' alma mater of DeMatha Catholic (MD.).

Small Forward

It seems that every week, a new program gets involved with five-star SG/SF Aminu Mohammed. Louisville still remain in good standing though, as Mack was the first coach to reach out to him when the COVID-19 pandemic started. Additionally, the Cards made the top 10 for fellow five-star product Harrison Ingram, and the latest '21 scholarship offer went out to top 50 prospect Quincy Allen.

Power Forward

There's been a bit of an interesting development at the power forward spot, as the Cardinals were the first to extend an offer to unranked Senegalese "hybrid forward" Mouhamed Lamine Mbaye, who plays ball here in Louisville.at Aspire Academy. Not much else going on here though, as the Cards' lone '21 commitment is from Top 40 power forward Bryce Hopkins. Louisville remains in the mix for Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year Trey Kaufman.

Center

Not much has changed here. The big man scholarship count remains at four, including five-star, top 20 center Efton Reid, who visited Louisville this past February. Though with senior forward/center Malik Williams set to graduate after next season and sophomore Aidan Igiehon's progress as a collegiate player a hot topic of debate, in can imagine this number will grow over the ensuing weeks and months

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