Louisville Extends Offer to Elite '24 C Flory Bidunga

The Indiana prospect is the top-ranked center in the Class of 2024

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In the months after taking over as the head coach of the Louisville men's basketball program, Kenny Payne had been relatively selective in who he offered a scholarship to. Now that he has had some time to get acclimated to the position, he is starting to identify some of his long-term targets.

The latest example is Class of 2024 Kokomo (Ind.) HS prospect Flory Bidunga, a top-five center who announced Saturday that he had been offered by the Cardinals.

"Excited and blessed to receive an offer from @LouisvilleMBB !!," Bidunga said on Twitter. "Thank you to @coachkennypayne and his staff for this opportunity #GoCards"

Louisville is already the ninth program to extend a scholarship offer to the elite big man. Kansas, Florida, Auburn, Creighton, Wake Forest, Arizona State, Butler and Bradley have also offered Bidunga.

A native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bidunga moved to the United States last year, and had a productive first season at the high school level as a sophomore. The 6-foot-9, 215-pound center averaged 17.5 points, 13.3 rebounds and 5.3 blocks per game at Kokomo last year.

This past summer, Bidunga shot up recruiting rankings thanks to an incredibly productive summer with Indiana Elite's 16U team. He helped them win the Adidas 3SSB championship, averaging 19.0 points, 10.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks in the process. He went from being unranked entering the summer, to now being the No. 4 player in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite.

Bidunga the ninth 2024 prospect to receive a UofL offer. He joins Carter Bryant, Elliot Cadeau, Isaiah Elohim, Trentyn Flowers, Karter Knox, Jamari Phillips, T.J. Robinson and Rob Wright. The Cardinals currently have no prospects committed in the class.

In the more immediate 2023 cycle, Louisville holds two verbal commitments in the form of La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere small forward Kaleb Glenn and Bloomfield Hills (Mich.) Brother Rice small forward Curtis Williams Jr.

(Photo of Flory Bidunga: Robert Scheer - IndyStar/USA TODAY NETWORK)

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