Louisville Moves to No. 1 in On3's Basketball Portal Rankings

The Cardinals currently sport the best transfer portal class in men's college basketball.

Louisville Basketball coach Pat Kelsey speaks as he is introduced as the new head coach of UofL / Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal / USA

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After Kenny Payne was dismissed as head coach of the Louisville men's basketball program back in March, a whirlwind of roster upheaval followed suit. All 12 of their scholarship players wound up transferring out of the program, with 13 players overall departing via the portal.

But in the roughly seven weeks since he was hired back on Mar. 28, new head coach Pat Kelsey has done a masterful job on the roster construction front for the Cardinals. So far, he has secured 10 transfer portal commits for his first season on the job, and Louisville is already starting to generate NCAA Tournament buzz because of it.

Just how well has Kelsey navigated the portal in such a short amount of time? Well, according to On3, it's now the No. 1 portal class in men's college basketball.

Following the commitment former USF forward/center Kasean Pryor on Tuesday, Louisville has ascended to the top spot on On3's 2024 team transfer portal rankings.

Unlike other outlets, On3 takes into account the players that transfer both into and out of a program when ranking portal classes. So far, Louisville has produced an On3 Team Transfer Portal Index score of 38, eight points higher than West Virginia, the No. 2 team in the rankings.

"On3's Team Transfer Portal Index utilizes the On3 (P)erformance score to measure a team’s production during the transfer process, compared relative against its roster and not a comparison against other schools," according to On3's website. "This proprietary algorithm determines if a school has improved its overall team talent, stayed the same, or declined in talent during the transfer window."

Nine of Louisville's 10 transfer commitments are regarded as four-star transfers, per On3's in-house rankings. They have more four-star commitments than any other power conference team has commitments period, except for USC. It makes up for the fact that their 13 portal defections lead the nation by a wide margin.

Related: Louisville Men's Basketball 2023-24 Transfer Tracker

Louisville sports four top-100 transfer commitment, with Pryor being the highest-rated of the bunch at No. 19 overall. Colorado guard J'Vonne Hadley comes in at No. 58, Wisconsin guard Chucky Hepburn ranks at No. 80, and Washington guard Koren Johnson places at No. 90.

Guard Reyne Smith and center James Scott are both following Kelsey from Charleston, while James Madison guard/forward Terrence Edwards Jr., Long Beach State forward Aboubacar Traore are also joining the fold. BYU center Aly Khalifa and Charleston guard Kobe Rodgers also committed, but both will redshirt the 2024-25 season.

(Photo of Pat Kelsey: Michael Clevenger - Courier Journal / USA)

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