Louisville Women's Basketball 2023-24 Roster Outlook 1.0

Here's a glimpse into the future, projecting how next season's Louisville women's basketball squad will look like.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - We might be just be two weeks removed from their season-ending loss to Iowa in the Elite Eight, but it's never too early to take a glimpse into the future and break down the 2023-24 roster for the Louisville women's basketball program.

So far this offseason, there has been a ton of player movement, and Jeff Walz's squad for next year is far from being completely set. This first roster update will serve mainly as update to all the moves that have transpired up to this point vs. an actual breakdown of the roster.

There will most certainly be additional transfer portal action in the coming days and weeks. But for now, let's take a look at how this team currently shakes out.

Departures and Arrivals

As previously referenced, there have been a plethora of moving roster pieces for Louisville, with almost all of the moves consisting of players departing the program. The Cardinals were already set to lose a whopping six players to graduation: guards Mykasa Robinson, Chrislyn Carr, Morgan Jones and Norika Konno; forward Liz Dixon and center Josie Williams.

On top of that, five players hit the transfer portal at some point during this academic year. The most notable - and arguably the most surprising - was All-American junior guard Hailey Van Lith, who entered the portal this past weekend. Another surprising portal entry was that from sophomore guard Payton Verhulst, who departed in early December and is now at Oklahoma.

Freshman guards Jalyn Brown and Zyanna Walker both entered the portal right before the NCAA Tournament, then freshman forward Imani Lester did so last week. In total, 11 Cardinals have moved on.

What makes that previous sentence even more jarring is that Louisville is not bringing in a single true freshman for next season. You read that correctly. A normally exceptional recruiter, head coach Jeff Walz has zero commitments for the Cardinals' high school Class of 2023.

To counter that departing talent, Walz and Co. are going to have to hit the transfer portal hard. So far, they've already landed a pair of transfers in for next year. Former Georgia Tech guard/forward Eylia "LeLe" Love was added to next season's roster back in mid-January, and former Cal guard Jayda Curry committed to Louisville last week.

Louisville barely has a starting five at this point in time, but there is an important note to remember. While the scholarship roster size caps at 15 in women's basketball, Walz said just before the NCAA Tournament that he might only keep 10-12 players on a roster moving forward.

Projected Depth Chart

Given all that we know now about the current state of Louisville's roster, below is an early look into what the depth chart next year could look like:

*Mobile users can scroll left & right on the table*

Point Guard	Shooting Guard	Guard/Forward	Power Forward	Center
Jayda Curry	Merissah Russell	Eylia Love	Nyla Harris	Olivia Cochran
			Alexia Mobley

All things considered, this is a solid core of players to build a roster around. The focus of the roster, at least at this point, is going to be around Cochran and Curry.

Cochran has been a fantastic interior presence ever since her freshman year. Coming off of a season where she averaged 8.4 points and 6.5 rebounds, she's sure to have a ton of motivation heading into her senior season.

As for Curry, she comes to Louisville as one of the top ball handlers and overall scorers in the Pac-12, and should transition nicely to the ACC. Her scoring mark of 15.5 points per game last season was good for sixth in the conference, while her 3.5 assists came in at 10th.

Love gives Louisville potential on the wing, averaging 10.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game during her sophomore season at Georgia Tech in 2021-22. She'll just have to tap back into that potential after putting up only 3.0 and 3.1 before being dismissed halfway through last season.

Harris and Mobley could be in line for big jumps heading into next season. While she averaged only 4.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, Harris played a big part in helping turn Louisville's season around, with the Cardinals going 11-4 after she was inserted into the starting lineup in late January. Mobley barely saw the floor this past season after redshirting her true freshman year, but has always been full of potential. She averaged a double-double in all three years of high school, and was ranked as the No. 31 player in the Class of 2022 prior to reclassifying.

(Photo of Olivia Cochran: Kirby Lee - USA TODAY Sports)

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