Louisville MBB Adds to Nation’s Best Portal Class, Lands UNC Transfer Seth Trimble After Court Ruling

After a four-year run at North Carolina, Trimble is heading to an ACC rival.

Seth Trimble joins a stacked Louisville transfer class. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

One of the nation’s biggest winners in the transfer portal this spring just added to its jackpot in a major way in the final days before classes start this fall. 

Former North Carolina guard Seth Trimble, one of the best players who recently became eligible for a fifth season of college basketball as a result of an injunction out of a federal court in Colorado, is headed to Louisville for the 2026–27 season. Trimble had entered his name in the transfer portal in April on the off-chance that a ruling like this would occur, and now heads back to college after playing in NBA Summer League with the Washington Wizards in July. That Colorado ruling is being appealed by the NCAA, but dozens of other players have had success filing lawsuits in state court against the NCAA over the organization’s age-based eligibility rollout. That means even if the Colorado appeal is successful, players like Trimble still have an avenue to get on the floor in 2026–27.

Assuming he’s able to play, Trimble represents yet another high-profile pickup for Pat Kelsey and the Cardinals this offseason, joining a portal class that now includes five players that were difference-makers at the high-major level a season ago. With Trimble included, Louisville now ranks atop the 247Sports transfer portal class rankings. 

Trimble blossomed into a highly effective college guard in an increasingly-rare four-year stint in Chapel Hill, and had a career year in 2025–26. He averaged 14 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game for the Heels this past season, in addition to being an excellent perimeter defender. And while his three-point shot has never been consistent, he made one of the most memorable shots of the season from beyond the arc, knocking down a three at the buzzer to beat Duke in February. 

Those traits make him a perfect fit for a Louisville roster assembled almost entirely via the portal this spring. Trimble is expected to start alongside Oregon transfer Jackson Shelstad, another highly-decorated transfer addition who scored over 1,000 points in three seasons in Eugene. The two should play well off each other: Trimble’s elite on-ball defense and ability to generate paint touches offensively are even more valuable next to a guard like Shelstad who is best when he’s firing away from the perimeter but who isn’t a great defender. 

Trimble should also thrive playing with Louisville’s biggest portal pickup in Flory Bidunga, the Kansas transfer who’s one of the most dynamic athletes in college basketball. He should be an incredible lob target for Shelstad and Trimble in pick-and-roll situations, particularly when surrounded with effective floor spacers like Karter Knox (Arkansas) and Alvaro Folgueiras (Iowa). 

In all, that five-man group is arguably the most impressive collection of transfer talent in the sport for 2026–27. All five are proven high-major starting-caliber pieces. Three (Shelstad, Trimble and Bidunga) have been stars. Three of the five have played into the second weekend of the NCAA tournament in their careers; the other two (Shelstad and Bidunga) have each won games in the Dance.

And that experience is critical because the expectations for the Cardinals will be sky high. This was already a team that had pushed the chips in to contend before adding Trimble. With him, there will be no excuses if Kelsey can’t get Louisville playing deep into March. Kelsey has taken the Cards to the NCAA tournament in each of his first two seasons with the program, a significant step after the school missed out the four seasons prior. But Louisville hasn’t made the second weekend of the NCAA tournament since 2015, by far the program’s longest drought since the tournament expanded to 64 teams. The time is now for Kelsey to prove he’s the man to not just help the program climb out of its worst era, but to elevate it into a championship-caliber place.

And thanks to this monster transfer haul, he clearly has the roster to do it. Adding another proven impact player in Trimble is the cherry on top.   

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