Louisville Leaning on Roster Continuity as Preparation for 2026-27 Season Begins

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In the current age of collegiate athletics, it's fairly common for programs to have to heavily lean into the transfer portal on a year-to-year basis. You still have a handful of players that opt to stick it out long term with the college they commit to out of high school, but nowadays, it's hard to come across an upperclassman collegiate athlete that didn't transfer at least once.

The Louisville women's basketball program isn't immune to roster defections, nor have they shied away from using the portal when they have to. In fact, they have a trio of incoming transfers on their roster right now. But as the Cardinals begin to lay the foundation for when the 2026-27 season begins this fall, their primary strength will be their contunuity.

"I'm thrilled," head coach Jeff Walz said Monday. "To have the group that we have that are coming back is really important to us. Our culture is where I want it to be. It's one of the things the past few years that we were trying to reestablish with as many new players as as we had, but now when you've got a group of juniors and then another who's a senior who's back, they know what the what the standard is here. They know what the expectations are. Really excited to be able to have the summer here to work with it."

While so many programs across women's basketball had to scramble to restock their starting lineups and primary rotations, the Cardinals head into year 20 under Walz having kept most of theirs intact.

Louisville brings back three of their regular starters from the 2025-26 season: guard Tajianna Roberts plus forwards Elif Istanbulluoglu and Mackenly Randolph. Roberts earned First-Team All-ACC honors last season after leading the Cardinals in points and assists with 11.5 and 3.1 per game, respectively. Istanbulluoglu was second in the ACC's Most Improved Player voting, averaging 10.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Randolph had a career year last season, averaging 8.5 points and 5.6 rebounds - the latter of which was second on the team.

UofL also returns Imari Berry, who was named the ACC Sixth Player of the Year after putting up 10.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. While most program are having to throw tons of new faces into the mix, Louisville is bringing back four of their top five scorers, and four of their top six players by minutes played.

They key has been Walz and Louisville establishing a culture since day one, and the players subsequently buying in. Berry, Randolph and Roberts are heading into their junior years, while Istanbulluoglu is now a senior - and all four players started their careers with the Cardinals. They were all thrown into the fire early on in their respective careers, and while each player had their own learning curves, it helped mold them for what they have become today.

"It's not a group that had to wait for a year or two before they had the opportunity to play," Walz said. "They've all been thrown in there since their freshman year, and now they want a little bit more. You get to the second round their first year, the Sweet Sixteen this past year, now they're looking to continue to move forward. They know what the expectations are. They know what it feels like. Now hopefully, they're going to be able to get our new ones on the same page.

"It's going to take a lot from us as a staff, too. Because I think that's really important for your players to know that we have the same expectations and same goals as they have. I've just really been impressed with how they've worked, and I think that's the most important thing. You can talk the talk, but you've got to be willing to walk it, and these return returning kids have really put the time in to help elevate their games."

Louisville was able to supplement this returning core with some great portal production, signing Virginia Tech forward Carys Baker, NC State guard Zamareya Jones and Tennessee guard Deniya Prawl. Baker earned Second-Team All-ACC honors after averaging 14.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, Jones earned Most Improved Player votes following a season where she put up 14.9 points and 3.8 assists per game, and Prawl is a former five-star prospect.

Put it all together, and while it's still mid-June, Walz liked what he saw when Louisville held their first practice of the summer this past Monday.

"We've got a nice group of new ones to be able to add to our returning players with the amount of success that we had had this past year," Walz said. "The ones that have come in know how to win as well, so it's really going to be, I think, some good competition in practice - which is only going to make everyone better."

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