Louisville Men's Basketball 2024-25 Roster Outlook 3.0

An updated look at how the next season's roster could look following the conclusion of their 2023-24 season.

Louisville Basketball / Jared Anderson - Louisville Report

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It's been a whirlwind of roster upheaval since former Louisville men's basketball head coach Kenny Payne was dismissed. After his firing on Mar. 13, all 12 of the Cardinals' scholarship players subsequently entered the transfer portal.

But in just under two months after Charleston's Pat Kelsey was hired to be the next head coach at Louisville back on Mar. 28, the roster for his very first team is finally complete.

As you can likely ascertain, between players moving on to the next step in their respective careers and newcomers donning the red and black for the first time, Louisville is going to look radically different from this time last year.

Departures and Arrivals

At the time of our previous roster outlook update on May 17, Louisville sported an 11-man roster for the 2024-25 season, and had two open scholarships. In the five days since then, Kelsey and his staff were able to fill in those final two spots.

This past Saturday, Louisville secured their second front court transfer from BYU, with forward Noah Waterman following Aly Khalifa to the Cardinals. Then on Tuesday, another big man filled the final open scholarship for Louisville, as Georgia center Frank Anselem-Ibe gave his verbal pledge.

Of Louisville's 13 newcomers, 12 are Division I transfers. Reyne Smith, James Scott and Kobe Rodgers are all following Kelsey from Charleston; while James Madison's Terrence Edwards Jr., Colorado's J'Vonne Hadley, Washington's Koren Johnson, Long Beach State's Aboubacar Traore, Wisconsin's Chucky Hepburn and USF's Kasean Pryor are also joining the fold.

While both Khalifa and Rodgers are redshirting the 2024-25 season to rehab respective injuries, when you put together the entire transfer haul for Louisville, it is regarded as the No. 1 portal class in men's college basketball according to On3.

Louisville also is bringing in one prospect from the high school ranks in the form of Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy forward Khani Rooths. The Cardinals feature just one returner from the Kenny Payne era in walk-on guard Aidan McCool.

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 and right on the tables below*

Depth Chart by Position

Point Guard	Shooting Guard	Small Forward	Power Forward	Center
Chucky Hepburn	J'Vonne Hadley	Terrence Edwards Jr.	Kasean Pryor	James Scott
Koren Johnson	Reyne Smith	Aboubacar Traore	Noah Waterman	Frank Anselem-Ibe
Kobe Rodgers (R)			Khani Rooths

Depth Chart by Probable Rotation

Starters	Chucky Hepburn	J'Vonne Hadley	Terrence Edwards Jr.	Noah Waterman	Kasean Pryor
Backups	Koren Johnson	Reyne Smith	Aboubacar Traore	Frank Anselem-Ibe	James Scott
Third String	Kobe Rodgers (R)	Khani Rooths	Aly Khalifa (R)

Louisville's backcourt will do a fantastic job of running both the offensive and defensive systems that Pat Kelsey utilizes. Hepburn is one of just a few players on this team that isn't position-versatile, but his prowess as a facilitator could be the key to unlocking the true potential of the offense. Not to mention that he is a tone-setter on defense. Johnson, who is the reigning Pac-12 Sixth Player of the Year, gives Louisville a great backup option, and can play on the ball or off it. While the Cardinals could in theory play both Hepburn and Johnson at the same time, it's unlikely since they are the only true on-ball facilitators on the roster. Smith could see some extensive run against teams who are susceptible to three-pointers, but he should be a good bench option regardless of who the Cards play. While Hadley will very likely start at the "two," he'll likely be utilized more so on the wing. Edwards could also see some run as an off-ball guard in the backcourt.

Building off of the end of the last paragraph, Louisville's strength heading into Kelsey's first year at the helm is at the wing. Edwards, the reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year, will likely serve as this team's primary focal point. He is a fantastic three-level scorer and playmaker overall, and is excellent on defense. He has the potential to feast off of mismatches depending on who else is on the floor with him. Hadley is your standard "glue guy" who can play the two and the three on both ends very well, and even at the four if he really had to. He's an underrated shooter and defender, and will likely be an X-factor. Traore is someone who plays much bigger than his height would indicate, providing both grit and hustle with his insane athleticism, and can be a mismatch on both ends of the floor at the two through four. While bigger lineups in the ACC could give him fits and he's not a shooter, Traore still has a massive opportunity to shine in Kelsey's system. As for Rooths, while he's the only freshman, he still should see time due to the amount of players Kelsey utilizes. It's a matter of determining if he will be a slashing wing or a stretch four at the next level.

In just over a week's time, the outlook in the front court has changed dramatically. Pryor is an absolutely perfect system fit. He can stretch the defense not only thanks to his capabilities as a three-level scorer, but he's an underrated ball handler as well. Add in the fact that Pryor is versatile defensive asset, he could play the five, the four, or even the three if Louisville wanted to employ an incredibly tall lineup. Waterman is the epitome of a stretch four in the landscape of modern basketball. He's one of the best finishers at the rim on this team, and is arguably the Cards' most complete three-point shooter. While many could call the true center spot Louisville's "weak spot," both Scott and Anselem-Ibe are partially products of low usage rates at their previous stops. Both players are very underrated playmakers in the paint on offense and rim protectors on defense, as evidenced by this stat from yours truly, and the staff really likes Scott's longterm upside and NBA potential.

For more in-depth analysis on each player, check out our individual breakdowns below:

• Reyne Smith and James Scott
• Terrence Edwards Jr.
• J'Vonne Hadley
• Aly Khalifa
• Koren Johnson
• Aboubacar Traore
• Chucky Hepburn
• Kobe Rodgers
• Kasean Pryor
• Khani Rooths
• Noah Waterman
• Frank Anselem-Ibe

(Photo via Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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