Former Louisville Forward/Center Roosevelt Wheeler Commits to VCU

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Roosevelt Wheeler is heading back home.

The former Louisville men's basketball forward/center announced Wednesday that he has committed to VCU. The Rams, located in downtown Richmond, Va, are less than five miles away from where Wheeler played his high school ball at John Marshall.

Wheeler is the fourth former Cardinal to find his new transfer home. Kamari Lands’ is heading out west to Arizona State, Jae'Lyn Withers is staying in the ACC and transferring to North Carolina, and El Ellis is going to Arkansas should he opt to pull out of the NBA Draft process.

The 6-foot-11, 240-pound big man played in 25 of Louisville's 32 games this past season, but saw minimum on-court action. The sophomore averaged only 8.8 minutes per game, tallying just 1.2 points and 2.0 rebounds. Of Louisville's 12 scholarship players, he had the second-lowest scoring average, only ahead of Devin Ree's 0.9 points per game.

Wheeler joined Louisville as part of their 2021 recruiting class, and as the No. 79 player in the nation according to 247Sports, was the Cardinals' highest-ranked commitment in the cycle. During his true freshman campaign in 2021-22, he averaged 1.6 points and 1.7 rebounds in 21 games off the bench.

In 46 total games played for the Cardinals across his two seasons at Louisville, Wheeler notched just 63 points and 85 rebounds.

The Cardinals went just 4-28 this past season in their first year under head coach Kenny Payne, and roster management has been in full swing since the end of their season. Louisville has seen seven players enter the transfer portal, with only Mike James, J.J. Traynor, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Emmanuel Okorafor returning.

Conversely, Payne and his staff have been hard at work when it comes to bringing in fresh talent for next season. They signed four-star wings Kaleb Glenn and Curtis Williams Jr. during last November's early signing period, then inked five-star center Dennis Evans, five-star reclass guard/forward Trentyn Flowers, Illinois transfer guard Skyy Clark and JUCO guard Koron Davis last week.

Louisville's five-man recruiting 2023 class, which is the first full cycle for Payne, ranks as the No. 5 class in the nation according to 247Sports. Despite having just one transfer commitment in Clark, their transfer class comes in at No. 26 in the nation also by 247Sports.

(Photo of Roosevelt Wheeler: Nick King - Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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