What Adrian Wooley Brings to Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program has gotten their incoming portal class started with a bang.

On Monday, the Cardinals landed their first transfer of the offseason, securing a commitment from former Kennesaw State guard Adrian Wooley.

The 6-foot-5, 180-pound combo guard might have been just a true freshman this past season, but he made an immediate impact for the Owls, and was one of the best players in Conference-USA this season. Playing in all 33 games while starting all but one, he averaged 18.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game, while also shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 42.2 percent on three-point attempts.

Not only was Wooley named the Conference-USA Freshman of the Year, the Tuscaloosa, Ala. native also earned First-Team All-CUSA honors as well. Despite KSU being knocked out by Liberty in the semifinals of the conference tournament, he made the All-CUSA Tournament Team as well, totaling 45 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists over two games.

But beyond his stat lines, what else does Wooley bring to the table for the Cardinals?

This is partially a product of playing in Conference-USA, but when watching film of Wooley, it was very clear that he was regularly one of the more athletic players on the floor at any given time. He's incredibly shifty, hustles quickly in the open floor, and has underrated bounce as well. He can easily create his own look with his athletic intangibles and ball fakes, but he also does well with getting downhill off of screens.

Without question, the best part about Wooley's game is his play around the rim. He is an incredibly crafty finisher, who routinely makes very difficult layups on the drive. Wooley regularly breaks out an above average euro step on his drive to try and create separation, but he has also shown that he can play well through contact and traffic.

As good as he is around the rim, Wooley is just as good from beyond the arc. He definitely prefers attempting threes on the right side of the floor, shooting a blazing 47 percent to the right above the break, but still shot them at a 41 percent clip on the left side. Put it all together, and he made a three in all but three games this season - including the final 21 of the year. In fact, he had more games where he had at least four made threes (4).

He has a fundamentally sound left-handed jumper with a high release point, but one drawback is that his release is slower than you'd like at time. Although so was Terrence Edwards Jr's, and he turned out just fine.

With as much of a scoring responsibility that Wooley had this past season for Kennesaw State, he also has very good court vision that you normally would not expect out of a high volume scorer. He can deliver speedy and precise passes, and has even flashed NBA-level vision/passing ability. That being said, he can be a bit turnover-prone at times, averaging 3.3 for the season and having six games with five or more.

Regardless, Wooley more than fits the mold for modern offensive basketball, providing a unique blend of shooting and overall playmaking ability. In fact, he was just one of eight players in all of Division I with a true shooting percentage of 62.7 percent or higher and an assist rate of 22.6 or higher.

On the other end of the court, he has shown good off-ball defensive capabilities at times, but it isn't a major part of his game. That being said, he did have 14 games where he logged at least two steals, and does well with jumping passing lanes to initiate transition offense.

Overall, this is an incredible pickup for Louisville. Not only has Wooley proven to be an elite scorer both around the rim and from deep, he has also shown the ability take over as an on-ball guard if he has to. Whether he's doing the scoring himself or getting his teammates involved, Wooley is a bona fide playmaker.

"I think he’s really good." - Mike Rutherford

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