Louisville won transfer portal for men’s college basketball so far after 2 great additions

The most anticipated men’s Final Four in recent memory is set for San Antonio, with all four No. 1 seeds still advancing to the national semifinals for the first time since 2008. This Final Four has it all: top NBA draft picks like Cooper Flagg, legendary coaches like Kelvin Sampson seeking their first national title, elite offenses facing elite defenses, and so much more.

For every other program in college basketball, the offseason is already underway. The coaching carousel has landed new head coaches for Texas, Iowa, Indiana, Xavier, and others, while the transfer portal is full of impact players seeking big NIL packages and better roles. New names are being added to the portal daily until it closes on April 22, but one school is already cleaning up.

Pat Kelsey turned around Louisville basketball in his first season as head coach. The Cardinals hit rock bottom in Kenny Payne’s tenure, with a disastrous 12-52 record across two seasons. When Kelsey was hired from College of Charleston, he found a couple gems in the transfer portal with Terrence Edwards Jr. and Chucky Hepburn, installed a fast-paced offense, and immediately saw his team finish second in the ACC to Duke.

Louisville got screwed by the Selection Committee with a No. 8 seed and laid an egg against Creighton in their 2025 NCAA tournament opener, but overall the program had to feel great about Kelsey’s 27-8 debut season. Hopes are going to be even higher for year two after Louisville’s additions so far.

Michigan also has a claim to being the transfer portal’s biggest winner so far after landing Illinois big man Morez Johnson and North Carolina point guard Elliot Cadeau. St. John’s hit it big with Bryce Hopkins and Joson Sanon, though they lost star forward RJ Luis to the portal.

The Louisville roster isn’t complete yet, but the work Kelsey has done in the portal so far is more impressive than any other program in America.

Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

It won’t be easy to replace Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards Jr. in the Louisville lineup as both players have extinguished their eligibility. Hepburn was legitimately one of the best point guards in America this season by blending scoring, playmaking, and on-ball defense at a high-level. Edwards was a versatile Swiss Army Knife as a forward.

The pieces are already coming together for next season, though, and could provide an even higher ceiling for the Cards.

Wooley was a personal favorite after emerging as the best mid-major freshman in the country. The 6’5 guard is an electric shot-maker with a slippery handle and real passing vision. Wooley averaged 18.8 points per game on impressive 62.7 percent true shooting with a 22.6 percent assist rate while making 41.4 percent of his threes on 152 attempts. Those are incredible numbers for a freshman even against weaker Conference-USA competition, and it puts him in position to possibly be a first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft with a big sophomore season.

Wooley is a late bloomer who grew two inches after his senior year of high school and added strength along the way. Wooley never lost his ability to change speeds and directions as a ball handler, but now he can play through contact on his drives. Only 21 percent of Wooley’s rim finishes were assisted this year, a number that shows his remarkable creation ability.

Wooley is also a deadly shooter. He’s close to automatic on catch-and-shoot opportunities, but the more exciting part of his shooting projection is his ability to self-create looks from three. Only 65 percent of his threes were assisted this year.

This is an NBA move from a mid-major freshman in a game where Wooley finished with 28 points, seven rebounds, and five assists on 10-of-18 shooting as Kennesaw State lost to Liberty in the C-USA semifinals.

Conwell is headed to his fourth different school in four years, but he keeps getting better every season. After playing a small role at South Florida as a freshman, he transferred to Indiana State and had a breakout sophomore season playing next to Robbie Avila. Conwell then left for Xavier and proved his production could sustain in a bigger league. He averaged 16.5 points and shot 40 percent from three on seven attempts per game at both Indiana State and Xavier. He seemed destined to follow his former coach Sean Miller to Texas, but Louisville swooped in and got him.

A strong 6’4 wing, Conwell is a high-volume, highly-accurate shooter who can takeover games when he gets hot. He’s been a super efficient scorer the last two years (64.2 percent true shooting at Indiana State and 61.8 percent true shooting at Xavier) while doing a good job avoiding turnovers and adding a pinch of playmaking. Mostly, though, Conwell will be in Louisville to get buckets. He’s very good at that.

Locking down two veteran off-ball scorers is exactly what Louisville needed next to its incoming five-star point guard. Mikel Brown Jr. is rated as the second-best recruit in Louisville men’s basketball history. The 6’3 guard is the No. 6 player in the class of 2025, and is already being projected as a top-10 draft pick. Brown is an advanced ball handler who can get anywhere he wants on the floor off the dribble. He showcases good passing vision, a solid jumper with three-point range, and sneaky athleticism.

Brown is very skinny and may need some time to adjust to the physicality of the college level. Having Conwell and Wooley take pressure off him is a best case scenario. When Brown is at his best, he looks like an NBA guard who can break down the defense off the dribble, attack the rim, and either score himself or kickout to shooters.

Brown can be a star, but it’s still hard to rely on a true freshmen in this era of college basketball. Wooley and Conwell are the perfect players to ease his burden, providing a high-level of both shot-creation and play-finishing that is ideal for a young point guard.

The big question now is what happens with Louisville’s bigs. James Scott should be back for his junior year. He’s a good finisher and rebounder who hammered home 79 dunks this season. He just doesn’t do much outside of dunk on offense, and his rim protection is more solid than great. Louisville also has Aly Khalifa, a massive center from Egypt, who redshirted last year coming from BYU. If Louisville can add one more dependable big in the portal, they will be cooking.

The big fish still out there for the Cards is Nate Ament. Ament is a five-star freshman as a 6’10 forward who can handle and shoot. Like Brown, he’s painfully skinny right now, but his tools are so enticing that he’s bound to be a 2026 NBA lottery pick. Ament has Louisville on his final list, though his commitment feels slightly less likely after landing Conwell and Wooley.

I’m a big believer in Wooley’s offensive ability. Conwell was one of the better veterans in the portal, and Louisville landed him too. If Brown lives up to the hype as a freshman, Louisville has is a high ceiling squad that could again be the second-best team in the ACC behind Duke. The Cards could be looking at a top-15 preseason ranking.

It’s hard to believe Louisville basketball has risen so quickly after the Kenny Payne era. Kelsey has proven he’s the right man to turn around the program. Even after a disappointing tournament exit, the future of Louisville basketball is as bright as its been since the Rick Pitino era.