LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — If the jolting news that Memphis and Cincinnati have been added to the University of Louisville men’s basketball schedule next season was not enough to inspire discussion about coach Pat Kelsey’s second Cardinal team, this will finish the job:
Another respected analytics site is saluting the solid work U of L has done in the transfer portal.
Evan Miyakawa’s formula (evanmiya.com) believes that quality is more valuable than quantity in the portal and ranks the quality of the Cards’ three incoming players as the third-best group in the country, trailing leader Michigan and UConn.
Those players are Xavier guard Ryan Conwell; Adrian Wooley, a combo guard with an ability to make threes from Kennesaw State and Isaac McNeeley, a shooter departing West Virginia.
Miyakawa formula ranked Conwell, a fourth-year player, the 16th best player in the portal. McNeeley earned the No. 41 ranking, on the strength of making 101 of 240 (.421) three-point shots in his third season with the Cavaliers.
Wooley, a 41% three-point shooter as a freshman, is strangely ranked No. 152 in Miyakawa’s formula. That ranking stopped me because Wooley is ranked considerably higher in the human numbers — No. 11 by 247Sports and No. 9 by On3, ahead of his two new teammates.
Wooley’s turnover rate, nearly 23%, is high but in addition to be a proven shooter, he also excels at getting to the free throw line.
Overall, Miyakawa’s formula ranks the Cards’ incoming three-player group No. 11, trailing only Miami (Florida) in the Atlantic Coast Conference. At 247Sports, Louisville’s class ranks third in the nation, behind St. John’s and Michigan. The Cards are 16th at On3.
Mark Pope and his staff have also done excellent work in the portal. Miyakawa’s formula ranks the quality of UK’s incoming transfers No. 7 — one spot behind Rick Pitino and St. John’s but one ahead of John Calipari and Arkansas.
In the overall class rankings, which includes quantity and quality, UK is second to Michigan, just ahead of USC and Arkansas. The Wildcats are fourth at 247Sports but second at On3.
According to Miyakawa, the top two players in UK’s class are power forward Jayden Quaintance (No. 9), arriving from Arizona State and Mouhamed Dioubate (No. 18), who is leaving Alabama.
Pope’s four other incoming transfers are ranked No. 20, guard Jaland Lowe of Pittsburgh; No. 220, guard Kam Williams of Tulane; No 350, guard Denzel Aberdeen of Florida and center Reece Potter, a 7-footer from Miami (Ohio) who landed at No. 805.
At Indiana, 10 new players will arrive via the portal. Until IU gets word on the requests for another season of eligibility from Luke Goode and Anthony Leal, the Hoosiers’ only non-transfer is freshman recruit Trent Sisley.
If you’re looking for quality, Miyakawa places coach Darian DeVries’ group at No. 36.
If you’re looking for quantity and quality, the Hoosiers jump to No. 14, sixth in the Big Ten.
Again, his numbers differ from the human scouts. At 247Sports, Indiana’s best player is considered wing Tucker DeVries. He is the coach’s son. He played a partial season at West Virginia last winter because of a shoulder injury. He’s ranked No. 21.
Shooting guard Lamar Wilkerson of Sam Houston State, No. 48, gives the Hoosiers a second Top 50 transfer prospect.
On3 put DeVries at No. 20, Davidson forward Reed Bailey at No. 34 and Wilkerson at 38, giving IU three Top 40 prospects.
Miyakawa’s formula ranks them in a different order. On top, but at No. 34, is guard Tayton Conerway. He played last season at Troy.
Two dazzling statistics likely drove Conerway’s value — he ranked 20th in the nation in assist rate, earning an assist on nearly 37% of the possessions he played. Conerway was in better defensively. His steal percentage (5.6) ranked third in the nation.
Indiana did not have any players who ranked in the top 250 in steal percentage last season, which is another reason that former IU coach Mike Woodson will serve as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings next winter.
This is where Miyakawa’s former ranked the entire IU transfer class.
No. 34 — Conerway, guard, Troy.
No. 51 — DeVries, wing, West Virginia.
No. 90 — Bailey, forward, Davidson.
No. 97 — Wilkerson, guard, Sam Houston State.
No. 120 — Conor Enright, point guard, DePaul.
No. 370 — Josh Harris, forward, North Florida
No. 382 — Sam Alexis, forward/center, Florida.
No. 527 — Nick Dorn, guard, Elon.
No. 593 — Jasai Miles, guard, North Florida.
No. 658 — Jason Drake, guard, Drexel.
A bit of a gap between the first five and the second five.
But the IU group ranks 14th with Miyakawa, 8th at 247Sports and 14th at On3
Only 177 days until the start of the new season.
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