Louisville center Emmanuel Okorafor enters NCAA Transfer Portal

This is a busy time in the offseason for the Louisville Cardinals men’s basketball team, and it just got a little busier with Saturday’s news. According to On3’s Jamie Shaw, the Cardinals sophomore big Emmanuel Okorafor has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Okorafor made it to the Louisville program by way of the NBA’s partnership with Africa courtesy of the NBA Academy Africa in Nigeria from the city of Abia. The six-foot-nine 220-plus pound big who plays center for the Cardinals happened two seasons in the program. Over those two years, Okorafor has played in a combined 25 games, with 20 of those appearances happening this past season. However, oddly enough, despite earning playing time in four times as many games, his average minutes per contest were more than cut in half cop, dropping from 14.8 minutes a game to just 7 minutes in the 2023-24 campaign.

Okorafor’s first time at Louisville concluded with an average of 2.8 points per contest, 2.6 rebounds, .6 blocks, and a 55 percent field goal percentage.

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Louisville and Pat Kelsey agree to a five-year deal

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the Louisville Cardinals and Pat Kelsey have agreed on a five-year contract to make him the next men’s basketball coach. Reports emerged earlier on Wednesday of Kelsey being the target of athletic director Josh Heird.

Now, the two sides seem to be making progress and nearly have gotten to the deal over the finish line. If things continue to trend in the right direction, Kelsey will be the man to take over for Kenny Payne.

“Louisville has agreed in principle to a five-year deal to make Pat Kelsey the school’s next head coach, per ESPN sources,” Thamel said via X.

Kelsey is wrapping up his third season at College of Charleston, making the NCAA Tournament as CAA regular season and conference tournament champions on both occasions. Unfortunately, two losses followed. San Diego State in 2022 wound up making the national championship game while Alabama is currently in the Sweet Sixteen, hoping to match the Aztecs.

Louisville will be tasking Kelsey to accomplish something similar in the ACC. A conference championship banner has not been hung in the KFC Yum! Center since 2014, although it was vacated. On record, the program’s last title came in 2009 as members of the Big East.