Louisville basketball roster 2023-24 questions: Kenny Payne’s rebuild
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How will the Louisville men’s basketball team respond to the challenge of bouncing back from the worst season in modern program history?
After head coach Kenny Payne and his staff overhauled their roster, with seven scholarship players entering the NCAA transfer portal and nine newcomers arriving on campus this month to begin summer workouts, we’re about to find out.
The holdovers from last year’s 4-28 squad are guard/forward Mike James (redshirt sophomore); forwards Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (junior), Emmanuel Okorafor (sophomore) and JJ Traynor (senior); and walk-ons Aidan McCool, Hercy Miller and Zan Payne. Joining them is an incoming collection of talent that ranks among the top 10 on 247Sports’ national leaderboard.
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From the high-school ranks, there’s 7-foot-1 center Dennis Evans; 2024 reclass Trentyn Flowers; former Male standout Kaleb Glenn; consensus top-20 point guard Ty-Laur Johnson; and Curtis Williams Jr., the No. 1 prospect in Michigan. Payne also signed three second-year players through the portal — guard Skyy Clark (Illinois), forward Danilo Jovanovich (Miami) and guard/forward Tre White (Southern California) — along with third-year guard Koron Davis, who is transferring in after stops at two junior colleges.
Now, it’s time for Payne and his staff to see how the pieces fit together. They need to do so quickly, because U of L will be tested early with a trip to Madison Square Garden in November for the Empire Classic, whose field also includes reigning national champion Connecticut, Indiana and Texas.
Here are three questions facing the Cardinals as they begin building toward the 2023-24 campaign:
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Who emerges as the go-to center?
Louisville suffered from a glaring deficiency of production at the five spot last season.
Sydney Curry was a shell of the player who asserted himself during the home stretch of the 2021-22 campaign. Huntley-Hatfield showed flashes of potential but was sidelined for more than a month of ACC play with a right-foot injury. Payne said Okorafor rejuvenated the team upon arriving from NBA Academy Africa in January, but an injury to his right ankle limited his playing time to five appearances off the bench.
After transferring in from Tennessee, Huntley-Hatfield initially started at power forward next to Curry but was given the nod at center in four of the team’s final five games, finishing his sophomore year averaging 6.7 points on 47.2% shooting with a team-high 5.4 rebounds per contest. Payne said during his final radio show of the season the 6-10 native of Clarksville, Tennessee, fits more naturally at the five and wants him to set the tone physically in the paint.
“What he should be…
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