Looking Back at Louisville Men’s, Women’s Basketball’s 2019 Recruiting Classes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 2019 recruiting cycle for the Louisville men’s and women’s basketball programs was one that was full of potential.

On the men’s side of things, after one year on the job, the Class of 2019 served as then-head coach Chris Mack’s first full recruiting cycle at Louisville. What he wound up with was the No. 12 class in the country, at the time dubbed as the “Super Six” locally.

As for the women, head coach Jeff Walz didn’t have a ton of open scholarships for his 2019-20 team. However, he still was able to land a pair of top-100 prospects, including a five-star recruit.

So, how well did Mack and Walz do out on the high school recruiting trail in 2019? Below is every scholarship signee from the class in alphabetical order, their career stats at Louisville, coupled with a brief summary on their tenure:

Men’s Basketball

David Johnson

Position: Shooting Guard
UofL Career Stats: 411 points, 186 rebounds, 135 assists, 44.4% field goal percentage, 34.9% three-point percentage (46 games, 23 starts)

Landing Johnson was a massive local recruiting win. The four-star Trinity product was the Seventh Region Player of the Year, a finalist for Kentucky Mr. Basketball and the MVP of the KHSAA Sweet 16. After a bit of a slow start to his true freshman campaign, he took off in the second half of the 2019-20 season. He made 27 appearances and four starts that year, and in the final 15 games of the season, Johnson averaged 8.9 points, 4.4 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. For his sophomore season, he took a step forward as a shooter, scorer and overall player. Starting all but one of Louisville’s 20 games during the 2020-21 season, he put up 12.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game, while shooting 41.1 percent from the field and 38.6 percent on threes. He would declare for the 2021 NBA Draft after the season, and was taken in the second round by the Toronto Raptors with the No. 47 overall pick.

Aidan Igiehon

Position: Center
UofL Career Stats: 26 points, 19 rebounds, 0 assists, 66.7% field goal percentage, 0.0% three-point percentage (19 games, 0 starts)

The native of Dublin, Ireland joined Louisville as someone who possessed a ton of potential and athleticism, but was more of a project considering his limited relative experience. Unfortunately, the “Irish Hulk” never panned out at Louisville or his next two stops. He played in 14 games during his true freshman season, but totaled only 13 points and 17 rebounds in 61 minutes. His role further plummeted as a sophomore, collecting only 13 points and eight rebounds over 41 minutes in five bench appearances. He spent his next two seasons as a role player at Grand Canyon, then played his final year this past season at Abilene Christian.

Josh Nickelberry

Position: Shooting Guard
UofL Career Stats: 37 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 21.7% field goal percentage, 23.1% three-point percentage (24 games, 0 starts)

A McDonald’s All-American nominee, Nickelberry was brought in to be…