New Louisville men’s basketball coach Pat Kelsey addresses his introductory news conference. March 28, 2024. (WDRB Photo)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – There’s a big golf tournament in town, and Louisville men’s basketball coach Pat Kelsey has been knocking his recruiting right in the middle of the fairway the past two days.
On Wednesday, top 30-freshman Khani Rooths, a former signee at Michigan signee, announced that he has committed to Louisville, according to Joe Tipton of On3 Sports.
Rooths a 6-foot-8-inch small forward from IMG Academy in Florida, originally committed to Michigan but left when coach Juwan Howard was let go.
Rooths told On3, “I felt 100% after actually meeting the staff and Coach Pat Kelsey that I wanted to play for them and they would get the best out of me. I loved the way they play and felt like I would thrive in that way. Louisville being Louisville was the icing on the cake.”
Rooths commitment comes one day after 6-10 South Florida transfer Kasean Pryor committed to the Cardinals. He averaged 13 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in his lone year with USF this past season, after coming from Boise State. The news was first reported by Jeff Goodman of Field of 68.
Louisville remains in the hunt for Kentucky big man Ugonna Onyenso, who reportedly is down to the Cardinals, Alabama North Carolina.
The two commitments this week bring the total for Kelsey to 11 – though one of them, BYU big man Aly Khalifa, will redshirt the coming season.
On Monday, Kelsey spoke about the speed of his rebuilding process with Goodman on his Field of 68 After Dark podcast.
“Five years ago, this rebuild would take several years,” Kelsey told Goodman. “And, you know, in this day and age, it’s more a professional sports model where there’s a ton of roster management and talent acquisition every, single year. And this year is no different. So we’re very confident we’re going about this thing and meticulously evaluating every single, day recruiting our butts off.”
