LOUISVILLE, KY: Since his formal hiring, Pat Kelsey, the new head coach of the Louisville men’s basketball program, has been hitting the transfer portal hard, but as they say, you can’t win them all.
Dante Maddox Jr., a former guard for Toledo who was selected to the Second Team All-MAC this past season, revealed his commitment to Xavier on The Field of 68 on Thursday. Even though the final decision was between the Musketeers and the Cardinals, he also selected Xavier over Illinois, Michigan, and Creighton.
Maddox had ranked Louisville in his top five and top eight, and he had even welcomed him to the city this past weekend. But on Wednesday, he also went to Xavier, where it seems the Musketeers made a last-ditch effort.
It hurts to lose out on the 6-foot-2, 195-pound point guard because he was among the top players in the MAC in the previous campaign. Maddox led the Rockets in scoring at 15.6 points per game, averaging 4.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.4 steals in his 32 games as a starter. Maddox had a 43.8 percent field goal percentage, a 40.2 percent three-point percentage, and an 86.2 percent free throw percentage.
Having said that, after hiring Kelsey on March 28, the Cardinals have performed admirably in the portal. Following Kelsey from Charleston are guard Reyne Smith and center James Scott; James Madison guard/forward Terrence Edwards Jr. and guard J’Vonne Hadley from Colorado are also included.
