LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- And then there was one. After Emmanuel Okorafor, a 6-9 sophomore forward who came to Louisville from the NBA Africa Academy, entered the transfer portal, only freshman guard Ty-Laur Johnson remained.
It's a tale of the transfer portal era. The departure of Kenny Payne opened the door, and every scholarship player but one from Louisville's eight-win roster is exploring transfer options.
Okorafor's decision comes two days after Louisville named a new coach Pat Kelsey, who met wit the team on Thursday and told players, "Where do you think most people are? If there's a few of the people on the losing end and a few of the people on the winning end, where are most teams, most organizations, most people, where are they at? Somewhere in the middle. It's called the mountain of average. I ain't interested in that. Pardon my bad language, I ain't. One percent. One percent. That's what you're fighting to be. You want to be special and want to be elite. One percent is what you . . . I love my players. I back my players. I will do anything for them. But I hold them accountable."
Okorafor joined the game midway through Kenny Payne's first season and played five games before being sidelined by injury. He averaged 4.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in those games.
This past season, Okorafor played in 20 games without a start, averaging 2.4 points and 2.2 rebounds.
Johnson, the lone scholarship player yet to enter the portal, would be a valuable player to keep if he could fit within Kelsey's up-tempo style. The point guard from Brooklyn played in 30 games and averaged 8.7 points while dishing out a team-high 109 assists.
After the season, Johnson said his first order of business would be to "fix my shot." He made just 12 of 62 three-pointers last season (19.4 percent) and shot just 37.4 percent from the field overall, though he was an excellent 82.4 percent from the free-throw line (89-108).
Kelsey added his first transfer on Saturday -- Reyne Smith led College of Charleston with 112 made three-pointers last season (just six fewer than Louisville's top trio of three-point shooters combined), and made nearly 40 percent of his shots beyond the arc.
Kelsey will host Terrence Edwards, a 6-6 guard who led James Madison with 17.2 points per game last season, on a campus visit next week.
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