To the surprise of very few, NJCAA Player of the Year Jay Scrubb has decided to skip playing at Louisville, and will take his chances with the professional route.
Scrubb played two years at the junior college level for John A. Logan College in Carterville, Illinois. In his first year, Scrubb averaged over 20 points per game, and was named to the 2019 NJCAA Division I All-America first team.
In his sophomore season at the JUCO level, Scrubb averaged nearly 22 points per contest, and had eight games where he scored over the 30-point mark. Prior to enrolling at Logan, Scrubb played for Trinity High School, where he won back-to-back Seventh Region Player of the Year awards.
Where does this leave Louisville, and where do the Cardinals go from here:
QUICK HITS:
Jay Scrubb was never coming to Louisville.
It's easy to say now, but it never actually felt like Jay Scrubb would wear a Louisville uniform.
Chris Mack has had a plan in place for a roster that doesn't include Jay Scrubb.
Chris Mack had to know this was coming, right? Surely Mack has had a backup plan in the works, which he will now put to use with Scrubb officially out of the equation.
Louisville has enough star power without Scrubb.
To me, a starting lineup that features David Johnson, Carlik Jones, Samuell Williamson, and Malik Williams has enough punch as it is. Those four are a solid foundation to the group that takes the floor first.
Recruiting should be a tad easier with Scrubb making a decision.
You have to wonder if graduate transfers looking at Louisville hesitated to give the Cardinals serious consideration with Scrubb still in the mix. That hesitation should now be gone.
Samuell Williamson has an opportunity to play major minutes.
With Scrubb not a part of the team, Williamson should be penciled into the starting lineup, and stamped into the rotation. The former McDonald's All-American saw a little over 15 minutes of action per game as a freshman. I'm going to make a prediction and say that number might just double.
Louisville needs to add at least one more scholarship player that is immediately illegible.
As of now, Louisville only has 10 scholarship players for the 2020 - 2021 season. Only having 10 guys isn't ideal. Not only for game purposes, but for practice as well. A good portion of that 10 is players that have hardly seen any playing time.
With that said, here are two graduate transfers that would fit what Louisville needs:
Ryan Betley, Pennsylvania
6-foot-5, 11.6 points per game in 2019-2020
2017-18: Second team All-Ivy
Schools involved: Louisville, Arizona, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Oregon State
Betley could provide Louisville with much a needed outside shooting threat, and could settle into being a role player that provides a scoring spark off of the bench. Betley could play guard or on the wing, and would bring a ton of Division I playing experience to a largely inexperienced roster.
Matthias Markusson, Loyola Marymount
7-foot-3, 10. 2 points & 6.3 rebound per game in 2018-2019.
Schools involved: Louisville, Minnesota, San Diego State
Markusson sat out and redshirted this year, but was productive in 208-2019 playing in the WCC. The Swedish center would give Louisville depth inside to go with Malik Williams and Aidan Igiehon.
