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Kasean Pryor commits to Louisville basketball and Pat Kelsey via transfer portal

brooks holton, louisville courier journal
·3 min read

Pat Kelsey's latest addition through the NCAA transfer portal addresses the most glaring hole in the 2024-25 Louisville men's basketball roster: depth in the post.

Kasean Pryor, a 6-foot-10, 210-pound forward who spent his junior season at South Florida, committed to the Cardinals on Tuesday via a post to X, formerly Twitter.

When Pryor entered the portal in early April, he reportedly had the attention of more than 20 high-major programs. At the time of his pledge, The Athletic considered him the 10th-best transfer available.

In short, this is a much-needed win for Kelsey and his staff after their pursuit of another coveted big, Great Osobor, didn't pan out.

A Chicago native, Pryor finished the 2023-24 season third on USF in scoring. He averaged 13 points on 44.7% shooting (37 for 105 from 3-point range). Pryor grabbed a team-high 7.9 rebounds across 26.3 minutes per game.

The Bulls had a spectacular campaign under first-year coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, winning a record 25 games and cracking the AP Top 25 poll for the first time in program history.

Pryor's breakthrough was a big reason.

Appearing in all but one of the team's 33 games (21 starts), Pryor notched 12 double-doubles. He surpassed 20 points on six occasions and logged 14 appearances with 10 or more rebounds.

His best performance of the season was when he went for 29 points and 11 boards while playing 31 minutes of a March 9 loss at Tulsa.

"When he sticks to the team principles and executes the small stuff, when his natural talent comes out, he can be downright dangerous," said former teammate Chris Youngblood, who transferred to Alabama earlier in the offseason, in a story for GoUSFBulls.com.

Pryor began his collegiate career with two seasons at Boise State, then transferred to Northwest Florida State and spent a year at the junior college level.

Explaining the move to GoUSFBulls.com, he said, "It might have eventually worked out, but I felt like I was wasting my potential.

"I felt like I needed to go back to square one and get all my fundamentals down," he added. "I didn't jump to the bright, flashy place. I needed to work. So I bet on myself."

It worked. In his lone season with the Raiders, he averaged 14.8 points and eight rebounds en route to first-team NJCAA All-American honors.

"I coach Kasean harder than anybody,'' Abdur-Rahim told GoUSFBulls.com, "because I know what he means to our team (and) I also know where he can go.

"It's a scary word — potential — but he has so much untapped potential."

Mar 16, 2024; Fort Worth, TX, USA; South Florida Bulls forward Kasean Pryor (11) shoots against UAB Blazers forward Yaxel Lendeborg (3) during the first half at Dickies Arena. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 16, 2024; Fort Worth, TX, USA; South Florida Bulls forward Kasean Pryor (11) shoots against UAB Blazers forward Yaxel Lendeborg (3) during the first half at Dickies Arena. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports

With his commitment, Pryor took the 10th of 13 scholarships at Kelsey's disposal.

The other members of the 2024-25 roster are:

Kelsey has also secured commitments from juniors Aly Khalifa (center, BYU) and Kobe Rodgers (guard, Charleston); but they plan to redshirt this season while rehabbing injuries.

As of Tuesday, all of Louisville's scholarship players from the 2023-24 campaign had entered the portal, which closed May 1.

At the time of publication, 10 had found new homes:

Kasean Pryor highlights: Watch Louisville basketball transfer portal commit

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kasean Pryor commits to Louisville basketball, Pat Kelsey via portal