Louisville basketball, Jeff Walz flipped script to assemble No. 6 preps recruiting class

Jeff Walz hasn't had many problems securing some of the country's top high school girls basketball prospects.

For 15 straight years, the Louisville women’s basketball coach signed at least one player from espnW HoopGurlz Top 100. The highest recruit during that time was Asia “AD” Durr, who was the country’s No. 2 player in the 2015 recruiting class.

That streak ended last year when the Cardinals didn’t sign a single domestic preps player, let alone one in the top 100. In some ways, it reflects a changing recruiting landscape. Compared with four years ago, U of L now has a smaller list of high school targets, which lessens its chances of getting players. But if the Cardinals don’t get who they want, there’s always the transfer portal — what Walz called “a one-year Band-Aid.”

That Band-Aid included six transfer players and served Louisville well during the 2023-24 regular season, when the Cardinals went 23-8 and posted their 14th straight 20-win season. But it didn’t do anything for the Cardinals during the postseason. For the first time in the Walz era, they lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The 24-10 final record also ended the program’s 11-season streak of winning 25 or more games.

Louisville lost five of its transfers in the offseason — three to graduation, two to the transfer portal — but bounced back in high school recruiting by signing the No. 6 class in the country, according to ESPN. It’s the program’s highest-ranked group of at least the past five years.

Having a heavy transfer group in 2023 worked in Louisville’s favor with assembling this year’s freshman class. Kiki Jefferson and Sydney Taylor — two of the Cardinals’ top three scorers — and Nina Rickards, who led the team in assists, were all graduate transfers.

“I think part of it was they saw that the ones we did get (from the portal) were one-year kids, and they were going to be graduating,” Walz said, “and there was opportunity for playing time.”

When recruiting, U of L looked to sign those impact, versatile players at every position, 1-5. The program was successful in doing so with a seven-person class that includes four guards, two forwards and a center.

The Cardinals don’t have one main recruiter to get the job done but utilize whichever coach builds the strongest bond with a recruit. Walz and assistant coach Jonneshia “JP” Pineda were the main recruiters in securing commitments from Sierra Canyon (California) High School teammates Mackenly Randolph, a five-star forward/wing, and Izela Arenas, a four-star guard. The two are ranked 23rd and 88th, respectively, in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100.

The Cardinals had already been building the class with commitments from forward Anaya Hardy, guard Tajianna Roberts and center Isla Juffermans, who hails from Australia. They also nabbed a local product in Sacred Heart guard Reagan Bender, whose main recruiter was Walz, before adding five-star guard Imari Berry, ranked 19th nationally, on April 20 as the final piece of the 2024 group.

“She's extremely talented, can score the basketball, a very good passer, sees the floor well, dynamic, really (has a) flair for the game,” Walz said of Berry, who flipped from Clemson after Tigers coach Amanda Butler was fired. “She was a big piece. She's a great addition to what we already had.”

Louisville’s newcomers, who also include Miami transfer guard Ja’Leah Williams, arrived on campus in early June. So far, Walz has been pleased with how the team has jelled and sees a lot of potential in the freshman class. He’s also been impressed with what he’s seen so far from Hardy.

“She's not a top-30 player, but I'm telling you, she's been very, very impressive,” he said. "We, I feel, did a really, really good job of evaluating her and looking at the upside. ... That's what I think we've done a really good job of over the years is finding some kids that aren't necessarily ranked by these recruiting services extremely high, but we see the potential that they have.”

Walz will wait until the freshmen hit the court to give his final verdict, but all signs point to the talented group helping Louisville continue as one of the nation's top teams. In May, ESPN ranked the Cardinals 12th in the way-too-early top 25 ahead of the 2024-25 season.

“(When) you're out there recruiting, you're trying to figure out what's the best that we could possibly get,” Walz said. “We were fortunate. Everything kind of fell into place.”

Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.