It’s the middle of July, but Louisville basketball is in the running to land the top guard in the transfer portal: Marcus Carr.
After testing the NBA Draft waters, Carr withdrew from the draft back on June 30. His name, however, has been in the transfer portal since March, when the 2020-21 season ended. Along with Louisville, three other programs are in the mix: Kansas, Texas and Kentucky.
For now, Texas appears to be the favorite; however, the Longhorns already added a transfer lead guard, Devin Askew, who left Kentucky after one season in Lexington. Chris Beard has been super active in the transfer portal this offseason, since coming over from Texas Tech.
Minnesota transfer Marcus Carr is considering Kansas, Texas, Louisville and Kentucky, sources told ESPN.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) July 5, 2021
Carr has spent the last three seasons with Minnesota; he took a redshirt in the 2018-19 season after transferring in from Pittsburgh. Carr left Pitt after the final season of Kevin Stallings. Jeff Capel tried to retain Carr when he took over for the Panthers, but that effort was unsuccessful.
During the 2019-20 season, his first on the floor for the Gophers, Carr averaged 15.4 points and 6.5 assists per game, while shooting 36.1 percent on his 3-point attempts.
With Daniel Otoru off to the NBA, Carr took on a more central scoring role this year; he averaged 19.4 points, 4.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game, and was named first-team All-Big Ten.
While at Minnesota, Carr played over 2,100 minutes and posted an assist rate of 33.6 percent. Carr looks to play with the ball, but at 6-foot-2 he can scan over defenses and make good reads out of ball screen action.
According to Synergy Sports, Carr was one of 13 Division I players to use 200+ pick-and-roll possessions this season — along with Max Abmas, Ayo Dosunmu, Isaiah Miller and Javion Hamlet. Carr scored 0.84 points per pick-and-roll possession (39.1 eFG%).
Carr also posted an effective shooting rate just under 56 percent on catch-and-shoot attempts, which is a solid number.
Chris Mack has been very busy this offseason, too. Louisville added several high-profile transfers: Matt Cross (Miami), Noah Locke (Florida) and Jarrod West (Marshall). All three of those guys bring 3-point shooting to the table. West projects as the starting point guard; however, that would change with the addition of Carr.
West is an underrated player and a skilled pick-and-roll operator with pull-up shooting range. If he’s The Guy, Louisville is in good hands. Carr would be a talent upgrade, though. West and Carr would certainly play together, too.
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