Adrian Wooley Signs with Louisville

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Year two of the Pat Kelsey era as the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals is off to a hot start. Only a couple of weeks after Louisville's loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to the Creighton Bluejays, the Cards picked up one of the top players in the transfer portal in Adrian Wooley.

Transferring in from Kennesaw State, Wooley was the Freshmen of the year in Conference USA--and also received all-conference honors. The 6'5", 180 pound lefty scorer averaged 18.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists a game on highly efficient shooting splits (51/42/77). The only real concern with his stats came in the form of his free throw percentage, which is lower than normal for someone shooting that well from the field. Besides that, he was an electric true Freshman for the mediocre KSU Owls.

Strengths:

In terms of his game, Adrian Wooley will bring a Terrence Edwards Jr. feel to next year's Louisville team. He's an efficient scorer who can get to the bucket, but lacks above the rim athleticism. Instead, Wooley, like Edwards, prefers to probe the defense around the paint, looking for lanes to score and finish effectively around the rim. Because of this, he should be able to have strong chemistry with the bigs on the roster, and could cause major damage with pick-and-pop action between he and Center, Aly Khalifa, who's coming off a knee injury that sidelined him for the entire 2024-25 campaign.

Wooley's main strength is his shooting ability. As mentioned previously, he shot 42% from three this season, making 73/173 attempts--good for 2.2 makes a game. He's not a player who will be hoisting 8 threes a game like Reyne Smith did last season, or Isaac McKneely likely will next season, but he'll be efficient when he does pull the trigger. Based on his film, Wooley has a very deliberate game, deciding to only shoot threes when he feels like he has the space to wind up his jumper. However, based on the talent Louisville will have coming in next season, I'd bet he'll have similar shooting splits to his first season in college, as teams won't be able to key on him as strongly as they did during his time at Kennesaw State.

Contested shot-making is also another solid skill Wooley will bring to the team. In March, you need guards who can not only generate open shots for themselves and their teammates, but can also make tough shots and breakdown a defense late in the shot clock. No team can ever be perfect on offense, so you need at least a couple of players who can get tough buckets when necessary. Think of Walter Clayton Jr. of the Florida Gators as a well-known example.

Whether it be contested layups or threes, Wooley's height at his position allows him to finish tough shots by shooting over defenders. If he's being contested at the rim by a taller defender, he has the ability to finish over them or to contort his arms around the player in order to score. Now, if he plays the 3 at Louisville, he may not have the luxury of being defended by shorter defenders, but if he continues to be guarded by 1's or 2's who are at his height or shorter, he'll still have that in his arsenal.

Weaknesses:

One possible concern that I have with Wooley's game, which might not even become much of an issue, is his slow shot release. Last year, Terrence Edwards had an extremely slow release, leading him to rely on step back three pointers as his perimeter game--and even some of those shots were blocked. Wooley's jumper isn't as slow as Fatt's was, but it still could be a problem when facing more athletic competition in the ACC. However, because Louisville will have more shooters/scorers to key in on next season compared to Kelsey's first squad, it shouldn't be much of a problem, but still something to keep an eye on.

Another issue with Wooley's game that I think will be somewhat of a problem is his propensity to turn the ball over. Although he averaged 3.6 assists a game last season, he also had 3.3 turnovers. This could be explained away as him having to force the issue by playing with lower-level competition, and him being a Freshman, but because of the extreme rise in competition that he will be facing, it could continue to be a shortcoming of his game. Hopefully the coaching staff will recognize this and have Wooley play off the ball more often than fulfill the role of a combo guard.

The last part of Wooley's game that will need some touching up is to decrease his reliance on his left hand when driving to the rim. One thing that shows up very clearly on film for Wooley is his tendency to always finish with his left hand, no matter which side of the court he drives down. Since he's still a young player, this is something that be can be fixed over time, but if I see that as something that he uses as a crutch, other coaches and higher-level defenders will abuse that weakness when game planning for Wooley. 

Final Assessment:

Even with the weaknesses in his game, Wooley is still a dynamic scorer. He likely won't need to be the guy on this team, which will allow him to bully weaker defenders on any level of the court. He may lack an elite first-step, but his left-handed finishing ability at the rim should neutralize that. He may have a slower than average jump shot, but his use of the step back and spread out nature of Pat Kelsey's system will help him to generate open looks--which he knows down consistently. He may not have a strong right hand, but if you can't stop him from driving and finishing with his left hand, that won't matter.

Based on all of these factors, I think Wooley will be one of the top 3 leading scorers for Louisville in 2025-26. The stats I predict him to have may be a bit lower than you'd think, but I believe he'll struggle to find himself early in the season as he not only tries to find his role in Pat Kelsey's system, but adjusts to the highest level of college basketball. By the end of the season, he should be an extremely reliable scorer for the Cards.

Bold Prediction:

Adrian Wooley will come off the bench next season for Louisville basketball.

Predicted Stats:

PPG: 14

RPG: 4

APG: 4

Shooting Splits: (46/38/80)

Highlights for Adrian Wooley can be found below: