Guard help? Guard help.
Photo by Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Some long-awaited guard help for the 2022-23 Louisville men’s basketball team appears to be on the way.
According to Joe Tipton of On3, three-star point guard Fabio Basili is returning to the class of 2022 and has signed with U of L. Because of the re-re-classificiation, the 6’5, 175-pound Basili will be eligible to play for the Cardinals next season.
Basili averaged 20.0 points, 4.8 assists, and 4.1 rebounds per game last season for Oak Ridge High School in Florida. That’s the same high school that produced current Cardinal G/F Mike James, who missed all of last season after suffering an injury during the first week of practice.
“I chose Louisville because it was the best environment for me to succeed, from the coaching staff to my education,” Basili said to On3. “I view myself as a team player, an energy spark to the game, a coachable student of the game, and someone who is ready to sacrifice for my team.”
Basili also had scholarship offers from Kansas State, DePaul, Chattanooga, and Florida Atlantic, but never visited anywhere other than U of L.
My first impressions from the little I’ve seen of Basili on film are that he is a tremendous passer and a solid ballhandler who’s going to have to get much better going left if he wants to be a high-level ACC guard. His shot is a little funky and his release is a bit long and low, but if it goes in enough, who cares?
Basili is not currently enrolled at U of L, and has until next week to change that. My guess is he’ll join the rest of the team as soon as he possibly can.
We desperately needed backcourt depth, and now we have some. Welcome aboard, Fabio.
