Louisville’s preseason buzz keeps growing, and Flory Bidunga is right at the center of it.
The Cardinals are closing in on their regular-season opener, with Mercyhurst coming to town on Oct. 28 and the first official game set for Nov. 2. Louisville has already taken care of business in its first exhibition, knocking off Kansas, and now the attention is shifting from warm-up games to the kind of preseason hype that follows a loaded roster.
That hype has been easy to find. Louisville enters the season ranked No. 11 in the AP Polls, and with one of the country’s strongest rosters, the Cardinals are showing up all over preseason predictions. ESPN joined that trend by projecting a conference player of the year for every NCAA league, and Bidunga was the choice in the ACC.
Myron Medcalf made the selection, and his case leaned heavily on what Bidunga already proved at Kansas.
"Last season, Bidunga -- arguably the best defensive player in the country -- was the captain of a Kansas squad that finished ninth in adjusted defensive efficiency on KenPom last season. The 6-foot-10 big man averaged 13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks, and anchored a Kansas squad that had to weather Darryn Peterson's injury-related absences. Overall, opposing players missed 54 of 85 shots they attempted against Bidunga around the arc last season, according to Synergy Sports data."
Bidunga arrives in Louisville with a resume that explains the national attention. He was ranked No. 1 overall in the Transfer Portal and came in as a unanimous 5-star transfer.
He also left Kansas after a dominant season that brought First-Team All-Big 12 honors and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award. His numbers were loud enough on their own: 13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game, plus a 64 percent mark from the field.
He finished among the top five in Division I in total blocks with 91 and blocks per game.
The ACC, of course, is no soft landing. Medcalf’s pick came in a league that has three teams ranked in the top 11 and four in the top 15, and Bidunga will have plenty of competition. Duke landed five 5-stars, including 5-star transfer John Blackwell, while Virginia’s Thijs De Ridder is back for a second season after an eye-popping freshman campaign.
Still, the fact that Bidunga got the nod says plenty about how he’s viewed nationally.
Louisville has not had a center or forward who can alter a game on the defensive end like this in a long time, and the Cardinals have also made it clear they want more from him offensively. Kelsey said as much this offseason, and Bidunga has already flashed some of that growth on social media.
For Louisville, this is the kind of preseason recognition that feeds the bigger picture. Bidunga winning ACC Player of the Year would only strengthen the belief that the Cardinals can make a serious run at ending their Final Four drought.
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