Louisville lands top transfer Flory Bidunga, adds elite frontcourt star

Louisville answered the spring transfer market with a frontcourt centerpiece, landing Kansas sophomore Flory Bidunga, the 6-foot-10, 235-pound big man ESPN ranked No. 1 in Jeff Borzello’s 2026 portal list. Bidunga, born in Kinshasa, Congo, gave Pat Kelsey an elite rim protector and interior scorer for the 2026-27 season.

Bidunga arrived at Kansas with growing expectations and left with a résumé that made him one of the most sought-after players in college basketball. In 35 games during the 2025-26 season, he averaged 13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks. He also won Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, was the league’s only unanimous All-Defensive selection, made first-team All-Big 12 and was named a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award.

The timing underscored how fluid top-end roster building had become. Bidunga had previously averaged 5.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks as a freshman in 2024-25, then entered the portal again after declaring for the NBA draft while preserving college eligibility. For Louisville, the commitment was not just about one dominant big man; it was about winning a bidding war for a player who could alter a roster’s ceiling before the season even began.

Louisville’s push for Bidunga came alongside another major portal move. The Cardinals hosted Bidunga and Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad on official visits Friday, and Shelstad committed Sunday. Shelstad, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound junior from West Linn, Oregon, averaged 15.6 points, 4.9 assists and 2.9 rebounds in 12 games for Oregon in 2025-26 after missing significant time with a hand injury.

Together, the additions show how aggressively Louisville has embraced portal-era roster construction under Kelsey, who was hired March 28, 2024. The Cardinals had already brought in transfer guards Isaac McKneely and Ryan Conwell in the previous offseason, and the Bidunga-Shelstad package pushed that strategy into another tier. For a program trying to climb back into the ACC’s top group, the message was clear: Louisville was not waiting on player development alone, but buying proven production, depth and star power in the open market.