Alabama freshman guard Kira Lewis is in the midst of exploring his transfer options. Lewis, a 6-foot-3, 170-pound guard out of Meridianville (Ala.) was entered in the NCAA transfer portal on Tuesday, just a day after his former coach Avery Johnson severed ties with Alabama. In just a day, Lewis, who is arguably the best available transfer on the market, has received calls from a who’s who list of college programs. According to sources, Lewis has heard from Tennessee, Connecticut, Auburn, TCU, Memphis, Iowa State, Nevada, Pittsburgh, Georgia, Northwestern, Providence, Oklahoma State, Murray State, Baylor, Duke, Detroit-Mery, Ole Miss, Nebraska, Miami, Arizona, Indiana and Louisville. Lewis averaged 13.5 points, 2.9 assists and 2.6 rebounds a game. Lewis made 54 three-pointers and shot it nearly 36-percent from three during his freshman season.<doc-sep>CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 14: Head coach Chris Mack of the Louisville Cardinals looks on against the North Carolina Tar Heels during their game in the quarterfinal round of the 2019 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Spectrum Center on March 14, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) Louisville basketball reportedly has expressed interest in a dynamic guard who recently transferred. Could a new point guard for 2019-20 be in the Cards for Chris Mack? Now that the Louisville basketball season has officially come to a close, Chris Mack and his staff have already begun looking forward to the 2019-20 season as well as the roster. With three graduate transfers saying goodbye, and six freshman coming into the program currently Mack has no available scholarships to add a player to the roster for 2019-20. However, that hasn’t stopped him from reaching out to a extremely valuable transfer point guard. Kira Lewis Jr. recently announced that he would be transferring from Alabama, where he played his freshman season under Avery Johnson, who was recently let go. Within 24 hours Lewis had been contacted by just about every single major program across the country including Duke, Indiana, Arizona, Miami, and of school that might raise some eyebrows around these parts, Louisville. At only 17 years, Lewis Jr. was originally supposed to be a member of the 2019 class but reclassified and enrolled at Alabama ahead of schedule to play this past season. Averaging 13.5 points, 2.9 assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game, including five 20 points game it’s obvious to see why some of the upper echelon basketball programs are after the most talented transfer on the market thus far. It’s worth nothing that there’s been no indication of how serious Louisville’s interest has been at thus point, especially considering the fact that they have no available scholarships to use on Lewis Jr. at this time. Seems interesting that Louisville reached out without an open scholarship.. Could mean something in regards to someone leaving, or it could mean that Mack is just trying to get his foot in the door in case it does happen https://t.co/gUsgLi5q8S — Big Red Louie (@TheBigRedLouie) March 27, 2019 Louisville reaching out could signal one of two things. One, Chris Mack knows someone is either transferring or going pro and a scholarship is opening. Who could that be? The most likely answer to that question right now is either Jordan Nwora (declaring for the draft) or Darius Perry (transferring). The other option and honestly the more likely is that Mack is just getting his foot in the door with Lewis Jr. letting the dynamic, playmaking guard know that they are interested in the event a scholarship became available in the coming weeks. We have no idea how quickly Lewis Jr. will move, seeing as how most schools semesters haven’t ended just yet, and enrollment wouldn’t happen until summer school. What we do know courtesy of Evan Daniels is that Lewis Jr. will be meeting/or have already met with Nevada, Baylor, and Memphis, all who have needs at point guard. Source: Memphis, Baylor & Nevada had in-home visits with Alabama transfer Kira Lewis on Thursday. — Evan Daniels (@EvanDaniels) March 28, 2019 For Louisville, if a scholarship were to become available Lewis Jr. would be the perfect solution at the point guard position moving forward. While Lewis Jr., technically is considered a “sit-out” transfer at this point, we’ve seen the NCAA becoming more and more lenient with their waivers to play right away. The biggest area of need for the Cards and Chris Mack heading into next season is undoubtedly at the point guard position. While they do have four star guards David Johnson and Josh Nickelberry coming in, one is likely not quite ready to be the starting guard on a potential top 25 team, while the other is better served playing off the ball and struggled when he was looked to be a primary point guard last summer. The school that could most use Kira Lewis if he can get a waiver to play next season? Louisville, IMO. Need a PG, and Mack loves on-ball guards who can shoot it. He’d kill it there. — Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) March 27, 2019 Insert Lewis Jr., who started at point guard in all 34 games for Alabama and played at an extremely high level, both offensively and defensively all while being the youngest player in college basketball. At 6’3, 175 pounds, he fits the mold of taller, quick, athletic, playmaking guards who can play both on and off the ball. With his experience, albeit on a fairly mediocre Alabama team, coupled with his high level talent (former top 50 recruit) and not to mention the fact that he has three years of eligibility remaining makes Lewis Jr. a great fit for the Cards. A huge factor for Louisville’s pursuit of Kira Lewis Jr. will be first figuring out if they will have an open scholarship to use as well as doing their research into the probability of the NCAA granting the freshman guard a waiver to play right away. Either way, the Alabama transfer would add a dynamic punch to the Cards back court should he decide to come to the Ville.<doc-sep>The 2019 NCAA Tournament is in full swing, but the college basketball transfer market is already starting to heat up. We’re seeing some big coaching moves around the SEC, which includes Alabama firing Avery Johnson. That decision by the Crimson Tide has left a couple of key players wanting out. Both John Petty and Kira Lewis Jr. have entered the NCAA’s transfer portal. According to 247 Sports, Tennessee has already been in contact with Lewis, along with several other schools. According to sources, Lewis has heard from Tennessee, Connecticut, Auburn, TCU, Memphis, Iowa State, Nevada, Pittsburgh, Georgia, Northwestern, Providence, Oklahoma State, Murray State, Baylor, Duke, Detroit-Mery, Ole Miss, Nebraska, Miami, Arizona, Indiana and Louisville. Dazon Ingram and Daniel Giddens have also decided to transfer out of Alabama. Tennessee offered Lewis during the 2018 recruiting cycle, where he was the 39th overall player and the 9th ranked point guard in the country. Lewis was the No. 1 player in the state of Alabama. The 6-3 guard averaged 13.5 points as a freshman this season for Alabama. He handled 31 minutes per game, shooting 43 percent from the field. After appearing in 34 games, Lewis would have to sit out a year at his new school, but would still have three years of eligibility remaining. For Tennessee, things remain up in the air for next year. They’re set to lose Kyle Alexander and Admiral Schofield for sure, but NBA decisions loom for Grant Williams and Jordan Bone. Lewis would be an option for the 2020-21 season, which is where the Vols would definitely need help after Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden graduate. So Lewis wouldn’t be able to help what could potentially be another loaded roster next year, but he could help usher in a totally new core in 2020. With the player development going on in Knoxville right now and a clear opportunity coming available down the road, Tennessee may just intrigue Lewis. This is one to keep an eye on over the next few weeks.<doc-sep>Alabama freshman point guard Kira Lewis One of the most explosive players freshmen in college basketball last year is looking for a new home after Kira Lewis of Arkansas entered the transfer portal after head coach Avery Johnson was let go. Lewis has already made an impact on the Bears last year, as he is the reason that freshman guard Jared Butler was a Baylor Bear. After Butler signed with Alabama, Lewis moved from the 2019 recruiting class to the 2018 one and signed with the Tide. This changed the fortunes for the freshman Butler, who was granted his release and quickly signed with Baylor. Now it could be Lewis that joins Butler and the Bears after a "do-over." Baylor was already linked to Lewis early on in the process, part of a massive list of schools reaching out to him. It is easy to see why. Lewis averaged 13.5 points. 2.6 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. He shot 36% from 3-point range on 5.6 attempts per game as a true point guard for Alabama. According to a report from Evan Daniels, the Bears have also made an in-home visit to Lewis as well along with Nevada. Lewis is arguably the most impactful player in the transfer portal as it stands now. The Bears have had great success with transfers, particulary point guards. Sophomore guard Davion Mitchell is likely to take over a starting guard position, possibly at point guard, after sitting out last season due to his transfer from Auburn. MaCio Teague, a transfer from UNC Asheville, is also expected to play a big role for the Bears in 2020 as well. Makai Mason is just coming off of an All-Big 12 caliber season as a graduate transfer from Yale. Try BearsIllustrated.com for $1 Click Here During Lewis' recruitment as a member of the 2019 recruiting class, the Bears offered and were heavily involved until he flipped to 2018. Scott Drew and his staff visited Lewis several times during the process, both for evaluations and official coach visits. Lewis also paid numerous unofficial visits to the Baylor campus in 2017 and early 2018 after the Bears were an early offer for the 4-star point guard. Lewis was rated as the top player in the state of Alabama as a high school recruit, the 9th best point guard nationally, and the 39th best prospect overall. He is a high-impact player, one that will likely have to sit out the 2019-20 season due to transfer rules. However, with the increase in transfer waivers, there is a chance that Lewis could play for a new team as soon as this winter, bringing one of the best young point guards to a new team. That new team could be the Bears, which would have two players because of the circuitous route Lewis has taken in his recruitment and college career.<doc-sep>
If the Nevada basketball team could land just one transfer this offseason, the player it would select very well could be Kira Lewis Jr. And there's some good news on that front. The Wolf Pack had an in-home visit with the Alabama transfer Thursday, according to multiple reports. But Nevada is far from the only team interested in Lewis. Everybody is interested in Lewis. And "everybody" includes teams like Duke, Tennessee, Baylor, Memphis, Arizona, UConn, Pitt, Indiana, Auburn, Louisville, Iowa State and the list goes on and on. So who is Kira Lewis, Jr? He's a 6-foot-3, 167-point comb guard from Meridianville, Ala., who stayed home for college to play for the Crimson Tide. He was a five-star player, according to Scout, and a four-star on Rivals, ESPN and 247Sports, whose consensus ranking rated him as the 39th-best player in the 2018 recruiting class, including the ninth-best point guard. Lewis went to Hazel Green High School in Meridianville where he averaged 29.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists during his final season. He didn't disappoint as a freshman at Alabama despite being the youngest player in college basketball last season. He played last year as a 17-year-old after reclassifying from the 2019 class. Lewis averaged 13.5 points, 2.9 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 0.8 steals per game as a freshman at Alabama. He shot 43.3 percent from the field, including 35.8 percent from three. He made 78.3 percent of his free throws and was named to the SEC all-freshman team. After the firing of coach Avery Johnson, Lewis put his name in the transfer portal. The Tide moved quickly to hire Buffalo's Nate Oats as their head coach and he'll try and keep Lewis in the fold, but the 17-year-old is free game on the recruiting market right now. Given the competition, Nevada is probably a long shot to land Lewis, but with an in-home visit completed and a history of success developing transfers, the Wolf Pack is in the mix for securing an official visit. Lewis would have to sit out next season under NCAA transfer rules, but he'd have up to three seasons of eligibility at Nevada (or whichever school that lands him). The Wolf Pack has three open scholarships right now.