Louisville guard Koron Davis intends to enter NCAA Transfer Portal

Louisville guard Koron Davis intends to leave the Cardinal program and enter the transfer portal, says On3’s Joe Tipton. Davis was a junior college recruit who did not appear in a game this season.

The University of Louisville made an official announcement that Davis would leaving and provided a brief statement. That said: “University of Louisville junior guard Koron Davis has informed the program that he intends to transfer. We support him and wish him well in the future.”

UPDATE: DAVIS SAYS HE IS NOT TRANSFERRING

Well, shortly after Louisville put out a statement that their player, Koron Davis, intends to transfer, Davis has come out to refute that news. On Twitter he posted the following statement of his own, refuting the University’s statement and expressing his disbelief at the school putting out false information about its own student. Here was the tweet:

“I didn’t express to anyone at U of Louisville that I wanted to transfer. I never asked to transfer. I enjoy being a Cardinal. The fact an official statement was released giving false information is disheartening and sad.”

The plot tickens!

Koron Davis background, other drama

Amid a season at the JuCo level where he was averaging 25 points per game, Kenny Payne landed a commitment from Davis last January, and the future Cardinal guard would go on to rank as one of the best players at the JuCo level.

But once he got on campus, things were just never right. Davis was one of the only guards on the entire roster but missed the start of the season for undisclosed reasons, prompting questions about him in press conferences.

“Great question on Koron Davis,” Kenny Payne told a reporter after they had asked why Davis was absent from the Louisville win over Coppin State back in November. He then explained: “It was my decision not to have Koron Davis come today. He is not in any trouble. I will not address it right now because this is about the guys who just played tonight. But he is not in any trouble.”

Several weeks later, Davis attended a Louisville game, the home win over Bellarmine on Nov. 29, but he was dressed in street clothes and sat in the bleachers with common fans rather than down with the team. Kenny Payne admitted after that game that he didn’t even know Davis was in the building.

“I have nothing to say about Koron Davis. Koron Davis is not in trouble. I didn’t know he was at the game, but if he was, that’s fine with me. He’s a part of this team right now,” Payne told media after getting asked about Davis’ surprise appearance.

And a few weeks after that strange development, news of Davis’ transfer hit the social media streets before Davis himself stepped up and tweeted that any reports of him transferring, even from the University, were hooey.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.