Jeff Walz excited for “an important summer” with Louisville women’s basketball

University of Louisville women’s basketball coach Jeff Walz is out of the country helping coach the Turkish National team in the FIBA Women’s U20 EuroBasket tournament.

U of L sophomore-to-be Elif Istanbulluoglu had 17 points and four rebounds in Turkey’s first game of the event in Lithuania on Saturday. The event will continue through next week.

But while Walz and Istanbulluoglu are out of the country, the rest of the U of L roster has reported to campus.

The U of L coaches will be headed out on the road recruiting for a few days this week, but Walz confirmed that all seven freshmen and transfer Ja’Leah Williams have made it to campus for what he called “an important summer.” Most of the newcomers made it to campus in late May.

“We’re excited to get going and it’s an important summer for sure,” Walz said. “We have a good group of returning players and we have seven freshmen.

“We’ve got some kids that can play. I’m excited about this group, but we have to use this summer to make sure we get better every day.”

Walz said with all of the newcomers that he is also super excited to have some leaders returning.

Olivia Cochran, Nyla Harris, and Merissah Russell have been around the program for several years, while Jayda Curry was a transfer last season and Istanbulluoglu played in 34 games as a freshman last season for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals also have a transfer in Miami guard Ja’Leah Williams, who started 81 of 99 games she played in three years for the Hurricanes.

“It’s big for us to have the returning players,” Walz said. “With seven freshmen and Ja’Leah, she has a lot of experience but she’s new to our program, the returning players will play a big role. They’ll be able to show them, ‘This is how to do it’.”

U of L lost three graduate seniors – Kiki Jefferson (12.3 ppg), Sydney Taylor (10.4 ppg), and Nina Rickards (7.0 ppg) – off the roster. All three of the seniors were graduate transfers who played just one season at U of L. The Cardinals also had three players leave via the transfer portal.

But the newcomers come highly touted.

The seven-player recruiting class that Walz and his staff signed was the No. 6 ranked class in the country.

The last addition – Clarksville, Tenn., guard Imari Berry – was the prized addition. She was a McDonald’s All-American and ranked as the No. 13 player in the country. The other players in the recruiting class for Walz were Sacred Heart Academy guard Reagan Bender, forward Anaya Hardy, forward Mackenly Randolph, guard Izela Arenas, guard Tajianna Roberts, and post Isla Juffermans. Randolph is ranked No. 23 by ESPN, while Roberts is No. 24, and Arenas is No. 88.

Walz said he was “excited” to get the players on campus and get things going.

As far as Berry, Walz said the late addition was a nice bonus. He said Berry can create for herself and “can also create for her teammates.”  Berry averaged 23.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.1 steals, and 2.8 assists as a senior.

“We didn’t have that a whole bunch the past two years,” Walz said. “(Mykasa Robinson) was great at getting others the ball but she was not an elite scorer. But she knew how to get her teammates open. Imari is the same way. But she can also score the basketball at a high level.”