Louisville gets the shooter it desperately needs with 5-star recruit Brian Bowen

Brian Bowen is going to Louisville. And with that, the last blue chip recruit in the class of 2017 is off the board.

Just a week ago, even Louisville didn’t think it had a shot at landing Bowen. Michigan State and Arizona were thought to be the leaders throughout the recruiting process, with Oregon, DePaul and Texas also making a late push. That changed last week when Bowen’s camp reportedly reached out to Louisville — who originally offered him in 2014 — to set up a visit.

Now, seemingly out of nowhere, the Cardinals have added an impact freshman that enters the program as a consensus five-star recruit. Bowen, ranked as the No. 13 player in his class by ESPN, is a 6’7 wing from Saginaw, Michigan who ostensibly fills the hole on the perimeter created when Donovan Mitchell decided to stick in the NBA draft.

Any program would be excited to add a player of Bowen’s caliber, but this feels like a particularly big deal for Louisville for a few different reasons.

Rick Pitino’s teams are known for their defense. One thing they are not known for is their shooting.

Shooting has been Louisville’s achilles heel for a few seasons now. This past season, 27.2 percent of Louisville’s points came off threes. That ranked No. 258 in the country. Pitino is hoping Bowen can help change that.

Bowen hit 6-of-7 three-pointers to finish with a game-high 26 points at the Jordan Brand Classic in April. Shooting is the biggest part of his game. As long as he plays enough defense to stay on the floor for Pitino, the Cardinals will suddenly have some really interesting lineup combinations at their disposal.

Without Bowen, Louisville would almost certainly be playing lineups with two traditional big men for the vast majority of the season. The Cards have a great crop of bigs led by senior center Anas Mahmoud, junior forward Ray Spalding and incoming five-star freshman Malik Williams.

Now that Bowen is in the fold, Pitino will have the option to go small and fill the floor with athletes and shooters. This could be Louisville’s best offensive lineup:

C Mahmoud/Spalding/Williams

PF Deng Adel

SF V.J. King

SG Brian Bowen

PG Quentin Snider

Adel is a natural wing, but he should have the size (6’7, 200 pounds) and versatility to slide up to the four. King could be poised for a breakout sophomore season as a former McDonald’s All-American with impressive athleticism and promising three numbers (42 percent on 38 attempts) in limited action last year.

Snider was Louisville’s most consistent threat from three-point range last season (56 makes at 37.3 percent) and should take another step forward as a senior. Even Williams enters school with a good face-up game. A Louisville team that has always felt a shooter or two short will have some real options next season.

You can expect Pitino to still play a lot of two big men lineups — I’ll guess Mahmoud and Spalding start at center and power forward respectively with Bowen off the bench — but this addition does give the team some newfound flexibility.

Louisville thought there was a decent chance Mitchell could return to school when he originally declared for the draft without an agent. That changed just before the draft combine when Mitchell’s combination of length (6’10 wingspan) and explosiveness all but assured he’d be a first round pick. Right now, he’s projected as the No. 12 overall selection by DraftExpress.

With Mitchell, there were some who thought Louisville could begin the year as the preseason No. 1. That was before Miles Bridges returned to school for Michigan State and before Arizona got back Allonzo Trier and Rawle Alkins. When our early top 25 rankings dropped this week, the Cards were at No. 12.

Will Bowen move Louisville up a few spots in the preseason polls? He should. He’s a big wing shooter for a team which needed exactly that. This is a great pull by Pitino that gives the Cards an unexpected boost heading into next year.