17. Montrezl Harrell
Harrell is a 6’8 forward from Tarboro, North Carolina who came to Louisville by way of Hargrave Military Academy, a prolific high school where Kevin Keatts got his coaching start. Keatts recruited Harrell to Louisville and together they won a national championship during his freshman year, though that title has since been vacated. What’s intriguing about Harrell is that he spent three years with the Cardinals in three different conferences.
Today’s focus will solely be on Harrell’s sophomore season, as Louisville was in the Big East for his freshman year and the ACC at the end of his career. We might be including Harrell for more than just his accomplishments as a sophomore, but he did have a very encouraging season for the Cardinals. He’d average 14.0 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, taking a major step forward and helping lead the program to the Sweet Sixteen. He had a number of double-doubles and put up 15 points in their Sweet Sixteen loss to Kentucky.
Harrell was the AAC’s Most Improved Player and took a major step forward during his sophomore season before really coming into his own as a junior in the AAC. This season did see him lead the AAC in both field goal percentage and offensive rebounding, establishing himself as a major presence in the paint. It’s likely he would’ve been higher on this list had we been able to include his entire collegiate career; just know that Harrell was a young piece on that title team who blossomed into a very decent frontcourt weapon.