Former juco basketball standout Curry picks Louisville. He once was headed to KU
Former John A. Logan Community College power forward Sydney Curry, who had asked out of his national basketball letter-of-intent at Kansas on May 26, has signed a financial aid agreement with Louisville, Cardinals coach Chris Mack announced Thursday morning.
Curry, a 6-foot-8, 260-pound junior from Fort Wayne, Indiana, verbally committed to Kansas in November of 2020 and had his signing announced by KU on April 14.
The third-team junior college All-American averaged 12.9 points (on 69.4% shooting) and 8.2 rebounds per game in 2020-21 for (18-5) Logan. As a freshman in 2019-20, Curry averaged 13.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game while shooting 74% from the field.
He initially chose KU over Maryland, Mississippi, Seton Hall and Texas A&M.
“We are super excited to add Sydney Curry to our roster,” Louisville coach Mack said Thursday. “To add a player of Syd’s ability this late provides a real boost to our frontcourt. He has a unique combination of strength, athleticism and skill. His summer will obviously be condensed, but he’s excited as are we to get him going as a Cardinal.”
Curry was honored as the 2020-21 Great Rivers Athletic Conference Player of the Year this past season. He was ranked as the No. 8 junior college prospect in the country by 247Sports.com.
This past season he helped Logan to the NJCAA Region 24 championship, a No. 12 ranking in the final NJCAA Div. I poll and the school’s first appearance in the national tournament in six years. He scored a career-high 27 points at Rend Lake College as a freshman and grabbed a season-best 17 rebounds at Land Lake College.
Curry averaged 18.6 points,12.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots per game as a senior at Northrop High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Back in April, Curry in reopening his recruitment said: “After talking with my family and praying on this I have decided to reopen my recruitment. I want to make sure I have made the best decision for me and my future. I want to thank coach (Bill) Self and Kansas for this great opportunity in asking me to be a part of it. I truly want to make sure I’m doing what is best by taking some more time to consider all my options.”
“We enjoyed recruiting Sydney, getting to know him and his family, but also respect this decision and wish him well moving forward,” Self said at the time.
At the time of his signing with KU, Self said of Curry: “Sydney is going to bring size, strength and athleticism to our frontcourt, giving us another rim protector. He’s a big man that can play above the rim and has shown the ability to have a big presence inside.”
KU has added frontcourt players Zach Clemence, K.J. Adams and Cam Martin in the recruiting Class of 2021 and also returns power forwards David McCormack and Mitch Lightfoot off last year’s team.
