Kentucky's 7-foot-5 Gabe Dynes transfer recruiting update comes in battle with Louisville originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The battle has come down to the Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals.
They're both seeking the transfer commitment of 7-foot-5 Gabe Dynes. But only one of the big rivals can pull it off.
Nothing has been decided yet — but according to On3 Sports' Joe Tipton, the Wildcats are the frontrunners here.
Kentucky has gotten some criticism so far this offseason for its transfer whiffs. Getting Dynes would land them one of the most unique players in the portal.
He's not the tallest guy transferring — that's 7-foot-9 Olivier Rioux of Florida — but Dynes is much more ready for real college basketball minutes than Rioux.
Dynes did used to be listed at 7-foot-3, so maybe he's growing, but regardless, he could be a difference maker.
The big fella began his college career at Youngstown State, and he led the Horizon League in blocks in his two seasons with the Penguins — 2.3 per game as a freshman, 3.1 per game as a sophomore. in that sophomore season, Dynes also averaged 6.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game while making 69.9% of his shots from the floor.
That earned him a transfer up the ladder to USC for the 2025-26 season, but with the Trojans, Dynes played just 11.9 minutes per game. He averaged 2.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per contest. He did make 78.8% of his shots from the field.
Dynes may not be a huge-minutes player, but he seems to know what he's good at, and he focuses on that.
Kentucky would certainly benefit from game-changing size like this, although so would Louisville.
Whichever rival wins this battle will feel quite good about it.
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