Sharpshooter Ryan McMahon commits to U of L

Ryan McMahon didn't need much time to ponder his scholarship offer from the University of Louisville.

The high-scoring, sharpshooting but unheralded senior guard from Sarasota, Fla., committed to the Cardinals Friday, a day after receiving the offer - his first from a major program.

A McMahon commitment seemed inevitable after U of L's staff, which has evaluated him the past month, watched him again Thursday night and invited him to join the team. His father told The Courier-Journal late Thursday night - after Ryan's 32-point performance in an overtime playoff win - that his son could make a decision as early as Friday, and that turned out to be the case.

He's U of L's fourth pledge in the 2015 class and far and away the least well-known or nationally lauded of the group. McMahon, a 6-foot-1 player for Cardinal Mooney High School who's known for his long-range shooting, is rated four stars and the No. 42 shooting guard nationally by ESPN.com.

McMahon is averaging 27 points and shooting 52 percent from 3-point range, according to the Bradenton Herald.

Story continues after the video

He's been praised by ESPN's Dick Vitale, who lives near Sarasota and has watched him play.

"He's much more than a three-point shooter, but that's where his biggest threat on the floor lies, the ability to make that shot, which is going to create driving lines and open post play," said ESPN.com recruiting analyst Paul Biancardi, who's watched three of McMahon's games on film. "And he's not afraid to take it. He's got a good pull-up jumper, and he's smart when he gets to the rim. When he gets to the rim, he knows that at his size, it's hard to finish sometimes, and he does a great job of driving to the rim, then kicking it out. He's got a very good basketball IQ."

As of Thursday night, McMahon hadn't been given a star rating by Scout.com, Rivals or 247Sports.com, and until the Cards began recruiting him, he wasn't necessarily regarded as a major-college prospect.

McMahon tweeted the news of his commitment early Friday afternoon.

On Thursday night, in a Twitter direct message, he wrote that he felt "very blessed" to receive the U of L offer.

"They see something in me that not a lot of other people can see," he said. "I'm just trying to take it all in right now and discuss everything with my family."

In a phone interview late Thursday night, his father, Dave, made it clear that U of L, which hosted McMahon on an official visit two weeks ago, was in position to land a commitment from his son.

Asked in a phone interview if the Cards are his son's favorite, Dave McMahon said, "Oh, God, yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely."

"They've been very good and very gracious, and they pull no punches," Dave McMahon continued. "That's a winning program, and that's what they expect to do for whoever they bring on. It's all about winning. That's a good thing. As a father, it's humbling, it's great."

Although he didn't have an offer at the time, McMahon visited Louisville two weekends ago to watch U of L's victory over North Carolina. That was a day after Rick Pitino came to watch him play.

Ryan McMahon said on Feb. 2 right after his trip to U of L that the coaches said they wanted to see him one or two more times in person before deciding whether to make an offer. The Cards had assistant coaches on hand Thursday for his game in the regional quarterfinals and evidently saw what they needed to see.

He joins guard Donovan Mitchell, wing Deng Adel and power forward Raymond Spalding, all of whom are rated five stars by at least one major site, in U of L's 2015 class. Since November, Pitino has expressed a desire to add at least one more backcourt player to the group, and McMahon emerged recently as a realistic target.

"They have specific needs and what they look for based on what they're doing this year and all of that," Dave McMahon said Thursday night. "But Ryan's skill set is obviously to stretch the defense, great vision, and I think that's obviously that's something they're looking at for him is to put the ball in the hole from deep."

Asked how many other offers his son has, Dave McMahon responded, "The thing is I don't even worry about that. At the end of the day, it's Louisville, you know? It's Louisville. One thing you know about Louisville is that it's about family, and you're all in when you're at Louisville and you're all in to everything Louisville is, and that's a privilege and an honor. It's just very humbling to be offered by Coach Pitino. That's a humbling feeling as a dad."

Biancardi said he was first told about McMahon by Vitale, the first time in Biancardi's six years at ESPN that Vitale ever called to tell him he should give a high school prospect a look. Biancardi believes McMahon will need to improve on defense but thinks he's tough-minded and can be a contributor on offense at the highest levels of college ball.

"He's a gifted shooter, and I think when you look at the game today, there's not a lot of guys that are shooting the ball at a high clip," Biancardi said. "... I think he's going to really help in that area. He's a tough kid, which I think will get him over the hump in the high-level play of the ACC

Biancardi added: "Who doesn't need a shooter, right? Who doesn't need somebody who can make open shots or make people play him and open up the floor for other people? You have to guard him because here's the thing: There are a lot of guys who can shoot it, but there are a lot of guys who are afraid to shoot it. This guy's not afraid."



Dave McMahon, who is a Cardinal Mooney assistant coach, credited his son's work ethic for getting him to the point that he's worthy of a U of L offer.

"You can teach someone how to dribble and how to shoot, but quite frankly, they have to be in empty gyms doing that," he said. "They have to be in the gyms working on those skill sets to become the players they want to become, and he's never faltered from putting in the time to be very good. If everything works out with Louisville, they're going to get a kid that works extremely hard in and out of the classroom. I don't care if it's my kid or someone else's I've got a lot of respect for that."

Dave McMahon said U of L's family atmosphere stood out to him during his son's visit two weeks ago.

"I walked away going, 'You go to a university like this, they take care of you,'" he said. "Everything's done the right way with the intent on winning. It's really cool to see."

Pitino spent Thursday night watching Class of 2016 five-star wing Tyus Battle in New Jersey.