Rick Pitino suggested in a radio interview Tuesday that Louisville basketball won't add any new players to its 2017-18 roster if sophomore Deng Adel removes his name from the NBA draft pool and returns to school.

That implies U of L is not expecting to pick up graduate transfer Mark Alstork, a former Wright State star wing who is planning to visit Louisville on May 17 and make a transfer decision three days later. Alstork, a 6-foot-5 wing, is also considering Georgetown, Illinois, Louisiana State, Pittsburgh and South Carolina.

The Cards have an open scholarship after Donovan Mitchell opted to hire an agent, forgo his final two years at U of L and stay in the draft pool. The 6-foot-7 Adel is widely expected to come back for his junior year.

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"If Deng comes back, which I'm 99-percent sure he is, I probably won't use (the open scholarship)," Pitino said. " ... We've got enough players to compete. I'm very bullish on the basketball team because we're very, very athletic."

Pitino said he plans to use Adel in the shooting guard spot, where Mitchell played and Alstork would play, this coming season. That would presumably make room at small forward for rising sophomore V.J. King, a former McDonald's All-American, and former Manual High star Dwayne Sutton, who will be eligible to play after sitting out this past season due to NCAA transfer rules.

"We've got a really nice team coming back," Pitino said. "It's not a surprise that (Mitchell) left, but I'm not concerned about it. I would be really concerned about it if our frontcourt was weak. But we'll be a top-20 team again."

Pitino made the comments in a brief interview on WHAS-840 with Terry Meiners, who caught up with U of L's coach after he played in a 55-and-over men's basketball league in Miami. Pitino scored nine points from three 3-pointers in his Masters Basketball Association debut on Tuesday.

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Incoming point guard Darius Perry figures to get significant minutes backing up Adel, King and Quentin Snider, and Perry's fellow freshmen – Jordan Nwora, Lance Thomas and Malik Williams – are all strong candidates to play key roles this coming season.

Anas Mahmoud and Ray Spalding are the only two frontcourt players expected to return this coming season for Louisville.

"This'll be my first year (at U of L) that freshmen have to have a big impact," Pitino said.