UPDATE (5:56 P.M.): Doug Lesmerises of cleveland.com reports Trey Lewis will head to Louisville and not Ohio State.
Cleveland State transfer Trey Lewis headed to Louisville, according to source.
— Doug Lesmerises (@DougLesmerises) April 6, 2015
UPDATE (6:30 P.M.): Jeff Greer of the Louisville Courier-Journal, however, reports Lewis has not yet made a decision in regards to a transfer, citing Lewis' high school coach and a source at Louisville.
Trey Lewis has not made any transfer decisions yet, per his HS coach Sonny Johnson. Louisville source corroborates that.
— Jeff Greer (@jeffgreer_cj) April 6, 2015
UPDATE (1:30 P.M. TUESDAY): Trey Lewis announced Tuesday he will be transferring to Louisville. Lewis held a press conference at his former high school in Cleveland to announce his decision.
One of the most sought-after transfers in the country reportedly has interest in coming to Ohio State.
Trey Lewis, a graduate transfer from Cleveland State, will visit Columbus this week, according to Anthony Lima of 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland. Lewis also has interest in Louisville, Xavier, Texas and UConn, according to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman.
Ex-Cleveland State Viking Trey Lewis heading to Columbus for a visit over next few days. Hearing it's down to Louisville and Ohio State
— Anthony Lima (@SportsBoyTony) April 6, 2015
Lewis, a 6-foot-2 guard, was the Vikings’ leading scorer this season, averaging 16.1 points per game. He also set a school record for 3-pointers in a season with 93. He’s set to graduate at the end of this semester, so he would be eligible to play immediately — with one year of eligibility remaining — should he choose to transfer.
If he winds up picking the Buckeyes, Ohio State would be over the scholarship limit as it stands. The Buckeyes have eight returning scholarship players on their roster and have an incoming freshman class that includes five. That puts Ohio State right at the 13-scholarship limit.
There are several options to accommodate Lewis, though. The most obvious and likely scenario would be if D’Angelo Russell opts to declare for the NBA Draft. Russell, projected by most as a top-five pick should he declare, has until April 26 to make that decision.
Should Russell surprise people and return, though, the Buckeyes would have to find another way to get under the scholarship limit if they want to land Lewis.
A second option would be for a current player on the Buckeyes' roster to transfer.
Finally, a third option would be for former walk-on Jake Lorbach to return to that status. He was given a scholarship by the Ohio State staff during the second semester of this school year. It remains unclear if that scholarship was just for this season or if it included next year — Lorbach’s final year of eligibility — as well.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Lewis visited the Cardinals last week and "loved" his time on campus.
"He loved Louisville. What's not to like about Louisville and Rick Pitino?" Lewis' high school coach Sonny Johnson told the Courier-Journal. "It's been a heck of a process — it just started — and he'll talk to his family. With one year to go, he's got to make the right decision."
Lewis, who is a Cleveland native, played his first season of college basketball at Penn State before transferring to Cleveland State. Should he choose to transfer, it would mean the Vikings have lost their leading scorer to a transfer for two-straight seasons. Last year's leading scorer, Bryn Forbes, left to play at Michigan State and was one of the Spartans' key cogs in their run to the Final Four this season.
