Louisville Basketball: Four Star Guard Commits, and other Recruiting News & Notes

Even though the Louisville basketball program got back into the gym for summer workouts on Wednesday, that hasn’t stopped the news from pouring in on the recruiting trail. The Cards have several big offers out to several interested elite prospects, and big visits ahead.

Chris Mack came on as the new Louisville basketball coach almost exactly two months ago, and since then has been extremely hard at work on recruiting for both the 2018-19 season, and in the class of 2019,

With over 20+ offers out to recruits from all over the country, several of them being four and five star guys, the Cards are beginning to book visits and really hone in on who they want to join the program next season.

Though the recruiting in the class of 2018 hasn’t gone the way the staff would have liked, that hasn’t stopped them from building relationships and attending events, in attempt to land big time players for 2019.

We break down all the news that’s come out over the past two weeks, and get you up to date on all things Louisville basketball recruiting.

4-star guard Josh Nickelberry becomes Chris Mack’s first high school commitment

Chris Mack and the Louisville basketball program got HUGE news, somewhat out of nowhere yesterday, when four star guard Josh Nickelberry committed to the Cards. With his decision to play for the Cardinals, he became the first high school recruit to commit to Louisville in the new Chris Mack era.

https://twitter.com/BarstoolCards/status/1002365667964833792

In recent weeks, the crystal ball for Nickelberry seemed to be trending Louisville’s way, especially after he visited the Louisville campus three weeks ago. This is a huge pick up for the Cards, as Nickelberry is a very talented, and big guard, who will help to usher in a new era for Chris Mack. Hailing from Fayetteville, North Carolina, the 6’4 guard averaged 24 points, 7 rebounds, and six assists per game during his junior season at Northwood Temple Academy.

Shortly after commiting, Nickelberry spoke with ESPN recruiting analyst Jeff Borzello and praised the recruiting efforts of Chris Mack and the Louisville staff. He said;

"“I believe in what Coach Mack is preaching about the program he will be building,.I want to be the first guy to get things going in the right direction.”"

Nickelberry is a consensus top 65 player in the class of 2019 across all major recruiting services. He is ranked the 64th best player in the country according to Rivals, while ESPN lists him as 42nd best player in their top 60 rankings.. The big guard from Fayetteville is known as being one of, if not the best shooters, in the entire 2019 class.

The Cards still have at least five open scholarships for next season, depending on how things shake out over the coming weeks with the class of 2018. The team has no seniors this season aside from Christen Cunningham, and potentially Akoy Agau, who could be nearing a commitment to the Cards.

5-star big man Isaiah Stewart names Louisville in top 10

You can’t talk about the best big men in the class of 2019 without mentioning one Isaiah Stewart. The 6’9, 230 pound power forward  who’s built like a friggin’ tank, is down to 10, which includes several ACC foes such as Syracuse, Duke, and Notre Dame. Stewart currently is playing on the Nike EYBL circuit, and plans to start taking visits soon, one of which will likely be to Louisville. The 5 star big big man told Evans Daniels that he was recruited hard by the staff at Xavier, and since they’ve been at Louisville it hasn’t stopped. “I  have a good relationship with coach [Luke] Murray and coach Mack as well,” he said.

Louisville desperately needs to add a big man in the class of 2019, as Steve Enoch, the only true big man on the current roster, will be heading into his senior season in 2019-20.

Cards offer Jordan Lathon; no visit scheduled yet

A big bombshell in the class of 2018 was dropped on Friday afternoon when four star guard Jordan Lathon was let out of his scholarship to Northwestern, after being denied by the Big Ten school. Shortly after the announcement was made, Chris Mack and his staff reached out to Lathon, offering him a scholarship and expressing interest in adding the guard to the roster next season.

Lathon told CardinalAuthority.com, that he really wanted to make a visit to Louisville, but since we haven’t heard much on if that could hapen. There’s been quite a bit of speculation as to why Lathon was denied entry to Northwestern, a school that is not known for landing big time talent, especially after he was expected to push for big minutes in his freshman season. Is it related to academics? Is it something more? Either way, Chris Mack will need to do some homework on this kid before pursuing him any further.

We wrote about Lathon earlier this week, and how big of an impact he could have on the 2018-19 roster, especially with Louisville only having a few guards for next season. Not only is he a big, strong, athletic guard, but he has the size and versatility that Mack looks for in his system on both ends of the floor,and he can also play multiple positions.

Rumors have been circulating that Lathon wants to be a Cardinal, so it’ll be interesting to see how things play out over the coming days. I would imagine visits will be planned shortly, and a decision will follow shortly.

Jahmius Ramsey to visit Louisville this weekend

Louisville is expected to receive an official visit from IMG Academy’s Jahmius Ramsey this weekend, according to CardinalAuthority.com. The four star combo guard, who was offered shortly after Chris Mack arrived in Louisville, is being pursued heavily by the Cardinal staff and is expected to be a top target. Ramsey is capable of playing the one, two, and three spots, but is expected to play point guard wherever he lands. Shortly after offering Ramsey, the Cards were three deep in Indianapolis at the Nike EYBL circuit event, showing how big of a priority the talented guard is to them.

The Cards will lose graduate transfer Christen Cunningham headed into the 2019-20 season, while Ryan McMahon will be going into his senior season. Adding depth and getting guards who fit the Chris Mack system will be crucial on the recruiting cycle for the Cardinals.

Orlando Robinson lists Louisville in top 4, plans visit

List cutting and commitments are beginning to become more and more frequent with the class of 2019 recruits. One of them who recently cut their list of schools to four is 3 star big man Orlando Robinson, who is from Los Angeles, California. The 6’9, 210 rising big man narrowed his list to Oregon State, Fresno State, Georgia Tech, and the Cards. Chris Mack and staff offered Robinson after a big showing this spring on the AAU circuit and at a handful of camps. But with Robinson hailing from the west coast, it was interesting to see the Cards in his final four.

As mentioned, Robinson is a rising big man, who wasn’t on the radar of a lot of big schools until this past spring. He has quite a bit of skill, but will need to add muscle/strength, before landing on campus. Robinson will be visiting Louisville in September according to recruiting analyst Jake Weingarten, which should give the staff a good chance to land him for the 2019-20 season.

Louisville Offers Seth Lundy & Aundre Hyatt

Two other big time prospects that have been offered by Chris Mack and the Cardinals over the last few weeks are four star wing Seth Lundy and guard Aundre Hyatt, both of whom are from the 2019 class.

The Cards offered Lundy on May 9th, and are expecting to receive a visit from the four star, 6’5 forward in the coming weeks. Lundy is apparently very high on the Cards, according to multiple outlets. Lundy is also being pursued heavily by Oregon, VIllanova, Virginia, and Florida according to Rivals.

Another 2019 player who the Cards have expressed a lot of interest in is 4 star guard Aundre Hyatt from Charlottesville, Virginia. The big 6’6 guard, who plays on the AAU Circuit with Boo Williams, recently announced that he would be graduating early from high school, meaning he could be eligible to play in 2018. However, he hasn’t decided whether he will go straight to college after graduation, or spend a year in post-grad working on his game and body. Hyatt is being pursued by a litany of schools, but seems at this point to be leaning towards playing his college ball at Pittsburgh.

Chris Mack and staff will have their work cut out for them if they plan on nabbing Hyatt, but what they offer that Pittsburgh can’t, is the opportunity to play at a big time ACC program that is in a place to win right away and offer big minutes.

Hyatt is an extremely athletic, and high scoring guard, who instantly would demand minutes out of the gate for the Cards. With only VJ King and Jordan Nwora on the win, Hyatt would be a huge boost to the 2018-19 roster, if Mack and staff can get the job done.

Cards express interest in grad transfer Jadon Cohee

Last but not least, the Cards have recently shown interest in graduate transfer Jadon Cohee. We put together a “transfer wish list” last month, and the Southern Utah guard was included at the time, not knowing that the Cards may have interest.

Cohee, who averaged 12.6 ppg for Southern Utah in the 2017-18 season, will have one year of eligibility remaining and will be eligible to play right away. Other than the report from Jeff Borzello, there’s been no word from Cohee or Louisville on what the interest level might be. The Cards are very thin in the back court this season, and adding a veteran guard like Cohee could prove to be beneficial, even after the addition of Christen Cunningham.

Coming from a small school like Southern Utah, there’s no way to tell how well Cohee would adjust in the ACC against some of the best competition in the NCAA. But the 6’3 guard, is known for being a scorer, finishing last season with 21 games of scoring 10+ points, and scoring 20 points or more on five occasions.

Next: Brian Bowen, Villainized By Many, Would Be a Feel Good Story in the NBA

Expect there to be plenty more recruiting news over the next few weeks, and Big Red Louie will be right here to provide you everything you need to know relating to the Cards.