Louisville Cardinals news: Rumblings in recruiting, more

The Louisville Cardinals men’s basketball team in the inaugural season for Head Coach Kenny Payne is something all players, staff, and fans are having to endure. The joy of being ranked in the AP Top 25 is so far out of reach it seems extraplanetary. With Louisville’s most recent loss to the ACC-leading Clemson Tigers, the Cardinals now sit with a record of 2-15.

Louisville has 14 games left in the regular season, but all eyes are already shifting towards the future. Regardless of the production on the court, it is very evident that the coaching staff is active on the recruiting front. There are two players in the Class of 2023 who have already signed their National Letter of Intent in Indiana’s Kaleb Glenn and Michigan’s Curtis Williams Jr.

Both of these athletes are four-star recruits and have shown their excitement to breathe life into the program once again.

Kaleb Glenn is the number 2 overall prospect in the Class of 2023 coming out of the state of Indiana. Curtis Williams Jr. is the number 1 overall prospect in the Class of 2023 coming out of the state of Michigan. Head Coach Kenny Payne and Assistant Coach Nolan Smith are making waves in the recruiting world, and show be given credit for their successes thus far.

Trentyn Flowers

With both of those athletes already locked up for the 2023 off-season, the primary buzz in the recruiting world is coming out of the Class of 2024. Recently, five-star combo guard Trentyn Flowers, out of Charlotte, North Carolina narrowed his list of schools he’s considering to five and one of them was Louisville.

The Cardinals joined the likes of the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Arkansas Razorbacks, and the Creighton Bluejays. Flowers woud be the first five-star recruit to come to Louisville in the Kenny Payne era.

Carter Bryant

Carter Bryant is a five-star small forward out of Newport Coast, California. He was reportedly on a visit to Louisville in early November of last year, and judging from his recruiting profiles, it appears Arizona, Gonzaga, and Louisville are the top three teams vying for his services.

The 6-foot-8, 220-lb. forward recently posted an Instagram story with a woman in the view of the camera that was wearing a Louisville sweatshirt, according to Louisville Twitter’s BaxleyRJR. Bryant has been creating some serious buzz in favor of the Louisville Cardinals over the past few months and would be a huge addition to this team should he decide to don the red and black.

Dontae Russo-Nance

Dontae Russo-Nance is a native of New Zealand and has been playing basketball since the age of three. His success on the court has translated at all levels as he has three National Championships in three different age groups.

By the age of 16, he joined the Auckland Tuatara Huskies of the National Basketball League (NBL) in New Zealand. This is the same league that propelled LaMelo Ball to the NBA during his time on the Illawarra Hawks.

After just one season with the Huskies, he decided to join the NBA player Factory otherwise known as Oak Hill Academy. Almost as soon as he arrived on campus, he received offers from Division I programs in the double digits. While he may not have received an offer from Louisville just yet, it appears he has been in contact a lot with Head Coach Kenny Payne and had this to say about their relationship:

"“They’ve [Louisville] come to the last few practices. One practice I was able to train, and the other I wasn’t. The head coach came over last week and we just had a good talk about the school, the program, and all of that. I feel like our connection is getting stronger each day.”"

It appears Kenny Payne and staff are off to a great start for the Class of 2024 and now they have no outstanding restrictions to hold them back from filling their roster with talent.

Other Louisville Cardinals News 

Louisville Basketball

Former Louisville standout Montrezl Harrell recently hinted at the possibility that Louisville will hang the banner from the 2013 National Championship team.

Former Louisville standout and NBA star Donovan Mitchell has been going off for the Cleveland Cavaliers this year and recently shined in an outing against his former team, the Utah Jazz. Mitchell put up 46 points after a recent 71-point performance.