It is no secret that Pat Kelsey has flipped this Louisville basketball program around, and brought the Cardinals back to life.
Kelsey is bringing elite recruiting to Louisville basketball as they are currently ranked No. 9, for the class of 2025 college basketball recruitment, due to their 5-star commit, Mikel Brown Jr. Brown has a recruiting score of 98.78, and is ranked eight overall in the class of 2025 according to On3 Sports.
Brown is a 5-star across all recruiting platforms as he is the nation's No. 7 player in the Class of 2025 and the No. 2 point guard, according to 247Sports, and No. 11 in ESPN's 100. Cardinals are also one of the front runners for the 2025 No.4 recruit, Nate Ament.
According to On3Sports, Joe Tipton, Louisville basketball team is in the running to get two of the top-five recruits in Tyran Stokes and Jordan Smith Jr.
Tyran Stokes trending towards Louisville basketball
Stokes and Smith Jr., are both consensus 5-star prospects, and Joe Tipton says there is reason for optimism for Cardinal fans on their two All-American prospects. On3Sports gives the Cardinals a dominant 66.8% chance to land the consensus No.1 overall prospect, Tyran Stokes. Kentucky has the second highest chance according to this prediction with a 1.9% chance of landing Stokes.
Joe Tipton is a National basketball reporter for On3 Sports, and is one of the most reliable college basketball recruiting reporters. Tipton was on 93.9 The Ville couple days ago and gave an update on Louisville basketball recruiting.
“Tyran Stokes is a Louisville native and the number one guy in the 2026 class, he’s a guy to keep an eye on for Louisville." Tipton stated on the radio. "Jordan Smith Jr. out of Virginia is another top guy in 2026 class who’s already been on campus.”
.@TiptonEdits “Tyran Stokes is a Louisville native and the number one guy in the 2026 class, he’s a guy to keep an eye on for Louisville. Jordan Smith Jr. out of Virginia is another top guy in 2026 class who’s already been on campus.”
— Louisville Sports Live (@LvilleSprtsLive) February 5, 2025
The nations No. 1 overall recruit for 2026, Tyran Tokes, is born and raised from Louisville, Ky., before he moved to play basketball for Notre Dame High School, in Sherman Oaks, Calif. Stokes is a power forward, who stands tall at 6-foot-7 and 230 lbs. and combination of his size and power give him unlimited potential.
Stokes has already made one official visit to Louisville back in October of 2024. Stokes played in the Team USA U17 World Cup over the summer, and demonstrated his potential and skill. He has the ability to fill up the stat sheet as he averaged 12.3 points, seven rebounds, and 5.6 assists,1.9 steals and 1.1 blocks in the World Cup tournament.
Stokes made the All-Second Team in the World Cup tournament, as his seven rebounds a game was the 13th highest average, and 5.6 assists per game was third best of the tournament. Stokes also won the gold medal at the 2023 FIBA Americas U16 Championship.
As for Jordan Smith Jr., he comes in as a consensus top 6 recruit for the class of 2026, and is the No.1 ranked shooting guard of the elite class. Smith is a shooting guard out of Fairfax, Va. and is 6-foot-2 and 195 lbs. Tipton reported he has already made one visit t Louisville and is another name to look out for.
On3Sports gives the Cardinals a 11.1% chance to land the nations top shooting guard, but like noted by Tipton, he has been on campus and if Cardinals can land Stokes, then the rest of these elite recruits will start flooding in to Pat Kelsey and his Louisville Cardinals.
Pat Kelsey was hired back in March of 2024, and he instantly made his mark as he brought in 13 transfers, including Oscar Robertson finalist, Chucky Hepburn.
Pat Kelsey has his eyes on an All-American duo, and while landing Jordan Smith Jr.,seems to be a tall task, Louisville basketball seems to be in the clear lead to land the nations consensuns No.1 overall recruit, Tyran Stokes.