The No. 4 overall recruit in the class of 2025, Nate Ament, recently pushed his commitment announcement back to an unknown date. However, in the latest update reported by 247sports' Travis Branham, basketball fans might find out his school shortly.
Ament is a dream target for the Cardinals' nation as he is the perfect player to play with Kelsey's three additions from the transfer portal. At 6-foot-9, the power forward is ranked as the No. 2 power forward in the class of 2025 and can take over and score at an elite level.
Ament was supposed to make his announcement on April 1 at the McDonald's All-American game at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., but the uncertainty in the unanimous 5-star prospect caused him to push his decision back. It was a crushing update for the Cardinals fans that day as it came out that Duke and Arkansas leapfrogged the Cardinals as the new favorites. Now, in the latest update by Branham, the worries reach an all-time high in Ament's recruiting process.
Latest Nate Ament Update Spells Trouble for Louisville basketball
The final schools Ament will decide from is Duke, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Louisville. The Cardinals were reportedly the favorites to land the 5-star phenom back in February, and Louisville nation was dreaming of the duo of Mikel Brown Jr., and Nate Ament.
Six-time NBA All-Star and Louisville legend Donovan Mitchell even made a massive pitch to Ament on why Louisville should be his choice, but in Branham's latest update, it seems Mitchell's efforts weren't enough.
"Right now, I still give the slight, very slight edge to Duke at this moment," Branaham stated on the 247Sports College Basketball Show. "But, the team I'm looking at behind them now is Tennessee. Sounds like Tennessee has made up some ground and Louisville has now lost ground in this recruitment, with Kentucky now in third as the dark horse of this recruitment."
Related: 3 Biggest threats for Louisville to land elite 5-star prospect Nate Ament
The Cardinals seem to have lost all momentum in this crucial recruiting process. Branaham is reporting Duke to be the favorite still, but now Tennessee is the second-favorite, with the Cardinals rival, Kentucky Wildcats, as the "darkhorse" and the third favorite to land Ament. Branaham doesn't report on Arkansas, but Paul Biancardi of ESPN reported on April 1 that Arkansas jumped the Cardinals and was one of Ament's top choices.
So, with Branaham reporting that Tennessee and Kentucky have now jumped Louisville, Kelsey and his Cardinals might be out of this race. The Cardinals' offseason appears to be a perfect recruiting mechanism to land Ament, as the Cardinals' roster is built perfectly for Ament. Louisville brought in three elite sharpshooters, including the 5-star prospect, Adrian Wooley.
Branaham's update informed everyone that he expects Ament to announce his new commitment date shortly now that the college basketball season is officially over after the Florida Gators secured the 2025 National Championship.
"It seems like there's been a little bit of movement now that the seasons are all officially over," Branham stated on Ament's recruiting update. "I would expect that we probably get a re-set commitment date here pretty soon."
Hearing that Louisville is out of the race is devastating, but many already knew this. After the last update, it seemed unlikely that the Cardinals would land Ament. With this latest update, Kelsey and his staff will now shift their focus to bringing back the elite power forward Kaseasn Pryor.
Pryor would be a massive return for Louisville. The power forward averaged 12 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.1 blocks while shooting 36.8 percent from the floor in his seven games with the Cardianls last season before his season-ending injury.
Stay tuned for all the latest on Nate Ament and Louisville basketball's offseason.