Louisville basketball's crushing 5-star update came with glorious silver lining

The Louisville basketball team officially found out that their 5-star dream target from the class of 2025 committed elsewhere. Joe Tipton of On3 Sports officially reported that the 5-star phenom Nate Ament will play for the Tennessee Volunteers next year.

Ament was the best player available in the class of 2025. The 5-star recruit is ranked as the No. 4 overall player and the No. 2 power forward in the class. The Cardinals were one of five remaining teams in Ament's final five schools as Tennessee won this intense recruiting battle over Louisville, Duke, Kentucky, and Arkansas.

The 6-foot-10 wing was a perfect target for Pat Kelsey's Cardinals roster, but this was expected as Travis Branham reported his official prediction a few days ago, and he was spot on as he predicted the Volunteers to land Ament. Branham is 94 percent accurate with his Crystal Ball predictions.

Louisville basketball's crushing 5-star update came with glorious silver lining

The 5-star McDonald All-American is projected to be a future lottery draft pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. While many Cardinal fans already saw this coming, it still stings.

Louisville was projected to land Ament in February, but after a couple of months, it was reported the Cardinals lost a lot of ground and were jumped by the other four schools. Kelsey and his staff made it clear that the transfer portal was their No. 1 priority as they went out to get three elite playmakers from the portal.

Ament was a perfect fit to play with 5-star commits Mikel Brown Jr. and Adrian Wooley, but it is now clear that the Cardinals must switch their focus and get an elite forward for that final scholarship spot.

A clear No. 1 target for Louisville will be to bring Kasean Pryor back to the Cardinals after he tore his ACL in seven games. The USF transfer averaged 12.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.1 blocks in his seven games with the Cardinals last season.

It stings that Ament will not be in a red and black uniform, but on the plus, he also won't be in a white and blue Duke Blue Devils uniform. So, while this wasn't great news for the Cardinals, it had some upside because he will not be playing in the ACC next year.

Duke was projected to land Ament throughout most of this recruiting battle. Suddenly, Tennessee skyrocketed past nearly every program and landed this 5-star elite power forward. The Cardinals fans knew they wouldn't get him, so they see this now as almost a win, as their ACC rival will not have him either.

Louisville and Duke are two top programs in the ACC and the nation. Both schools are in the majority of the top 10 way-too-early rankings, so it was good to hear he won't be joining the Blue Devils.