Louisville basketball receives gut-wrenching update on 5-star Taylen Kinney

Louisville basketball has many recruits and targets in the 2026 recruiting class, but without a doubt, Louisville's No. 1 point guard and one of their top targets is 5-star Taylen Kinney. The Cardinals recently learned that his commitment date is on September 28, after he cut his list down to just six schools, putting the Cardinals in a massive recruiting battle with Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Oregon, and Arkansas.

Louisville fans are anxiously holding their breath on this target, as he has been the fans' favorite target for quite some time now. The Kentucky native is one of the best players in the 2026 class, and many experts thought the Cardinals were nearly a lock to land his commitment early in the summer. However, Rivals Joe Tipton just gave Louisville fans the biggest gut-wrenching update.

Related: Louisville fans holding breath as 5-star dream PG commitment date revealed

Louisville basketball falling behind with Tay Kinney

Tipton is one of the biggest high school and college basketball recruiting reporters. He is known to be one of the top guys to break the news and report when someone cuts their list down or commits to a program. Well, he also likes to log some predictions, and he has a good track record when he does so.

Well, while Tipton thought Louisville was a lock and the dominant favorite earlier this summer, Kinney's visit to Kansas led to the Cardinals losing their lead. Tipton quickly reported that the Jayhawks are trending to steal Kinney from the Cardinals and might have even jumped Louisville for the 5-star point guard. And now the highly respected reporter has just logged a prediction, predicting that Kinney will commit to the Kansas Jayhawks over Louisville.

While his confidence level is just at 60 percent, it speaks volumes that he is confident enough to log a prediction. These reporters wouldn't predict if they didn't know something, and with Tipton predicting Kansas, that shows how much of a lead they have at the moment.

Kelsey is doing all that he can to get his point guard, but it is clear that Bill Self and the Jayhawks are the new favorite, and they might have a dominant lead. The Cardinals fans are heartbroken by this update and beginning to fear that they will actually miss out on one of their two top targets in the 2026 class.

If this update is true, Louisville must land the No. 1 recruit in the class and Louisville native Tyran Stokes. Striking out on both of Kentucky's top players in the class would be a crushing blow, especially with Stokes being a hometown kid.

The Cardinals appear to have lost a lot of ground on the coveted 5-star point guard and Kentucky native. Hopefully, Kelsey can pull off a miracle and sway Kinney back to Louisville, but right now it looks like Kansas has taken control of the race.

Related: Louisville must land this 5-star recruit or Cardinals will face major consequences

For all the latest on Louisville basketball's offseason and recruiting, stay tuned.