Louisville basketball is coming off a dominant Transfer Portal and recruiting run, as Pat Kelsey has the Cardinals No. 5 overall for their portal and 2026 recruiting additions. The Cards landed a pair of 5-stars in Flory Bidunga and Obinna Ekezie Jr, and a couple more former 5-stars from the portal in Jackson Shelstad and Karter Knox.
Louisville and Kentucky collide in heated recruiting battle for nation’s No. 1 recruit
Now, Kelsey will try to carry that recruiting momentum into the 2027 class, as he has been actively involved early on. He has hosted unofficial visits, and assistant coaches have visited players and watched recruits, but with Kentucky recently landing 5-star small forward Ryan Hampton, the pressure is now on Kelsey and Louisville to avoid a nightmare situation.
Louisville basketball can’t let Kentucky win race for No. 1 recruit
On Sunday afternoon, Louisville fans learned that Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats had landed the 5-star small forward. Hampton ranks as high as No. 1 among small forwards and No. 6 overall in the 2027 recruiting class.
Now, with the Wildcats already landing an elite 5-star like Hampton, Pope and Kentucky will try to build off that and create an elite 2027 class. Louisville and Kelsey, of course, want to avoid a situation like that, and one player the two programs are targeting and in a recruiting battle for is the No. 1 overall recruit, CJ Rosser.
It was recently reported that Louisville and Kentucky were towards the top of Rosser’s list, and now the battle for the unanimous 5-star just got even bigger. Kentucky will want to create a dominant duo with Rosser and Hampton, while Kelsey and Louisville will try to pair Rosser with his former high school teammate, Obinna Ekezie Jr.
Ekezie was formerly ranked No. 2 in the 2027 recruiting class, behind Rosser, but the Cardinal commit reclassed to the 2026 class. If he returns for his sophomore season, Louisville has a golden opportunity to pair the two 5-stars at the college level.
With Kentucky and Pope beginning to figure things out on the recruiting side, as they landed Milan Momcilovic and then just landed Hampton, Kelsey, and Louisville will need to try to have an answer.
Rosser visited both Louisville and Kentucky earlier this year, as he attended the SMU game in Louisville and the Oklahoma game in Kentucky. The 6-foot-10, 200-pound forward attends Southeastern Prep and averaged 16.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, 1.1 steals, and 1.3 assists per game this past season.
He has received over 17 offers, and in addition to Louisville and Kentucky, other major programs making a strong push for the 5-star are North Carolina, Miami, Alabama, and Arkansas. Rosser ranks as high as No. 1 among power forwards and No. 1 overall in the 2027 recruiting class.
He has taken five unofficial visits so far, so this isn’t just a battle between Louisville and Kentucky, but with the Wildcats landing Hampton, Kelsey and the Cards have to make sure Kentucky doesn’t get the No. 1 overall recruit as well now.
Also read: Louisville basketball has an obvious No. 1 target after 5-star Ryan Hampton update
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