Louisville basketball still in the mix for elite 4-star ahead of next week’s commitment

2026 four-star forward Colben Landrew is set to announce his commitment next week, but on Thursday, he narrowed down a group of six finalists. Pat Kelsey will have to pay close attention on October 15 because Louisville was featured along with UConn, Purdue, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M. 

Landrew is the 28th-ranked player in the 2026 class according to 247Sports Composite. The 6-foot-6, 205-pound product of Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia, has long been a target of the Cardinals, but now he may be Kelsey’s biggest prize in the 2026 class. 

Colben Landrew is a top priority with Tyran Stokes trending toward Kentucky

Kelsey entered the 2026 recruiting cycle with two clear five-star priorities, Tyran Stokes and Taylen Kinney. Kinney committed to Kansas early in the cycle, spurning the Cardinals in the process, and now it appears that Stokes is set to do the same. 

Stokes is the No. 1 player in the country and a Louisville native. He, like Landrew, has included the Cardinals in his finalists. However, Stokes recently inked an NIL deal with Nike, which drastically decreases the probability of him signing with the Cardinals over Nike schools, Kentucky, or Oregon. So, staring down the possibility of missing out on both Stokes and Kinney, Landrew’s commitment has suddenly become massive for Kelsey’s program. 

Kelsey rebuilt through the transfer portal, spearheading a 19-win improvement in Year 1 with veterans like Chucky Hepburn. Still, even with another great portal class making up the foundation of his 2025-26 roster, he hasn’t neglected high school recruiting—five-star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. is set to replace Hepburn at point guard. 

Adding high school talent has been important to Kelsey, who is attempting to strike the right balance between experience and youthful talent to contend for national championships at Louisville. Landrew, though, unlike Brown, Stokes, and Kinney, could be a multi-year project for the Cardinals. 

The big-bodied four-star is an impressive athlete with a background on the football field, but he’s still developing as an off-the-dribble shooter. His size and length will allow him to play up and down the lineup, and if he comes along as a ball-handler, he could be a grab-and-go playmaking wing, but it’s not a certainty that he’ll have that impact from Day 1. 

So, it’s not a surprise that he’s targeted programs with developmentally-minded head coaches such as UConn and Purdue. And recruiting against Dan Hurley and Matt Painter presents a whole different challenge from attempting to best Kansas or Kentucky for a five-star.