Louisville basketball recently learned that one of its top targets in the 2026 cycle, Taylen Kinney, will make his commitment on September 28. The 5-star point guard is a Kentucky native and cut his list to just six schools, making it appear Louisville is in a massive recruiting battle with Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon, Indiana, and Arkansas.
It is also well-known that Louisville's clear No. 1 target in the 2026 class is the consensus No. 1 overall prospect and Louisville native Tyran Stokes. The 5-star forward hasn't updated his list or provided much insight into his recruiting process, but many recruiting experts believe that Louisville, Kentucky, and Kansas are the top three as of now.
Well, as the massive fall commitment date creeps up on college basketball fans, and September 28 creeps closer for Louisville, the Cardinals and Pat Kelsey decided to take matters into their own hands. As 247 Sports' Jody Demling reported, Kelsey made his second in-house visit to Kinney and his first in-house visit to Stokes.
Related: Louisville and Kentucky rivalry intensifies in high-stakes battle for 5-star PG
Louisville all-in on Taylen Kinney and Tyran Stokes in epic recruiting battle
Stokes' mom mentioned a while back that her 5-star son stated he would like to commit before his senior season, but the fans haven't heard anything else since. The Cardinals earned a visit back in October 2024, but nothing ever since, while Kentucky, Kansas, USC all received visits this summer, and Oregon and Gonzaga are up next. Kelsey's in-house visit was a crucial last-second checkup on Stokes to make sure Louisville is still high on his radar.
Louisville coach Pat Kelsey has seen top targets Colben Landrew and Tay Kinney in the past 24 hours. He's expected to see other top targets Tyran Stokes and Josh Irving over the next 24 hours.@ebosshoops @TravisBranham_
— Jody Demling (@jdemling) September 10, 2025
With him being a Louisville native, it is essential to beat Kentucky and earn his commitment, and if they can pair him up with Kinney, then this would be the best recruiting class in the program's history. Kelsey visiting Kinney was much needed, as many believe Kansas has a dominant lead in the final couple of weeks, and Kelsey's in-house visit is a last-second pitch to try and win the 5-star recruit back over to the Cardinals' side.
Kelsey has his mind set on these two 5-star recruits, and while he also visited 4-stars in Colben Landrew and Josh Irving, his visiting Stokes and Kinney is massive. Louisville needs to pull out all the stops and tricks to land these two Kentucky natives, and hopefully, these last-second home visits do just enough to convince the 5-stars to wear red and black and not blue and white.
Related: Tyran Stokes teases recruiting decision leaving Louisville fans anxiously watching
For all the latest on Louisville basketball's offseason and recruiting, stay tuned.