Louisville basketball has had an eye-popping offseason as the Cardinals landed the No. 1 overall transfer in Flory Bidunga and the No. 4 point guard in the portal in Jackson Shelstad. Pat Kelsey completely rebuilt this team and has the Cardinals right back in the mix for the Final Four conversation, and Cardinals fans cannot wait for the season to get here.
Louisville's lineup even without Milan Momcilovic should still have fans dreaming big
When college basketball fans think about rivalries, Louisville and Kentucky are up there as one of the best. And these two fanbases often compare each other to try and see who is better, and while Louisville appears to be the clear favorite as of right now, Mark Pope and Kentucky are recently trending with an eye-popping international star.
Kentucky lands huge Crystal Ball prediction for Nikola Kusturica
In recent news, Kentucky is all of a sudden the clear favorite for Nikola Kusturica, a 6-foot-7, 180-pound small forward from Serbia. 247Sports Travis Branham recently logged a Crystal Ball for Kusturica, and unfortunately for Louisville fans, the prediction is in favor of Kentucky.
NEW: 247sports Recruiting Analyst Travis Branham has logged a prediction for Kentucky to land Nikola Kusturica, a projected top-5 pick in the 2028 NBA Draft.
— Casey (@BleedBlueCasey) June 17, 2026
Game-changing. pic.twitter.com/ZAdHfMD6qt
Kusturica is an elite scorer who can score in multiple ways, and if Pope does land him, then Kentucky is emerging as a real threat to Louisville. The Cards right now appear to be unanimously ranked ahead of Kentucky, but with the addition of Milan Momcilovic and pairing him with potentially Kusturica, that is a legit duo.
The 6-foot-8 wing has NBA potential, with a lot of analysts believing he can be a future lottery pick, and what makes it even scarier for Louisville and the Cardinals fans is that Kusturica isn't available for the NBA Draft until 2028, which means if he does sign with a college program this offseason, he will play two seasons with whichever college team he commits to. So, not only is this something for Louisville fans to monitor for the upcoming 2026-27 season, but this is a massive decision for the next two seasons.
As of right now, he plays for FC Barcelona in the Liga ACB. That league is well-known and among the better European leagues. He recently set a record as the youngest player to score in FC Barcelona's history, as he just turned 17 in April.
He played at the 2025 FIBA U16 EuroBasket this past summer and completely dominated both sides of the floor. The 6-foot-8 wing averaged 20 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.1 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game in just 25.6 minutes. He went on to win the tournament's MVP award.
So, Kentucky's recruiting is getting hot under Pope as they landed 5-star transfer Milan Momcilovic, 5-star small forward Ryan Hampton, and now they are trending as a clear favorite for one of the best 17-year-olds in the world.
Both programs are cooking in recruiting recently, but Kentucky's recent surge is something Kelsey should monitor.
Also read: Fox Sports sends loud message in Louisville vs. Kentucky debate with latest rankings
For all the latest news and updates on Louisville basketball's offseason and recruiting, stay tuned.
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