Pressure on Mikel Brown Jr. after Cameron Boozer and AJ Dybantsa’s dominant debuts

Entering the 2025-26 college basketball season, not many freshman players have as much hype as Mikel Brown Jr. Louisville basketball's true freshman was ranked No. 6 in the nation and the No. 1 point guard in the 2025 recruiting class.

The 5-star commit is not only a projected lottery pick for the 2026 NBA Draft, but he is a projected top-five pick and as high as a projected No. 4 overall pick. Brown is going to make his college basketball debut tomorrow evening in a highly anticipated exhibition game against the No. 19 Kansas Jayhawks.

Entering the season, Brown had high expectations, but after AJ Dybantsa and Cam Boozer's debuts, those expectations were raised for this massive showdown in October.

Related: 5 Louisville basketball players poised for a breakout season thanks to Mikel Brown Jr

Louisville basketball's 5-star Mikel Brown Jr. bar is slightly raised for tomorrow

All eyes are on these three superstars entering this upcoming season, as well as Kansas Darryn Peterson. Brown Jr. versus Peterson is going to be a thrilling matchup for Louisville and Kansas fans as Peterson is a projected top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft after being ranked as high as the No. 1 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class.

Peterson and Brown are both elite guards, whereas the Kansas commit is a combo guard who plays more of the shooting guard position. With both projected as top-five picks in the NBA Draft, these stars have extremely high expectations thanks to Dybala's and Boozer's incredible debuts.

Now, BYU played Nebraska, and Duke played UCF, which is way different than Louisville playing Kansas. But with both top 2026 NBA draft prospects dominating their debuts, Brown and Peterson are expected to put on similar performances for their respective teams.

Brown is coming off an incredible gold medal run with Team USA, during which Louisville fans saw him lead the team in points, assists, and 3-pointers. He was robbed of the MVP award, but the fans saw how dominant this guard can be and how elite a playmaker he is.

Cardinals fans are expecting a 30-point performance from Brown tomorrow night, but if he can get 20 points with 10 assists and showcase his ability to create space for teammates and penetrate this defense, then his draft stock will remain high.

The 5-star guard is a floor general who plays at his own pace. He can shoot his opponents out of the gym if he wants to, or weave through the lanes and explode for a massive slam. Brown is a significant reason Louisville was able to secure its elite three transfer commitments, and now, tomorrow night, the fans finally get to see how good this team can be.

Related: Andy Katz is giving Louisville basketball's backcourt the praise it deserves

Brown and Peterson will go head-to-head tomorrow evening at 7:30 p.m. from KFC Yum! Center.