Basketball
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For better or for worse, we’re just one day away from a major recruiting domino falling for the Louisville men’s basketball program.
Following a long and winding recruitment, Warrenton (Va.) Highland School forward Nate Ament, who is a top-five prospect in the 2025 cycle and the top remaining available player, will finally announce his commitment during the McDonald’s All-American Game on Tuesday, Apr. 1.
Louisville is one of Ament’s top five schools, alongside Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky and Tennessee. Over the last few weeks and months, the Cardinals and Blue Devils have been the presumptive front-runners for the five-star prospect, but the Wildcats and Razorbacks have certainly made a charge at him as well.
With as long as the process has lasted, along with the resources that have been invested by all sides, it has been a recruitment where a countless number of fans, coaches and players alike have tried to influence Ament’s decision. On the eve of his commitment, former Louisville guard and current Cleveland Cavaliers superstar Donovan Mitchell gave his own pitch to Ament to attend his alma mater.
“I haven’t spoken to him, I don’t know if he knows that I would like him to commit,” Mitchell told reporters during an interview at a McDonald’s All-American Game practice session. “I know Mikel (Brown Jr.) probably has talked to him, but he’s a talent, man. He he would make us really, really special. We already got a hell of a class and hell of a team, but Nate, if you watching this, you know what I’m saying, we’ll find a way to get in contact with you. Hopefully we can get you over to Louisville.”
Getting Ament to commit would be a massive win for head coach Pat Kelsey and the Cardinals. The 6-foot-9, 185-pound small forward ranks as the No. 4 recruit nationally according to the 247Sports Composite, and he’s a consensus top-five prospect by all four of the major recruiting services.
While Louisville already has a commitment form five-star point guard Mikel Brown Jr. in their 2025 class, should Ament commit to Louisville, he would be the highest-ranked recruit to commit to the Cardinals in the modern recruiting era. Samardo Samuels and his 0.9985 Composite rating in the Class of 2008 currently holds that distinction, and Ament hold a Composite rating of 0.9990.
The McDonald’s All-American Game is set for Tuesday, Apr. 1 at 9:00 p.m. EST from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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(Photo of Donovan Mitchell: Ken Blaze – Imagn Images)
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