Pat Kelsey, Mark Pope discuss basketball at Leadership Louisville
Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey and Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope were on stage together at the 2024 Leadership Louisville Luncheon.
Pat Kelsey is in the process of pulling back the curtain on his Louisville men’s basketball rebuild for some of the country’s top high school recruits.
With the Division I early signing period (Nov. 13-20) looming, the Cardinals’ new head coach and his staff have been scheduling official visits in search of their first Class of 2025 commitment. In this new NCAA transfer portal age, there’s only one true freshman on U of L’s 2024-25 roster; but Kelsey has stressed the need for balance in building future teams.
That said, one recruit on the guest list had a much shorter trip to make than the others.
His name is Tre Singleton, and he was a key cog in Jeffersonville High School’s deep run to the semistate round of Indiana’s Class 4A playoffs last spring. The 6-foot-8 forward, who ranks among the top 40 players at his position in the cycle on the 247Sports Composite, stopped by U of L during Labor Day weekend after piquing Kelsey’s interest this summer on Adidas’ 3SSB circuit.
Having grown up “a pretty big Cards fan,” Singleton said Louisville’s pitch is straightforward: “Be a part of the revival. Make history.”
Here’s a look at where his recruitment stands — and two other items of note:
Sherron Wilkerson took over as Jeffersonville’s boys basketball coach after Singleton’s freshman season. When he did, he said he challenged the underclassman to become a “post savant,” because that’s where he saw the most potential for him in college.
Singleton, who said he worked primarily as a guard and a wing to that point, reluctantly accepted — then realized the move would pay dividends.
“I didn’t really want to, but I wanted to play,” he said. “It’s really helped me develop as a player.”
Three years later, Singleton was named to the IndyStar’s Junior All-Stars team after averaging 14.2 points on 61% shooting with 7.1 rebounds and three assists per game during the 2023-24 season. He enters his final go-around with the Red Devils having been crowned one of 3SSB’s top big men by 247Sports’ scouting director, Adam Finkelstein.
Across seven games on the circuit this summer with Team Tradition, Singleton averaged 18 points on 59% shooting, 5.6 rebounds and two assists. In doing so, he said, he proved to DI coaches he can “play whatever you need me to play.”
“His work ethic is to the point now to where we have to tell him to slow down,” Wilkerson said. “That is a great problem to have, and I think it puts in perspective his emotional maturity.
“Everything about him is professional,” the coach later added. “He has a professional body; he has a professional skill set, and that is the thing that we are looking for from a basketball perspective to ensure that the growth is going to continue.”
The other seven finalists for Singleton’s pledge include Butler, Clemson, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Purdue, Virginia and Xavier. Chatting with The Courier Journal three days before his visit to Louisville began, he said he planned to stop by each program in the coming months.
The Cards have a leg up on the competition in two regards. Singleton said he could picture himself playing in Kelsey’s fast-paced system when he tuned into the first of the team’s two dominant performances during an exhibition tour of the Bahamas in late July. He also likes the idea of staying close to home for college, as illustrated by his list of finalists featuring three Indiana schools, and U of L is as close as it gets.
“I really want my parents to be able to come to every game and watch me, because they love to,” Singleton said. “Being able to stay, literally, 10 to 15 minutes away is lovely.”
When The Courier Journal caught up with Kaden Magwood in early July, the Louisville native in the midst of a breakout summer on the 3SSB circuit said he hadn’t really spoken with Kelsey after one of his assistants, Thomas Carr, offered him a scholarship in May.
“(With) me being a hometown kid, it’s kind of weird,” said Magwood, who since leaving Western High School after his freshman season has risen to No. 57 overall in the Class of 2025 on the 247Sports Composite, “but I’m looking to build that relationship.”
Cards fans clamoring for Magwood’s homecoming received what appeared to be some good news Aug. 9 on X, formerly Twitter, when the 6-3 guard told League Ready he had scheduled a visit to U of L for the weekend of Aug. 23. That report clashed, however, with one hours later from Jody Demling of Cardinal Authority, who did not include Magwood on his list of the program’s confirmed guests in the coming weeks.
A few days after Magwood was supposedly set to stop by campus, he told League Ready he had “canceled” the visit, leaving fans to speculate that there wasn’t one on the books to begin with. The report did not say if Magwood planned to reschedule, and he did not respond to a question about the matter from The Courier Journal sent via text message.
The situation brought to mind something Kelsey’s longest-tenured assistant, Brian Kloman, said during an interview with Cardinal Companion on X in June, not long after a visit from marquee portal prospect Coleman Hawkins reportedly fell through: “You’ve seen some canceled visits. … Those usually come from something we’ve found out.”
Things can change quickly in recruiting, but it seems as if Louisville is fully out on the hometown kid.
Bummed about Magwood likely heading elsewhere? How’s this for a pick-me-up: The top player in the Class of 2026 on the 247Sports Composite is a Louisville native, and he is planning to attend the Cards’ season tipoff event next month.
Tyran Stokes on Aug. 26 announced via On3’s Joe Tipton that he will come home for an official visit that will include Louisville Live on Oct. 4 at the KFC Yum! Center. The 6-7 forward was in the crowd at Slugger Field for the event’s most recent iteration in 2022, ringing in the start of former coach Kenny Payne‘s tenure, but it’s safe to say U of L wouldn’t have stood much of a chance in his recruitment had it continued at the trajectory of the past two disastrous seasons.
Again, things can change quickly in recruiting. But one thing doesn’t when you’re targeting the best of the best in this day and age: Money talks.
In funding Kelsey’s lauded portal class this offseason, the Cards’ name, image and likeness collective (502 Circle) proved it could compete with the best of the best. It’ll have to come correct to land Stokes, who lived in Louisville until age 9 and has Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, UCLA and USC vying for his pledge, too.
Stokes plays his high school ball in California. He transferred from Prolific Prep to Notre Dame for his senior season. Against predominantly older competition in the top division of Nike’s EYBL circuit this summer, he averaged 20 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.
In July, Stokes told ESPN’s Jeff Borzello he’s had “a couple conversations” about reclassifying to the 2025 cycle and starting college a year ahead of schedule but noted “that’s not really the option I’ve been thinking about.”
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
