Five-star recruit Nate Ament makes his college decision. He isn’t coming to UK
The top uncommitted college basketball prospect in the 2025 high school recruiting class has made his college choice.
On Easter Sunday, five-star power forward Nate Ament committed to Tennessee from a group of five final schools that also included Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky and Louisville. Ament is a 6-foot-10 prospect who is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 4 overall recruit in the 2025 high school class.
Ament, who is from Virginia, officially visited all five of his final schools. A significant monetary name, image and likeness (NIL) package was expected to be a key factor in his college choice.
Ament is now the sixth newcomer set to join Rick Barnes and the Volunteers next season. Also new to Knoxville will be high school recruits DeWayne Brown (center), Amari Evans (shooting guard) and Troy Henderson (point guard), along with transfer portal additions Jaylen Carey (a center from Vanderbilt) and Ja’Kobi Gillespie (a highly rated point guard from Maryland).
“Coach Barnes sees me as a one-and-done type player,” Ament told ESPN about his decision to commit to Tennessee. “He has done it before with Kevin Durant. He sees me as that kind of guy for his program. I built a great relationship with the coaching staff. I trust them a lot, and they have big goals for me. I think they’ll do a great job of developing me as a player and a young man. I trust the coaches to help me get to the next level.”
Ament was one of 24 players selected as a McDonald’s All-American this year..
A blend of size and skill gives Ament plenty of long term potential on the basketball floor. Ament’s offensive versatility, especially on the perimeter and when operating in the mid-post, is one of the reasons why he’s considered one of the most valued prospects in the 2025 recruiting class.
“With his physical skills, feel, and growth curve, he’s on track to be one of the best prospects in this class,” Zach Welch, an analyst for Pro Insight Basketball, told the Herald-Leader in February about Ament. “... Ament possesses the ball skills and feel to be a true offensive engine at this level, while also having the ancillary skills to scale down into a more complementary role if need be.”
Head coach Mark Pope and the Wildcats dished out a Kentucky scholarship offer to Ament last June. Previously, Pope and UK assistant coach Cody Fueger recruited Ament while the two were coaching together at BYU.
Kentucky’s pursuit of Ament had been in high gear throughout 2025, especially after UK lost a recruiting battle in January to North Carolina for five-star power forward Caleb Wilson.
But, Kentucky wasn’t viewed as the favorite to land Ament as his college decision neared. It was clear that Tennessee made a late surge in Ament’s recruitment and that the Vols were viewed as the favorite to land him prior to Sunday’s announcement.
From Kentucky’s perspective, this can be seen as a result of the way Pope has filled out his 2025-26 roster via the transfer portal. Only one of Kentucky’s four transfer portal additions, so far, is a guard.
Ament — who told ESPN that he “could have gone to any of the five finalists” — originally planned to make his college commitment during McDonald’s All-American Game week festivities at the beginning of April. Ament opted to push back his decision timeline, though, before ultimately committing to Tennessee for what could be a one-and-done NCAA career.
Ament is already considered a likely lottery pick in the 2026 NBA draft.
“I want to play for a coach that believes in me, is going to push me to be better than I already am,” Ament said of his college choice during McDonald’s All-American Game media day. “But also (who) allows me to showcase my skills and teaches me how to play the game the right way. Also, a great recruiting class. Players that I want to play with. Players that want to play with me. Those two things are huge, and then also the culture of the schools and the team. Do they have a family aspect? Do they bond well, on and off the court? So those things are probably going to play the biggest part into it.”
When Kentucky and Tennessee renew their men’s basketball rivalry next season, you can expect a rehashing of Ament’s recruitment to be a major talking point.
During the final months of his recruitment, Ament got several up-close looks at both programs. Ament was on a visit to Tennessee on Jan. 28 when a shorthanded Kentucky squad went to Knoxville and won. Then, Ament was on an official visit to Kentucky in February and watched another shorthanded win by UK over Tennessee.
Tennessee then beat Kentucky handily in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament when the Volunteers and Wildcats faced off for a third and final time last season.
Mark Pope, UK basketball build 2025-26 roster
Although Ament won’t be part of it, Kentucky basketball’s 2025-26 roster is nearly complete.
Currently, UK projects to have 12 scholarship players in place for next season. Kentucky is working with the assumption that there will be 15 scholarships available for the 2025-26 season, an increase that’s expected to result from the House vs. NCAA settlement that could be finalized soon. This means UK would still have three scholarships to use to fill out next season’s team.
Kentucky’s projected team for the 2025-26 season includes five expected returnees from last season’s UK squad. Those players are freshmen guards Collin Chandler and Travis Perry, freshman forward Trent Noah, sophomore center Brandon Garrison and junior guard Otega Oweh.
Chandler, Garrison and Noah have all announced publicly that they’ll be back at Kentucky next season. Oweh declared for the 2025 NBA draft while keeping open his option to return to Kentucky for his senior college season.
Kentucky has already announced the additions of four players from the transfer portal this spring. Those future Cats are sophomore forward Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), sophomore guard Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh), freshman big man Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State) and freshman wing Kam Williams (Tulane).
Despite a decommitment from high school recruit Acaden Lewis and Ament’s decision to commit to Tennessee, Kentucky will still be bringing in at least three first-year college basketball players next season. Two of these players — guard Jasper Johnson and in-state center Malachi Moreno — will arrive via the traditional high school recruiting pathway.
Johnson is a left-handed guard and the No. 18 national recruit in the 2025 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. Moreno was a McDonald’s All-American (like Ament) and Sweet 16 state champion this year.
Both Johnson and Moreno represent, on their own, the best high school prospect ever successfully recruited by Pope as a college head coach.
UK also has a commitment from Andrija Jelavic, a soon-to-be 21-year-old big man from Croatia. The 6-foot-11 Jelavic has played the last two seasons for Mega MIS, also known as Kosarkaski klub Mega Basket and Mega Superbet, a professional team based in Serbia.
Kentucky is still involved in the recruitment of high school senior Braydon Hawthorne, a four-star small forward who was previously signed to play at West Virginia. Hawthorne took a recruiting visit to Kentucky last week.
This story was originally published April 20, 2025 at 7:07 PM.
