The top recruit in the 2026 class is on a recruiting visit to UK basketball
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- Top class of 2026 basketball recruit Tyran Stokes is on an official visit to Kentucky.
- Stokes is a 6-foot-7 prospect who is originally from Louisville.
- Stokes is being recruited by Kansas, Kentucky and Louisville, among others.
The top-ranked prospect in the 2026 recruiting class is currently on a visit to Mark Pope and the Kentucky basketball program.
Tyran Stokes, a five-star forward and a Louisville native, is currently taking an official visit to UK. On3’s Joe Tipton first reported this recruiting news on Sunday night. Stokes was previously scheduled to visit UK in May, before postponing that trip.
A 6-foot-7, 245-pound prospect, Stokes is considered the next cant-miss recruit in the world of college basketball. The uber-versatile Stokes has excelled in a variety of basketball settings to this point in his career.
He’s played prep basketball for an accomplished program in Prolific Prep (California), as well as for a traditional high school power, like his current school Notre Dame, which is located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Sherman Oaks.
Last summer, Stokes was a standout in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League while playing for Oakland Soldiers and with AJ Dybantsa, college basketball’s top incoming freshman next season at BYU. (Stokes and Dybantsa also played together at Prolific Prep.)
Internationally, Stokes spent last summer winning a gold medal while playing for the United States at the 2024 FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Turkey. He averaged 12.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.9 steals per contest across seven games at that event as the U.S. coasted to the world title.
Safe to say, Stokes’ basketball profile is mighty impressive for a 17-year-old. Now, it’s his college recruitment that is taking center stage.
As you would imagine, a notable list of top college programs are jockeying for position in Stokes’ recruitment.
He visited Kansas in April and also previously took a visit to hometown Louisville last October. Stokes was born in the Derby City and lived in Louisville until age 9.
“Stokes has a genuinely rare blend of natural feel and physical gifts for someone his age,” Zach Welch, an analyst for Pro Insight Basketball, told the Herald-Leader last month. “He is at his best attacking the basket offensively, both as a slasher and cutter, given his physicality, explosiveness and composure through contact. That being said, he also handles the ball well for someone his size, rebounds well and has projectable shooting mechanics. Defensively, he has the upside to be one of the rangiest defenders in any league he’s playing in.”
Last summer, Stokes averaged 20.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game during the Nike EYBL regular season while playing up an age level with the 17-and-under age group.
So far this year, Stokes is averaging 21.8 points and 10.0 rebounds per game in EYBL play.
“His versatility is part of what makes him so special and deserving of consideration alongside some of the other recent top names we’ve seen come out of high school,” Welch added about Stokes. “He’s been able to slot next to other top talents, as well as be the star leading the way for lesser supporting casts. Few players profile as having the ability to be so well-rounded and devastating across different roles defensively, especially while also having similar versatility on the offensive end.”
While there’s been some speculation about Stokes potentially reclassifying from the 2026 recruiting group to the 2025 class, that doesn’t look like it’ll be happening.
His mother, Keaira, told the Kansas City Star in April that a potential reclassification from the 2026 to the 2025 recruiting group has “never been on the table.”
Mark Pope, Kentucky basketball recruit Tyran Stokes
Successfully recruiting a true superstar freshman to Kentucky is one of the last things on Pope’s to-do list as the UK head coach.
Two of the freshmen that Pope is bringing in for next season via the traditional high school recruiting pathway — guard Jasper Johnson and center Malachi Moreno — represent, on their own, the best high school prospect successfully recruited by Pope as a college head coach. Johnson and Moreno are both five-star recruits, with Johnson ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 21 overall player in the 2025 class and Moreno — a McDonald’s All-American and the 2025 Kentucky Mr. Basketball — ranked No. 25 overall.
But Stokes represents the kind of game-changing, top-shelf freshman recruit that was synonymous with John Calipari’s tenure as the Kentucky head coach. Pope has yet to land that caliber of prospect, notably missing out on the likes of Nate Ament (No. 4 overall) and Caleb Wilson (No. 5) in this year’s recruiting class.
It was Calipari who first offered Stokes a Kentucky basketball scholarship in November 2023. This made Stokes the only class of 2026 recruit to earn a UK offer while Calipari led the program.
Pope reoffered a Kentucky scholarship to Stokes shortly after Pope got the UK head coaching job in April 2024. Pope and his coaching staff made it a point to stay on Stokes’ radar after that, taking in multiple viewings of Stokes last year on the EYBL circuit and at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup.
“We both have a lot of energy,” Stokes said in July 2024 of himself and Pope. “He’s just always talking about how I can improve. Just telling me, ‘Oh yeah, you’re good at this, good at that.’ Telling me you can improve on this and those type of things.”
UK assistant coach Jason Hart — a California native with strong basketball connections on the West Coast — is the main point of contact between Kentucky and Stokes.
Currently, Stokes is one of 11 recruits in the 2026 class who hold a scholarship offer from Pope and the Wildcats. Those other prospects are Brandon McCoy (point guard), Jason Crowe Jr. (point guard), Taylen Kinney (point guard), Jordan Smith (shooting guard), Ikenna Alozie (combo guard), Tajh Ariza (small forward), Caleb Holt (small forward), Anthony Thompson (small forward), Christian Collins (power forward) and Miikka Muurinen (power forward).
Thompson was a visitor for Pope’s first Big Blue Madness last October, and Thompson made a return trip to UK in January for the Wildcats’ home SEC win over eventual national champions Florida.
UK also has three scholarship offers out to players in the 2027 recruiting class: Baba Oladotun (small forward), CJ Rosser (power forward) and Obinna Ekezie Jr. (center).
This story was originally published June 8, 2025 at 6:52 PM.
