There’s a common theme with the top college basketball recruits in Kentucky
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Louisville is home to the top high school basketball players in Kentucky.
- Recruiting experts from ESPN, On3, 247Sports list players from Louisville as top recruits.
- Top prospects include Josh Lindsay, Boogie Cook, Jordan Mitchell, Mason Grivna.
In recent college basketball recruiting cycles, the top high school recruits from Kentucky have come from a diverse array of commonwealth locations.
The likes of Eddyville (Lyon County’s Travis Perry), Erlanger (Lloyd Memorial’s EJ Walker), Georgetown (Great Crossing’s Malachi Moreno), Harlan (Harlan County’s Maddox Huff and Trent Noah) and London (North Laurel’s Reed Sheppard and Reece Davidson) have been represented as starting spots for some of the top college talent to come from Kentucky.
But looking ahead, the balance of power is shifting to the commonwealth’s biggest city.
Louisville is in position to reassert itself as the dominant talent base for Kentucky high school hoopers.
When analyzing future recruiting classes — 2028 and 2029 in particular — the Derby City is home to a majority of the most-talented Kentucky prospects, at least according to the national experts.
Josh Lindsay, Jordan Mitchell among Louisville prep basketball stars
Four of the six Kentucky high school basketball players listed across the 2028 national recruiting rankings put out by each of ESPN, On3 and 247Sports are based at a Louisville program: Joshua Lindsay of St. Xavier, Boogie Cook of Christian Academy-Louisville and Jordan Mitchell and Trey Hillerich, both of Male.
Only two other players from a commonwealth school are listed in the national class of 2028 recruiting rankings: Grayson Burton of Corbin and Ryder Akins of George Rogers Clark. Each appears in the On3 rankings.
With four of the six national recruits from Kentucky in the 2028 class playing at Louisville schools, the city is poised to have some strong individual basketball talent in the years to come.
“I think just right now we just got a lot of talent in the city,” said Male head coach Tim Haworth, who coaches Mitchell and Hillerich. “I think they’re making the most of it by doing their thing on the AAU circuit and then also doing their thing with the high schools that they’ve been a part of... If you’re good, you’re going to be seen.”
Lindsay, a 6-foot combo guard from St. X, is the No. 26 overall prospect in the 2028 recruiting class, according to 247Sports. The four-star recruit has reported eight scholarship offers from Division I college programs, including Auburn, Indiana, Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech.
This past season at St. Xavier, Lindsay averaged 14.0 points and shot 35.1% from 3-point range on a high number of attempts as he helped lead the Tigers to the championship game of the Sweet 16 state tournament.
Cook is a 6-6 small forward from CAL whom 247Sports ranks as the No. 35 national recruit in the 2028 class. Like Lindsay, Cook is considered a four-star prospect. Cook holds offers from Indiana, Kansas State, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech. He’s also been on unofficial visits to Auburn, Kentucky and Louisville. That trip to UK was part of last year’s Big Blue Madness event.
Cook averaged 14.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game for Christian Academy-Louisville this past season.
Haworth’s Male program features Mitchell, a 6-3 combo guard, and Hillerich, a 6-10 center.
ESPN has Mitchell as the No. 43 prospect in the 2028 recruiting class, while Hillerich is a three-star recruit according to On3.
“He’s constantly in the gym, working on his shooting, his ball handling, weight lifting, changing his body. He started for me as an eighth grader, and not many kids are able to do that at Male,” Haworth said of Mitchell. “His willingness to be coached every day, it’s just a pleasure to have on the team. Then just his personality, man. He’s a kid that you want to be around a lot because he’s just never in a bad mood.”
Mitchell, who led Male with 24.2 points per game during the 2025-26 season, is attracting plenty of college interest. His recruiting outlook includes offers from Morehead State, Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech, and he also has interest from Michigan, the reigning national champions.
Mitchell’s father, Carlos, is part of Haworth’s coaching staff at Male, which went 16-13 this past season and reached the 7th Region Tournament.
“Jordan, he just has a mentality to be a great player on both ends of the court,” Haworth said. “So offensively he’s really good, but he’s just as good defensively as well.”
Haworth is also bullish on Hillerich’s development track. Hillerich tore his ACL in January, and at the time of the injury he was averaging 10.2 points and a team-best 7.4 rebounds per game.
“I’m lucky to have Jordan and Trey,” Haworth said. “They kind of feed off each other.”
The lone Kentucky-based standout in the 2029 class also plays in Louisville. Mason Grivna is a 6-11 center at Ballard who is already ranked as a five-star prospect by ESPN in the 2029 recruiting group.
As a freshman at Ballard this past season, Grivna averaged 16.7 points and 9.1 rebounds per contest while playing alongside Cole Edelen, a three-star point guard in this year’s recruiting class who will begin his college career at Fairfield.
Edelen was part of a 2026 recruiting class of Kentucky prep players that also featured Jayden Johnson, a Trinity standout who is heading to South Florida, and Jeremiah Jackson, a St. Xavier product who is going to Southern Illinois.
All three of those players represented Kentucky this past weekend in the Kentucky-Indiana High School All-Star Classic basketball series.
Grivna holds early recruiting interest from programs such as Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Purdue and Vanderbilt. He’s been offered scholarships by Arizona State, Texas Tech and Virginia Tech, among other schools.
“It’s been great. He grew a lot this year... He’s continued to make big strides on his game and as a person,” Grivna’s father, Mark, told the Herald-Leader in April about his son’s freshman season.
It’s worth watching to see if these Louisville prep stars can elevate their respective schools to a Boys’ Sweet 16 state championship. The last Louisville school to win a Boys’ Sweet 16 title was Trinity in 2019.
The 2027 recruiting class in Kentucky includes other standout players
Before the 2028 and 2029 recruiting classes arrive, the 2027 recruiting group is next up.
This group of rising seniors in Kentucky prep basketball reflects the recent run of wide-ranging talent the commonwealth has produced.
Across the national rankings for the 2027 recruiting group, the only two players from a Kentucky high school are Braxton Keathley of Martin County and Jack Logsdon of Grayson County. Both players appear in the On3 rankings.
Keathley has built a strong scoring reputation during his prep career in Eastern Kentucky. As a sophomore during the 2024-25 season at Prestonsburg, Keathley led the state in scoring with 34.3 points per game. This past season as a junior at Martin County, Keathley averaged 33.1 points per contest while shooting 47.1% from 3-point range.
Keathley, who has scored more than 3,000 points at the varsity level, was named a Herald-Leader All-State First Team selection for the 2025-26 season.
“I think he could play at any program in the country if he continues to show improvements on defense, continues to get as athletic as he can get,” Martin County coach Jason James told the Herald-Leader in December. “There couldn’t be a more skilled player in the country than him. The way he handles the ball, shoots it and how hard he works. He is so skilled.”
On the recruiting front, Keathley recently took an official recruiting visit to Bowling Green. In December, he took an unofficial visit to UK.
Logsdon, who averaged 19.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game as a junior at Grayson County, is already committed to play at Western Kentucky.
Mark Pope’s UK basketball program has yet to extend a scholarship offer to a player from Kentucky across the 2027, 2028 or 2029 recruiting groups.
Pope’s two-year tenure as the Cats’ head coach has featured considerable local basketball talent.
Perry (Lyon County), Jasper Johnson (Woodford County), Moreno (Great Crossing), Noah (Harlan County), Reece Potter (Lexington Catholic) and Zach Tow (Madisonville-North Hopkins) have all been part of UK’s roster under Pope’s direction.
Former George Rogers Clark star Jerone Morton transferred to UK from Washington State this offseason.
