Kentucky’s 2026 Mr. Basketball commits to a new college program
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- This year’s Kentucky Mr. Basketball winner, Jake Feldhaus, commits to a new college team.
- The 6-foot-8 Feldhaus will now begin his college career at South Florida.
- Feldhaus was a star player at Madison Central and averaged 20.7 points per game as senior.
One of the best high school boys basketball players in Kentucky has found a new school to start his college career at.
Jake Feldhaus — a 6-foot-8 senior forward who is this year’s Kentucky Mr. Basketball — announced his commitment to South Florida on Wednesday morning.
Feldhaus, who starred at Madison Central, was previously signed to play at Belmont. The coach that Feldhaus committed to at Belmont, Casey Alexander, left the school this offseason to become Kansas State’s coach.
Feldhaus — whose father, Deron, was a member of Kentucky’s “Unforgettables” team in the 1991-92 season — had a standout senior season at Madison Central. He helped lead the program to a 30-4 record and a No. 1 regular season ranking. Feldhaus averaged 20.7 points, 13.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 57.6% from the field.
Feldhaus earned plenty of accolades following his strong senior year. He was the 11th Region player of the year and the Kentucky Gatorade player of the year.
His father, Deron, also earned Gatorade player of the year honors in the commonwealth in 1987.
The Feldhaus family is synonymous with basketball in Kentucky.
Allen Feldhaus Jr., who is Jake’s uncle, coached Jake at Madison Central during his junior and senior seasons. The late Allen Feldhaus Sr., who is Jake’s grandfather, played at Kentucky for Adolph Rupp and was the boys basketball coach at Mason County for decades.
Feldhaus is the second straight 11th Region player to earn the Kentucky Mr. Basketball honor. In 2025, the award went to Great Crossing’s Malachi Moreno, who was UK’s starting center this past season as a freshman.
Overall, Feldhaus is the second player from Madison Central to win Mr. Basketball, along with ex-Cat Dominique Hawkins in 2013.
Feldhaus will join a South Florida program that’s under new leadership. The Bulls hired Chris Mack as their new head coach earlier this offseason. Mack coached Xavier from 2009 to 2018 and Louisville from 2018 to 2022.
Mack spent the past two seasons as the head coach at Charleston.
This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 11:36 AM.
