Pat Kelsey has been putting the finishing touches on his 2025-26 Louisville basketball roster and welcoming players to campus for the start of summer workouts.
But you know the saying: Recruiting never stops. As one cycle ends, the next starts to heat up.
The Cardinals’ coaching staff was front and center at various AAU circuits during the first evaluation period of the year (May 16-18). Expect that to be the case during the five other windows between the NBPA Top 100 Camp (June 11-12) and late July.
In early April, The Courier Journal identified five U of L targets in the Class of 2026 to keep an eye on: Taylen Kinney, Jaxon Richardson, Deron Rippey Jr., Jordan Smith and Tyran Stokes.
Since then, Kelsey and his staff have offered scholarships to four more players, bringing their total for the cycle to 25.
Here’s an introduction to the new faces on the Cards’ radar:
Dylan Mingo
Position: Point guardHeight: 6-5Weight: 180 poundsHigh school: Long Island Lutheran (Glen Head, New York)247Sports Composite ranking: Five stars (No. 3 position, No. 9 overall)
A development in the search for Mikel Brown Jr.‘s successor (assuming the incoming freshman makes good on the one-and-done hype, that is): Dylan Mingo is the latest marquee point guard prospect in the 2026 class to receive a Louisville offer. He shared the news to X, formerly Twitter, on May 27.
A member of MaxPreps’ Junior All-America third team in 2024-25, Mingo averaged 14.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game for a Long Island Lutheran squad that went 22-7. Through 11 appearances thus far with PSA Cardinals on Nike’s EYBL circuit, he’s averaging 18.5 points on 41.8% shooting (25.7% from 3) with 7.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals and a 1.04 assist-turnover ratio.
In addition to the Cards, Mingo has also reported picking up offers from North Carolina and Texas since the calendar flipped to 2025. Alabama, Cincinnati, Illinois, Missouri, Ole Miss, Providence and St. John’s are among the others vying for his pledge. His older brother, Kayden, signed with Penn State as a consensus four-star recruit in the Class of 2025.
“It has to be the right fit, and the freshmen have to be playing,” Mingo told 247Sports’ Eric Bossi in mid-May, when asked what he’s looking for in a school. “With the (NCAA) transfer portal, it’s been hard for freshmen to play.”
Between Mingo, Kinney (No. 4) and Rippey (No. 5), U of L has offered three of the top five point guards in the 2026 cycle on the 247Sports Composite. Kinney, a Newport native, is reportedly visiting campus this week. Rippey, who hails from New Jersey, stopped by in early November.
Adonis Ratliff
Position: Power forwardHeight: 6-11Weight: 190High school: Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, New York)247Sports Composite ranking: Four stars (No. 11 position, No. 61 overall)
Adonis Ratliff and his twin brother, Darius — the sons of former NBA All-Star Theo Ratliff — announced April 30 on X they had received offers from Louisville. They’ve played some with Mingo and PSA Cardinals on the EYBL circuit.
According to MaxPreps.com, Adonis Ratliff is coming off a junior season with Archbishop Stepinac that saw him average 12.3 points on 40% shooting (37% from 3) with 8.7 rebounds, 3.5 blocks, 1.7 assists and a steal in 28 games. The Crusaders went 26-4 and finished the campaign No. 24 on the website’s national rankings.
In four EYBL games this year, Adonis Ratliff is averaging 14 points on 45.5% shooting (45.8% from 3) with 3.8 rebounds and a steal across 19 minutes, 45 seconds of run per appearance.
“I’m more versatile,” he told The Springfield Student in January. “(Darius) is more of a big man; so he can set me screens and we can play off each other.”
Adonis Ratliff’s list of offers is nearly identical to his brother’s. More on that in the next section.
Darius Ratliff
Position: Power forwardHeight: 6-11Weight: 195High school: Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, New York)247Sports Composite ranking: Four stars (No. 9 position, No. 42 overall)
Darius Ratliff, per MaxPreps, averaged 9.5 points on 42% shooting (29% from 3) with 9.1 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 1.8 assists as a junior at Archbishop Stepinac. Across two brief EYBL appearances (6:01 per) with PSA Cardinals, he’s averaging 3.5 points on 37.5% shooting with 3.5 rebounds and a block.
Are the Ratliff twins a package deal? That’s how most suitors are playing it.
As of June 2, nine other high-major programs in addition to Louisville had extended scholarship offers to both forwards: Alabama, Cincinnati, Mississippi State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Stanford, Texas, UCF and Wake Forest.
“We make everything easier for each other,” Darius Ratliff told The Springfield Student in January. “It’s just him always pushing me, me always pushing him and continuing to get better every day, really.”
Cameron Williams
Position: Power forwardHeight: 6-11Weight: 200High school: St. Mary’s (Phoenix)247Sports Composite ranking: Five stars (No. 5 position, No. 22 overall)
Cameron Williams‘ AAU team, the Compton Magic, took to X on May 22 to announce his scholarship offer from Louisville.
Williams, an All-Arizona selection as a junior, was a big reason why St. Mary’s brought home a 4A state championship in March. Per The Arizona Republic, he averaged 20.2 points, 12.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 2024-25 — and delivered a 30-point, 11-rebound performance in a title game that was decided in overtime.
Williams is averaging 17.4 points on 62.9% shooting (46.2% from 3) with 7.8 rebounds, 3.1 blocks, two steals and an assist per game through two sessions of Adidas’ 3SSB circuit with the Compton Magic. Evaluating the forward’s game at one of the events, 247Sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein called him “a rapidly ascending prospect with a wealth of long-term tools.
“While he is not yet a finished product by any means, he has one of the higher long-term upsides in the class,” Finkelstein wrote.
Other high-major schools on Williams’ offer list as of June 2 included Arizona, Houston, Indiana, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Providence, SMU, Southern California, Stanford and Washington
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball recruiting: Pat Kelsey has new 2026 targets
