Top-Five '25 Prospect Nate Ament Names Louisville to Top Five

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program is closing in on their top remaining target in the Class of 2025.

Warrenton (Va.) Highland School forward Nate Ament, a five-star prospect and the top-ranked uncommitted recruit in the cycle, has trimmed his list of top schools to five with the Cardinals still in the running. Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky and Tennessee also made the cut.

In recent weeks, it has been viewed as mainly a two-horse race between Louisville and Duke for Ament, with Kentucky lurking as a dark horse third option. In a recent interview with Louisville Cardinals On SI, On3 national basketball reporter and recruiting insider Joe Tipton said that, while an extremely fluid recruitment, he was leaning towards UofL being the frontrunner.

"I know Louisville is towards the top of his list," Tipton said. "I even wrote recently on On3 that if I had to pick a school that Nate Ament picks, I would probably lean towards Louisville."

The consensus five-star prospect was one of the first high school recruits to receive a scholarship offer from first year head coach Pat Kelsey, and the recruitment has been in high gear ever since. Ament was offered back on Apr. 23, less than a month after Kelsey formally accepted the job, and later took an official visit to campus on Oct. 11. Kelsey and assistant Thomas Carr also paid an in-home visit last month.

The 6-foot-9, 185-pound small forward ranks as the No. 4 recruit nationally according to the 247Sports Composite. He's a consensus top-five prospect by all four of the major recruiting services.

With a Composite rating of 0.9990, should Ament commit to Louisville, he would be the highest-ranked recruit to commit to the Cardinals in the modern recruiting era. Samardo Samuels and his 0.9985 rating in the Class of 2008 currently holds that distinction.

Ament stuffed the stat sheet during his junior season at Highland School. He averaged 19.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.0 blocks and 3.7 assists per game, while guiding the Hawks to a 24-12 record. This included a berth in the VISAA Division II State Championship game.

So far, Daytona Beach (Fla.) DME Academy point guard Mikel Brown Jr. is Louisville's only commitment in the Class of 2025, although he has already put pen to paper and is officially a Card.

(Photo of Nate Ament via USA Basketball)

You can follow Louisville Cardinals On SI for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleOnSI
Twitter/X - @LouisvilleOnSI
Instagram - @louisvilleonsi

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter/X and @mattmcgavic.bsky.social on Bluesky