C.L. Brown: Pat Kelsey ready to deliver results for Louisville men's basketball

For Louisville basketball's recruiting, it's Romeo Langford ... then who?

Jeff Greer
Courier Journal

As the 2017 recruiting cycle speeds up into the summer, there is no doubt where Louisville basketball's priorities are. 

The Cards are all-in on New Albany's Romeo Langford, considered the top 2018 shooting guard. And adding Langford to a backcourt that already includes committed point guard Courtney Ramey and combo guard Anfernee Simons is a tantalizing prospect for Louisville, though there's significantly stiff competition for the local product.

Langford recently told the Courier-Journal he will slim his list of schools to five by summer's end. The 6-foot-5 Langford also said earlier this year he'd like to make a decision sometime this winter, either before or after his high school season.

"Romeo doesn’t appear to be a kid who is enamored by the spotlight, nor does he crave a lot of attention," said Eric Bossi, Rivals.com's national basketball analyst. 

More:What is Romeo Langford looking for in a school?

Beyond Langford, where does Louisville stand with its other recruiting targets in the 2018 class?

It's too early to tell, Bossi and other recruiting analysts said. But it is possible to read some tea leaves and see which paths the Cards are following.

Louisville wants to add a frontcourt player in its 2018 class to work with Connecticut transfer Steven Enoch and incoming freshmen Malik Williams, Lance Thomas and Jordan Nwora. Ray Spalding still has two years of college eligibility left, too, though his name has been included among potential 2018 NBA draft candidates.

The list of prospects U of L is monitoring, as would be expected this early in the AAU season, is lengthy. The group includes four five-star, top-20 big guys: Moses Brown, Silvio De Sousa, Nazreon Reid and Simi Shittu.

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Reid, a New York area product, just named his top 10 favorite schools and mentioned Louisville among them. And Brown, who went to the same high school, Archbishop Molloy, as Russ Smith, includes U of L among the group of top-flight programs chasing him.

There are strong connections to De Sousa and Shittu.

De Sousa, who plays for Montverde Academy in Florida, is friends with Simons and has spoken with the Orlando guard about the Cards. Shittu played prep ball at Vermont Academy with Nwora.

"When we’ve spoken to (De Sousa) in the past, he’s definitely mentioned Louisville as one of the schools that intrigues him a lot," Bossi said.

Shittu listed Arizona, Duke, Kansas, Louisville, Missouri, North Carolina and Wake Forest as the primary schools pursuing him in Nike's AAU season preview magazine.

"(U of L) signed Jordan Nwora," Bossi said. "They spent a lot of time recruiting him and seeing him throughout the year. Almost by default, a kid like Simi Shittu gets to know you a lot. But it’s hard to tell with someone who — as he’s welcome to do — doesn’t want to have that (recruiting) discussion yet."

More:Get to know New Albany's shooting star: Romeo Langford

Other 2018 big guys Immanuel Bates, David McCormack, Ian Steere and Lahat Thioune are also on Louisville's radar. 

Landing any of the five-star post players on their board would give the Cards their highest-rated big man since Samardo Samuels in 2009. Samuels was the No. 2 prospect in his class, according to Scout.com.

Williams, rated 20th by Scout, is the second-highest-ranked big guy to sign with U of L. Chane Behanan, No. 25 in the 2011 class, is third.

"They’ve not gotten that top-10 or top-25 (big) guy all that often, and Brown, De Sousa, Reid and Shittu fall in that category," Bossi said. "The guys they’ve gotten haven’t been too far off of that level. Even if they miss on a few of those guys, history tells you they’ll end up with someone good."

Bossi echoed what Scout's Evan Daniels and 247Sports' Jerry Meyer said about Langford: It's just guessing at this point in his recruiting process.

"I think (Louisville is) going to be right in there to the end," Bossi said. "The proximity to home, and that they’re a great program, are huge factors. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of push Archie Miller makes at Indiana, and I think there’ll be a lot of pressure for him to get involved. Then the push from blue bloods like Duke, Kansas and Kentucky, or UCLA. I’ve always felt from talking to people that Louisville will be there through the process."

New Albany's Romeo Langford (right) drives around against Castle's Alex Hemenway (left) on Saturday in the 2017 IHSAA 4A Regional Basketball Final at Seymour High School. Castle won 72-64. March 11, 2017