Kamari Lands Hints He's Staying Committed to Louisville Following Kenny Payne Hire

The Cardinals' top prospect in the Class of 2022 seems to still be on board following the hiring of their next head.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Typically whenever any collegiate athletics program makes a change at the head coaching position, decommitments from the prospects they have recruited are usually soon to follow. Considering the relationships built over the course of a recruitment between the former staff and a prospect, this hardly comes as a surprise.

Now that Louisville has officially named their next head coach, their top prospect in the Class of 2022, Kamari Lands, has seemingly indicated that he will remain in the fold.

When answering fan questions on his Instagram story earlier this week, the Hillcrest Prep (Ariz.) small forward took several questions regarding his commitment to the Cardinals and the program's hiring of Kenny Payne.

Lands responded "we locked" after a fan asked if he was staying committed to Louisville, and responded with the handshake emoji when asked about Payne. Although he responded in a separate question that he had not yet talked to his new head coach.

Along with Payne, who earlier this week reached out to recent Xavier decommit Tyrell Ward, Lands has been trying to add to the Cardinals' 2022 class. When asked if he was attempting to recruit anyone, he replied with and tagged Skyy Clark, a five-star point guard who decommitted from Kentucky earlier this month.

Lands' decision to remain committed to the Cardinals doesn't come as a complete surprise. In early February, he told ZagsBlog that he was stying committed following Chris Mack's departure, but did add the caveat that he wanted to see if the next staff will "come in and bring that same type of energy to the court."

The 6-foot-8, 195-pound wing is the lone verbal commit in the '22 cycle for the Cardinals. Indianapolis (Ind.) Warren Central small forward Tae Davis and Bahamian center Fredrick King both signed their National Letters of Intent to play for Louisville during the early signing period last November, and neither have indicated that they want to be released from their NLI following Payne's hiring.

Lands had an extremely productive senior season for Hillcrest Prep. Ranked as the No. 47 prospect in the class according to the 247Sports Composite, he averaged 33.5 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.5 steals and 2.3 blocks per game.

(Photo of Kamari Lands via FanSided's Inside the Loud House)

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