Report: Top-Ten '23 Prospect Mackenzie Mgbako Lists Final Two, Louisville Excluded

The former Duke signee had recently scheduled to visit the Cardinals.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In a bit of surprising turn of events, the Louisville men's basketball program is no longer in the running for elite Class of 2023 prospect Mackenzie Mgbako.

Gladstone (N.J.) Roselle Catholic forward is now down to a final two of Kansas and Indiana, according to recruiting analyst Andrew Slater. 

This news comes less than 48 hours removed from Slater, who has extensive ties to Mgbako and his family, reporting that the top-ten prospect had locked in an official visit with the Cardinals. The visit was supposed to take place this weekend, and Mgbako is coming off of visits to both the Jayhawks and Hoosiers, as well as St. John's.

Mgbako had previously been committed to the Blue Devils for just over a year, committing to Duke last April and signing with them during the November early signing period. However, with the news that freshman forward Kyle Filipowski opting to return to Durham for his sophomore season, Mgbako requested a release from his National Letter of Intent back on Apr. 11.

Upon Mgbako's decommitment, Louisville was almost immediately seen as the presumptive leader to land him by many in the recruiting landscape. This was mainly due to his ties with former Duke and current Cardinals assistant coach Nolan Smith, as well as the connections with his AAU team, the N.J. Scholars, where former Cardinals legend Pervis Ellison serves as the team's program director.

But in the days following, the Mgbako-to-Louisville buzz began to simmer down, and other teams began trying to insert themselves into the mix. On Apr. 27, Forbes Sports' Adam Zagoria reported that St. John's, Kansas, Indiana and Louisville would all be getting visits. UofL wound up being last on the visit schedule, with Mgbako taking trips to the former three before eventually backing out of his scheduled visit to the Cardinals.

Losing out on the Mgbako sweepstakes is undoubtedly a massive blow. While forward wasn't Louisville's biggest need by any stretch, a player of Mgbako's talent is program-altering, and landing him would have certainly softened the blow of missing out on a handful of transfer guard targets in the cycle up to this point.

The 6-foot-8, 210-pound stretch forward is a consensus five star prospect amongst the four major recruiting services, and was tabbed as a McDonald's All-American. He ranks as high as the No. 8 prospect in the class according to Rivals, and sports a 247Sports Composite rating of 0.9970. He would have be the Cardinals' second-highest rated prospect of the modern recruiting era, second only to Samardo Samuels' 0.9987 rating in the Class of 2008.

The Cardinals went just 4-28 in their first year Payne, and roster management has been in full swing since the end of the season. Louisville has seen seven players enter the transfer portal, including leading scorer El Ellis. Only Mike James, J.J. Traynor, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Emmanuel Okorafor are returning.

Louisville is welcoming in five-star center Dennis Evans, five star reclass guard/forward Trentyn Flowers, four-star wings Kaleb Glenn and Curtis Williams Jr., and JUCO guard Koron Davis as part of their 2023 class. Former Illinois guard Skyy Clark former Miami forward Danilo Jovanovich and former USC guard/forward Tre White are also transferring in.

(Photo of Mackenzie Mgbako: John Jones - Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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