Report: Top-Ten '23 Prospect Mackenzie Mgbako Locks In Visit Date to Louisville

The forward requested a release from his National Letter of Intent with Duke last month, and has visited three other schools since then.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After speculation that elite Class of 2023 prospect Mackenzie Mgbako would not be paying a visit to the Louisville men's basketball program, a visit date has been reportedly locked in.

The Gladstone (N.J.) Roselle Catholic forward will be visiting the Cardinals from Friday, May 12 to Sunday, May 14, according to recruiting analyst Andrew Slater. It will be the last of four visits that Mgbako will take before committing.

Late last month, it was announced that the former Duke signee would be taking visits to St. John's, Kansas, Indiana and Louisville. During his visits to the other three schools, rumors began to circulate that the Cardinals might not even get a visit amidst a heavy push from both the Jayhawks and Hoosiers. However, Mgbako will indeed be visiting the Cardinals, and UofL getting the final visit is a great development in terms of potentially landing him.

Mgbako had previously been a longtime Duke signee, but asked out of his National Letter of Intent early last month when it was announced that Kyle Filipowski would return to the Blue Devils. Almost immediately, Louisville was linked to Mgbako as a potential destination.

This is mainly due to his ties with former Duke and current Cardinals assistant coach Nolan Smith, who helped recruit Mgbako to the Blue Devils before joining Kenny Payne's staff at Louisville last offseason.

Mgbako's AAU team, the N.J. Scholars, also has a Louisville tie. Former Cardinals legend Pervis Ellison serves as the team's program director, and is also very close friends with head coach Kenny Payne, stemming from their time as UofL teammates in the late 1980's.

The 6-foot-8, 210-pound stretch forward is a consensus five star prospect amongst the four major recruiting services, and was recently 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 0.9974.

Should Mgbako commit to Louisville, he would be the Cardinals' second-highest rated prospect of the modern recruiting era. Samardo Samuels is No. 1 with a 0.9987 rating in the Class of 2008.

The Cardinals went just 4-28 in their first year under head coach Kenny 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.

As you can imagine, Louisville is set to have plenty of newcomers for the 2023-24 season. In their 2023 recruiting class, they are 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. 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: Steph Chambers - Getty Images)

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