Shelbyville, Kentucky On the first day of the live recruiting period, Pat Kelsey, the basketball coach at the University of Louisville, observed some of the best players in the state of Kentucky.
On Friday, Kelsey attended a few games at Shelby County High School and Collins High School on the opening day of the KBCA Titans Classic. There will be three separate tournament brackets for the 128-team competition, which will include 34 teams from Ohio and 94 teams from Kentucky.
This weekend, college coaches are permitted to go to events approved by academic institutions. The sole official event in the Bluegrass State is the Titans Shootout.
Kelsey began his morning watching Newport High School’s four-star 2026 guard Tay Kinney at Shelby County. The 6-foot-1 Kinney, who helped Newport to two victories that day, mentioned that he had been speaking with Kelsey frequently lately and that the coach had stated he “was a priority” in the class of ’26.
Kelsey is among the more than a dozen scholarship offers Kinney has received. First proposed by the departing U of L staff, Kelsey made a second offer earlier in the spring. According to 247Sports, Kinney is rated as the No. 26 player in the ’26 class.
Later that afternoon, Kelsey returned to observe Woodford County ’25 guard Jasper Johnson after leaving for his current team’s practice. Johnson stated following the victory over Fern Creek that he “may visit” Louisville later this summer, having received an offer from Kelsey in early April. After making an unofficial visit to Kentucky on Thursday, the No. 13 prospect in the ’25 class was scheduled to travel to Alabama on Saturday and Illinois early the following week.
Johnson attended Woodford County for his first two years of high school, but he transferred to Link Academy in Bronson, Missouri, for his final year. While acknowledging that “it was a lot of fun” to play with his former teammates at the Titans Shootout, he stated he was undecided of which high school he will play for the upcoming season.
After that, Kelsey saw Malachi Moreno, a big man from Great Crossing, who the University of Louisiana coaches had been following all last week in Orlando, Florida, at the NBA Players Association Top 100 camp. Seneca was defeated 72–48 by Great Crossing, with Moreno recording a double-double. In the ’25 class, he is ranked No. 26.
Following a brief intermission, Kelsey observed guard Jayden Johnson of Trinity High School, a ’26 who is ranked No. 57 in the country in his class. Johnson and the Shamrocks defeated Daviess County in a subsequent game in addition to defeating Turpin, Ohio.
Kelsey watched Moreno again in her last game of the evening as Great Crossing defeated North Laurel.
Tomorrow’s games are scheduled for Great Crossing at 4 p.m., Newport at 10 a.m., and Trinity at 5 p.m.
This weekend, Louisville’s personnel will also be present at a number of other events, such as the TAbC Showcase in Irving, Texas, the DMV Live event in Hyattsville, Maryland, and the Section 7 event in Arizona.
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