Louisville staff attending USA U18 National Team training camp
Louisville basketball assistants Sean Dixon and Ronnie Hamilton are at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, watching some of the top high school basketball talent in the country.
Thirty-five athletes have been competing for one of the 12 spots on the 2026 USA Men’s U18 National Team. The roster will be announced before the team departs for the 2026 FIBA U18 Men’s AmeriCup, scheduled for June 1-7 in Leon, Mexico.
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The team will be a mix of players from the 2026 and 2027 high school classes. Dayton head coach Anthony Grant will lead the team this summer alongside assistants Nate Oats (Alabama) and Matt Langel (Colgate). Michigan head coach Dusty May served as a training-camp coach this weekend, as did Oakland’s Greg Kampe and Missouri’s Dennis Gates.
Several of the Cards’ top targets in the 2027 class were among the 19 finalists for the National Team, including top-ranked point guard Reese Alston, four-star center Darius Wabbington, and five-star small forward Demarcus Henry.
Louisville has already been active on the recruiting trail when it comes to the 2027 class. In recent weeks, they’ve been in contact with top prospects, making someone like Alston a priority. Hamilton and the Cardinals’ head coach, Pat Kelsey, conducted an in-home visit with the Houston, Texas, native last month, plus Hamilton was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last weekend watching him on the Puma circuit.
The Cardinals offered Compass Prep’s (Ariz.) Henry a couple of weeks back, and his relationship with the Louisville staff is just starting. A strong, physical, multi-tool forward, Henry is an excellent athlete who has improved his skills tremendously over the last year.
Louisville’s biggest focus in the frontcourt has been No. 1 overall recruit CJ Rosser, who has already visited the U of L but wants to see more. He’s not in Colorado Springs, but Kelsey saw him last week, and there will be an effort to get him out to another game. Rosser’s recruitment is just getting started. Wabbington is a player who has piqued Louisville’s interest and has begun scheduling visits. At 6-foot-9 and set to star on the Adidas 3SSB circuit this summer, schools like Indiana, Kentucky, Arizona and Purdue are all fighting to get him on campus.
Wabbington is ranked the No. 20 player in the Rivals Industry Rankings and the No. 2 center in the class. Louisville, and Coach Hamilton in specific, has been in touch with him since last year.
2027 recruit Moussa Kamissoko also competed over the last few days in Colorado but did not make the finalist stage. Louisville has shown interest.
As of now, local power forward Ferlandes Wright is the only commit in Louisville’s 2027 class. But, in recent weeks, Kelsey’s staff has been turning up the heat on the top prospects and making the rounds during the evaluation period.
