Kansas still trending as favorite for Tyran Stokes ahead of announcement

Soon, the world will know where Tyran Stokes will attend college; for what it’s worth, most national media members still believe it will be Kansas, not Kentucky.

The Jayhawks have long been considered the favorite in Stokes’ recruitment, even though Kansas is an Adidas school, and Stokes is a Nike-signed athlete. That has not changed in the final hours ahead of the announcement. Here is a roundup of national media predictions. If you missed it earlier, here are our predictions.

Jamie Shaw, Rivals

Rivals’ Senior National Recruiting Analyst logged a prediction in Kansas’ favor in Stokes’ Recruiting Prediction Machine after the news of his announcement dropped. Shaw set his confidence in the pick at 60%, which brings the RPM to 83.7% Jayhawks.

Jeff Goodman

On Twitter, Jeff Goodman confirmed the announcement will take place at 6:30 p.m. ET on “Inside the NBA,” and that Kansas is the frontrunner.

This is what I was told, also.

Tyran Stokes will make announcement tonight at 6:30 pm ET with the Inside the NBA crew.

Kansas the frontrunner. Kentucky in mix as well. https://t.co/14jd0jlYfN

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 28, 2026

247 Sports Staff

Branham and the 247 Sports staff logged a Crystal Ball prediction for Stokes to go to Kansas back in January, with a 5/10 confidence rating. They are sticking with that today.

In an appearance on CBS Sports Network, Branham said the intel he’s hearing still suggests Kansas will be Stokes’ choice — although he didn’t rule out Kentucky, in large part because of Nike.

“In all information, everything that we have been hearing still points to Kansas being the favorite. Now, I’m not leaving out Kentucky as a surprise commitment here. Kentucky has made him their top priority in this 2026 recruiting class. It sounds like there is a massive NIL offer for him on the table. Obviously, Tyran Stokes is a Nike-signed athlete, and that has absolutely played a role in this recruitment.

“I’ve said it on this show before, I’ve said it on other platforms, across our platforms, that if all things were created equal, if this were a recruitment that was within a vacuum, where you’re not talking about different brands in this new era, that Tyran Stokes probably would have been committed to Kansas a very long time ago. However, like I said, this has played a real role, and played a role as to why this has come down to the very, very end of this recruiting cycle, but as of right now, I’m still liking Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks’ chances at landing the number one overall recruit.”

Both teams are in need of a star. If Stokes does choose Kansas, Branham didn’t sugarcoat the work Mark Pope must do to fill out Kentucky’s roster.

“They’re going to be in big trouble. They put all their eggs in the Tyran Stokes basket within this 2026 recruiting class. They do have one freshman coming in in Mason Williams. We have him ranked inside our top 150, but he’s not going to be a big-time contributor right away. I do expect him to be involved in this rotation. They added in Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins out of Furman, two guards that there’s a lot to kind of be curious about, how those two guys fit together in this Kentucky backcourt.

“And as you mentioned, both teams are missing a substantial amount of star power. Kentucky does have Malachi Moreno coming back, but is he a true star as a sophomore? He is a good player. He’s going to be a good piece, but it’s very evident that both teams, as I was saying, put all their eggs in this basket, where they’re now both lacking star power.

“And that is one of these, the top storylines with this Tyran Stokes commitment, whether he picks Kentucky or Kansas, the other is going to be left right now in this transfer portal cycle where so many stars are now off the board, and now you’re going to have to get really deep into the weeds to fill out your roster and build a competitive team for next year.”

Well, we’d better land Stokes then, right?