Mark Pope, the new coach at Kentucky, continues to receive commitments through the transfer portal. On Wednesday, Pope received commitments from two of the best 3-point shooters in college basketball, Dayton’s Koby Brea and West Virginia’s Kerr Kriisa.
Brea, who made 100 of his 201 attempts from beyond the arc last season, leading Division I in 3-point shooting percentage (49.8%), is the sixth transfer that Pope has signed this offseason.
Less than a day has passed since the program signed Oklahoma State big man Brandon Garrison, who CBS Sports’ David Cobb ranked as the No. 24 available player in the transfer portal. Now, the program has announced his commitment.
Last weekend, Kentucky added San Diego State standout guard Lamont Butler to the 2024–25 roster via the transfer portal, and last week, they added Oklahoma’s Otega Oweh and Wake Forest’s Andrew Carr.
Butler was the second transfer portal commitment Pope secured this month. Butler was the 2023–24 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year. Amari Williams, a star forward for Drexel, committed to the Wildcats earlier this month. Three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year Williams was the second recruit that UK signed after Pope, following Collin Chandler’s conversion from BYU to Kentucky.
Chandler, a recruit for the class of 2022, served a Mormon mission for the previous two years. During his time at BYU, he was Pope’s highest-rated signee (ranked No. 33 overall).
The Wildcats now have no returning scholarship players after Joey Hart transferred to Ball State and standout freshman Reed Sheppard of Kentucky announced his intention to enter the NBA Draft.
A few hours after Chandler committed to the Wildcats, four-star guard Billy Richmond announced his decommitment from the once highly anticipated recruiting class. Chandler’s pledge comes after a number of players from the UK’s 2024 recruiting class resumed accepting applications after head coach John Calipari left for Arkansas. Although four top 50 prospects who were previously committed to the Wildcats are now expected to play elsewhere next season, Travis Perry is still committed to the University of Kentucky.
Pope, who has been BYU’s coach for the last five seasons, was a major contributor to the team’s 1996 national title run while playing for UK under Rick Pitino from 1994 to 1996. His first task is to assemble a team for the upcoming season, since the majority of Kentucky’s 2023–24 roster is either out of eligibility, in the transfer portal, or destined for the NBA Draft.
Real-time tracking of Kentucky’s recruiting class and roster is done by CBS Sports. Here is the current status of every committed player in the United Kingdom.
