Kentucky Basketball: Wildcats get needed shooting boost with Joey Hart
it’s been a wild overall recruitment for three-guard prospect Joey Hart. After flying under the radar, he’s now set to play for Kentucky Basketball.
It’s understandably been a rough offense for Kentucky to this point. They lost out on multiple transfer targets, were on the wrong end on a couple of key NBA Draft decisions, as well as dealing with the Antonio Reeves saga as he may potentially enter the transfer portal. And most recently, the team may be out star freshman Aaron Bradshaw potentially at the start of next season with a foot injury.
One area where Coach John Calipari has down well is the incoming 2023 recruiting class. They were up to six commits in the No. 1 overall class, thanks to four-star wing Jordan Burks committing last week. And now, the Wildcats are up to seven on this Saturday afternoon.
2023 three-star shooting guard Joey Hart, a former UCF signee, tells me he’s committed to Kentucky.
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) June 17, 2023
Becomes the seventh incoming freshman for UK’s No. 1 ranked recruiting class. https://t.co/nkmTBnTjNY pic.twitter.com/vYodqAaGU5
Joey Hart is a 6’5 shooting guard out of the state of Indiana. He’s a consensus three-star prospect and spent the last year as a commit for the UCF Knights. However, Hart parted ways with them this offseason, with both Kentucky and Indiana after him. The three-star is known for his shooting, coming off a high school senior campaign of averaging over 23 ppg and shooting over 40% from three-point range.
Last season, the Wildcats were one of the best in shooting in the SEC but were middle-of-the-road nationally at 35% 3PT. But with Tshiebwe gone and Reeves possibly leaving soon, Kentucky is going to need to find other ways and players to provide the offense. Hart has the chance to carve out a role in the rotation if his shooting skills translate to this level.
dark. Next. Pros and cons of potential Antonio Reeces transfer
Kentucky might not be done yet with the incoming freshmen class either. They’re reportedly in the mix with Somto Cyril, a four-star center in the 2024 class that has a chance to reclass to play next season. And if Bradshaw’s foot injury ends up being serious, the team needs another center for depth purposes. That’s why adding Hart is important because even though the roster will be extremely young, it’ll still end up being very talented from top-to-bottom.