Kentucky’s roster is taking shape.
The Kentucky Wildcats have been adding to their roster after the exodus of John Calipari gutted the team, as no players from last season will return to Lexington.
Kentucky also lost all of its class of 2024 recruits outside of in-state star Travis Perry, leaving it with just a handful of players before the last two weeks.
Mark Pope now has a real roster to work with.
The Wildcats added two major players Wednesday: Point guard Kerr Kriisa from West Virginia and shooting guard Koby Brea from Dayton. Both are strong shooters and should add some major court spacing to the program. They’ll join Perry, Collin Chandler, Amari Williams, Lamont Butler, Otega Oweh, Andrew Carr, and Brandon Garrison on the 2024-25 Kentucky Basketball roster, which will likely add a few more players before it’s all said and done.
The only thing really left for Kentucky to get is a go-to scorer who can round out the roster of ultra-talented shooters and defenders.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to Wednesday’s double boom!
Dreams to reality!!! Let’s go BBN pic.twitter.com/4uWAAb4t03
— Koby Brea (@kobybrea) May 1, 2024
Let’s GOOOOOO
Welcome to BBN family pic.twitter.com/zAF4e5NDbE— BBN-MJ (@Jaloudi4) May 1, 2024
Kerr Kriisa will not be boring. pic.twitter.com/3f7a4KfjBC
— Tyler Thompson (@MrsTylerKSR) May 1, 2024
Teams with the most 5-star transfer additions at https://t.co/cegyfz96ax:
4 players: Kentucky, Michigan
3 players: Louisville
2 players: Duke, Arkansas, Missouri, UCLA, Florida, Ole Miss, Memphis— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) May 1, 2024
Mark Pope has been on fire in portal reconstructing Kentucky’s roster. The roster so far is very solid:
Kerr Kriisa
Koby Brea
Otega Oweh
Andrew Carr
Brandon GarrisonBench: Lamont Butler, Amari Williams, Collin Chandler, and Travis Perry pic.twitter.com/hUejN5TdMk
— Jacob Rhymer (@Rhymetime05) May 1, 2024
Kentucky’s two commitments today:
Kerr Kriisa
– 42.4% from three
– 75% eFG in catch-and-shoot situations (99th percentile)Koby Brea
– 49.8% from three
– 83% eFG in catch-and-shoot situations (100th percentile)— Locked On Kentucky (@LockedOnUK) May 1, 2024
Kentucky HC Mark Pope on the Cats’ signing of transfer guard Koby Brea… pic.twitter.com/JRcmWO1m8z
— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) May 1, 2024
“Mark Pope can’t recruit at Kentucky”
✅ -Collin Chandler
✅ – Travis Perry
✅ – Amari Williams
✅ – Lamont Butler
✅ – Otega Oweh
✅ – Andrew Car
✅ – Brandon Garrison
✅ – Koby Brea
✅ – Another “Boom”Keep that same energy. pic.twitter.com/fbPfN50kdg
— Casey (@casey_madis) May 1, 2024
Koby Brea’s analytics are truly mind-blowing. I could look at his Synergy page for hours.
All Possessions: 100th percentile (1.331 ppp = 21st nationally)
Catch-and-Shoot: 100th (71-132 from 3)
Spot Up: 99th
Transition: 99th
P&R Ball Handler: 98th
Off Screen: 90th pic.twitter.com/WexVOZOxXI— Brandon Ramsey (@BRamseyKSR) May 1, 2024
Kerr Kriisa isn’t as good of a shooter as Koby Brea, but as a depth piece to the UK basketball roster he is solid. pic.twitter.com/k8TgPDyMB0
— Ryan Ritchey (@RSquared_13) May 1, 2024
Kerr Kriisa was the starting point guard on a 33-4 Arizona team that earned a 1-seed in the NCAA tournament in 2022 and a 28-7 Arizona team that earned a 2-seed in 2023
He’d a very good player. Watch more basketball, don’t watch box scores. https://t.co/mLiNU8LifT
— Gavin Downard (@GavinDownard) May 1, 2024
Lamont Butler, Kerr Kriisa, Koby Brea, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams will all enter their 5th season, and have combined to play 565 college basketball games. That’s an average of 113 games.
Otega Oweh has played 60, and Brandon Garrison 32. Collin Chandler will be a… https://t.co/ibo93PL1C1
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) May 1, 2024
A good thing about Kerr Kriisa, who is from Estonia, is that he has already adjusted to American food. Unlike Big Z last season.
Kriisa talks about his experience with Mexican food when he first arrived at Arizona as a freshman.
“I was in the bathroom pretty often…” pic.twitter.com/jgQwsznXe8
— Tristan Pharis (@TristanUda) May 1, 2024
Kentucky today:@CoachMarkPope pic.twitter.com/cQYUazU5nQ
— Locked On Kentucky (@LockedOnUK) May 1, 2024
Big Blue Nation is going to ride or die for Kerr Kriisa so hard this year. https://t.co/wCBeZnDud6
— Adam Luckett (@AdamLuckettKSR) May 1, 2024
In my mind, Kerr Kriisa is an upgraded version of what we could have gotten in Dallin Hall (who I really wanted).
Good offense initiator with a reliable jumpshot. Immediate college basketball villain with a large personality on the court.
BBN is going to love him! pic.twitter.com/ylON6cqU8b
— WT – Adou Enthusiast (@WildcatsTongue) May 1, 2024
Kentucky fans, here are my thoughts on Kerr Kriisa:
There will be ups. There will be downs. But you’re getting a kid who cares. Maybe more than anyone else already on your roster. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. For better or worse, you’ll always remember the Kerr Kriisa Era.
— David Blattman (@davidblattman) May 1, 2024
Kentucky’s transfer portal additions in catch-and-shoot opportunities last year (per Synergy).
Koby Brea: 100th percentile, 71-132 (53.8%)
Lamont Butler: 27-74 (36.5%)
Andrew Carr: 32-92 (34.8%)
Kerr Kriisa: 98th percentile, 42-84 (50%)
Otega Oweh: 75th percentile, 17-45 (37.8%)— Brandon Ramsey (@BRamseyKSR) May 1, 2024
️BBN
️ @KentuckyMBB IS JUST DIFFERENT #BBN #ItsJustDifferent pic.twitter.com/WQmaSKwyQi
— Alvin Brooks III (@Coach_AB3) May 1, 2024
#BBN, meet @kobybrea! pic.twitter.com/BxpGGLoXf8
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) May 1, 2024
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