NCAA correspondent Andy Katz released a list ranking who he believes are the top 16 three-point shooters in the country on Monday morning.
On his list, Katz highlighted numerous collegiate stars including highly-touted Kentucky transfer Koby Brea, who not only made the list, but served as the top pick.
Brea, a native of Washington Heights, New York, spent four seasons as a Dayton Flyer before entering his name in the transfer portal on April 16, four days after UK hired former BYU head coach Mark Pope.
After exploring the portal for nearly a month and hearing from some prestigious programs like UConn, North Carolina, Kansas and Duke, Brea chose to transfer to Kentucky and be a part of Pope’s inaugural squad.
In his senior season at Dayton, Brea put up his strongest numbers, averaging 11.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists a night, while shooting a staggering 49.8% from deep.
Most who know Pope’s coaching style from BYU can attest to the fact that he loves having his team chuck the deep ball, which Brea is more than capable of doing given the fact that Katz ranked him No. 1 on his list.
The freshly hired coach had his BYU team firing in transition last season, leaving multiple opportunities for his Cougars to round off multiple 3-pointers a game and fans can expect to see him conduct the same game plan this year with even more threats like Brea, Jaxson Robinson, Travis Perry and more.
The top four three-point shooters trailing behind Brea on Katz’s list were Alabama’s Mark Sears, Iowa’s Payton Sandfort, Marquette’s Kam Jones and North Carolina’s RJ Davis. Three of those are guys who made deep runs with their respective teams in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
With a high caliber shooter like Brea tacked on to the UK roster, Pope should be able draw up plays that heavily involve the sniper in his fifth collegiate season and, if all goes well, results in the win column should follow.
Kentucky will kick off its 2024-25 basketball campaign the same way it does every year: at Big Blue Madness. The 2024 Big Blue Madness event is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 11, and will take place inside Rupp Arena.
