The Kentucky males’s basketball program has gone into enemy territory to assist fortify its roster for the 2023-24 season.

On Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats acquired a dedication from class of 2023 taking pictures guard Joey Hart out of Indiana, as head coach John Calipari provides yet one more freshman to subsequent season’s staff.

Hart will arrive in Kentucky after a distinguished highschool profession in small-town Indiana, and on the finish of his second faculty recruitment.

Hart performed prep basketball at Linton-Stockton Excessive College in Linton, Indiana. Listed as 6-foot-5 and 180 kilos in a Saturday afternoon information launch from Kentucky, Hart averaged greater than 23 factors per recreation and was a 41% three-point shooter as a highschool senior final season.

He was a serious motive why Linton-Stockton posted a 29-2 document and completed because the Class 2A state runner-up final season in Indiana. For his highschool profession, Hart completed with 1,901 factors, 424 rebounds and 224 assists.

This senior-season efficiency was sufficient to earn Hart the distinguished accolade of being named an Indiana All-Star, though he wasn’t capable of play on this yr’s rivalry collection in opposition to Kentucky attributable to a turf toe harm.

“I am excited to get began at Kentucky,” Hart, who’s already on campus, mentioned within the UK information launch. “I selected UK due to Coach Calipari, the supportive fan base and Kentucky’s capability to develop gamers. I am wanting ahead to having the chance to compete and play within the NCAA Match.”

Hart’s senior season — and his hot-shooting performances on the Underneath Armor grassroots circuit — had been additionally adequate to alter the trajectory of his faculty basketball pathway.

After a junior season wherein Hart averaged greater than 20 factors per recreation whereas taking pictures 42% on three-pointers, he dedicated to Central Florida in August 2022. Hart then signed his nationwide letter of intent with the Knights final November.

However Hart was released from that letter in Could, which reopened the recruiting course of for him.

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Regardless of curiosity from different high-major faculties like hometown Indiana and Rutgers, Hart’s second faculty recruitment was sealed after he visited Kentucky final weekend.

A couple of hours previous to Hart’s dedication to the Wildcats on Saturday, a social media image displaying a locker already outfitted with Hart’s identify and quantity (20) made the rounds.

“Joey can actually shoot the basketball, but in addition brings an amazing all-around recreation to this class,” Calipari mentioned in Saturday’s information launch. “His greatest days of basketball are forward of him and I look ahead to watching him develop alongside the remainder of the category.”

In line with the 247Sports Composite, Hart is ranked as a three-star prospect and the No. 197 gamers general within the 2023 recruiting class.

Hart is now the seventh freshman on the UK roster for the 2023-24 season. Hart is the second class of 2023 participant to decide to the Cats this week following Monday morning’s dedication from small ahead Jordan Burks.

His dedication to Kentucky comes because the Wildcats at the moment are lower than a month away from collaborating within the “GLOBL JAM” in Toronto, a four-team occasion that includes squads from the US, Canada, Germany and Africa.

UK will likely be representing the US on the occasion, which is considered as a key offseason alternative for the Cats to construct reps and discover staff chemistry with a younger group of gamers.

Present Kentucky males’s basketball roster outlook

Here is a present breakdown of all of the scholarship gamers becoming a member of and leaving the Wildcats, together with the query marks that also exist for subsequent season’s staff.

Incoming gamers: Aaron Bradshaw (freshman middle), Jordan Burks (freshman small ahead), Robert Dillingham (freshman guard), Justin Edwards (freshman small ahead), Joey Hart (freshman taking pictures guard), Reed Sheppard (freshman guard), DJ Wagner (freshman guard ).

On Friday afternoon, NBA insider Shams Charania reported that Bradshaw had suffered a fracture in his leg and should miss the beginning of the subsequent season.

On Friday evening, Bradshaw participated within the Kentucky males’s basketball staff’s father-son camp on the Joe Craft Heart. Bradshaw wasn’t wearing a boot on both of his ft and he participated in basketball actions through the camp.

returning gamers: Brennan Canada (fifth-year guard), Ugonna Onyenso (sophomore ahead), Adou Thiero (sophomore guard).

Outgoing gamers: Daimion Collins (ahead, transferred to LSU), CJ Fredrick (guard, transferred to Cincinnati), Chris Livingston (ahead, NBA Draft), Oscar Tshiebwe (ahead, NBA Draft), Jacob Toppin (ahead, NBA Draft), Cason Wallace ( guard, NBA Draft), Lance Ware (ahead, transferred to Villanova), Sahvir Wheeler (guard, transferred to Washington).

But-to-be introduced: Antonio Reeves (guard).

Reeves pulled his identify out of the NBA Draft and can return to varsity basketball for subsequent season, however he hasn’t confirmed whether or not or not he would return to Kentucky for his ultimate season of NCAA eligibility.