4-Point Play: Trent Noah, Keegan Brown and Panama City Beach

Good evening, Big Blue Nation. How is everyone doing? Good? That’s great, love to hear it. We’re doing great over here, especially as soon as this post goes live on the website. Because as soon as it’s up, I’m out for the week, taking the wife and baby down to Panama City for some beach time with old friends. And it couldn’t come at a better time with the dust finally settling on the most ridiculous offseason of my career, the coaching carousel spinning out of control with ensuing roster mayhem. The roster is essentially set and the players are moving in — we’re up to three now with Kerr Kriisa, Andrew Carr and Ansley all on campus with more to come the rest of the week — with summer workouts and recruiting right around the corner.

Until then, I will leave you with a few parting notes before I pound Hurricanes in middle-class paradise.

Trent Noah says it’s ‘an honor’ to represent his home state

Mark Pope said his top priority when taking this job was finding players who genuinely wanted to be here and understand what it means to wear Kentucky blue and white.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who gets it more than Harlan County’s own Trent Noah, a top-five all-time scorer in KHSAA history who backed out of his pledge to South Carolina at the eleventh hour to sign with his home-state Wildcats — his dream as a hooper growing up in Eastern Kentucky, like so many.

“My dream definitely is basketball, but a part of that basketball piece is Kentucky basketball. Growing up a Kentucky kid, that’s what every Kentucky kid wants to do if you play basketball,” Noah said in a sitdown with Cameron Mills and the UK Sports Network. “Everybody wants to go to Kentucky, everybody wants to wear that jersey. For me to be able to represent the state of Kentucky and the kids from this area, it really is an honor. There is a lot of pride that comes with it. Eastern Kentucky fans bleed blue, they bleed super blue. They’re super passionate about UK sports and UK basketball. For me to be from this area and go represent us at the University of Kentucky, it’s really humbling.”

What are the Wildcats getting in his commitment? He says he’s ready to make shots under Pope, something his new coach is a fan of.

“Hopefully I can hit some shots. Coach Pope loves to shoot the three and he loves to play fast in that five-out offense, so hopefully my three-ball goes in,” he said. “That should help the team out a little bit. … His philosophy and my game go hand-in-hand because of that.”

We took a roadtrip to Harlan County and spoke with new @KentuckyMBB Freshman Trent Noah about his journey to Kentucky

Hear from @CameronMillz & @trentnoah2_ 👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/ZblVMe83h5

— UK Sports Network (@UKSportsNetwork) June 3, 2024

Analytics guru Keegan Brown leaves BYU

Mark Pope and Cody Fueger are forward-thinking basketball minds who put together one of the most lethal offenses in college basketball a season ago at BYU, a group that launched over 32 threes per game with over 11 makes, prioritizing transition opportunities and spacing. A shaker and mover in those efforts behind the scenes? Director of Video & Analytics Strategy Keegan Brown, who was seen as a must-have addition to Pope’s staff in Lexington once he took the Kentucky job to go with Fueger.

Pope quickly announced Fueger as his first addition, then recently hired Nick Robinson — his assistant from 2019-24 — as director of operations, among other support staff moves. Fans waited for the Brown shoe to drop, but nearing eight weeks on the job, no word from the Kentucky head coach about such a move.

And then Tuesday came, Brown announcing his departure from BYU, saying his time in Provo was a “dream come true to start my professional career” but will “move on to the next chapter” of his life.

#GoCougs pic.twitter.com/29JOUf56Qe

— Keegan Brown (@Keegs32) June 4, 2024

No public confirmation or even speculation that Lexington is his next stop, but as of June 4, he’s a free agent with quite the reputation under Pope. We’ll see if that leads to a move to Kentucky, continuing what that group started together in Provo.

Sheppard, Dillingham both drop in The Ringer’s latest mock draft

Reed Sheppard has held firm at No. 3 overall in ESPN’s mock draft since April 17, first climbing to top-three status on May 12 following the lottery. Rob Dillingham has been right behind him at No. 4 overall for most of that time until recently dropping two spots to No. 6 — both firmly inside the top 10 for the entirety of the pre-draft process, though.

So why is it that The Ringer is getting cute with the former Wildcats a few short weeks before the draft on June 26 in Brooklyn?

In Kevin O’Connor’s latest update, he has Sheppard falling to No. 5 overall because he’s convinced a team is going to trade up to No. 3 to take Donovan Clingan — though the Rockets will take either Sheppard or Clingan if they stay put. No matter his logic there, he still has the former UConn center ahead of the former Wildcat on his big board, the former listed at No. 4 and the latter at No. 5.

Oh well, nitpicky over a few spots here or there. No big deal… until you see that he’s also dropped Dillingham to No. 15 overall with the following justification: “(He) could go a lot higher than this, but someone’s gotta fall, right?”

What?

He’s also got the former Kentucky bucket-getter at No. 10 overall on his big board, behind the likes of Jared McCain and Devin Carter.

Looking at the rest of his mock draft and big board, Justin Edwards is the consensus No. 42 overall pick while Antonio Reeves is nowhere to be seen — even with his big board extending to 63 total prospects in a 58-man draft.

Jasper Johnson, USA go 2-0 to open U18 AmeriCup

Lexington’s own Jasper Johnson is currently representing the United States on the world stage, one of 12 players on USA Basketball’s squad in the 2024 FIBA U18 AmeriCup in Buenos Aires. They’ve already knocked out two games to open the trip — two big victories.

The United States beat Argentina 88-66 in the opener, Johnson finishing with three points on 1-1 shooting in 8:29 of game action while five-star guard Darius Acuff led the way with 22 points in the win. They found similar team success in game two, a 150-54 blowout victory that saw Johnson add eight points on 4-7 shooting with five assists, three rebounds and two steals in 16:30. Acuff led that one again with a team-high 23 points on 9-12 shooting with eight total players scoring in double figures for the U.S.

What’s up next? A head-to-head battle vs. Brazil on June 5, that matchup taking place at 4:40 p.m. ET. From there, the U18 AmeriCup Finals on June 7 and 8 with a chance to bring home a gold medal. Those games are all broadcast live on the FIBA YouTube Channel here.

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That’s all for now, BBN. See you in a week and Go Cats.