4-Point Play: What the addition of Brandon Garrison means for Kentucky

Mark Pope turned six into seven in a hurry, adding Oklahoma State center Brandon Garrison in a major surprise Tuesday morning with all eyes on Dayton sharpshooter Koby Brea to potentially make it eight The former is a high-potential former McDonalds All-American with three years of eligibility left and the latter the No. 1 shooter in the portal and an immediate plug-and-play piece for Kentucky — assuming the Wildcats can seal the deal on his pledge to wrap up his official visit in Lexington.

Five days ago, the roster was wide-freaking-open with no real identity, but now, the vision is pretty darn clear with the core group coming together.

Still some work to do, but the obvious holes are filling up with a few opportunities for star talent to join the fold. The foundation is there, now it’s on Pope to swing for the fences and finish things out with a home run or two.

Let’s talk through Tuesday’s addition first, though, highlighting what Garrison brings to the table and what Brea could.

Pope’s first Burger Boy

The Kentucky head coach said at his introductory press conference he wouldn’t stop recruiting young, high-profile talent to Lexington. “Those guys that fit here sometimes will be one-and-done Burger Boys, for sure,” Pope said, “and sometimes they will be guys that come here and play four years.”

Well, Garrison isn’t a one-and-done, but he is a former McDonalds All-American. Coming in at No. 44 overall and No. 5 at his position in the final On3 Industry Rankings, the four-star center was the 2023 Gatorade and MaxPreps Player of the Year in the state of Oklahoma. He also won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2022 FIBA U18 Americas in Mexico while winning two state championships at Del City in high school. That profile paved the path for the likes of Arkansas, Florida, Houston, Kansas, LSU, Oklahoma, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech offering him before he ultimately landed at Oklahoma State.

He may not have been a top-flight blue-chippers, but Burger Boys are Burger Boys for a reason. Garrison’s got raw talent.

High ceiling, but productive as is

There’s a slight misconception about Garrison joining the fold, the 6-11 center viewed as a long-term project big with three years of eligibility remaining and a significant runway to hit that potential. And there’s some truth to that in the sense there is certainly more to his game than he was able to show in a single year with the Cowboys or even dating back to high school. Some of his flashes, though, were brilliant, showing off touch and feel around the basket while also separating himself as a standout passer for his position. He’s not just a long, athletic, rim-running big man that his physical profile suggests he’d be on the surface.

But he’s got that stuff, too, averaging 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in just 22.7 minutes per contest. He shot 58.9% from the field with 22 dunks while also posting the conference’s highest free throw rate in Big 12 play.

At his worst right away, he’s going to give you dunks, rebounds and blocked shots. At his best down the line, he’s shown there is real untapped potential there as a modern big.

“He’s a locker room guy”

Now to address the elephant in the room: Garrison committed and signed with Kentucky while Pope was hosting Utah State’s Great Osobor, widely considered one of the best frontcourt players in the transfer portal. The 6-8, 250-pound forward is a walking double-double expected to step in and be a star from day one wherever he lands, and the Wildcats were thought to be a top contender in his recruitment with an outside shot at locking things down before he left campus. There was hope he wouldn’t bother making his other visits scheduled into next week, starting with Louisville (May 1-3), followed by Texas Tech (May 4-6) and wrapping up with Washington (May 7-9).

Then Garrison committed as it was confirmed Osobor would be seeing the process through from start to finish, delaying his decision till late next week, at bare minimum.

Kentucky found itself in a position of having one in the hand versus going for two in the bush, risking missing out on both by passing on Garrison. That wasn’t something Pope was willing to do, taking the chance on adding the Oklahoma State transfer as the Utah State star weighs his options.

If it gets to the point of Osobor wanting to join the party a little later, you won’t have to worry about Garrison throwing a fit about his role or minutes. He knows exactly what he’s signing up for — a huge bonus for Kentucky.

“They’re getting a great high-character young man, a kid that loves the game of basketball,” his high school coach, Lenny Hatchett, told KSR. “He’s a guy that people want to be around. He’s a locker room guy.”

Is Brea next?

Going into the day, the expectation was Dayton sharpshooter Koby Brea was going to announce his commitment to Kentucky. The Wildcats are the clear favorite with nothing more than dotting i’s and crossing t’s remaining — on the surface, at least. It’s still on Pope to wrap that one up with a bow and get it announced publicly at the conclusion of his official visit on Wednesday.

What can fans expect there? Well, not too much drama barring an absolute disaster. And if and when it does go live, Kentucky is getting a premier 3-point specialist who has hit 224 career threes at a ridiculous rate of 43.4%. He hit 100 alone this past season on 49.8% from three with over six attempts per game. To dig in a little deeper, he’s actually in the 100th percentile on catch-and-shoot threes, knocking them down on an absolutely ridiculous 83% effective field goal percentage. He’s also in the 96th percentile in spot-up shooting at 1.47 points per possession.

Point being, there are no other shooters in America like Koby Brea, and there’s a really strong chance he’ll be suiting up in blue and white this season for the Wildcats.

Could that come Wednesday? We’re just waiting on a Cody Fueger “boom” gif to confirm it for us.