Kansas basketball reportedly not recruiting former Jayhawks transfer portal target
The Kansas basketball program has added four stellar players from the transfer portal during the offseason. HC Bill Self has made it clear that changes needed to be made after the Jayhawks had one of the worst seasons in his tenure. However, KU will still have one open scholarship to fill if and when Johnny Furphy makes his departure to the NBA official.
Portal talks have died down in Lawrence over the past few days after former Alabama Crimson Tide guard Rylan Griffen announced his intentions to commit to Kansas. According to a recent report by CBS Sports analyst Matt Norlander, one of the few Jayhawks portal targets has fallen out of reach. Kentucky seems to be "in the driver's seat" for Dayton transfer Koby Brea.
Now, the intriguing part here is w/ Koby Brea, who previously put out a finalist list of Duke/UConn/Kansas/UNC/Kentucky. With the other four no longer recruiting Brea, Kentucky is absolutely in the driver's seat and lined up to land the highly coveted 3-point specialist.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 29, 2024
The possibility of Koby Brea joining Kansas basketball appears slim
The 6-foot-6 guard had spent four years with the Flyers before entering the portal as a graduate transfer. Brea released a final five list featuring Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, UConn, and Kentucky, four of the best college basketball programs in the country. But at this juncture, it doesn't appear likely that any of those schools have a chance to compete with Mark Pope and Kentucky.
Brea was the best 3-point shooter in the NCAA last season, shooting a Division I-leading 49.8% from beyond the arc and connecting on 3.0 attempts per game. He averaged 11.1 points and 3.8 rebounds, serving as a crucial bench piece for a Dayton squad that lost to Arizona in the Round of 32.
The New York native is the top sharpshooter in the portal and obviously garnered interest from dozens of teams. UConn was in the lead to land Brea for quite some time, but Norlander noted that the back-to-back champions were no longer pursuing him after receiving a commitment from St. Mary's transfer Aidan Mahaney. This gave Kentucky a clear path to lead in the Brea sweepstakes.
Kansas basketball still has one of the most stacked rosters in the sport and should enter the following campaign as title favorites. Regardless, it would have been nice if the Jayhawks recruited him harder given KU's struggles from long-range this past season.
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