“He is a smart basketball player, 247Sports national basketball analyst Travis Branham told the Herald-Leader about Hart. “He is skilled. He’s a really good shooter.”
In addition to his standout senior season — which came on the heels of an impressive summer on the Under Armour grassroots circuit — Hart has several seasons of high-quality play to his name.
As a high school junior, Hart averaged more than 20 points per game while shooting 42% on three-pointers. For his high school career, Hart finished with 1,901 points, 424 rebounds and 224 assists.
Unsurprisingly, this led Branham to say shooting is Hart’s best basketball attribute.
It’s also the main reason why Hart — who is ranked as a three-star prospect and the No. 197 player overall in the 2023 recruiting class by the 247Sports Composite — became a coveted player late in this year’s freshman recruiting cycle.
Hart committed to Kentucky despite drawing interest from several other high-major schools, including Indiana and Rutgers.
“Joey can really shoot the basketball but also brings a tremendous all-around game to this class,” Calipari said in a Saturday afternoon news releaseannouncing Hart’s commitment. “His best days of basketball are ahead of him and I look forward to watching him develop alongside the rest of the class.”
From the UK perspective, it didn’t hurt that Hart was eager to make the jump to a blue-blood program, especially during a time when the Cats have struggled to attract top-shelf newcomers while key members of last season’s team have departed Lexington.
“With this roster of only (10) guys, he’s a good body to have in practice,” Branham said. “And also a guy who can maybe check into a game, and — especially if this team is struggling to shoot the basketball — he can space the floor for you.”
While it remains to be seen how well Hart — who reported scholarship offers from the likes of Ball State, Drake, Northwestern and Wichita State during his initial college recruitment — can hang athletically at the high-major level, his addition to the Kentucky roster for next season speaks to one of many glaring needs for Kentucky: three-point shooting.
Of the 213 total three-pointers Kentucky made as a team last season, currently the Wildcats will return just four of those.
Granted, most of the slack in this regard is expected to be picked up by UK’s top-tier freshmen like Justin Edwards and DJ Wagner, but in theory, Hart represents another potential floor-spacer for the Wildcats to utilize.
“I’m excited to get started at Kentucky,” Hart said in the UK news release. “I chose UK because of Coach Calipari, the supportive fan base and Kentucky’s ability to develop players. I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to compete and play in the NCAA Tournament.”
Hart is also only a few weeks away from his first taste of competitive action at Kentucky.
The Wildcats are less than a month away from participating in the “GLOBL JAM” in Toronto, a four-team event featuring squads from the United States, Canada, Germany and Africa.
UK will be representing the United States at the event, which is viewed as a key offseason opportunity for the Cats to build reps and find team chemistry with a young group of players.
In addition to his standout senior season — which came on the heels of an impressive summer on the Under Armour grassroots circuit — Hart has several seasons of high-quality play to his name.
As a high school junior, Hart averaged more than 20 points per game while shooting 42% on three-pointers. For his high school career, Hart finished with 1,901 points, 424 rebounds and 224 assists.
Unsurprisingly, this led Branham to say shooting is Hart’s best basketball attribute.
It’s also the main reason why Hart — who is ranked as a three-star prospect and the No. 197 player overall in the 2023 recruiting class by the 247Sports Composite — became a coveted player late in this year’s freshman recruiting cycle.
Hart committed to Kentucky despite drawing interest from several other high-major schools, including Indiana and Rutgers.
“Joey can really shoot the basketball but also brings a tremendous all-around game to this class,” Calipari said in a Saturday afternoon news releaseannouncing Hart’s commitment. “His best days of basketball are ahead of him and I look forward to watching him develop alongside the rest of the class.”
From the UK perspective, it didn’t hurt that Hart was eager to make the jump to a blue-blood program, especially during a time when the Cats have struggled to attract top-shelf newcomers while key members of last season’s team have departed Lexington.
“With this roster of only (10) guys, he’s a good body to have in practice,” Branham said. “And also a guy who can maybe check into a game, and — especially if this team is struggling to shoot the basketball — he can space the floor for you.”
While it remains to be seen how well Hart — who reported scholarship offers from the likes of Ball State, Drake, Northwestern and Wichita State during his initial college recruitment — can hang athletically at the high-major level, his addition to the Kentucky roster for next season speaks to one of many glaring needs for Kentucky: three-point shooting.
Of the 213 total three-pointers Kentucky made as a team last season, currently the Wildcats will return just four of those.
Granted, most of the slack in this regard is expected to be picked up by UK’s top-tier freshmen like Justin Edwards and DJ Wagner, but in theory, Hart represents another potential floor-spacer for the Wildcats to utilize.
“I’m excited to get started at Kentucky,” Hart said in the UK news release. “I chose UK because of Coach Calipari, the supportive fan base and Kentucky’s ability to develop players. I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to compete and play in the NCAA Tournament.”
Hart is also only a few weeks away from his first taste of competitive action at Kentucky.
The Wildcats are less than a month away from participating in the “GLOBL JAM” in Toronto, a four-team event featuring squads from the United States, Canada, Germany and Africa.
UK will be representing the United States at the event, which is viewed as a key offseason opportunity for the Cats to build reps and find team chemistry with a young group of players.
