4-Point Play: Booms, ice cream and offseason grades

We’re just a few short days away from the end of the eight-week period allowed for summer practices, schools given four hours per week for hands-on instruction. From there, the Kentucky Wildcats will take a short break before season preparation officially begins.

What’s on the docket tonight for 4-Point Play? It’s somewhat of a mixed bag, ranging from Mr. Boom’s favorite commitments to the team’s favorite ice cream flavors. Let’s dive right in.

Cody Fueger reveals his favorite BOOM

Remember how fun that run of commitments was this offseason, Cody Fueger dropping ‘boom’ gifs on social media ahead of each surprise announcement? The uncertainty was stressful, but an absolute blast as Kentucky rebuilt its roster piece by piece in a hurry.

Which one was Fueger’s favorite? Not necessarily in terms of talent or importance — they’re all talented and important — but maybe the timing or magnitude given the competition the Wildcats had to beat out?

One is pretty obvious, the piece that tied the group together with a nice little bow.

“Getting Jaxson Robinson, that was big. And Jax put out my face for that one, so that was very cool,” Fueger told KSR.

His favorite, though, happened to be the biggest surprise of the cycle, a transfer addition that came out of left field. When everyone expected a Great Osobor commitment, they worked in silence to secure Brandon Garrison’s pledge.

“I would say my favorite one was probably Brandon Garrison because no one knew what was happening. We had one kid on a visit. It was my favorite because everyone was like, ‘What’s going on?'” Fueger said. “All of the media people are getting mad at me because I’m not telling them who it is. That one was pretty fun because of how mad those guys were getting at me. I was like, ‘This is the kid’s time, it’s their decision to make. This is us just trying to have fun with it.'”

Kentucky basketball gets ice cream after practice

The ice cream truck came to the Joe Craft Center on Tuesday to celebrate the near-end of summer workouts for the men’s and women’s basketball programs. Taylor Belle’s Ice Cream dropped by at the end of practice to supply the players and coaches with dessert, the UK Sports Network catching up with the guys and girls between licks and/or bites to ask whether they preferred a cup or cone and their favorite flavors.

Jaxson Robinson is usually a cone guy, but went with a cup today because “it’s more convenient.” Koby Brea and Andrew Carr favor cookies and cream while Amari Williams went with plain vanilla “to play it safe.”

As for the head coaches down the hall from one another in the basketball offices, Kenny Brooks says he’s too old for cones because they’re too messy while Mark Pope took on all of the mess with a cone himself.

Scoop there it is! 🍨🍦

A huge shoutout to Taylor Belle’s for supplying some sweet treats post practice! pic.twitter.com/AHxXsVfykS

— UK Sports Network (@UKSportsNetwork) August 7, 2024

Well-deserved after eight long weeks of practice.

Post-practice ice cream??? Yes, please. pic.twitter.com/Y5yjiMcXwv

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) August 7, 2024

Field of 68 gives Kentucky final offseason grade

The dust has settled on Pope’s first offseason in Lexington with the roster complete, barring a 13th scholarship addition in the final weeks of August. The attention now turns to the fall semester and preseason ahead of 2024-25 to officially begin this new era of Kentucky basketball.

How did the first-year coach do? Did he build a championship contender in year one? The Field of 68 gave their official offseason grades this week, Rob Dauster giving Pope a B- and Jeff Goodman upping it a few notches to a B+.

In a vacuum, the Wildcats added plenty of quality talent, but is there enough star talent? That’s what’s capping Kentucky’s ceiling in Pope’s first go-round.

“They have a lot of really good pieces. My biggest question is will having a bunch of good pieces who are solid players and not having a superstar to kind of build it all around, is that going to work for him?” Dauster said.

“You go down the list and you’re like, ‘Good player, good player, good player, veteran player, veteran player, veteran.’ They’re all nice pieces. Do you have that dude? They don’t really have that dude, let’s be honest,” Goodman responded. “Jaxson Robinson isn’t that dude. He’s a good player, a good player who had a really good year at BYU last year, and that’s the beauty of bringing him in late. They needed him because he knows Mark Pope’s system and these other guys don’t.”

Goodman singled out Otega Oweh as a darkhorse for Kentucky’s best player, but said the two-way threats are limited across the roster. Instead, there are really good offensive players and really good defensive players, but not both.

“This is a team, ultimately, that gets in the tournament and maybe wins a game or two, and that’s a good year for Mark Pope in year one taking over in Lexington,” he added.

Hear their complete thoughts on the Cats below:

Jasper Johnson named toughest player in the class to rank

In the eighth update for the 2025 class at On3, Lexington’s own Jasper Johnson came in ranked No. 22 overall, putting him just outside five-star status. It’s the lowest grade among major recruiting services with the dynamic scoring guard coming in at No. 11 overall in the On3 Industry Ranking.

Why such a wide range? On3’s Jamie Shaw calls him “the toughest player in the class to rank.” He explains in a new article highlighting the hot topic questions surrounding the outlet’s new top 150.

“Now that the scouting lens has been corrected for Johnson, it is about him cleaning up his game as a scorer,” he wrote. “The range is deep, but so many of his shots are settling, which, in turn, many times makes them contested and off-balanced looks. An example of this is that during EYBL play he shot 27.5 percent from three, but he shot 89.7 percent from the free-throw line.

“While it can be hard to overlook the inefficiencies and a shooter and his negative assist-to-turnover ratio, shooting is one of the more valuable parts of the game at its highest levels. In watching film and looking a bit deeper into the stats, you see that Johnson can shoot with a clean release and a consistent shot load, especially off the catch. Now, it is about fine-tuning core and base work and minimizing his game. There is something there, with the shooting touch, size/length, and athletic pop. It will interesting to monitor over the next eight or so months.”