4-Point Play: What the commitments of Koby Brea and Kerr Kriisa mean for Kentucky

Mark Pope reeled in his next big fish in Dayton sharpshooter Koby Brea — the top 3-point specialist in the transfer portal. And then he followed that up by adding West Virginia guard Kerr Kriisa, also a fifth-year senior and knockdown shooter on high volume himself. Those two announcements came within hours of one another, pushing the roster number from seven to nine in a hurry.

We’ve come a long way since having just three players signed on just six days ago, to put it lightly.

And it’s a roster with a little bit of everything: size, athleticism, shooting, defense, versatility — the whole nine yards. Probably missing some top-end star power, but that can come as the dust settles on the draft process as players in the portal decide to withdraw and explore their transfer options further. Until then, it’s a heck of a start.

Let’s break down today’s additions and what they mean tonight on 4-Point Play.

Pope adds the best shooter in college basketball

There is nothing more important than the obvious, why you push your chips in to land his signature: Brea is the best shooter in college basketball by a mile. Only Stetson center Aubin Gateretse finished with a higher effective field goal percentage (72.3%), the 6-6 guard right behind at 71.5%. He also finished second nationally in true shooting percentage (72.2%) and third overall in three-point percentage at 49.8% with over six attempts per game.

Of the players in the top 100 in three-point percentage nationally, only two players made 100 of them, the other being Pittsburgh’s Blake Hinson — and he needed 261 attempts to get to 110 (42.1%). Brea got his 100 on 201 attempts, most by anyone in the top 40 and exceeding the volume Reed Sheppard (52.1% on 144 3PA), Antonio Reeves (44.7% on 188 3PA) and Rob Dillingham (44.4% on 144 3PA), three of the top six shooters in Kentucky basketball history.

“Koby Brea is the most efficient mid-to-high major player in college basketball in the last decade,” Pope said of Kentucky’s latest signing. And he’s right. Factoring in rate and efficiency, no one did it like the Dayton standout. And now he’s a Wildcat.

Opposing fans hate Kriisa (but we’ll love him)

As a player, Kriisa is pretty straightforward: elite shooter and facilitator, defensive liability and turnover prone at times. He knocked down 61 threes on 42.4% shooting with a 29.1% assist rate — ranked inside the top 100 nationally in both categories. But he also has a turnover rate of 26.6% and a defensive rating of 116.0 this past season and 106.7 for his career, below average to bad across four years in that area.

But you’re not bringing him in to be a lockdown defender — that’s what Lamont Butler, Otega Oweh and Amari Williams are for. He’s here to run the offense, make shots and dish out assists (maybe with fewer turnovers along the way).

Another thing he’s here for? To piss off opposing teams. He’s outstanding at that.

Kriisa has become the sport’s biggest villain over the course of his four years in college, beloved among fans of the teams he plays for and absolutely despised among rivals. People hate this guy’s guts in the college basketball world for his relentless trash talk and on-court antics. And he’s definitely a character away from it.

Kerr Kriisa will not be boring. pic.twitter.com/3f7a4KfjBC

— Tyler Thompson (@MrsTylerKSR) May 1, 2024

Be careful giving Kerr Mexican food pic.twitter.com/hhwfczGtKK

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) May 1, 2024

Again, this is the guy who once said “it’s pretty easy to get into his head” when talking about Luka freaking Doncic during the 2022 FIBA World Cup qualifiers suiting up for the Estonia National Team. He’s got fire, someone you hate facing but love having on your side. That works in Kentucky’s favor after today.

Roster foundation is set — and it’s experienced

Nine players later, the core group is there for Pope and Co. Big Blue Nation got antsy entering the weekend with just three guys, but now, you can feel pretty darn solid about where things stand with just a few key pieces to go.

And of the guys they’ve got, they’re old with just two incoming freshmen — one being 21 years old by the time he suits up in his first game as a Wildcat in Collin Chandler, Travis Perry the other.

From there, you’ve got fifth-year seniors in Brea, Kriisa, Butler, Williams and Wake Forest transfer Andrew Carr. That group in itself has 20 years of college basketball experience, the majority as key starters at their previous stops. Oweh will be a junior while Brandon Garrison will be a sophomore to round out the group.

Crunching the numbers, that gives you 473 combined starts with 657 total games. That’s absolutely absurd considering where we came from under John Calipari.

You’ve still got room for a star (or two)

There’s still something missing with this roster, and it’s not necessarily a secret. You’ve got a long list of scheme-specific guys who fill roles at a high level, but you’re also short a bucket-getter, someone you trust to put the team on their back to take a game over in crunch time.

That guy is BYU star Jaxson Robinson, who is currently testing the draft waters while keeping his transfer options open. If he’s able to sneak into the end of the first round, it makes sense for the 6-7 wing to keep his name in the 2024 NBA Draft — his ultimate dream, he says (like all high-level basketball talents). If not, though, Kentucky is widely seen as the favorite to land his services, following his former coach to Lexington for one final run at conference and national championships while using the platform to potentially catapult him into prime draft position.

If it’s not Robinson, there are others in a similar boat, seeing what the draft process has to offer while keeping portal options open. The list is shrinking, but top-flight talent remains. And the beauty of building the roster the way Pope has is there’s a clear opportunity there up for grabs. Someone will want to fill it.

It puts Kentucky in a really nice spot going into the final few weeks of roster construction season.