Aidan Mahaney Helps Kentucky's Pursuit of Koby Brea

Things change quickly in the transfer portal. A domino falling for one team can directly benefit another. Kentucky head coach Mark Pope is well aware of the ever-changing roster construction dynamics.

“This is a very artistic, organic process; that’s the way we operate,” he said Monday morning on Kentucky Sports Radio. “I think teams are a beautiful thing, man, because they’re living and they’re dynamic and it’s like a living organism.”

The dynamic roster made a significant shift over the weekend. Saint Mary’s guard Aidan Mahaney left Lexington without announcing a commitment. That happened on Monday when he pledged his allegiance to UConn.

It’s the first day since Thursday that the BBN hasn’t celebrated a new Kentucky basketball addition. There’s a silver lining to this development.

UConn was also recruiting Koby Brea. The Huskies hosted the former Dayton Flyer for an official visit. According to Matt Norlander, Mahaney took the only transfer portal vacancy spot on the Huskies’ roster.

The timing works out beautifully for the Wildcats. Brea arrives for an official visit in Lexington on Monday night. He replaced a trip to Duke for this trip to Kentucky. I’ll let Norlander put this entire jigsaw puzzle together, one that ultimately paints a pretty picture for Kentucky in the pursuit of one of the transfer portal’s top shooters, Koby Brea.

Some notable portal news here connected to multiple blue bloods: After landing SMC transfer Aidan Mahaney, I’m told UConn’s no longer recruiting top-tier Dayton transfer Koby Brea. All indications are Dan Hurley has finalized his backcourt/wing group and isn’t adding anyone else.

At this point, UConn is purely wait-and-see on Alex Karaban’s stay-or-go NBA decision. Karaban (whose projected draft range is ~25-50) would be a top-20 player in CBB heading into the season if he came back. UConn also recently got a huge commitment from 5-star frosh Liam McNeeley.

So, the B2B champs seem to be mostly set, just waiting on Karaban (in a few weeks) to determine whether or not another 4 would be needed via the portal. Mahaney + McNeeley will play alongside returnees Samson Johnson, Hassan Diarra, Solo Ball, Jayden Ross, Jaylin Stewart + more.

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.

Brea shot 49.8% from 3 (No. 3 nationally) on 201 attempts. No one else in the top 14 in 3-pt accuracy took at least 170 shots. Brea lands in Kentucky tonight; his official visit is tomorrow. Getting Brea would obviously be a massive piece for Mark Pope’s 3-point-heavy offense.

Brea’s visit to UK overlaps a bit w/ Great Osobor, BTW. Osobor’s official visit has been over two days’ time, and his parents have flown in from England to go through the process as well. For Osobor, Louisville is next, then Texas Tech, then Washington over the next week.

Matt Norlander on X