Keion Brooks withdraws from draft, three possible schools emerge

Keion Brooks Jr. said last week that he was “all in” on the NBA Draft process, adding that the odds of him keeping his name in were “pretty high.”

Now, it appears the former Kentucky forward will withdraw and return to college for his senior campaign. Jeff Goodman was the first to break the news.

Kentucky transfer Keion Brooks will withdraw from the NBA Draft, source told @stadium. Brooks could have a big year next season, depending where he lands, and is a potential first-rounder.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) May 23, 2022

USA Today’s Bryan Kalbrosky added that three schools have emerged as top options for the 6-foot-7 forward: Arizona, Notre Dame and Washington.

Kentucky transfer Keion Brooks has withdrawn from the NBA draft. There are lots of schools with reported interest, but based on my intel, I'd expect him to pick from one of these three:

Arizona
Notre Dame
Washington

🔮🏀🔮 pic.twitter.com/KOPflzT3ro

— Bryan Kalbrosky (@BryanKalbrosky) May 23, 2022

Coincidentally — or maybe not — Brooks mentioned those three programs as schools of interest in his interview with Travis Branham of 247Sports last week, the same interview he said a return to college was unlikely.

“I haven’t talked to any schools but the couple that I do know are Notre Dame, Arizona and Washington,” he told Branham. “I haven’t looked at the options or how they play or anything like that.”

At the time, he added that a return to Kentucky was still on the table in the slim chance he did withdraw, making it clear that Lexington was “good to (him) and the relationship is still great.” This was, however, right after saying he didn’t plan on returning to school at all.

“The odds of me staying in the Draft are pretty high. Going back to college is something that I quite frankly don’t plan on doing,” he said.

Brooks participated in the G League Elite Camp last week and has been testing the draft waters since April 4. He entered the transfer portal on April 29, where he has since heard from Ohio State, Maryland, UCLA, Arizona, Notre Dame, Washington, Iowa, Florida, Mississippi State, South Carolina, BYU, DePaul, UNLV, Nebraska, Kansas State and Memphis.

In 2021-22, Brooks started in 33 of Kentucky’s 34 games, scoring in double figures 17 times. He averaged a career-best 10.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game while shooting 49.1 percent from the field.