The Mark Pope era is underway for the Kentucky Wildcats, and now all the attention shifts to building out a roster.

With some reports of some potential transfer portal targets starting to emerge, one player who should absolutely get a phone call from the Cats entered the portal Monday.

Dayton Flyers wing Koby Brea has entered his name into the transfer portal, instantly becoming one of the best names to become available thus far, as evidenced by the list of schools who’ve already made contact.

Brea, a 6-foot-6 and 205-pound wing from Washington Heights (NY), immediately becomes one of the top options for Mark Pope to pursue.

Why? Largely because he’s a lights-out shooter.

Coming off an impressive season in which he won the A-10 Sixth Man of the Year award, Brea averaged 11.1 PPG on 51% shooting from the field and an incredible 49.8% from 3 on six attempts per game. He also added 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

In Dayton’s two NCAA Tournament games this season — a win over Nevada and a loss to Arizona — Brea averaged 14.5 points on 10/18 shooting (9/16 from deep) while chipping in a total of six boards, five assists, three steals, and three turnovers.

In the innovative offense that Pope runs, shooting is needed across the board. It’s obvious why this would be an incredible addition to any program lucky enough to land his services for the 2024-25 college basketball season, which will be his final year of eligibility.

The only problem becomes that everyone else will want him, too, as schools like UConn, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Arizona, and Arkansas/John Calipari have already reached out.

There hasn’t been reported contact yet, but it’s safe to assume Kentucky has/will find a way to contact Brea and gauge his interest in the program.

Going to be a good first test to likely see what Pope and this staff will be made of on the recruiting trail.

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