Jul. 8—Indiana high school standout Joey Hart got to add his name to the No. 1 freshman class in the country when he joined the Kentucky basketball team on June 17.
That ended a process that was a bit hectic as he had originally signed to play for UCF, but in May asked out of his national letter of intent, and he later signed with Kentucky.
“It’s just been crazy, honestly,” Hart said Friday, meeting with the Lexington media for the first time. “For a while, I didn’t know where I was gonna be. I came to campus at Kentucky, talked to coach Cal and I knew this was where I wanted to be after that.
“And then jump straight to it. I moved in like a week later and I get into practice and I didn’t know a lot of the stuff yet because those guys have been practicing. I’ve learned that and now I’m feeling like I’m settling in.”
It was some pretty heady stuff to finish off a senior year where Hart became pretty well known on the grassroots circuit a year ago, and he helped his Linton-Stockton to the Class 2-A state championship game just a few months ago.
The 6-foot-5, 180-pound guard was a 3-star recruit, and is being viewed as a good outside shooter who could develop over time.
Hart averaged 23.6 points and shot better than 40% from 3-point range for Linton-Stockton. While playing on the Under Armour grassroots circuit last spring and summer, Hart shot 45% from deep, averaging 19.8 points per contest.
Linton, Ind., is a little over an hour west of Bloomington and Indiana University. Hart said there wasn’t a Hoosier connection for him with IU, although the school and coach Mike Woodson got involved when Hart was looking again at where to play college basketball.
“I was never really an IU fan to be honest,” Hart said. “I didn’t have a college basketball team growing up. I liked watching the NBA, they’re supposed to be the best of the best. I didn’t have a preference for college basketball.”
Like the rest of the Wildcats, Hart is looking forward to the trip to Canada for the GLOBL JAM tournament next week.
“Just playing against older guys,” Hart said. “Preparing us for the season against college players and older guys we face.”
He isn’t sure what this freshman year will bring for him, but Hart is glad to be at Kentucky for the start of it.
“I’m definitely going to compete,” Hart said. “It would be hard to get minutes for anybody when you’re playing against these guys every day. Coach Cal doesn’t promise anything, and I think that keeps things competitive in practice. I wanted to see how good I could be. This is the place to go if you want to develop I think.”
