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Oklahoma St Transfer, Former McDonald’s All-American Brandon Garrison Commits to Kentucky

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Oklahoma State Transfer Brandon Garrison commits to Kentucky.
IMAGN/USA Today

While Mark Pope has been focusing on bringing in proven players from the transfer portal, he did say he would be going after McDonald’s All-Americans, aka “Burger Boys”. On Tuesday morning, he got his first one at Kentucky, in Oklahoma State transfer Brandon Garrison, who announced his commitment on social media.

A four-star in the 2023 recruiting class, Garrison elected to stay home and play for Oklahoma State over Kansas, Texas, and Houston. In his freshman season, he started 29 of 32 games and averaged 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks last season. While he was inconsistent, he never stopped working.

“Just 19 years old, he, um… he’s special,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said of Garrison, choked up after a 20-point breakout game against Baylor back in January. “He just shows up and does his job.”

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“He’s still just scratching the surface of what he can be. He really doesn’t know how good he can be yet, which is probably a good thing, because he doesn’t have a corrupted mind. He’s not in a rush to go somewhere. That’s a big part of the reason he’s been able to get better.”

Even Baylor coach Scott Drew loved what he saw from Garrison. “I loved him out of high school. I saw him play a lot. Loved his motor, loved his intangibles and character,” Drew said.

When Boyton was fired after the season, Garrison entered the transfer portal and a familiar name reached out, new Kentucky associate head coach Alvin Brooks, who was the lead recruiter for Garrison at Baylor. With that connection, he was able to recruit Garrison to Lexington.

Garrison will join a formidable frontcourt of Amari Williams and Andrew Carr, who are more experienced. However, Garrison brings strengths of his own and has NBA upside. One of his biggest strengths is his willingness to learn.

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“His No. 1 thing, he wanted to learn. I was always impressed with his desire to learn and how well he adapted to the things he was learning,” Garrison’s mentor and high school Tommy Griffin said of him.

Scouting Report

Per 247Sports:

“Garrison is not going to wow you with scoring numbers or too many loud dunks. He’s not even overly vocal. But he’s very smart, in all the right spots on both ends of the floor, and should be able to fit right into offensive structure and defensive schemes from day one in college.

He has soft hands, good use of his left, passes well, is poised looking for cutters, and a reliable decision-maker (better than a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio in EYBL). He’s not a shot creator or much of a floor-spacer at this point (although he does have touch to develop), and could better utilize his size and frame inside by getting deeper seals and a higher release point in the lane. But he also doesn’t try to do things he can’t and projects as someone who should be able to play out of dribble handoffs and short rolls at the next level.

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Defensively, it’s not that he is exceptionally mobile, but that he understands coverages and can even utilize his length to show some deceptive switchability, as he did in FIBA play. He shows glimpses of rebounding in traffic, but could do so on a more consistent basis. Physically, he’s very coordinated for his size, gets off his feet fairly well, runs hard, and covers the court with long fluid strides. Overall, you just know what you’re going to get from him, and the overlap of his size and two-way reliability is what makes him such a high-floor prospect.

BB Recruiting

Kentucky Receives First Transfer Commitment From Top 25 Prospect, “Not Many People Get Opportunities Like This”

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Kentucky transfer Kam Williams prepares to shoot.

While all the attention is on Kentucky’s matchup with Tennessee in the Sweet Sixteen, the transfer portal officially opened on Monday and the staff has been hard at work.

Already tossing a wide net, reaching out to nearly a dozen guys in the past few days, the Cats have reeled in their first commitment from Top 25 ranked (247Sports), four-star transfer Kam Williams from Tulane.

With a 6-8, 190-pound frame, Williams has good size. What caught the staff’s eye is his ELITE shooting ability, shooting better than 41 percent this past season and that includes 17 threes made beyond 25 feet. He excels best in catch-and-shoot situations, where he ranks in the 94th percentile.

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Williams received interest from many schools in addition to Kentucky, such as Florida, Louisville, and St. John’s among others. Why did Williams commit to Kentucky so quickly?

“Not many people get opportunities like this, so I wanted to pull the trigger fast,” Williams told ESPN. “More people are waiting to fill that spot, so I had to take advantage.”

“My dream is to play in the NBA. Kentucky’s culture and background shows that they care about their players, especially developing them into the best players they can be.”

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Kentucky Named a Finalist for Five Star, Top 5 NBA Prospect Nate Ament

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2025 top five prospect Nate Ament on his visit to Kentucky.
UK Athletics

Mark Pope has received three top-35 commitments in his first high school recruiting class, including two high 4-star commits in Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno.

However, his first top-10 prospect still eludes him after missing out on Caleb Wilson last month… at least for now.

Over the last few weeks, Pope and his staff have focused heavily on top-five prospect Nate Ament.

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Ament, the second-ranked power forward in the 2025 class, cut his list down to five schools earlier this week: Duke, Louisville, Tennessee, Arkansas, and the Kentucky Wildcats.

The 6-foot-9 prospect has visited each of them except Arkansas over the last five months, with a decision expected in the next month or so. Where does each program stand?

According to Joe Tipton of On3, Louisville and Duke have “positioned themselves” the best in this recruitment, giving Pat Kesley and the Cardinals a slight lead. However, there is still time, and one thing that could shake things up the most is NIL, reported to be one of Ament’s biggest priorities.

Elsewhere at On3, Jamie Shaw did his own update, where he said this could be down to a Kentucky vs. Louisville battle.

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“Speaking with sources at this point in time it does sound like there is a split room around Nate Ament with Duke, Louisville, and Kentucky. With the intel I am currently getting, I would not be surprised to see this ultimately come down to a Kentucky and Louisville battle,” Shaw wrote, later adding that a decision could come in the next few weeks.

Ament is fresh off a visit to Kentucky, where he saw Rupp Arena at its best as the Wildcats completed the season sweep of Tennessee. That being his most recent visit, along with Pope visiting for Ament’s Senior night, the hope is it made a lasting impact, but will it be enough?

Time will tell, but the Cats are a legitimate contender to land Ament.

Be sure to read Shaw’s update here.

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Also posted on A Sea of Blue.

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Kentucky Hosting Top Five Recruit Nate Ament

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Top five prospect Nate Ament will be visiting Kentucky in Rupp Arena as they take on Tennessee.
USA Basketball

After missing out on Caleb Wilson, Kentucky has shifted focus to its last remaining prospect, Nate Ament. The 6-foot-9 small forward prospect out of Warrenton, Virginia, is now the Wildcats’ last remaining prospect in the high school ranks for the 2025 class.

Ament has set up a visit to Kentucky, which was first reported by On3’s Joe Tipton. He will be in attendance when Tennessee travels to Rupp Arena on February 11th, with both the Wildcats and the Volunteers in the mix within the recruitment.

It is important to note that Kentucky is behind in this recruitment as they prioritized Caleb Wilson over Ament which did not pay off in the end. Ament has already visited Duke, Tennessee, Louisville, Texas, and Notre Dame. He is currently down to 11 schools including the Cats.

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Duke has been considered the longtime favorite in the recruitment but Mark Pope and company will have the chance to sell themselves before Ament decides to commit to another school.

Mark Pope even recruited Ament during his visit to Tennessee, where Kentucky pulled the upset on the road. As the team was celebrating coming off the floor, Pope passed Ament saying “Let’s go, Nate,” and “C’mon, Nate.”

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