Most of the rumors were true last week.
John Calipari did not come to Linton for a signing ceremony for Joey Hart, but he didn’t have to. The recent Indiana All-Star was already in Lexington on Saturday, where he could sign his national letter of intent and move in with his new teammates.
Hart had originally signed with the University of Central Florida, but asked for and received a release from that letter after the season was over. This time, he chose Kentucky over Indiana and Rutgers.
“I wanted to be closer to home,” he told the Tribune-Star before departing for Lexington. “[Central Florida] just didn’t feel right.
“I always felt like I’d been under-recruited, I got a lot bigger interest this time.”
Hart, who had to miss the Indiana-Kentucky All-Star competition because of turf toe, joins a seven-man recruiting class that’s considered No. 1 in the nation.
Two of his freshman backcourt teammates this coming season include Reed Sheppard, the son of two Kentucky legends (father is Jeff Sheppard, part of two NCAA championship teams at Kentucky, MVP of the 1998 Final Four and nearly as good a player as his wife, the former Stacey Reed, who scored 1,400 points for Kentucky), and D.J. Wagner, the next generation of Wagners from Camden, N.J. (son of former Wildcat Dajuan Wagner and grandson of Milt Wagner, who starred for the 1986 Louisville national championship team).
Of course, that’s one of the reasons Hart made his decision.
“They’re blue-bloods,” he said when asked about the Wildcats, “and they develop players.”
“I’m ecstatic for him,” said his father, former Linton coach Joey Hart. “If you could play college basketball anywhere in the country, where would you go?
“I’ve been a coach Calipari fan since I watched some of his practices when he was at Memphis.”
Kentucky’s nonconference starts with Kansas and includes Gonzaga and possibly Duke — or another ACC powerhouse — in the ACC-SEC Challenge.
“A little different than the SWIAC,” coach Hart joked. “It’s a challenge, but I think it’s one he welcomes.”
The younger Hart would agree with that assumption.
“I’m just going to battle the other freshmen for playing time,” he said, “and I have a good chance to play in the NCAA tournament.” The toe, he said, is “almost 100%.”
Coach Hart, who wasn’t hired back at Linton after his 2022-23 season was shortened by alcohol-related offenses, is doing well, he said.
“I haven’t had a drink in 95 days,” he said. “We’ve been concentrating on getting [Joey] started [in college] … but I’ve had offers to coach in high school, in college, even eighth grade [the Hart twins will play at that level this winter]. I’ll coach again, but I’ll coach when it’s time to coach.”