Brea’s shot making had him included on ESPN’s most recent mock draft as a second round pick for the first time this season. He put his name into the draft after last season but was never considered a potential draft pick but a season at UK has helped change that.
“We have the greatest coach in the world, man. Just how positive he is and how much confidence he puts in players, I feel that a lot of times coaches take your confidence a little bit. He gives you the most confidence in the world,” Brea said.
“He wants you to go out there and play your game, he wants you to get better every single day. He really wants what’s best for you. I feel like everything we talked about before I came and throughout the summer, he’s lived up to it. He’s been nothing but good for me.”
Jack Givens, a former UK All-American, believes Brea can still do more.
“If he keeps doing what he has recently and even expands that, he’ll go higher on the draft boards. He’s 6-7 and the NBA guys want to see him show he can do more than just catch-and-shoot and he did that against Tennessee. I just want to see more of that from him because he really can shoot the ball and his defense is getting better every game,” the UK Radio Network analyst said.
Brea has had to do more due to injuries to point guards Lamont Butler, Kerr Kriisa and Jaxson Robinson but Pope said being spurred on that way is not a bad thing. However, he took a step back in the loss at Texas when he went 0-for-6 from the field and had only four points in 35 minutes.
