Three-point marksman from Dayton considering KU, four other basketball bluebloods

University of Dayton senior guard Koby Brea, the most accurate 3-point shooter in men’s college basketball during the 2023-24 season, is considering five blueblood schools — Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina and UConn — in the transfer portal, he told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein on Monday.

Brea, a 6-foot-6, 205-pound wing from Washington Heights, New York, was nicknamed ‘Fuego’ (as in ‘fire’) by his mom during his senior year of high school. He made 100 of 201 three-point attempts last season for the Flyers (25-8, 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament).

Brea’s 49.8% mark from beyond the arc easily outdistanced Belmont’s Cade Tyson, second in the country in 3-point shooting percentage at 46.5%. Tyson also is in the transfer portal.

Brea — he has one super-senior year of college eligibility remaining — has eliminated Illinois, Indiana, Baylor, Wisconsin and others from his list of possible transfer destinations.

Brea told Jeff Borzello of ESPN.com that he is still deciding which schools to visit. He said he has completed Zoom calls with coaches of the five bluebloods.

Brea averaged 11.1 points (on 51.2% shooting) and 3.8 rebounds in 29.1 minutes through 33 games last season. He dished 39 assists to 24 turnovers with 18 steals.

He attempted just 16 free throws, making 14 for 87.5%. Brea’s shooting percentage from 3-point range over four seasons at Dayton is 43.4%.

He came off the bench in 29 of 33 games and, in fact, earned the Atlantic-10 sixth man of the year award for the second consecutive season.

Brea scored 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting (4-of-8 from 3) in Dayton’s 78-68 loss to Arizona in a second-round NCAA Tournament game in Salt Lake City. He went 5-of-8 from 3-point range and scored 15 points in a 63-60 first-round win over Nevada.

He hit five 3s in a game seven times in 2023-24. He converted a career-high six 3s in eight attempts in a win over SMU. His high in scoring was 22 points against SMU.

“He’s as good as it gets when it comes to shooting,” wrote Jason Marcum of aseaofblue.com.

Brea did not participate in Senior Night festivities at Dayton at season’s end, telling the Dayton Daily News, “I think it (one more year) would be beneficial for me.” His freshman season of 2020-21 during the pandemic did not count against his eligibility. Thus he has one year of eligibility remaining.,

The Daily News reported that Brea had surgery in April of 2023 to insert rods into both tibias to repair stress fractures. He was unable to play in Dayton’s exhibition games last summer in Europe. He was cleared for full-contact drills in October, right before the 2023-24 season.

“It gives you a different point of view on life,” Brea told the Dayton Daily News, referring to surgery that had him using a wheelchair for a month. “It just made me grateful for everything and made me value everything so much more because the little things you don’t think of all of a sudden they become obstacles.”

The surgery, “helped me make me be the best version of myself,” he told the Dayton newspaper.

Brea’s godfather is Felipe Lopez, a former standout at St. John’s who considered KU in recruiting.

KU, with the addition of portal transfers AJ Storr (Wisconsin), Riley Kugel (Florida) and Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State) — as well as incoming freshmen Labaron Philon, Flory Bidunga and Rakease Passmore — started the week with 13 scholarship players on the 2024-25 roster.

Teams are allowed 13 scholarship players in accordance with NCAA rules. KU must be one under the limit either this year or in 2025-26 to complete self-imposed NCAA sanctions.

The Kansas players who are listed as returnees at this time are: KJ Adams, Zach Clemence, Hunter Dickinson, Dajuan Harris, Johnny Furphy, Jamari McDowell and Elmarko Jackson.

Furphy has declared for the 2024 NBA Draft with the option of returning to school.

The Jayhawks last weekend on a recruiting visit entertained Rylan Griffen, a 6-foot-6 junior-to-be shooting guard/small forward from Richardson, Texas, who averaged 11.2 points a game for Final Four participant Alabama last season.

Griffen also has heard from Kentucky, Baylor, Auburn, Arizona and others since entering his name in the transfer portal on April 11.