McDonald’s All-Americans think Keion Brooks will do ‘something special’ at Kentucky

When this year’s McDonald’s All-American rosters were announced back in January, one of the biggest surprises was an omission.

Keion Brooks’ name was nowhere to be found.

The 6-foot-7 wing from Fort Wayne, Ind. — and now committed to Kentucky — has long been considered one of the top recruits in the 2019 class, though his ranking varies. 247Sports has him as the No. 13 prospect in that class. ESPN puts him at No. 38.

Rivals.com, which ranks him 27th, led its list of McDonald’s Game “snubs” with Brooks at the top. After a stellar senior season at La Lumiere (Ind.) — the No. 1 team in the national high school rankings — he certainly seemed deserving of a spot in this week’s showcase.

His five-star peers that did make it to the McDonald’s Game in Atlanta on Wednesday night said he belonged. And they’re expecting big things once he becomes a Wildcat.

“I know he’s not ranked as high or whatever, but I feel like he’s going to do something special at Kentucky,” said La Lumiere teammate Isaiah Stewart. “I feel like it’s going to be a situation where he comes in and as he plays, his stock just keeps on going up. So I’m definitely looking forward to what he does. He’s a hard worker. I feel like he’s going to be one of the hardest workers on the team.

“And when you bring that hard work ethic to Kentucky, they’re going to get you to where you need to be.”

Stewart said Brooks, who’s listed at 185 pounds, has greatly improved his strength over the course of his senior season. He’s also playing a tougher brand of basketball, something Stewart — a 6-9, 245-pound bully in the paint — takes some of the credit for.

Ever since Brooks made the move from his high school in Fort Wayne to the prep setting at La Lumiere, the two highly touted prospects have been going at it on the court.

“Me and him play one-on-one a lot, and we always go at each other, talk junk — you know how that is,” said Stewart, a Washington commitment. “Our games are always serious. And since he got to La Lumiere, he’s been really, really serious and locked in about just getting better.”

Brooks is listed as a forward, but Stewart calls him a big guard. In fact, that’s his nickname for the future Wildcat: “That’s what I always call him. Be like, ‘Yo, Big Guard, what’s up?’ … People call him a post. He’s not a post. He can post people up, but he’s got it all. He can post up, mid-range and three. He can score at all three levels.”

Brooks’ versatility is part of the reason future UK point guard Tyrese Maxey made him a priority target once he committed to the Cats last spring. Maxey is from Texas and Brooks grew up in Indiana, but they’ve been playing with and against each other on various circuits since they were in grade school. Maxey said he was “ecstatic” when Brooks committed to the Cats a couple of weeks ago.

“Coach Cal does really good with wings like that,” he said. “That’s going to give Coach Cal another weapon and me another person to pass to. … He’s very versatile, and I think we complement each other. He gets to the scoring spots. We can go pick and roll and I can drop him dimes. He can give it to me in the fast break. And friendship. You always want to play with friends.”

UK’s other McDonald’s All-American, Kahlil Whitney, is also looking forward to teaming up: “Keion is pretty similar to me — very athletic, rebounds the ball well, very unselfish,” he said. “We pretty much play the same, and that’s pretty scary, because a lot of teams are going to have to play us straight up.”

Another McDonald’s All-American was surely disappointed with Brooks’ college decision. Trayce Jackson-Davis, his friend and Nike league teammate, is an Indiana commitment and had been recruiting Brooks to rejoin him with the home-state Hoosiers.

He couldn’t say enough great things about Brooks, and — even though he wanted to team up with him in college — he couldn’t second-guess his friend’s college choice, either.

“Kentucky fans are going to get a really good player with a high basketball IQ that really wants to win,” Jackson-Davis said. “He’s trying to be the best. He’s trying to work as hard as he can, because I know his future goal is the NBA. And I know Coach Cal is going to do a great job with him down there and have him play really good basketball.

“I know he just made the best decision for himself. It was a great choice. There was no wrong options. Just the best for him, and I’m proud of him.”

This story was originally published March 29, 2019 at 9:59 AM.