What’s next for Justin Powell? Kentucky will be a major player for the star transfer.
Kentucky’s basketball season is still ongoing, but roster speculation for the 2021-22 campaign has spiked over the last 24 hours.
On Tuesday afternoon, Auburn guard Justin Powell — a Prospect, Ky. native — announced that he would be leaving the Tigers after just one season. On Wednesday morning, he officially entered the NCAA’s transfer portal.
Kentucky is expected to be a major player for the home-state standout.
Powell was a three-star recruit out of high school — finishing at No. 185 overall in the 247Sports composite rankings for the 2020 class — but he proved immediately that he was undervalued as a prospect, getting off to a terrific start as a freshman at Auburn this season.
Powell averaged 11.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists — shooting 44.2 percent from three-point range — over 10 games before suffering a concussion in early January and missing the final 17 games of the season.
A few days before that injury, ESPN released a mock draft for 2022 that placed Powell in the No. 16 overall position, just a couple of spots outside the lottery range. While the NCAA transfer portal is expected to be flooded in the coming weeks — with more than 1,000 players likely to switch schools before next season — Powell will be one of the most coveted available players.
Mike Powell, the player’s father, told the Herald-Leader on Wednesday morning that it was a “personal decision” by his son to leave Auburn after one season and that there are no hard feelings with that program. Powell informed the Auburn coaching staff of his decision over the weekend, and the family drove back to Kentucky on Monday.
Powell’s father isn’t sure what will happen next in his son’s basketball journey, but there’s already been plenty of interest from major colleges around the country.
“I can honestly tell you I really don’t know,” he said. “Everything’s all over the board. There’s just a ton of phone calls — that’s about it. All I know is he’s just going to sit back and see what’s going on.”
Powell apparently did not have a specific transfer destination in mind when he opted to leave Auburn, but a consensus on his next destination is quickly forming in recruiting circles.
The Herald-Leader has been told that Kentucky and Louisville should be seen as the favorites at this early stage in the transfer process for Powell, who was getting recruiting interest from both schools before he originally committed to Auburn the summer before his senior year of high school.
College coaches were not permitted to officially contact Powell until his name was entered in the transfer portal Wednesday morning, but, by that time, word was already spreading that UK and U of L would be the most likely landing spots.
That won’t deter other big names from recruiting Powell — Duke, Gonzaga and Virginia are among the major programs already known to be interested — but it is a good sign for both programs and an indication that one of the best in-state prospects in years might very well be returning to Kentucky to finish out his college career.
Powell and Kentucky
Powell played his first two seasons of high school ball for Louisville Trinity before transferring to national prep powerhouse Montverde Academy (Fla.) for his junior season. He quickly re-thought that decision and was back in Kentucky later that year, finishing up high school at North Oldham, where he was coached by former Louisville player David Levitch.
UK was recruiting Powell during his junior season, and he seemed excited about that possibility in an interview with the Herald-Leader in the spring of 2019.
“They’ve been coming at me a little bit,” he said at the time. “Obviously, it’s a great program — big blue-blood program. And they’re obviously the best of the best. So it would be pretty cool.”
He committed to Auburn two months later.
Powell said then that he was a Syracuse fan growing up — both of his parents are originally from New York — but he also followed Kentucky’s program closely, despite living in the Louisville area.
UK could definitely use his help next season.
As of now, point guard recruit Nolan Hickman is the only backcourt player certain to be on Kentucky’s 2021-22 roster. Freshmen Devin Askew and Dontaie Allen are expected to return, though both have struggled this year and — with the NCAA likely to allow transfers to play immediately without sitting out next season — both players will surely be targets for other colleges poking around for transfer possibilities during this offseason.
Five-star freshmen Brandon Boston Jr. and Terrence Clarke are expected to enter their names in the NBA Draft, and the only other scholarship guard on the team is Davion Mintz, who came to UK as a graduate transfer last year but could take advantage of the NCAA’s decision to give all players an extra year of eligibility. Mintz is considering that possibility, but no decision will be made until after this season.
Even if Askew, Allen and Mintz all return to join Hickman in UK’s backcourt next season, the Cats are clearly looking for at least one more perimeter player, and they don’t seem to be the favorite for any of the five-star guards — Jaden Hardy, Trevor Keels and Hunter Sallis — they’re currently pursuing from the 2021 class.
Powell has already proven he can perform at the high-major college level, and he would bring both versatility and outside shooting to Kentucky’s roster.
Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl slid Powell into the starting point guard spot early this season, and he excelled at that position up until he was sidelined with the concussion, averaging nearly seven assists per game in the role.
Powell’s father said the decision on where to play next would be “100 percent” up to his son, adding that he and his wife would be there for support and to answer any questions he might have, but they would not be influencing his decision in any way.
“He’ll know what he wants to do,” he said.
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 10:57 AM.
