Inside The Huskies

Huskies Add Kentucky's Brooks to Suddenly Big Front Line

The SEC player is the last of four new transfers for the UW.

Dan Raley

In this story:

Just when it seemed as if the University of Washington basketball program had missed out on a difference-making rebuild this offseason, Mike Hopkins was saving the best piece for last.

On Monday, former Kentucky forward Keion Brooks announced he was transferring to the UW, potentially giving the Huskies a front line unlike any other for more than two decades.

Tall, tall and talented.

The 6-foot-7, 210-pound Brooks, an Indiana native who started 42 of 80 games for the SEC team over three seasons, suddenly gives the Huskies a noted skill player to go with new pair of towering post players in 6-foot-11, 250-pound Franck Kepnang formerly of Oregon and 7-foot-1, 250-pound Braxton Meah formerly of Fresno State.

Add to that 6-foot-5 senior shooting guard Noah Williams, who comes in from Washington State, and the Huskies just might quit getting pushed around as easily as they have at times over the past three seasons.

Typically the UW, especially through the Lorenzo Romar era, has been guard-oriented in modern times, even with its best teams.  

The Huskies haven't been this big since starting a pair of seven-footers in Todd MacCulloch and Patrick Femerling in the late 1990s during the Bob Bender coaching era. 

Keion Brooks whips a pass inside to a Kentucky teammate.
Keion Brooks comes to the UW after playing three seasons at Kentucky.  :: Robert Goodin/USA TODAY Sports

Brooks recently visited the UW and Arizona and withdrew from the NBA Draft pool. He becomes the second Kentucky player to transfer to Montlake in the past four seasons, following point guard Quade Green, who spent two seasons with the Huskies through 2020-2021 after leaving John Calipari's Wildcats behind. Green most recently turned up in the NBA G-League. 

Brooks, who played high school basketball in Indiana with former Husky center Isaiah Stewart as a teammate, averaged 10.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game for Kentucky this past season while shooting 49.1 percent from the field. 

Keion Brooks takes a moment to gather himself.
Keion Brooks started 42 of 80 games at Kentucky.  :: Sam Upshaw Jr./USA TODAY Sports

He turned in 17 double-figure scoring efforts, including a career-high 27 points n an 80-62 victory over eventual national champion Kansas in January.

The Huskies will pair Brooks and the three other transfers with holdover talent from a 17-15 team in 6-foot-6 senior swingman Jamal Bey, the lone returning starter; and reserves in 6-foot-4 junior guard PJ Fuller, 6-foot-7 junior swingman Cole Bajema, 6-foot-9 junior forward Langston Wilson and 6-foot-10 sophomore Jackson Grant.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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