Kentucky men’s Basketball head coach John Calipari is leaning into a youth movement ahead of the 2023-24 season.

The Wildcats, already projected as one of the youngest teams in Division I men’s college basketball for next season, got even younger Saturday with the commitment of class of 2023 shooting guard Joey Hart from small-town Indiana.

Hart is now the seventh freshman officially on the UK roster for the 2023-24 season. He’s also the second class of 2023 player to commit to the Cats this past week following Monday morning’s commitment from small forward Jordan Burks.

Hart — who is listed as 6-foot-5 and 180 pounds by UK and is already on campus in Lexington — averaged more than 23 points per game and was a 41% three-point shooter as a high school senior last season at Linton-Stockton High School in Linton, Indiana.

He was a major reason why Linton-Stockton posted a 29-2 record and finished as the Class 2A state runner-up last season in Indiana.

The 2023 Indiana Senior All-Star (who didn’t play in this year’s rivalry series against Kentucky due to a turf toe injury) was previously signed to play college basketball at Central Florida, but Hart was released from his national letter of intent with the Knights in May.

Now that Hart’s second college basketball recruitment has ended with a commitment to Calipari and the Wildcats, it’s time to project what Hart can bring to the table next season for a UK team that boasts the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class but not much else.

“He is a smart basketball player, 247Sports national basketball analyst Travis Branham told the Herald-Leader about Hart. “He is skilled. He’s a really good shooter.”

The statistics on this front speak for themselves.

In addition to his standout senior season — which came on the heels of an impressive summer on the Under Armour grassroots circuit — Hart has several seasons of high-quality play to his name.

As a high school junior, Hart averaged more than 20 points per game while shooting 42% on three-pointers. For his high school career, Hart finished with 1,901 points, 424 rebounds and 224 assists.

Unsurprisingly, this led Branham to say shooting is Hart’s best basketball attribute.

It’s also the main reason why Hart — who is ranked as a three-star prospect and the No. 197 player overall in the 2023 recruiting class by the 247Sports Composite — became a coveted player late in this year’s freshman recruiting cycle.

Hart committed to Kentucky despite drawing interest from several other high-major schools, including Indiana and Rutgers.

“Joey can really shoot the basketball but also brings a tremendous all-around game to this class,” Calipari said in a Saturday afternoon news release announcing Hart’s commitment. “His best days of basketball are ahead of him and I look forward to watching him develop alongside the rest of the class.”

Hart’s commitment to UK came after he took an official visit to the Wildcats last weekend.

From the UK perspective, it didn’t hurt that Hart was eager to make the jump to a blue-blood program, especially during a time when the Cats have struggled to attract top-shelf newcomers while key members of last season’s team have departed Lexington.

“With this roster of only (10) guys, he’s a good body to have in practice,” Branham said. “And also a guy who can maybe check into a game, and — especially if this team is struggling to shoot the basketball — he can space the floor for you.”

While it remains to be seen how well Hart — who reported scholarship offers from the likes of Ball State, Drake, Northwestern and Wichita State during his initial college recruitment — can hang athletically at the high-major level, his addition to the Kentucky roster for next season speaks to one of many glaring needs for Kentucky: three-point shooting.

Of the 213 total three-pointers Kentucky made as a team last season, currently the Wildcats will return just four of those.

Granted, most of the slack in this regard is expected to be picked up by UK’s top-tier freshmen like Justin Edwards and DJ Wagner, but in theory, Hart represents another potential floor-spacer for the Wildcats to utilize.

“I’m excited to get started at Kentucky,” Hart said in the UK news release. “I chose UK because of Coach Calipari, the supportive fan base and Kentucky’s ability to develop players. I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to compete and play in the NCAA Tournament.”

Hart is also only a few weeks away from his first taste of competitive action at Kentucky.

The Wildcats are less than a month away from participating in the “GLOBL JAM” in Toronto, a four-team event featuring squads from the United States, Canada, Germany and Africa.

UK will be representing the United States at the event, which is viewed as a key offseason opportunity for the Cats to build reps and find team chemistry with a young group of players.

Current Kentucky men’s basketball roster outlook

Here’s a current breakdown of all the scholarship players joining and leaving the Wildcats, along with the question marks that still exist for next season’s team.

Incoming players: Aaron Bradshaw (freshman center), Jordan Burks (freshman small forward), Robert Dillingham (freshman guard), Justin Edwards (freshman small forward), Joey Hart (freshman shooting guard), Reed Sheppard (freshman guard), DJ Wagner (freshman guard).

On Friday afternoon, NBA insider Shams Charania reported that Bradshaw suffered a fracture in his foot and might miss the start of next season.

On Friday night, Bradshaw participated in the Kentucky men’s basketball team’s father-son camp at the Joe Craft Center. Bradshaw wasn’t wearing a boot on either of his feet and he participated in basketball activities during the camp.

Returning players: Brennan Canada (fifth-year guard), Ugonna Onyenso (sophomore forward), Adou Thiero (sophomore guard).

Outgoing players: Daimion Collins (forward, transferred to LSU), CJ Fredrick (guard, transferred to Cincinnati), Chris Livingston (forward, NBA Draft), Oscar Tshiebwe (forward, NBA Draft), Jacob Toppin (forward, NBA Draft), Cason Wallace (guard, NBA Draft), Lance Ware (forward, transferred to Villanova), Sahvir Wheeler (guard, transferred to Washington).

Yet-to-be announced: Antonio Reeves (guard).

Reeves pulled his name out of the NBA Draft and will return to college basketball for next season, but he hasn’t confirmed whether or not he would return to Kentucky for his final season of NCAA eligibility.