Father ecstatic to have two sons playing for Cats
Published 8:34 am Tuesday, April 28, 2026
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Zyon Hawthorne (right) grew up a Kentucky fan in West Virginia and attended John Calipari’s UK basketball camp just like his older brother, Braydon, did. (WALTER HAWTHORNE)
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College basketball analytics guru Evan Miyakawa thinks Washington transfer Zoom Diallo can be a “great scorer, great playmaker” for Kentucky. (KENTUCKY ATHLETICS)
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Former UK All-American Kenny Walker is stepping out of his comfort zone to participate in the Dancing With The Lexington Stars to raise money for charity. (VICKY GRAFF)
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Lizzie Carr signed autographs for fans after UK’s exhibition volleyball match with Louisville earlier this month. (LARRY VAUGHT)
Walter Hawthorne knew his oldest son, Braydon Hawthorne, was getting stronger and better during his redshirt season at Kentucky. He did not attend any practices, but got reports from his son and others to let him know progress was being made.
He also knew his younger son, Zyon Hawthorne, was growing his game at Huntington (West Virginia) Prep after missing the 2025 AAU season to rest his ailing back.
Now the brothers are going to be playing together at Kentucky next season after Zyon, a 6-foot-2 guard, committed to Kentucky last week in part because of Walter Hawthorne’s vision.
“I had been in contact with the staff for a while and was sending film to them throughout the season,” Walter Hawthorne said. “I knew guys would be leaving (last year’s team) and let them know we would love for him to come to Kentucky and be the 13th to 15th guy and help the team and develop and become a better basketball player.”
The brothers are from Beckley, West Virginia, but grew up UK fans. Braydon went to John Calipari basketball camps at Kentucky and playing for UK was a dream come true. It’s the same way with his younger brother, who also went to the same camps at Kentucky his older brother did.
“He has always been a Kentucky fan. He is super excited, super pumped,” Walter Hawthorne said about his younger son. “The idea of getting this opportunity is really exciting for him. He has worked really hard and being in the Kentucky system will help him develop as a player and he can help the team. I am just glad him and coach (Mark) Pope talked and it all worked
out.”
Zyon Hawthorne had scholarship offers from Wichita State, LaSalle, Arkansas State and others but there was no doubt he would accept Pope’s offer to play at Kentucky. He averaged 11.2 points per game, seven assists and three rebounds during his senior season and was a 1,000-point scorer in high school. He played his first three high school seasons at Woodrow Wilson High School and was ranked third in school history in total assists when he left for Huntington Prep.
“It has always been a dream of mine to play at Kentucky, especially being alongside my brother. It still seems unreal,” said Zyon Hawthorne, who has a 4.25 grade-point average. “It was an easy decision for me. Other schools talked to me, but what me and coach Pope talked about just made sense. It’s my dream school to play with my brother. I need to put on weight and become a better player. I just want to be the best version of myself.”
Zyon has no trouble describing how he plays.
“I am someone who can get downhill, make plays, see the floor, plays well out of the pick and roll, can finish well and can shoot. I am just a true point guard,” Zyon said. “I am working on getting more physical. I have learned to initiate contact at Huntington Prep.
“I remember when Braydon came home last summer after being at UK for a few weeks and we played one-on-one. It was just different seeing how his game adjusted and how much stronger he got. I feel like I got better over the last year. I am staying in the gym. I can’t wait to go out there and work hard. I am not going to take a rep or a day for granted.”
Walter Hawthorne believes Zyon would have been more highly recruited if he had played AAU after his junior season.
“He woke up one day and his back was hurting, so we just sat him out the whole summer,” Walter Hawthorne said. “He was doing physical therapy in the summer, but once he got to Huntington Prep he got it going again.
“There’s no question he will be competitive at UK. He is super skilled. He has to get stronger. Same thing with Braydon. I foresee him helping this team. He will put his head down and work. He has the same type mentality as Braydon. He is a very competitive person who will find ways to help the team.”
Zyon Hawthorne understands how passionate Kentucky fans can be and can over react both to wins and losses.
“I see it all, but it really doesn’t bother me,” the UK signee said. “It all comes with the game today. I feel like the love from the fans far outweighs the hate. It’s easy for me to remember that there is 10 times more love than bad. Kentucky fans are just very passionate about their team and I like that.”
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College basketball analytics guru Evan Miyakawa (EvanMiya.com and host of The EvanMiya College Basketball Show) liked Kentucky’s addition of guard Zoom Diallo from Washington.
“He’s clearly a top 20 guy in the (transfer) portal. Great scorer, great playmaker,” Miyakawa said.
Kentucky has also added another guard, Alex Wilkins of Furman, through the transfer portal. Miyakawa gives both Diallo and Wilkins A projection grades in assists on his YouTube show discussing some of the best top transfer portal players. Diallo got an A- for his playmaking grade even though he was turnover prone at times at Washington the last two years.
“It’s worth the amount of risks that he’s taking in the amount of times he’s turning the ball over because it’s still more than outweighed by the amount of good that he’s causing by making great passes,” Miyakawa said.
The statistics guru is not quite as high on Wilkins’ playmaking ability and gave him an F in turnovers that offset his high number of assists. That left him with a B for his overall playmaking grade. In Miyakawa’s system, Diallo ranked in the 95th percentile in playmaking while Wilkins was 81st. He noted on his show that Wilkins ranked near the bottom of the transfer portal in turnovers.
“I think Wilkins will be solid but highly doubt he’ll be a top two player on the team,” Miyakawa said.
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Kenny Walker still remembers when he had to use two hands to dunk the basketball.
“I could not palm the basketball. It would slip out of my hands,” said the former UK All-American and NBA player. “I had to cup the ball around my hand and wrist. I had to learn how to jump even higher to dunk. Sometimes you just have to learn new things.”
That’s certainly what he has been doing as he prepares for the Dancing With The Lexington Stars on May 30 at the Carrick House in Lexington. It’s a fund-raising event for the Rotary Club and the charities it supports.
“The Rotary Club has asked me to do it almost every year and I have had something going on or maybe just got scared and backed out,” Walker said. “Monica Owens is a good athlete and dancer. I supported her and she kept asking me to do it, so I am finally doing it.”
Owens played in the high school state basketball tournament twice for Cumberland High School.
“I know what dancing is all about. I wanted to dance with Monica, but she won last year so she was not allowed to do it. My partner, Rosie, is a wonderful young lady and she is trying to choreograph something that will work for me. I am not going to guarantee a win, but I got some moves. But it is for a good cause to raise a lot of money for local charities. Even if I don’t win, I want to help raise money.
“I am looking forward to it. The practice sessions are important and I just have to get my rhythm down. I am trying to treat this like a basketball game and make sure I am well prepared to perform well.”
Walker, a Georgia native, was always prepared at Kentucky. He was a two-time All-American and Southeastern Conference Player of the Year in 1985 for coach Joe Hall and 1986 for coach Eddie Sutton. He is UK’s second all-time leading scorer with 2,080 points and seventh all-time leading rebounder with 942 in 132 games. Walker, the fifth overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft, also won the 1989 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
Walker currently is a University of Kentucky basketball analyst for radio station 590 WVLK in Lexington working with Larry Glover who hopes coach Mark Pope can get the right pieces in place for next year.
“He’s got to make the right player evaluations because this last season just was not acceptable to most Kentucky fans and I know he wasn’t happy with the season, either,” Walker said.
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Kentucky volleyball lost several players off last year’s team that lost to Texas A&M in the national championship game, but coach Craig Skinner also retained his star players – something that is not guaranteed in today’s college athletics world.
All-American Brooklyn DeLeye, one of the nation’s best players, returned for her senior season. So did Lizzie Carr, a transfer from Purdue last year who can give UK a dominating presence in the middle.
“I think they’re very competitive and very loyal people at the same time, and very giving of themselves to something bigger than just a game,” Skinner said. “If it was just wins and losses or external factors, and maybe they don’t (come back). It’s internal for them, and who they believe in, and what they believe in, and what’s going to set them up for success in the future.
“Always appreciated their ability to make people around them better. That takes a lot and it gives us a lot of joy to see people like that excel at the highest level.”
DeLeye and Carr can also help set the tone for UK’s new players. Two freshmen – Bellamie Beus and Sidney Burley – are already on campus. Burley is a 5-foot-8 defensive specialist from Minnesota, while Beus is a 5-foot-10 outside hitter from Idaho.
Skinner says both do a lot of things well and have athletic ability.
“Experience-wise, they have a long way to go,” Skinner said. “They have the potential to do some great things. They know what it feels like to be here. You have no idea what it feels like when you’re in club or high school (volleyball). Now the effort comes in the summer to prepare themselves for August.”
Kentucky will face a loaded non-conference schedule with matches already announced against Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, UCLA, Penn State, North Carolina, SMU and Purdue.
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Quote of the Week: “He’s an unbelievable young man that does everything the right way. He was a string bean – long and awkward – as a freshman and has worked his tail off to get bigger, faster and stronger and he is as humble a kid as you will ever find,” Lexington Christian Academy coach Oakley Watkins, on 6-foot-5, 235-pound tight end Conrad Hart, a UK commit.
Quote of the Week 2: “He is going to light up the locker room. He brings a quarterback personality to the defense. From day one he has been able to talk to kids. He has the ability to push people and push the right buttons. That is one of his best traits,” Anderson High School coach Evan Dreyer, on UK three-star linebacker commit Antwoine Higgins of Cincinnati.
Quote of the Week 3: “If you are good enough, you are old enough. If you can come in and be physically strong enough to play in the SEC and play against other good competition throughout the country and you’ve shown the ability to learn what to do, this isn’t high school ball, daddy ball. We are putting the best dudes out there. if you can ball, you can ball,” Kentucky coach Will Stein, on playing freshman receiver Kenny Darby.
