Evaluating what's next for Kentucky WBB following roster moves

It’s not often a team losses 2/3 of overall production from the season before, but that’s exactly what’s happening to Kentucky Women’s Basketball right now.

News broke on Friday afternoon that a trio of key pieces from this season’s SEC Tournament champions — Dre’Una Edwards, Jazmine Massengill, and Treasure Hunt — put their names in the transfer portal. Add in the departure of multi-time All-American Rhyne Howard, who is a projected top-two pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft, and Kentucky has whipped up a perfect recipe for internal disaster.

Or at least that’s been the initial reaction from the outside looking in.

While losing all four of these players certainly isn’t ideal for the immediate success of next season, it does indicate that Kentucky and head coach Kyra Elzy are moving in a different direction entirely with how they want to take this program into the next era. Last season was Elzy’s first full-run as a head coach without a single recruit on the roster that she brought in her by herself — this was still a Matthew Mitchell-crafted group. The incoming 2022 recruiting class of what is now five talented freshmen will be the first at UK under Elzy’s leadership.

Taking a step back, there is a lot going on with this situation. It certainly isn’t as cut and dry as some might make it out to be.

Kentucky and Coach Elzy will absolutely dip their feet in the transfer portal in search of replacements. In fact, the portal could be the difference between a competitive team and one at the bottom of the conference next season. With over 700 names already in the portal and the NCAA Tournament still underway, there will surely be plenty of options. Edwards, Massengill, and Hunt will all likely receive immediate eligibility waivers wherever they choose to land next. Kentucky can bring in equally-talented players by doing the same.

Then you have the dynamic between Elzy and Edwards, which both players recently admitted was not always sparkling. Edwards was suspended on two separate occasions this past season, once for a single game and the next for four more, the latter of which she did not travel with the team for. Edwards did play the best basketball of her life once she returned from suspension, so it’s tough to speculate that the two not seeing eye-to-eye early in the season didn’t eventually mend itself. And even if it did, the two still felt like going separate ways was in the best interest of both sides. Edwards already transferred to Kentucky after winning Pac-12 Freshman of the year at Utah.

Another notable bullet point is the relationship between Massengill and Hunt with Howard. Those three all played AAU basketball together during their high school days in Chattanooga, TN. Howard actively recruited Massengill to transfer away from Tennessee to Kentucky the first time the latter put her name into the portal. Hunt’s connection to Howard and Massengill played a significant role in her decision to ultimately choose UK out of high school. Now that Howard is gone, so is the base connection that Massengill and Hunt once held to the ‘Cats.

That’s not to say those two left for that reason or that it played a role — Elzy has long-been Kentucky’s main recruiter and was pivotal in those players picking UK in the first place — but it’s absolutely a talking point possibility.

On the surface, losing three starters is never good. In that sense, the immediate future of the program is understandably being met with raised eyebrows. But long term, Elzy appears to be building a specific brand of culture that fits her vision — and she’s doing so from the ground up.

Now Kentucky fans will ask what’s next? It’s a fair question but one that feels impossible to answer right now.

For starters, we don’t know for sure if this is the final list of names that will transfer out of Kentucky. With the shock of Friday’s news, it feels like anything is on the table. For now, UK is at 11 scholarship players for next season, including the five incoming freshmen, leaving Elzy with what could be a very unproven roster heading into 2022-23.

At this point, the hope will be that the remaining key pieces don’t decide to transfer. Retaining the likes of Jada Walker, Blair Green, and Robyn Benton feels more necessary than anything now, if only to help with continuity. Nyah Leveretter also showed plenty of promise last season. Bringing back those four provides a solid core, but nothing nearly as talented as the last several seasons. Remember, Green didn’t play in 2021-22 due to a ruptured Achilles.

This is where you hope a freshman or two has a breakout season, much like Walker did in 2021-22. 6-foot-4 Tionna Herron out of Texas has been drawing rave reviews from inside the program before even stepping foot on campus. Or, you hit the portal yourself. Again, there are over 700 names currently in the portal and that number won’t take long to surpass 1,000. Elzy can absolutely recoup some of these losses through the portal, and I would fully expect that to happen by the time this offseason is all said and done. If it doesn’t then we might need to have a different conversation.

Fans might not want to hear it, but Elzy deserves a chance to build this program her way. Next season will be her third as head coach, but just her second with a full offseason under her belt. The roster will be completely her doing. Several players have been criticized over the last two seasons for a lack of consistent, all-out effort, including Howard. That bothered Elzy, who wants to weed those players out, even if it means losing production in the short term.