How Kyra Elzy recruited Maddie Scherr and Eniya Russell

Two years ago, Kentucky Women’s Basketball head coach Kyra Elzy watched as high-profile recruits Maddie Scherr and Eniya Russell chose competing schools over Kentucky. This season, those same two players will be Wildcats. What changed?

Boost in things to boast about

To start, Elzy’s pitch drastically changed. When Scherr and Russell graduated high school, Elzy was still the assistant coach. Kentucky WBB was a different program. They didn’t have the first pick in the WNBA Draft and 2022 WNBA Rookie of the Year, Rhyne Howard, and the program certainly didn’t have a recent SEC Championship.

At Kentucky WBB Media Day on Oct. 5, Elzy explained how these changes boost recruiting.

“We had a lot of momentum going into recruiting with Rhyne Howard being the No. 1 draft pick,” Elzy said. “But, it also helped carrying an SEC trophy into the houses along with the nets and the jerseys that we wore. But, I think it was the exposure that that team brought.”

Catching Eniya Russell’s eye

The program’s exposure has rapidly grown. Between countless videos of Rhyne Howard snatching opponents’ ankles or Elzy dancing in Nashville, Kentucky WBB has been everywhere. As of Sept. 28, the program accrued over 50,000 followers on Twitter, the sixth-most in the nation among college women’s basketball programs.

The change in culture undoubtedly impressed Russell.

“[Kentucky] played very well, especially against South Carolina in the SEC Tournament. They was relentless. They wasn’t scared. They were just resilient, and they wanted it more,” The South Carolina transfer said. “I saw myself fitting here.”

Bringing Maddie Scherr back home

While Russell and Scherr’s collegiate situations were similar, Elzy used an entirely different pitch for Scherr for one reason: she’s a Kentucky girl. When Scherr decided to leave her home state for Oregon, it was a punch in the gut to Elzy and the staff.

Scherr was Kentucky Miss Basketball, a state champion and the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year. When Scherr entered the transfer portal, Elzy was not going to let her slip through the cracks again.

“Maddie, in particular, I was like listen, ‘The people of the state of Kentucky want to see you at Kentucky, wearing blue. I don’t know what we need to do but we are going to make it happen,'” Elzy said during her Media Day press conference. “I told her if I had a quarter for everyone that asked me if we were going to get Maddie Scherr, I’d be rich.”

As for Scherr, she’s just happy to be home.

“I knew I wanted to come home so there was no need to rush a decision,” Scherr said. “I’m buying into this and I’m excited to do that.”

See Russell, Scherr and Kentucky’s other fresh faces take the court at Big Blue Madness on Oct. 14.