Kenny Brooks has overhauled the Kentucky WBB roster in a short amount of time

In the past 17 days, we’ve seen Kentucky Women’s Basketball do a complete 180.

First, former head coach Kyra Elzy was relieved of her duties on March 11. The next day, star rebounder Ajae Petty entered the transfer portal. In the days following, Janae Walker, Maddie Scherr, Eniya Russell, Nyah Leveretter, Jordy Griggs, and Brooklynn Miles all entered the portal. Out of the 12 players left on Kyra Elzy’s roster at the end of the 2023-24 season, eight of them opted to enter the portal while one graduated, prompting a complete rebuild.

During that time, former Virginia Tech head coach Kenny Brooks was hired to lead Kentucky on a five-year contract. If there’s any man for the job, it’s Brooks, considering he has already brought in multiple high-quality players from his former school. As it stands, there are two Hokie-turned-Wildcats at Kentucky: Clara Strack and Georgia Amoore, plus JUCO transfer Amelia Hassett and four-star high school recruit Lexi Blue, with most definitely more to come.

With four new pieces (as of right now) coming in for the 2024-25 season, what does this mean for Kentucky WBB?

A Completely Redone Roster

While it’s unclear what happened during player-coach meetings on Thursday, it is clear that Brooks is not messing around.

After being hired on March 26, Brooks wasted no time making changes to the Wildcats’ roster. While it took a few days to hear anything about new recruits, Hassett, along with former Hokies, Strack and Amoore, dropped a bomb on the women’s basketball community. On Thursday evening, all three announced their commitment to Kentucky and Kenny Brooks within an hour of each other.

Now, fans are waiting to hear about incoming freshmen. Given that Brooks and Virginia Tech had the No. 9 ranked recruiting class of the 2024 season, it’s obvious that Big Blue Nation wants to see those players make the switch to Lexington.

As the days went on, it was looking more and more likely to see incoming freshmen Lexi Blue and Clara Silva on Kentucky’s roster, especially given that their names were not featured on new Virginia Tech head coach Megan Duffy’s list of scholarships. Plus, Duffy herself said the pair were playing “elsewhere” but didn’t give any hints.

No Lexi Blue or Clara Silva on this list. 👀 https://t.co/LpRuVNqLiK

— Katie Hutchison (@KHutchisonKSR) April 5, 2024

Arguably the biggest get for Brooks is All-American point guard Georgia Amoore. The fifth-year senior entered her name in the transfer portal on March 28, with fan expectations being that she would enter her name in the WNBA Draft. Nonetheless, the deadline for the draft (April 1) passed, and Amoore added a “do not contact” tag next to her name in the portal.

From there, it seemed certain that she’d be a ‘Cat and it only took a few days for that dream to become reality. The 5-foot-6 guard averaged 18.8 points per game and ranked fourth in the nation with 6.8 assists per game.

Brooks also managed to bring over Clara Strack, a 6-foot-5 center with three years of eligibility remaining. Just like Amoore, Strack added a “do not contact” tag next to her name in the portal. In her freshman season, Strack averaged 4.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. However, when the NCAA Tournament came around for the Hokies, Strack took it to a whole other level. The freshman averaged 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks across two games in the tournament.

Next, JUCO transfer Amelia Hassett, who originally committed to Virginia Tech in February, also made the switch to Lexington. Hassett averaged 19 points per game for the Eastern Florida State College Titans. As a 40.4% three-point shooter, it’s also worth noting that Hassett grabbed 12.7 rebounds per game and finished her sophomore season with 20 double-doubles.

Finally, on Friday, April 5, four-star wing Lexi Blue announced her commitment to Kentucky. The incoming freshman originally committed to Virginia Tech, but unsurprisingly decided to follow Brooks to Lexington. The only player still in the portal expected to come to Kentucky is 6-foot-7 Clara Silva out of Portugal, another player Brooks originally recruited for the Hokies.

Who Else Could Come to Kentucky?

On Monday, Brooks offered Sacred Heart Academy’s ZaKiyah Johnson a spot on Kentucky’s roster. The current high school junior added UK to her top list of schools after previously cutting them out under Kyra Elzy. Then on Thursday, an additional 2025 offer was made to Adelaide Jernigan. Jernigan is 45th in the nation, according to ESPN, and a four-star prospect. Brooks offered Jernigan back in October while he was still with Virginia Tech. Back in November, the current junior added the Hokies to her top-10 schools.

Brooks has clearly wasted no time recruiting, but let’s not forget about the original ‘Cats still on the roster: Cassidy Rowe, Saniah Tyler, and Amiya Jenkins. As a trio, they averaged a combined 20.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game. We saw a lot of growth from the three players as the 2023-24 season progressed, and there’s still potential for an offseason transformation under Brooks.

There is also the possibility that one or some of Kentucky’s current portal pieces make a return to the Wildcats.

It’s an exciting time for Kentucky Women’s Basketball, so get on the train while you can. Plus, make sure you’re following along with KSR’s Kentucky Women’s Basketball coverage on KSBoard so you don’t miss a thing.

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