Kentucky WBB up to "First Team Out" in Bracketology after 3-0 start

Following an encouraging start out of the gate to the 2022-23 season, Kentucky women’s basketball is slowly moving up the national hierarchy.

Earlier this week, ESPN’s Charlie Creme updated his latest Women’s Basketball Bracketology for the 2023 NCAA Tournament. After having Kentucky listed among the “First Four Out” during the preseason in early October, Creme has slightly bumped up the Wildcats to the status of “First Team Out” with the first two weeks of the season in the books.

Kansas State, West Virginia, and Mississippi State join the ‘Cats in the “First Four Out” group.

Kentucky WBB has won all three of its games to tip off the schedule, beating Radford, Morehead State, and Coastal Carolina at home in Memorial Coliseum. The season-opener against Radford — a closer-than-expected four-point win — has been the only challenge for the ‘Cats; UK handled Morehead State and Coastal Carolina by a combined 51 points.

Now in her third year as head coach, Kyra Elzy has leaned on her veteran starters early as she incorporates six freshman faces. Fifth-year senior Robyn Benton leads the team in scoring with 15.7 points per game to go along with 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 3.7 steals while graduate senior Blair Green contributes 10.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per outing after sitting out last season with a ruptured Achilles.

Sophomore guard Jada Walker is averaging 14.0 points and 5.3 assists per game on an impressive 66.7 percent overall shooting. Alongside her in the backcourt, junior Oregon transfer Maddie Scherr is stuffing the stat sheet with 7.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 5.7 assists, per contest. Junior forward Nyah Leveretter rounds out the starting five with 3.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

Up next for Kentucky is an in-state showdown against Bellarmine in Lexington this Thursday at 7:00 p.m. EST on the SEC Network+. A couple of days later, the program will head down to the Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship, where the ‘Cats will face No. 14 Virginia Tech (Nov. 21) and Dayton (Nov. 23) in Nassau.

It’s been a relatively easy ride up until this point in the season for UK, but the next 10 days will give fans a much better idea of where this team is at with a showdown against No. 6 Louisville on Dec. 11 at Rupp Arena not far ahead.