Kentucky WBB hauling in post-SEC title honors; recruiting picking up steam

Kentucky Women’s Basketball has been raking in the individual and team honors since winning the program’s first SEC Tournament title in 40 years, which came as a result of a storybook ending. But more importantly, recruiting momentum has taken an important step forward. Let’s talk through a few notes now that the confetti of the last few days has finally settled.

To recap, the Wildcats won four games in four days down in Nashville, including wins over No. 6 LSU, No. 18 Tennessee, and finally No. 1 South Carolina in the championship game, extending its winning streak to 10 and solidifying its spot in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Dre’Una Edwards’ go-ahead, game-winning 3-pointer with under five seconds left against the Gamecocks has been replayed endlessly across the Big Blue Nation.

Although, the postgame celebrations might have been even more emotional.

Dre'una Edwards. The Shot.

Like something out of a movie 😼🏆

SEC Inside: @KentuckyWBB pic.twitter.com/0tzFWIpPYq

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) March 9, 2022

In the aftermath of the historic victory, Kentucky WBB has been earning plenty of national recognition.

ESPN named UK its National Team of the Week and head coach Kyra Elzy as its National Coach of the Week while moving the ‘Cats up to No. 8 in the current power rankings. Additionally, the United States Basketball Writers Association selected Edwards as its National Player of the Week and also tabbed Kentucky as its National Player of the Week. The AP Poll bumped the ‘Cats up from unranked to No. 16 in the entire country.

In her second season as the Wildcats’ head coach, Elzy had to use tough love and motivational tactics to get her team out of the funk it was still dealing with in February. And it worked. She also told them that defense had to be an all-in proposition if they were going to have a chance of making the NCAA field. That worked, too, and now they don’t have to wait for an at-large bid. They claimed the SEC’s automatic berth with their dramatic win over South Carolina on Sunday.

Michelle Voepel, ESPN

An @SEC Tournament Championship isn't the only thing we've won this week! 😺

National Team of the Week – @espnW, @USBWA
National Coach of the Week (@UKCoachLZ) – @espnW
National Player of the Week (@IhoopDrea44) – @USBWA #CommitToIt pic.twitter.com/HKJh0vX3Iy

— Kentucky WBB (@KentuckyWBB) March 9, 2022

And how about this? The 2022 SEC WBB Tournament title game was the most-watched women’s basketball conference championship in the nation, totaling over 500,000 viewers on ESPN. That’s a lot of eyes.

As of Wednesday morning, Kentucky is a projected seven-seed in the NCAA Tournament, according to ESPN Bracketologist Charlie Creme. While that’s an improbable improvement from where this team was just a few weeks ago, it does drop them in the same group as two-seeded UConn, which will host the first two rounds. The Huskies are admittedly having a “down” year for their standards, but Paige Bueckers is only going to get healthier while head coach Geno Auriemma hasn’t missed a Final Four since the 2006-07 season.

So Kentucky will hope to avoid UConn at all costs…

Recruiting picking up steam

Now for some inside nuggets.

When the entire sports world stands still for a whole day to watch your once-in-a-lifetime moment, people take notice. More specifically, recruits take notice — high-profile recruits take notice. KSR has learned that Kentucky WBB is in contact with two of the country’s top prospects: class of 2023 guard Mikaylah Williams and class of 2024 forward Joyce Edwards.

Williams, a 6-foot five-star out of Parkway High School (LA), is considered the No. 1 junior in the country and was named the Gatorade Louisiana Girls Basketball Player of the Year on Wednesday. She was the engine behind her school’s 33-2 record and appearance in the Class 5A state title game, averaging 22.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 2.2 steals per outing. Williams was especially impressive in last year’s U-18 3-on-3 World Cup event in Hungary, where she helped lead the United States to a gold medal.

Edwards, a 6-foot-2 five-star out of Camden High School (SC) also comes in at No. 1 as the top sophomore. Like Williams, she also suited up for Team USA, participating in the 2021 USA Women’s U16 National Team Trials back in May. Edwards has already broken her school’s all-time scoring record and is on pace to creep near 2,000 points by the end of her sophomore year.

The Kentucky staff took an in-home visit to Williams while Edwards will take an unofficial visit to Lexington this coming weekend, a source tells KSR. Additionally, the ‘Cats have been maintaining consistent contact with class of 2023 top 40 four-star guard Olivia McGhee. Coach Elzy has been known as an ace recruiter, and she’s taking full advantage of the benefits that come from winning an SEC title and upsetting the best team in basketball.

Elzy is no stranger to recruiting five-star players either — Rhyne Howard and Treasure Hunt both came out of high school as five-stars — but going after the No. 1 recruit in the class is still somewhat unfamiliar territory for this program. Simply getting a player like Joyce Edwards on campus this weekend is impressive and a good sign that high school’s best players are taking notice. Does this mean Kentucky is going to start landing multiple top 10 prospects? Not necessarily, but you have to start somewhere.