Five Kentucky women’s basketball takeaways from the Blue-White Preseason Event.

Kenny Brooks’ inaugural Kentucky team is coming together.

Big Blue Nation got a closer look at Brooks and his No. 22 Kentucky Wildcats on Friday night at this year’s Blue-White Preseason Event , getting to watch the new-look roster participate in the Princeton shooting drill and the position split drill before a dominant scrimmage against the practice players.

All 11 healthy Wildcats — transfer guards Jordan Obi and Dominika Paurová are out for the foreseeable future due to lower-leg injuries sustained during the offseason — took part in the event, including All-America point guard and leader of the offense Georgia Amoore, veteran shooting guard Dazia Lawrence and highly touted bigs Clara Strack and Clara Silva.

Following a brief sneak preview at Big Blue Madness, which took place in front of a sold-out crowd at Rupp Arena on Oct. 11, the Wildcats finally took the court for the first time at their newly renovated home, a shiny, state-of-the-art Memorial Coliseum.

“It was a fun night,” Brooks said. “And it was a fun night for us. Our kids got to go out there for the first time at Memorial and cut the lights on. For me, it was fun to watch, see who can actually shoot when the lights come on. And so, they weren’t nervous. They were having fun with it. The scrimmage was good, the practice guys will be really mad tomorrow and probably try to take it out on our kids, but it was a great night all together. And I thought our kids did a really wonderful job of just incorporating fans, getting everyone excited. And I can’t wait to watch this group grow.”

Here are five takeaways from the Wildcats’ showing at the Blue-White event.

Slowly finding chemistry

At the Wildcats’ media day on Oct. 8, Brooks noted that he’d like to see an increase in on-court communication from his roster. When asked for his take on their on-court chemistry following the Blue-White event, now fewer than 18 days from the season’s start, he called it “a work in progress,” while also emphasizing that “by no means” he expects it to be perfect right now.

“But it’s a lot better than when we started,” Brooks said. “I think the first week or so, Georgia was in my office, and she had a little bit of a panicked look on her face. And I just told her, I said, she’s going to be every bit as important to help iron some of those things out. And she’s taking on a wonderful position of trying to get everyone else comfortable, not only with what we’re trying to do, but with me.”

Amoore, who served as point guard in the first lineup sent out in the scrimmage alongside Lawrence, Strack and junior forwards Amelia Hassett and Teonni Key, only took part in a couple rotations. During the others, she stood at the top of the bench and observed — as a coach would — her teammates while shouting out the occasional note.

“I can see her talking to them,” Brooks said. “And, hey, I’m sure, behind the scenes, she’s like my translator. You know, if I say this, ‘he really means that.’ So she’s done a great job in doing that.”

Brooks said he likes where the players are going in terms of on-court communication, and called them “a very selfless group.”

“That’s all they want to do, is make the right play,” Brooks said. “There’s no one out there that’s hunting the shot, or trying to do something outside of the offense.”

‘Move it to move it.’

So, what is the offense? What will it look like?

Unfortunately, for the Wildcats, the losses of both Obi and Paurová caused a need for tweaks to the offensive scheme. However, what will look similar regardless are the team’s tempo and spacing, landmark traits to how Brooks likes to attack the game with his inside-out approach.

“We move it to move it,” Brooks said. “We preach tempo, we preach spacing, we preach sharing the basketball. And we’re not there yet, but it’s a work in progress. But I do like where they’re going. We didn’t really do a lot this summer, just because of the injuries. We wanted to kind of just introduce things slowly, but they’ve picked it up. And they haven’t been perfect, but their intent has been pretty much perfect. And so I like what they were doing. They’re moving the basketball. They’re sharing it. We gotta watch our passes a little bit. Obviously, this is a very aggressive league (the SEC) that we’re about to to get into. But I like the beginnings of what we’re doing right now.“

Everyone’s stepped up and out their comfort zone, and it gives us some unique lineups. We had a couple out there today, and we were huge. You know, we might not be as fast as the other people, but we’re longer, and we’re looking forward to that.”

Finding a starting five

For those unfamiliar with past Kenny Brooks teams, whether at James Madison or at Virginia Tech, he isn’t one to pick a starting five right away and stay married to it; a regular messenger of the concept that today’s team will not be close to, or as successful as, the team that will take the floor to open conference play or, if fans’ hopes are fulfilled — during postseason play, Brooks is open to adjustment.

That being said, early observations seem to point toward the Amoore/Lawrence/Hassett/Key/Strack lineup, with Silva and fellow freshman Lexi Blue likely to factor in, as well. When asked about a potential starting five, Brooks didn’t list specifics, but spoke to his philosophy in building the right lineup .

“I think we’re leaning toward the starting lineup,” Brooks said. “But that’s not to say that somebody can’t work their way into it. We’ll have a situation where it’s not going to be permanent. Even last year, we were going strong, we made a change in January. And so it’ll be where some people are going to be slower. Clara Silva is going to pick up the pace and learn, and probably jump quicker than some of the other players who are older, but I like where we are right now. I got a pretty good idea of who we’re going to play at the start of the tip, but a lot of kids are working and trying to find their way and get better.”

Big things from the bigs

Though much of the preseason hype (as far as the post depth) has surrounded 6-foot-5 center Strack — who spent the majority of her freshman campaign with the Hokies as the primary backup to All-America honoree and now-Las Vegas Aces player Liz Kitley prior to Kitley’s season-ending ACL tear — Brooks, his staff and the players have enjoyed what they’ve seen from both Silva and Key, the latter of whom is capable of (and has taken reps) playing both on the wing and in the post.

However, Brooks did mention that he’s “just tickled with” Strack.

“Because when we left Virginia Tech,” Brooks explained, “there were some question marks. Because all year as a freshman, we had to fight her with her conditioning, fight her to push through certain areas. She had a tremendous postseason for us, and that carried over into the summer and into the fall. And her versatility is going to be on full display for us this year. She’s played the 5, the 4 to 3, and the 1. And so she’s done a lot of wonderful things for us.”

Brooks said that Silva, a member of the Portugal women’s junior national team with professional experience in Spain, understandably still needs time to continue to grow and adapt to college basketball. The coaching staff is, however, ready to give her some reps.

“You’ve got to give her opportunities,” Brooks said. “And you don’t just want to have a 6-foot-7 player as a decoration running up and down the floor. Our offensive system is predicated on getting the ball inside. We were that last year, we were that for the last four or five years with Elizabeth Kitley. And we like to play inside-out. We’ve got shooters around them, so that they get double-teamed, they can kick it back out. Both of them, Clara Strack and Clara Silva, they’re two of the best passing post players I’ve ever had, and so they can command the basketball, get it down there and get it low, get a double team, they can kick it back out, and we’re conditioned for that. But, yeah, the ball will go inside for us, and we like the inside-out.”

Key, a former top-10 prospect in the class of 2021 and a McDonald’s All-American, never quite reached the on-court potential that swirled around her once she arrived at North Carolina. An ACL injury and limited minutes kept her sidelined for the majority of her time with the Tar Heels, but Brooks said she’s breaking out.

“Teonni Key, it’s like we’ve unleashed the beast,” Brooks said. “And she’s playing carefree. But her versatility, she’s played the 5, the 4, the 3 and the 2.”

NIL approach

The Blue-White Preseason Event also served as a name, image and likeness fundraiser, with ticket proceeds benefiting collective Club Blue NIL . Brooks admitted his hesitation toward NIL “opportunities like this,” but described it as “a fun event,” and “really good, really cool for a great purpose.”

“I think I heard that we as a university with the Blue-White game, it’s the first time as an opportunity for NIL opportunities for our kids,” Brooks said. “It’s a new wave. It’s a new wave, and I’m old school. Generally, I don’t like opportunities like this, because you’re putting them out there, and we had practice earlier today. But it’s a new age, and we’re getting creative with the collective, Club Blue, they did a wonderful job. Just trying to keep us ahead of the game, so to speak. And so it’s a great cause, good for the fans to be able to come out. Sometimes it’s not always the best scenario for all parties, but it’s just really going to be something that’s going to help us in the future and to grow and as we try to navigate through these new times and college athletics.”

Brooks told the Herald-Leader back in September that he sees the Wildcats being competitive with fellow massive, SEC brands like Tennessee or South Carolina in terms of NIL opportunities, and that, since the announcement of Club Blue months ago, he’s been satisfied with the turnout of support.

The Wildcats open the 2024-25 season with a home matchup against South Carolina-Upstate on Nov. 4 at 5 p.m.

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