‘Believe it and you will do it.’ Maddie Scherr talks leadership and lessons from last season.
A few years ago, when UK women’s basketball starting guard Maddie Scherr was a freshman at Oregon, she would look to senior teammate — and fellow Kentucky native — Erin Boley for guidance.
“The one that comes to mind right away …,” Scherr said. “When I was a freshman, I’ll never forget we used to do these pop quiz plays and I was running the “1.” And I had to go through our entire set of plays as a freshman, and I remember being so nervous.”
In these pop quizzes, Scherr was responsible for the successful understanding and running of myriad plays, many of which had similar setups.
“You had to know which person to pass to or which person to come off, either the ‘4’ or the ‘5,’” Scherr explained. “And I would get those confused. But Erin Boley was always at the ‘4’ spot, and she’d do a little hand signal and tell me if I was supposed to go to her side or the other side every single time.”
When asked about veteran leadership, a role many now expect her to take on — or, some even feel she already shared in that responsibility last season — Scherr emphasized moments like that overwhelming one back in Eugene. Or mentioned someone like fellow upperclassman Emma King, who “knows the ins and outs of this program.” Regardless of the point in her career that was referenced, it all came back to one thing: mental strength and maturity.
The reality is, Scherr has been an exciting talent on the floor. As a junior last year with UK, Scherr averaged 11.6 points and team highs of 5.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.1 blocks per game.
Scherr’s transfer to Kentucky allowed her to showcase her abilities in a different way by carrying a lot of the offensive load. Kentuckians know her well from her high school career with Ryle, the 2019 Sweet Sixteen champions. She was the 2020 Miss Kentucky Basketball. A McDonald’s All-American. The No. 19 overall recruit in her class.
Scherr’s skills on the court and her competitiveness have remained key to her game, but she said what’s been most beneficial is what she called a “mental step up.” And now, she’s happy to help the younger players with the same thing.
“Just the leap from my sophomore to junior year was huge in terms of my maturity and approach toward the game,” Scherr explained. “In understanding that, ‘Hey, you can’t just be super talented and come out there and play.’ You really gotta have that dawg mentality and understand the nuances of the game and stuff …
“Even at the beginning of the season, I feel like I was still getting used to it because I really had never had all of that responsibility before in college. It was still an adjustment to get used to it. But that was definitely something last year that I was able to kind of figure out and go with. And still, I feel like I’m growing and figuring out with. And you know, I’m a senior. Never stop learning. I’m excited to kind of help and coach those younger players to let them know like, ‘Do not let anybody get in your head, you are capable of this. So believe it and you will do it.’”
Last season, during which the Wildcats finished 12-19 overall, including 2-14 in the SEC, that sense of belief was necessary during the long haul of the season. Particularly once the team got to conference play.
Before that, though, the team took a tough 69-63 loss at home to Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 18. In the postgame press conference, Scherr made a pretty powerful statement.
“I think, as a team, we don’t hate losing enough.”
UK head coach Kyra Elzy agreed with Scherr, but the sentiment was a strong one. When asked if that feeling lingered throughout the remainder of the season, Scherr spoke about timing.
“I think by the time the SEC Tournament came, we had it figured out a little bit,” Scherr said. “And obviously by that time, it was too late. You know, we won those games in the SEC Tournament and even before that, the first time we played Alabama or the first time we played any of those teams, so many of the games were one possession games that we lost on. So I think we knew we were right there the whole time. But we didn’t do it soon enough.”
The Wildcats found themselves on the wrong end of four games decided by four or fewer points in league play. In other contests, UK would find certain bursts of momentum or give favored teams a run for their money but couldn’t manage to seal the deal.
If you were to ask Scherr, or several members of last year’s roster, they’d tell you that UK had the ability to beat anybody in the conference. Though the record was disappointing, there were glimpses of good play. Notably, in the 95-66 home loss to then-unbeaten and top-ranked South Carolina, the Wildcats were very much in that game until the Gamecocks outscored a tired UK by 21 points in the fourth quarter.
And, despite Scherr standing alone as a returning starter from last season, she’s excited about the possibilities of what the 2023-24 campaign will bring.
“The girls with that playing experience, a lot of them left,” Scherr said. “But we were a team. Everybody was there in those situations and I think the same applied. So I think going into this season, we’ve had a much better summer in terms of our approach to difficulties of workouts, which I think will translate well to in-game scenarios. Obviously, with playing it’ll be very different when games start, but I’m feeling much more positive about our approach with that in terms of not hating the losing enough.”
Scherr is the first to stand up and own how competitive she is, and she said she’s seen others rising to that same level.
“It’s kind of fun, you know,” Scherr said. “When we’re scrimmaging and somebody’s getting just as competitive as me. I’m like, ‘Oh, OK! I like to see that,’ So, I’m excited to see where it goes.”
This season’s roster totals 12 players, including Scherr and veteran post presence Nyah Leveretter, who’s still recovering from a March surgery to repair a torn ACL. Returning guards Amiya Jenkins and Eniya Russell, as well as forward Ajae Petty, are likely to clock heavy minutes alongside Scherr.
Three newcomers, incoming freshmen Jordy Griggs and Janaé Walker, as well as Tennessee transfer Brooklynn Miles, will also work to right the ship.
While some might point out differences between this season’s roster and last season’s, looking to graduations and transfer portal exits as points of worry, Scherr once again views the new chapter as a new opportunity.
“In terms of learning from the SEC,” Scherr said, “it’s exciting to see what we can bring into next year and definitely learning not to be negative about the upcoming season or think of what could happen this year. A huge takeaway is this is a new team. The bottom line is it’s a new team. You know, it’s a whole new league. All the teams are going to be new. Very different. Anybody can beat anybody. So we’re ready for people to count us out, but we’re not counting ourselves out.”
So, what are her hopes and expectations for this team?
“I think just making all sorts of jumps,” Scherr said. “Really there’s tons of things floating around in my head … But we’re capable I think, of finishing in the top of the SEC, making it even further in the SEC Tournament. You know, maybe at some point even getting to crack a top 25. Like, those are all things I truly think are possible with this team, especially with how important — and me and Coach Elzy have talked about this — how team chemistry, and teams that will fight for each other and want to play for each other are the teams that are going to pull the wins out in close games. And we not only have worked on that, too, but we have tons of talent.
“I mean this team is, really, you didn’t get to see a lot of the super talented girls who didn’t get a chance to play that much. The freshmen, I mean really, they’re really coming into their own as players. And I think this year is just gonna be another steppingstone to that. I think the thing that can get in our way is the mental side of it. The coming together. And I think, when we understand, and, like I said, hate losing enough for each other, when all that comes together, we can be a really good team.”
