Four game-changing stars could make or break teams’ NCAA dreams in Lexington this weekend
Kentucky women’s basketball will host first- and second-round NCAA Tournament matchups for the seventh time in program history beginning Friday, bringing several exciting players in this year’s Big Dance to Memorial Coliseum.
Coming to town in hopes of an NCAA Tournament run are a few familiar faces with whom Kenny Brooks has some history. On Friday at noon local time, the fourth-seeded Wildcats will face off against Liberty, the No. 13 seed, with the battle between No. 5 Kansas State and No. 12 Fairfield set to tip off at approximately 2:30 p.m. The winners will play in the round of 32 on Sunday.
Friday’s opening game features three WNBA draft hopefuls and 2025 All-America selections in Kentucky’s Georgia Amoore (second team) and Kansas State’s Ayoka Lee (honorable mention) and Serena Sundell (honorable mention). All ranked within the top 15 of their respective conferences across several statistical categories this season.
Kentucky will look to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021, also the last time the Wildcats were a No. 4 seed. However, in line with the philosophy that Brooks has had all year, the Wildcats aren’t interested in looking ahead; just like always, it’s one game at a time.
“Every day we put on (the scout),” Brooks said. “Go 1-0. Go 1-0. So if you can just focus on the moment. You can’t look at the brackets. Don’t fill out a bracket. Don’t look down to see what happens second round, third round. You have to finish every moment.”
Per UK Athletics, fewer than 1,000 tickets remained Thursday for Kentucky’s first-round game against Liberty. Fans interested in attending are encouraged to act quickly. While you wait for Friday’s action, here are four can’t-miss players — one from each team playing in Memorial Coliseum this weekend — to watch in the Lexington Regional.
Impact players to watch
Smuda, a 6-foot-6 redshirt senior center, is one of three Flames to have played against Brooks and Amoore before, when head coach Carey Green led Liberty to a 59-40 win over Virginia Tech in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 2021-22. Of the three now-veteran Flames on the Liberty roster for that game, only Smuda clocked more than six minutes in the matchup; in 17 minutes on the floor, Smuda recorded two points, three rebounds, one assist and one block.
“I remember Smuda,” Brooks said. “We played against her a few years ago. She was a baby at that point and and I remember saying then, I thought she was gonna be a pretty good player for them. Carey does a good job. (Assistant coach) Katie (Mattera) with developing post players, we’ve seen that before. And just not seeing her for a couple years, and then watching her this year, when we started to scout against her, you can see her development.”
Smuda leads the Flames in multiple statistical categories, including points (11.8), rebounds (6.7), steals (0.9) and blocks (1.9) per contest. She averages 24.7 minutes, and holds the program record for games played with 159.
“She presents some challenges for us,” Brooks said. “I know she’s a great rim protector, but she’s also active on the offensive end, you know, she’s not just an immobile post player. She can put the ball on the floor enough where she needs to and attack the basket, and she plays with an aggression that, if you’re not ready to play early defense, she can get you in foul trouble. So very impressed with her, her development, but not surprised by it, because we saw it when she was very young, and we know that it can be an issue for us.”
Green also noted Smuda’s age and experience, and said he’s hopeful that’ll play to Liberty’s advantage when Smuda matches up against Kentucky sophomore Clara Strack on Friday.
“I think it will be a good matchup,” Green said. “Bella being a little older, I hope that that will translate into some maturity and some wise play. She’s certainly hungry and excited about this opportunity.”
If you ask Kenny Brooks, “Strack is the (SEC) Defensive Player of the Year for a reason.”
“She anchors our defense,” Brooks said of his 6-foot-5 center. “She talks, she communicates, she makes plays. And she’s also probably the best passing post player in the country, the way that she reads defenses and does so many different things for us. She scores at a very unique clip because it’s not just low block, it’s like she’s all around the floor, and being able to score so it’s hard to guard.”
Through 29 games, Strack has blown past her production from last season, when she was the primary backup to All-America center Liz Kitley at Virginia Tech until the now-Las Vegas Ace tore her ACL late in the regular season. Strack is averaging a near-double-double with 15.2 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, not to mention 2.6 assists and 2.4 blocks per contest, with her blocks average ranking 10th nationally, and first in the SEC. In addition to being selected as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, Strack was also named an All-SEC second-teamer.
Strack told the Herald-Leader on Thursday that she’s looking forward to matching up against Smuda, and that her own confidence, and the confidence of her teammates, has grown steadily throughout the year.
“I’m excited for sure,” Strack said. “I think it’s always fun to have a similar matchup to you.”
Smuda also said she thinks “it will be a really fun battle.”
“Yeah, I’m really excited,” Smuda said. “I love playing against other talented post players. It’s always just fun — it’s a fun challenge just to — I love to be playing physical and just fighting for the boards and all that. I’m looking forward to just playing against her, and I think it will be a really fun battle.”
Izabela Nicoletti Lette (Fairfield)
This is Nicoletti Lette’s seventh year of college basketball, and it may just be the best yet for the 5-10 graduate guard.
Known as “the OG,” Nicoletti Lette was head coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis’ first recruit to Fairfield. Now the Stags’ assists leader (5.3), and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s leader (and third in the nation) in assist/turnover ratio (3.29), the 25-year-old transferred to Fairfield after four years at Florida State were disrupted by two ACL tears.
Thibault-DuDonis said Thursday that the veteran guard “kind of went through all stages of things in her career at Fairfield so far.”
In what was her “year one” at Fairfield, Nicoletti Lette was just “so happy to be on the court,” and begin a new chapter with the Stags. She was relied upon more as a scorer during that 2022-23 campaign because, as Thibault-DuDonis said, it’s what was needed of her. The following season, Thibault-DuDonis said Nicoletti Lette embraced a new role, growing more as a facilitator, a pass-first point guard.
“She’s been able to put it all together this year where she’s done both,” Thibault-DuDonis said. “Taking care of the ball at an impressive level, one of the best in the country, aggressively looking to score when we needed her to. But I think the thing that probably doesn’t show up in stats is how she shows up. She has just a joy for the game. She never takes it for granted. She had it taken away from her with ACLs. She’s such an example how she walks the walk every day.”
This season, Nicoletti Lette is also averaging 5.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 27.9 minutes per game. She said Thursday that the ability to end her collegiate career in the NCAA Tournament is a special way to cap it off.
“It means a lot for me, of course,” Nicoletti Lette said. “... I’ve been in college for a while now. But this is a different position, just in terms of the amount of minutes I’m playing, the amount of contribution that I bring to this team. ... I think our team is ready and we’re super excited.”
Three-time All-America selection Lee is one of the most dominant posts in college basketball, and is the first player in program history to score at least 2,000 career points. But the 6-foot-6 fifth-year center hasn’t played more than 15 minutes in a game since Kansas State’s Jan. 16 victory over Arizona due to foot injuries. To call Lee a game-changer would be an understatement, as the Wildcats are 18-1 this season when she’s available and starting.
Kansas State’s guards can be deadly, as illustrated by the fact that, despite Lee sitting out for 14 contests this season, the Wildcats still earned a No. 5 seed and just barely missed out on hosting privileges.
However, Lee said she’s ready to go for K-State’s first-round matchup, stating on Thursday that she feels “like I’m a hundred percent. ... I’m in a good spot,” and that she and head coach Jeff Mittie “haven’t really discussed minutes, but I don’t think it’s really much of a discussion.”
“What she’s done for our program is special,” Mittie said. “To have her to have that opportunity when she’s battled through so many injuries in her career, and for her to want to ... for her to be healthy, and not, you know, the unknown, for her to want to do this and to have a good week of practice, that was something — that was a reason she made that decision at the time, was in talking to the doctors, in talking to trainers and everybody, this would give her the best chance to not only play in the tournament but have some prep time to do it.”
Through 19 games this season, Lee has averaged 15.5 points on 65.6% shooting, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocks. This is the third consecutive season the WNBA hopeful has spent dealing with injuries, but she said she feels like “there’s so much basketball left to be played.”
“I’m really excited,” Lee said. “It’s been awhile since I’ve played in a game. I’m just excited. It’s a great opportunity just to be here and do it with this team one last time. So, yeah, excitement.”
Friday
Women’s NCAA Tournament games in Lexington
Where: Memorial Coliseum in Lexington
Noon: No. 4 seed Kentucky vs. No. 13 seed Liberty (ESPN)
About 2:30 p.m.: No. 5 seed Kansas State vs. No. 13 seed Fairfield (ESPNews)
Tickets: All-session and single-session tickets for the three games in Memorial Coliseum went on sale Monday.
Kentucky’s tournament opener
No. 4 seed Kentucky vs. No. 13 seed Liberty
What: NCAA Tournament Spokane Regional 4 round-of-64 game
Records: Kentucky 22-7, Liberty 26-6
ABOUT LIBERTY
Location: Lynchburg, Virginia
Enrollment: 16,000 on campus; 124,000 online
Nickname: Flames
School colors: Blue, Red, White and Grey
Head coach: Carey Green (591-239 in 26 seasons at Liberty and overall)
Conference: Conference USA
NCAA berth: Automatic (Liberty tied Middle Tennessee for first place in the conference in the regular season then won the league tournament.)
All-time series: Kentucky leads 2-1
Last meeting: Kentucky won 83-77 on March 20, 2010, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Louisville.
Common opponents with Kentucky this season: Liberty lost to Tennessee 109-93 (Nov. 16) and beat Arkansas 75-61 (Dec. 18) and Western Kentucky 77-66 (Jan. 2) and 74-70 (March 8).
Notable games this season: Against power conference teams in addition to Tennessee and Arkansas, Liberty lost to Duke 83-67.
