‘We’re deeper.’ What Kenny Brooks had to say about Kentucky’s newcomers
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky returns key starters and adds depth with three veteran transfers.
- Injured talent Obi and Paurová cleared to play, boosting Wildcats' rotation.
- Top recruit KK Carroll expected to contribute immediately as a freshman.
Across Big Blue Nation and the greater college basketball landscape, one question for Kenny Brooks keeps rearing its head: Will this year’s team be as good as last year’s?
It is, certainly, a difficult one to field — particularly when Kentucky women’s basketball is only about one week into summer workouts — for a variety of reasons.
All of the 2025-26 Wildcats, save incoming Swedish freshman center Elsa Vadfors, are on campus and in the gym. Returning starters Clara Strack, Amelia Hassett and Teonni Key, plus rising sophomore guard Lexi Blue, refused to entertain the option of transferring and are preparing to level up in their second seasons in Lexington.
Though the program lost six of its 13 scholarship players at the conclusion of last season — including senior leaders Georgia Amoore and Dazia Lawrence and 6-foot-7 relief center Clara Silva — it gains three experienced transfers in Asia Boone (Liberty), Josie Gilvin (Western Kentucky) and Tonie Morgan (Georgia Tech), plus Vadfors and 2025 McDonald’s All-American Kaelyn “KK” Carroll.
The Wildcats will also finally see the UK debuts of Jordan Obi (Penn) and Dominika Paurová (Oregon State), each of whom was expected by the coaching staff to be a major contributor prior to sustaining season-ending lower-leg injuries last summer.
“I think the beauty of where we are going to be,” Brooks said, “is that we’re not going to be as reliant on one person to shoulder the load.”
On more than one occasion — though best exemplified by her 43-point, eight-assist performance in the team’s Feb. 2 win at No. 13 Oklahoma — Amoore bore the burden of carrying a too-thin roster to victory, or, at the very least, better positioning it to win.
Lawrence and her deadly 3-point shot, or Strack and her command of the paint, were also leaned on in times of trouble. It is well documented that Brooks’ five starters averaged a disproportionate amount of minutes along the way to a fourth-place finish in the SEC and hosting privileges in the NCAA Tournament; all but Key (28.1), who struggled with foul trouble, clocked at least 31.7 minutes per game.
Barring any unforeseen injuries, it doesn’t matter to Brooks that his final roster for the upcoming season sits one player fewer than his ideal — the specific roster he and his staff have assembled is, in their eyes, enough to be confident.
“We’re deeper,” Brooks said. “And obviously, you know, I caught a lot of flack last year for not playing a lot of players, or whatnot. But our bench was hurt, and they weren’t able to provide that for us. Right now, we’re deep.”
Depth can make a world of difference. In a sport packed with “what ifs,” fans could drive themselves batty wondering how long the team’s NCAA Tournament run could have lasted if Obi and Paurová were healthy and available, or if Kentucky could have held onto its edge over LSU or pulled out a win against South Carolina in its final stretch of the regular season.
Amid the absence of Amoore and Lawrence, and the roster turnover, Kentucky was, once more, intentional in the transfer portal.
Reported to have been in contact with transfer portal prospects such as former Ohio State star Cotie McMahon (Ole Miss), or former Auburn guard Yuting Deng, Brooks’ three transfers during this cycle are multi-all-conference selections who all appear to be the “right fit” for his system.
Here’s what Brooks had to say about each of his three transfers, his delayed debuts and his five-star freshman.
The transfers
ASIA BOONE
Liberty transfer Boone has played on the floor of Memorial Coliseum, but never truly got the opportunity to demonstrate her talents while playing against UK in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, during which she played just four minutes and 41 seconds before suffering an injury.
The junior guard was the 2024 Conference USA Freshman of the Year, and earned 2025 All-C-USA Second Team honors as a sophomore after averaging 10.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists per contest. In two years with the Flames, Boone made 67 starts in 67 appearances and shot 36.9% from 3-point range.
Brooks said: “You look at Asia Boone, she shoots the ball as well as anybody. You know, she’s a smart player. She’s going to provide depth at both our positions for us, it gives us an opportunity to play deeper if something does happen, if somebody gets in foul trouble, we’ll be able to put them out there.”
JOSIE GILVIN
Gilvin, who played at Memorial Coliseum in December when UK defeated Western Kentucky 88-70, averaged a career-high 13.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.6 steals per game en route to earning spots on both the 2025 All-Conference USA Second Team and the 2025 All-CUSA Defensive Team. She made 41.3% of her 121 3-point attempts.
Against the Wildcats last year, the Sacred Heart Academy graduate posted 10 points, three rebounds and two steals in approximately 30 minutes on the floor.
Brooks said: “Josie, man, you know, when we played against them last year, she was just all over the place. I just kept thinking, ‘Well, how did she get over there?’ And she just brings a fearless attitude that’s going to really help us.”
TONIE MORGAN
Replacing Amoore is off the table — but as soon as it was announced that Morgan was entering the transfer portal after three strong seasons at Georgia Tech, the point guard became an immediate target for good reason.
Brooks, of course, coached against Morgan and the Yellow Jackets during his final two seasons at the helm of Virginia Tech. He watched as Morgan was named to the 2023 ACC All-Freshman Team, then the 2024 All-ACC and All-ACC Tournament Second Teams the following year.
As a junior, Morgan was once more named to the All-ACC Second Team after posting season averages of 13.7 points on 48.9% shooting from the field, plus 4.5 rebounds and one steal in 29.1 minutes per contest. Morgan also averaged a career-best 5.6 assists per game, which put her at No. 19 among all Division I players, and No. 9 among those in the Power Four.
Brooks said: “Tonie’s good. We’ve had her for a week, and I’m like, ‘she’s really good.’ But we all knew that because we competed against her in the ACC. I remember the last game we played against her, we were comfortably ahead. I think we could have won the game by 40, but we couldn’t stop her. You know, she just kept doing some things, and then obviously, with her coming here and wanting to sharpen her skills. It gives us a veteran guard, a very veteran, experienced guard to go along with the experience that we have here.”
The long-anticipated debuts
JORDAN OBI
Obi, a 6-1 graduate guard, transferred to Kentucky after a 1,000-point career with the Quakers.
As a senior during the 2023-24 campaign, Obi led Penn in rebounding at 7.7 boards per game. She also averaged 14.7 points on 43.3% shooting from the field, including 38.6% from 3-point range, plus 2.3 assists and 1.4 blocks per contest along the way to becoming an All-Ivy League First-Team selection.
A lower-leg injury sustained last summer delayed Obi’s Kentucky debut to this season, and the UK head coach couldn’t be happier to have her back.
Brooks said: “Jordan is strong, she’s talented, she’s athletic, she’s smart. She’s gonna provide something for us that we didn’t have last year, that we’re excited about. Like, she does some things on the floor that, they’re head-scratchers. I’m like, ‘How was she able to do that?’ Her experience is going to be very valuable to us.”
DOMINIKA PAUROVÁ
Paurová, a 6-1 guard, was also part of Kentucky’s explosive transfer class last season after a commendable freshman campaign at Oregon State.
During her freshman season (2023-24), Paurová participated in each of the Beavers’ 35 contests — and contributed, in some way, shape or form, in each game of Oregon State’s Elite Eight run during the NCAA Tournament. As a freshman, Paurová averaged 5.5 points on 48.3% shooting from the field, including 36.2% from beyond the arc, and 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 16.4 minutes per game.
Paurová suffered an ACL injury while playing with Czechia’s U20 roster against Iceland in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket last July, and Brooks revealed Tuesday that the redshirt sophomore was officially cleared for full activity this week.
Brooks said: “She ran into the gym and I said, ‘Hey, don’t get cleared and hurt in the same day.’ She was jumping around with so much excitement, but that’s what she brings to our program. She is so just full of enthusiasm, and that’s the way she plays, with that energy. It’s something we desperately needed last year.”
The McDonald’s All-American
Carroll, a 6-3 freshman out of Tabor Academy (Massachusetts), is the first McDonald’s All-American and highest-ranking prospect (No. 18) to sign with the Wildcats out of high school since ex-Cat Treasure Hunt (2020).
The talented wing served as a leader on and off the floor throughout her high school career with the Seawolves. As a senior this year, Carroll was invited to participate in the 2024 Under Armour Next Elite showcase, the 2024 USA Basketball Women’s U18 National Team trials, the 2024 Wootten 150 Camp and the 2025 Jordan Brand Classic Game.
Brooks expects Carroll, who was named the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council 3A Player of the Year and earned All-New England First Team and All-Independent School League First Team honors, to contribute in her freshman season with the Wildcats.
Brooks said: “KK, she’s special on and off the floor. I think she’s 18, but she acts like she’s 38. She just has, I don’t know, just a wealth of knowledge. She’s witty. She understands everything, but she’s also, you know, a physical presence. She came in and, I kid you not, we thought she was 6-3, but I think she grew an inch, and she’s like 6-4. And she shoots the basketball as well as anybody that I’ve seen.
“Her IQ is really high, and those are things that we covet. And when we got her, we knew it was special because not only did we think she was gonna help us on the floor, we felt like she was going to help us in recruiting, in the locker room. She’s a seamless fit with her attitude, and she’s a lot of fun to be around. You know, she’s a lot of fun to be around.
“She’s got that typical Northern Boston quick wit. Tells a joke and I have to think about it for three seconds before I get it. She’s that smart, and we’re excited. She’s actually having her first workout today right now, so we’re excited for her. I think she’s going to contribute a lot for us as a freshman.”
2025-26 UK women’s basketball schedule
Games confirmed to this point (home games in all capital letters):
Nov. 3: MOREHEAD STATE
Nov. 6: MONMOUTH
Nov. 9: At Buffalo
Nov. 18: PURDUE
Dec. 3: At Miami (Fla.)-x
Dec. 7: CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Dec. 14: At Belmont
Dec. 19: WRIGHT STATE
Dec. 28: HOFSTRA
SEC home games (dates TBA): Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt.
SEC road games (dates TBA): Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Texas, Vanderbilt.
x-ACC/SEC Challenge
