‘A player that I want to be.’ Why Diana Collins chose Kenny Brooks and Kentucky
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Diana Collins chose Kentucky to develop into the player she wants to become.
- Collins cited Brooks’ history of developing veteran point guards as key.
- Collins arrived in Lexington as the first new face on Brooks’ 2026-27 roster.
What do Joni Taylor, Kevin McGuff, Kristy Curry and Kenny Brooks have in common?
They could each, at one point between 2022 and present, boast a commitment from Georgia-born point guard Diana Collins.
The 5-foot-10 rising senior — who recently arrived in Lexington as the first new face on Brooks’ 2026-27 Kentucky roster — wouldn’t tell you there was one glowing characteristic shared by each coach that tipped the scales in their favor, nor would she necessarily compare them to one another.
To win her commitment, Collins said, each coach gave her an established program culture. In former Georgia and current Texas A&M coach Taylor, a trustworthy player-coach relationship; in Ohio State’s McGuff, an upward momentum on the national stage; in Alabama’s Curry, a real sense of family among the team.
In Brooks and his accomplished Kentucky staff — who had recruited her back in their Virginia Tech days — Collins saw all three, choosing UK as a final landing spot to close out a career heavy on lessons.
“Overall, I think the staff will be able to help me develop into a player that I want to be for the future,” Collins said. “That was the ultimate decision(-maker)…I just want to be a player that can help a team be better down the line and be a person that’s reliable for the team, no matter the ups and downs.”
Collins grew up in Lilburn, Georgia, which sits fewer than 30 minutes northeast of Atlanta and approximately 90 minutes east of the University of Georgia, which hired Taylor as only its second-ever women’s basketball head coach after Andy Landers’ retirement in 2015.
At that time, Collins was only a fifth grader, but she recalled Taylor recruiting her from a young age; given the years of relationship-building, it felt like the right fit when — as a sophomore at Brookwood High School — she pledged to Taylor and the Bulldogs in 2021.
“Joni recruited me since I was really, really young,” Collins said. “That trust, connection that was happening, that was why I committed there early.”
As Collins developed into a four-star prospect, ultimately graduating as the No. 70 overall player in the class of 2023 according to ESPNW, Taylor coached the Bulldogs to seven winning seasons that included four NCAA tournaments and a trio of March Madness wins.
When Texas A&M hired Taylor away in 2022, Collins decommitted from her home state’s flagship school and opted to spend her freshman year of college in Columbus, Ohio, with the Buckeyes.
“I was drawn to Ohio State as a whole,” Collins said. “And how they did in the program’s previous years.”
McGuff took the Ohio State job in 2014, recording nine NCAA Tournament berths and 10 seasons with 20 or more wins over 13 complete campaigns. Further, the Buckeyes reached the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend during Collins’ junior (Sweet 16) and senior (Elite Eight) years of high school; coincidentally, Ohio State’s 2023 Elite Eight appearance, its best finish in 30 years, culminated in a 10-point loss to Brooks’ Hokies.
That was around the time Collins got her first opportunity with the Swedish National Team.
The daughter of Stockholm-born Sandra — who played basketball at West Florida — and American Linzy Collins, who played college football at Missouri before being selected in the 12th round of the 1991 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers, Collins was a 2023 selection on the Nike Hoop Summit World Select Team and participated in the 2023 FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship.
As a freshman at Ohio State, Collins averaged fewer than 10 minutes across 18 games played, and recorded 3.0 points, 1.2 rebounds and less than an assist per contest. Ohio State finished 26-6 and earned a No. 2 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament but failed to escape the second round.
McGuff and Co. would also welcome another point guard, McDonald’s All-American — and the No. 2 overall prospect in the class of 2024 — Jaloni Cambridge.
Collins knew the level of competition demanded by the SEC and that starting over elsewhere might be difficult, but she appreciated Curry’s pitch once she entered the transfer portal. Another long-tenured coach, Curry was 11 years deep in the process of resurrecting Alabama, and had stacked three 20-win seasons once the 2023-24 campaign came to an end.
“(With) Kristy it was more so (an) opportunity at the program and how I would be as an athlete,” Collins said. “Also, she’s just kind of like a mother figure. Very close, family-oriented, which I like in a coach.”
While at Alabama, Collins said, she grew more comfortable with the college game and within herself.
“My confidence grew over the few years,” Collins said. “Being in the gym, working on things I needed to work on and be better at. Also, learning the new system and completely understanding what I need to do in that system and ways I can navigate through it.”
As a sophomore, Collins’ usage doubled, and she averaged 5.5 points and 1.5 assists across 31 contests, helping Alabama to a 24-9 (10-6 SEC) season and another second-round exit in the NCAA Tournament. As a junior last season, Collins started in each of the Crimson Tide’s 35 games, averaging 8.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and a steal in 28.5 minutes per game.
Following Alabama’s single-point, second-round loss to Louisville in the NCAA Tournament, Curry shocked the SEC by choosing to leave for the head coaching job at South Florida — another carousel move presenting Collins with the choice to stay where she’d planned or bet on herself in a new chapter of her own.
In each of his first two seasons at Kentucky, Brooks found great success signing a veteran point guard out of the transfer portal and developing her in his pro-friendly offense. Long-term Brooks mentee Georgia Amoore established the foundation alongside the head coach for one season before she was drafted sixth overall to Washington in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Last year, former Georgia Tech starter Tonie Morgan led UK to its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2016, and Chicago drafted her with a second-round pick in April.
“You can look at previous years’ point guards that he’s developed,” Collins said. “That’s something that drew me. Amoore, Tonie Morgan, they grew in the role when they were under Kenny Brooks.”
Brooks told the Herald-Leader in the spring that he’d planned to take another veteran point guard from the portal, this year’s selection chosen with expected superstar Maddyn Greenway in mind.
Greenway, recently named the 2025-26 MaxPreps Female National Athlete of the Year, committed to Kentucky as a junior in November 2024 and was instantly crowned the program’s point guard of the future by fans and Brooks alike. Greenway graduated from Providence Academy (Minn.) as a 13-time state champion across basketball, soccer and track & field and arrived at UK late last month.
The daughter of former Minnesota Viking and Iowa Hawkeye Chad Greenway and former Iowa track athlete Jenni Capista, Greenway is a McDonald’s All-American and the No. 14 overall prospect in the class, but Collins’ experience has taught her to welcome the opportunity to step into the role held by Amoore and Morgan before her, even if a future torchbearer is already on campus.
“I’m just staying true to myself,” Collins said. “Making sure that I’m getting better and developing as a player on my own, and the rest goes from there.”
