‘They’re going to find their way.’ UK women’s basketball freshmen raise expectations
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky landed a five-star-exclusive 2026 class featuring three top-25 prospects.
- Brooks said the trio are extremely talented and competitive.
- Brooks expects a point-guard-by-committee approach with Greenway, McDonald and others.
Right away, Clara Strack noticed her freshman teammates were bringing a different edge to the Kentucky women’s basketball team.
“A lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm, excitement for this season to start,” Strack said. “And I mean, everyone works really hard. I’ve seen it already. Nobody’s not working hard. The freshmen, I see them in the gym every single day, Sunday through Saturday. Every single day, working out.”
For Kentucky, that day-to-day grind is arriving in conjunction with something the program never has boasted — a five-star-exclusive signing class with national clout.
Head coach Kenny Brooks managed to reel in three top-25 prospects in espnW’s SportsCenter NEXT 100 rankings for the class of 2026. Point guard Maddyn Greenway (No. 14), forward Savvy Swords (No. 20) and guard Emily McDonald (No. 21) aren’t just a trio of McDonald’s All-Americans; they make up the highest-rated group of freshmen to ever sign with the program.
Now a few weeks into their living and working out on campus, Brooks hasn’t been shy about what he’s seen from the trio.
“They’re all three extremely talented,” Brooks said. “They’re all three extremely competitive…They come in and they can do things that I really haven’t seen freshmen be able to do.”
Brooks has won quickly in two seasons in Lexington, posting an overall record of 48-19 while returning Kentucky to prominence within the Southeastern Conference and beyond. In his quarter-century-long career, it’s the first time he has had a recruiting class that looks, both on paper and in the gym, like a statement.
Greenway’s résumé reads, quite literally, as a multi-sport record book.
The 5-foot-8 athlete from Wayzata, Minnesota, starred at Providence Academy and helped the Lions to five consecutive state basketball championships (2022-26).
Along the way, she became Minnesota girls basketball’s all-time leading scorer with more than 5,600 career points. Greenway’s senior season saw a cartoonish production of 36.5 points, 9.4 assists, 7.1 rebounds and 6.1 steals per game. She also helped the Lions to multiple state championships each in soccer and track and field.
Brooks’ staff has been tracking Greenway for years, and Big Blue Nation has treated her commitment in November 2024 as a turning-point moment — a five-star point guard pledging to UK with full confidence as a junior.
Swords arrives in Lexington with rare experience for a player her age.
The 6-2 forward from Sudbury, Ontario, has played for Canada’s junior national team and was named to the All-Star Five at the U18 AmeriCup after helping Canada win silver.
Even in a junior season cut short by injury, her numbers at girls basketball powerhouse Long Island Lutheran stand out: 16.0 points, 13.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game. Swords shot 60% from the field, including 40% from beyond the 3-point line, and 90% from the free-throw line.
For those plugged into women’s basketball, her family name should sound familiar; she is the younger sister of rising junior guard Syla Swords, a 2024 Olympian and All-Big Ten First-Team selection who has helped lift Michigan to great heights.
McDonald, a 6-foot guard from Buffalo, New York, was Swords’ LuHi teammate during her junior and senior seasons, and she brings a clear calling card.
She won the 3-point contest at the 2026 McDonald’s All-American Game, an achievement which encapsulates what Kentucky hopes it’s getting — a knock-down shooter with dangerous range in the wake of former Cat Amelia Hassett’s graduation.
However, McDonald’s high school production suggests she’s more than a great jump shot. As a junior, she averaged 12.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.4 blocks per game. That season, Long Island Lutheran achieved a national ranking of as high as No. 4.
On a roster built to win now in the SEC, a freshman who can defend, clean the glass and make her shots is a rare kind of addition, even if her first UK season is focused on learning.
Brooks’ first description of Greenway, Swords and McDonald this summer had nothing to do with star ratings or high school achievements.
“They’re like perfectionists,” Brooks said. “And, to be honest with you, they’re well beyond their years.”
How Kentucky’s freshmen fit
The potential is obvious. The on-court question is how quickly it translates in an offense that, under Brooks, has leaned heavily on veteran point-guard play to run the show.
Brooks was asked whether Kentucky’s single-season assist record — broken in consecutive seasons by Georgia Amoore and Tonie Morgan after standing for more than 40 years — could realistically be rewritten once again. His answer doubled as a preview of how he wants the 2026-27 roster to look and how he expects Greenway to grow into the position.
“I think this year it’s going to be more (point guard) by committee,” Brooks said. “I think that Maddyn is a tremendous point guard, still learning, going to be learning on the fly….Emily is a great passer….I’m looking forward to just the ability to share the basketball because if we make one more pass, it’s probably going to be for a great shot to a great shooter.”
Kentucky’s veterans, seniors and returning starters Strack and Asia Boone, have stressed that integrating the three high-profile freshmen doesn’t have to mean tiptoeing around.
“I think we just have a really good, diverse team when it comes to a good balance of having young people and people with experience,” Boone said. “Everybody has a voice. We don’t want anybody to hide. If Maddyn or Emily or Savvy has something to say, we all would listen.”
Boone framed the freshman transition as part of the job description for Kentucky’s older players.
“It’ll be really fun to teach them,” Boone said. “That’s our job, me and Clara, as seniors that have been through this for the last three years, just to coach them up along with the coaches. And just to encourage them to keep going, and to never give up and to never get discouraged.”
That’s the flip side of the ‘best-ever class’ hype — even the most decorated freshmen are still freshmen. Brooks acknowledged that reality even as he praised their readiness, but emphasized he expected them to make an impact.”
“They’re freshmen,” Brooks said. “They come along, they’re going to get their opportunity, but you don’t have to just depend on every mistake or good play they make. But I think that they’re going to find their way. They’re all talented, they all shoot the basketball well, they all have great experience and I look forward to them finding their way. They will compete, and they will contribute a lot for us this year.”
