Following back-to-back years of successful offseasons, Kenny Brooks and his Kentucky staff are currently in the process of attempting to secure lightning in a bottle once again via the transfer portal.

Ahead of his debut season in Lexington, Brooks’ inaugural UK roster was bolstered by a slew of transfers — and recruiting trail pledges — who followed him from Virginia Tech. But the Cats gained additional help from future WNBA draft picks Teonni Key and Jordan Obi and beloved leader Dazia Lawrence out of the portal.

Prior to last season, Brooks secured a commitment from another WNBA draft pick, point guard Tonie Morgan, plus eventual starter Asia Boone and effective defender Josie Gilvin to round out a winning offseason that also welcomed international development piece Elsa Vadfors and McDonald’s All-American Kaelyn Carroll.

But as it’s been said before, the portal giveth, and the portal taketh away.

In addition to losing five seniors to exhausted eligibility, the program suffered a massive loss when Carroll opted to enter the transfer portal earlier this month — a surprise given her expected increase in both responsibility and production next year. The team also saw portal entries from Vadfors, who has yet to land elsewhere, and former top-40 prospect Lexi Blue, who committed to former Princeton head coach Carla Berube at Northwestern.

The bright side is that senior starters Key (Toronto Tempo), Morgan (Chicago Sky), Amelia Hassett (Los Angeles Sparks) and sixth player Jordan Obi (Las Vegas Aces) set a program record when each of the four was drafted to the next level — something Brooks feels will only help the program in recruiting, whether it be the high school ranks, the transfer portal or internationally.

Both Boone and National Center of the Year candidate Clara Strack have announced they will return for their senior seasons with Kentucky. Kentucky is also preparing to welcome a talented cast of five-star freshmen in top-25 recruits Maddyn Greenway (No. 14 overall), Savvy Swords (No. 20 overall) and Emily McDonald (No. 21 overall)

So where does that leave UK’s 2026-27 roster?

The portal may be officially closed to new entrants — barring extenuating circumstances such as a coaching change — On3 reported that just 560 of the 1,565 players to enter the transfer portal have committed to new programs, while 30 made the choice to withdraw their names and return to their respective teams.

Two of those 560 players, Diana Collins (Alabama) and Ayanna Patterson (Connecticut), have chosen Kentucky — pushing Brooks’ roster total to nine players, counting Brooks’ own daughter, guard Gabby Brooks, and guard Dominika Paurová, who transferred to UK in 2024 but has yet to play due to tearing her ACL in consecutive offseasons.

What to know about UK women’s basketball transfer Diana Collins

Collins, a 5-foot-9 guard, was rated the No. 70 overall prospect (and the No. 13 ranked point guard) in the high school class of 2023.

Originally from Lilburn, Georgia, Collins initially committed to Joni Taylor’s staff at Georgia. When Taylor was hired away by Texas A&M, Collins flipped her commitment to Ohio State. She played in 18 games as a freshman with the Buckeyes and transferred to Alabama to play under Kristy Curry. Collins entered the portal again after this season following Curry’s move to South Florida.

The Georgia native told Crimson Tide Sports Network in January that she was drawn to the family-type culture at Alabama, and called herself a “big family person.” She is the daughter of Sandra, who played basketball at West Florida, and Linzy Collins, who played wide receiver at Missouri before being selected in the 12th round of the 1991 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers.

During her two years in Tuscaloosa, Collins improved at both ends of the floor while receiving a steady increase in usage each year. As a sophomore, she made five starts in 31 games played.

As a junior last season, Collins improved in every statistical category and averaged 8.4 points on nearly 45.8% from the field and 39.8% from the 3-point line. Collins also recorded 2.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.0 steal in 28.5 minutes across 35 games played. She started in each of them, and helped Alabama to an overall record of 24-11 (7-9 SEC) and a Round of 32 berth in the NCAA Tournament.

In the Crimson Tide’s Jan. 8 victory over Kentucky this season, Collins posted 16 points (including a trio of 3-pointers), four rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Though Brooks has mentioned several times that Greenway is the program’s point guard of the future, he told the Herald-Leader this spring that, thanks to past players like Georgia Amoore (Virginia Tech/UK) and Dawn Evans (James Madison), “from their experiences, I know what it’s going to be like,” to help Greenway adjust to college basketball.

“There’s going to be some good days,” Brooks said. “There’s going to be some bad days. But every day is going to be a learning experience, and you have to be patient with that. By no means do we feel we’re going to put everything on Maddyn, and she’ll have help…It’s too taxing for one person to try to be the point guard. Watching what Tonie’s going through this year and watching what Georgia went through last year, I don’t know if you can put all that responsibility on a freshman,

“...We’ll find some help for her, whether another point guard or another combo guard. But I’m looking forward to it. It’s like starting from scratch and building it back up. And we’ll probably see the fruits of our labor by the time she’s a sophomore or junior, but we know that we gotta go through some growing pains to get her there.”

Enter Collins, who can play the point and the shooting guard positions. Given her effective shooting percentages, she’s demonstrated her ability to find the basket — something that fans have watched Brooks’ guards like Lawrence or Boone utilize in order to help space the floor and create open looks.

Though this begs the question of what load management could look like between Greenway, Collins and Boone, it appears that Brooks is building backcourt depth that hasn’t existed throughout the first two years of his tenure.

Who is UK women’s basketball transfer Ayanna Patterson?

Patterson’s journey has parallels to Key’s.

A former top-10 prospect — Patterson was the No. 4 overall recruit in the class of 2022 and a McDonald’s All-American; Key No. 9 in 2021 — who pledged to a big-brand program (Patterson spent four years at UConn, Key two years at North Carolina) but was never able to fulfill sky-high expectations or potential due to serious injury.

Patterson, a 6-foot-2 redshirt junior forward, averaged 2.2 points and 2.2 rebounds in 10 minutes across 30 games played as a freshman during the 2022-23 campaign, then missed the following two seasons due to injury — and watched the Huskies’ 2025 national championship run from the sideline.

She returned in a little-used capacity this past season, making one start across 30 games played and averaging 1.7 points and 1.4 rebounds in 5.0 minutes per contest.

One of the most decorated women’s basketball players to come out of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Patterson recorded 25.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game during her senior season of high school. She, too, comes from a family of athletes; Patterson’s father, Andre, played basketball at New Mexico State before playing professionally in Spain and China, and her brother, Andre Jr., played basketball at UCLA and Tennessee.

A former Jordan Brand and SLAM All-American, Patterson was the 2022 Indiana Miss Basketball in addition to winning gold with USA Basketball at the 2021 3x3 U18 World Cup.

While it’s true that Patterson has never received meaningful minutes at the collegiate level, Brooks and his staff need replacement minutes for Key and Obi in the frontcourt. Given her background and skill set (and provided she stays healthy), Patterson’s ceiling is high.

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