Strengths and weaknesses that will define Kentucky women’s basketball in NCAA Tournament

Kentucky women’s basketball has emerged as a strong contender this season. Under first-year Head Coach Kenny Brooks, the Wildcats enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed.

The Wildcats excel with a high-powered offense, elite guard play and a dominant defense led by Georgia Amoore, Clara Strack and a disciplined starting five.

However, issues like depth concerns, foul trouble and heavy reliance on Amoore have been a constant problem throughout the year. To achieve a deep run in March Madness, Kentucky must find contributions from its bench and maintain a consistent defensive presence.

The question is, can the Cats balance their strengths and minimize their weaknesses to reach the program’s first-ever Final Four?

The starting five and beyond…

Brett Ramsey: Amoore, Strack, Amelia Hassett, Dazia Lawrence and Teonni Key were the five Wildcat starters in the first game of the season. This starting lineup has remained unchanged since, and Kentucky has had the same starters in all 29 games.

While the Wildcats had their depth cut by preseason injuries, Kentucky has been incredibly fortunate to go all season without injuries to starters. This has allowed the starting five to spend much time together on the court. The starting lineup has totaled 759 offensive possessions together, which is the second most of any five-player lineup in the country.

perform in the biggest moments, as they have all season.

Jenna Lifshen: While the Cats have benefited from a consistent and chemistry-driven starting five, the team has struggled with depth. Unfortunately, early injuries to two of Kentucky’s projected starters, Dominika Paurová and Jordan Obi, shrunk Kentucky’s positional depth tremendously, and this has been a problem all year.

While Brooks has slowly introduced more depth to the lineups throughout the season and started using players such as Lexi Blue and Clara Silva more often during games, the Cats have the third-lowest number of bench points in the NCAA, with only 244 on the season. The struggles of Kentucky’s bench players are due to the starting five taking such significant minutes.

Since the starters spend so much time on the court together, alternates have fewer opportunities to find their spot within the offensive system. When bench players check-in, they often struggle to find their rhythm, having had little in-game experience alongside the starters. This lack of playing time makes it challenging for them to play to their full potential and have consistent games.

This proved a massive issue throughout the season, as the worst losses were partly due to the lack of bench production. It became an issue during the Cats’ first loss of the season to UNC when the Tar Heels’ bench outscored Kentucky’s 16-2. The trend continued throughout conference play. In four of UK’s five losses, the opponents outscored Kentucky by double digits, the worst of which came against South Carolina, which outscored the Cats’ bench 36-3. Kentucky will have to find a way to get more bench production, or its tournament run won’t last too long.

The double-edged sword of Georgia Amoore…

Lifshen: There’s no question that when one thinks of Kentucky’s success this season, almost everyone’s mind goes to the Cats’ future WNBA first-round draft pick, Georgia Amoore.

In just her lone season at Kentucky, the former Hokie has etched her way into the record books and has become one of the most beloved players across the Bluegrass. She accounts for most of the team’s offensive success, leading the team with an average of 19.1 points per game. She is currently second in the country in assists, averaging 6.9.

It would take another thousand words to list the records Amoore has broken this season, but she most notably tied the program’s single-game scoring record, scoring a career-high 43 points against Oklahoma. She is also the first player in Kentucky women’s basketball history to record three games with at least seven made 3-pointers in one season and to post at least 21 points and 11 assists against an SEC opponent.

With her 800th career assist earlier this season, she became the second active player across all three divisions of men’s and women’s college basketball to reach the milestone. This season, she also became the third player in NCAA Division-I history to surpass both 2,300 career points and 800 career assists.

Beyond that, Amoore’s experience in the Tournament will prove beyond beneficial for the Cats. She led Virginia Tech to its Elite Eight victory over Tennessee with 29 points and five assists. She also holds the NCAA Tournament record for most 3-pointers made in a single tournament. She has been named to the All-SEC First Team, the SEC Newcomer of the Year, the Second Team All-American, ESPN’s and  Transfer of the Year. She is also a national finalist for Point Guard of the Year and National Player of the Year.

Ramsey: Amoore has the ability to set the tone for the Wildcats’ offense. Kentucky’s offense runs at the highest level when she is playing at the top of her game.

Under the lead of Amoore, Kentucky has been one of the most efficient offenses in the country inside the 3-point line. The Cats have a two-point field goal percentage of 54.4%, the 13th-highest in the country. Amoore is mainly responsible for this, with an excellent ability to navigate the pick-and-roll, regardless of whether she uses it to create her shot or one for her teammates’.

Her vital importance is not always positive, though — It has also caused issues for the Wildcats on multiple occasions.

In the same way the offense steps up when she plays well, it struggles when she doesn’t. Her impact can be compared to an elevator, she usually brings the team to the level she is playing at. That fact is evident in all but one of Kentucky’s losses this season,  Amoore had 16 points or fewer in six of seven losses.

The Cats will also occasionally go completely cold for minutes at a time, sometimes spanning entire quarters. For no apparent reason, the shots will just stop falling and it has cost Kentucky multiple games this season. The most notable occurrence was against LSU when the Wildcats saw a 38-26 halftime lead turn into a five-point deficit after the third quarter. Kentucky scored just six points in the entire quarter and went over seven minutes without a made field goal.

Extended cold stretches in the tournament will get a team eliminated, regardless of the opponent. A subpar Amoore game and long scoreless streaks both pose substantial threats to Kentucky during the tournament. Either one could very easily lead to the end of Kentucky’s season.

The defensive keys of success…

Ramsey: Kentucky’s defense has played at a high level all season long, with remarkable consistency.

The Wildcats’ losses are rarely because of poor defensive play: Kentucky is 21-0 when the offense scores 70 or more and possesses a unique set of strengths that present challenges to opposing offenses at all three levels. UK excels in three-point defense and shot-blocking as opponents have shot just 26% from three against the Wildcats, which is the fourth-lowest percentage in the country.

Lawrence and Hassett allow the Wildcats to defend three-point shots at such a high level. While neither fills up the stat sheet with steals or blocks, both play an extremely tough and physical brand of perimeter defense that prevents easy looks from deep.

Kentucky leads the nation in blocks per game with an average of 6.9. Strack has been a huge part of the Wildcats block party. Her 2.41 blocks per game ranks 10th in the country. Strack set the school record for individual single-season blocks this year, ending with a total of 70. Kentucky also set the school record for most blocks by a team in a season with 199. Strack made a large contribution, but she received lots of help from Key, who averages 1.65 blocks per game. Key has totaled 48 blocks which ranks fifth in the SEC. Kentucky is one of two teams in the country to have two players that average over 1.65 blocks per game, joined by Southern California.

Lifshen: While Kentucky boasts a height advantage like no other, there have been multiple instances this season where the Cats have been unable to capitalize on one of their most significant advantages due to the struggle for fouls.

Strack, Key and Silva have fouled out in multiple games this season, leaving the Cats without their towers, who all stand above 6-foot-3. This has proven crucial for Kentucky, especially in games like Oklahoma, where all three bigs fouled out. This allowed the Sooners to almost pull off a comeback, as UK’s defense became incredibly weak without its height.

Silva, the Cats’ tallest player, has spent the season struggling with fouls. Standing at 6-foot-7, she has struggled to adjust to collegiate-style basketball due to all of her experience in the sport coming while playing at an international level. Although she has improved tremendously over the season, and more notably in the past couple of games, she simply cannot pull the weight of Kentucky’s defense by herself.

How can Kentucky make its first-ever Final Four? 

Lifshen: The roster Kentucky has was built in just two months and, with that, the team has spent the whole season trying to figure each other out and create the chemistry that would allow them to succeed.

While many people may overlook a younger team, the truth is that the Cats have enough experience on its roster to navigate the NCAA Tournament, not to mention a coach who has grand success in March Madness. The team must lean on the former Hokies in Kenny Brooks, Amoore and Strack. This will be the third program that Brooks has taken to the big dance and has found the most success in recent years.

He took Virginia Tech to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments and, in 2023, led the program to its first-ever ACC Championship and Final Four appearance. That run included victories over Chattanooga, South Dakota State, Tennessee and Ohio State before falling to eventual national champion LSU.