Kentucky women’s basketball tests new tall lineup Monday

Every coach wants a roster problem like this one the Kentucky women’s basketball team has. Kenny Brooks has three 6-foot-5 players and one frontcourt to put them in.

No. 14 Kentucky opens its 2026-27 season Monday at 6:30 p.m. ET in Historic Memorial Coliseum against Morehead State. On paper it is the softest landing spot a ranked team could ask for. In practice it is the first real look at whether a roster built largely in the portal and the recruiting rankings can play like a team.

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Brooks knows how to build one. He is in his 25th year as a head coach and his third in Lexington, and for the third year in a row his staff is intact. In women’s college basketball, in the transfer era, that is close to unheard of. Meanwhile, three starters from last season’s club were all drafted into the WNBA. Rebuilding on the fly is a skill, and Brooks has been practicing it.

The pieces

Clara Strack is the centerpiece, and the preseason hardware says so: USA TODAY’s Defensive Player of the Year, a unanimous All-SEC first-teamer, and a watch-list fixture for National Player of the Year and Center of the Year. She is the reason a team can build everything else around its defense.

Beside her, Brooks has added experience. Me’Arah O’Neal comes from Florida, where she put up 13.6 points and 6.4 rebounds a night, and she opens the year on the Power Forward of the Year Watch List after an All-SEC Second Team season. Diana Collins arrives from Alabama after posting 8.4 points and 2.4 assists. Ajša Sivka was the No. 10 pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft and now shares a college locker room. Ayanna Patterson carries a national title résumé from her time at UConn. Asia Boone, a Shooting Guard of the Year watch-lister, is the shooter who keeps defenses from collapsing.

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The incoming talent is just as deep. On3 puts the transfer class at No. 6 nationally, and ESPN has the freshmen at No. 6, with three McDonald’s All-Americans. Texas is the only other program that can say it signed…

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Publish date : 2026-11-01 22:22:00

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