January 9, 2025 • 19 mins
Join us for the The Bluegrass Hearing Clinic Kenny Brooks Show! Darren Headrick hosts and Coach Brooks will answer your questions.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy Wednesday, everyone, and welcome into another edition of the
Bluegrass Here in Clinic Kenny Brooks Show. I'm Darren Hedrick.
Coming up soon, Head coach Kenny Brooks will join us
and we've got a special guest, so stay tuned over
the next half hour. The Wildcats are number fifteen in
the latest AP poll. They're off to a thirteen and
one start on the year and two and oh in
(00:20):
SEC play. After picking up big wins over Mississippi State
and Vanderbilt this past week, the Wildcats are on the
road Tomorrow night. They'll take on the Florida Gators at
five o'clock down in Gainesville. Our airtime is four forty five,
and the Wildcats will be back home on Sunday to
host the Auburn Tigers inside Historic Memorial Colisem. That game
(00:40):
and broadcast will be presented by Great Clips. So join
us Sunday when the Cats host the Auburn Tigers. Coming up,
Head Coach Kenny Brooks will sit down to talk with
us about the win over Vanderbilt and the two and
oh start to league play, and we'll visit with our
special guest that's coming up here on the Bluegrass Hearing
Clinic Kenny Brooks Show.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
This is the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Cats are getting set to take on the Florida Gators
down in Gainesville tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Night at five o'clock.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
As we welcome you back into the Kenny Brooks Show,
presented by Bluegrass.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Here in clinic and coach.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Great to be alongside you this week. We also have
a special guest with us. She's the SEC Player of
the Week and the Ann Myers Drysdale National Player of
the Week. Georgia Amore. What a fantastic week she's had
and of course Kentucky off to a two and oh
start in league play.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Is this a time where I ask her for an
autograph because she's so special?
Speaker 4 (01:30):
No, it was a really good week for us.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
She played exceptionally well, very well, deserving of those honors,
but the kids just really stepped up and played great.
You know, she'll admit it. It wasn't just her, you know,
her teammates did a fantastic job. So looking forward to
talking about it and also about well Elizahead.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Georgia, You've obviously earned a lot of accolades over your career.
What does it mean to get your first SEC Player
of the Week on her.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Pretty cool for the pretty for the first week.
Speaker 6 (01:56):
I mean obviously coming into a new conference and not
really knowing what to expect. It's I mean, I said
a post game, every single game that we play is
the expectations that we just go out and give it
our own play great, and that's what we've been doing.
Hopefully we can keep carrying that out. But you know,
it's a pretty big honor for the first week of
SEC play to be.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
But what did that Well, you've played SEC teams before.
You and I were talking about that, But how fun
was it to play new teams and experience a new
environment like you saw in Nashville.
Speaker 6 (02:24):
Well, I'll tell you what. Vanderbilt's court is very, very interesting.
I've experienced nothing like that before in my life. But
in terms of the style of play, as you said,
we've we've played against them before, but in terms of
SEC teams, but it's been it's been challenging, and it's
been exciting because I've never been more like mentally stimulated
before all my life.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
You know, it's different.
Speaker 6 (02:43):
They do talk about different conferences presenting different challenges, and
the SEC is known for different types of things, So
it's been interesting to scout, play against, and reflect on
and prepare for the next So it's been a really
really fun challenge coach.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Your stepf does such a great job scouting, and they're
also so in aged in games. What was the adjustment
like from a communications standpoint being on the opposite end
of the floor, especially in the first half.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, I felt like I was out on an island. Normally,
I set, you know, and I'm within the ear shout
of the group and they can talk about adjustments. But
in order for me to be present and be engaged
with the with the girls on the court, I had
to really be out further, which was difficult because I
do rely on the bench a lot for just adjustments
(03:29):
and whatnot. But it was it was challenging too because
Georgia and I we speak the same language.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
We can kind of look at each other.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
And as she was walking going in the first especially
in the first half, going away from me, it was
really hard to hear. They had a good crowd eighty
five hundred people there. It was hard to hear me.
But what she normally does is she'll read my body
language on my lips and she knows what I'm talking about.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
But going away from me. She couldn't see that.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
So we had we had a couple of times where
I was calling out something and she got to the
point where she just said, you know, forget it.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
I'm gonna call whatever play.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I need to call, because we needed to stay within
and rhythm. And but it was It's definitely a challenge,
but you know, it's definitely a good experience as long
as you have to do it. You know too much,
But you know, I think the kids really did perform
well from it.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Georgia, it was so fun to watch this team against
Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. Obviously you were playing well and winning,
but this team has a lot of fun on the court.
We see you smiling a lot. Where does that joy
that you play with, where does it come from?
Speaker 6 (04:29):
Well, you know, a lot of the energy created it
obviously helps in games. And I wouldn't say that any
of mine really is forced because it is fun. It's
fun to play with a Tiani Key who just does
some incredible athletic maneuvers. It's fun to play with the
Deja Lawrence who's just absolutely dead eye from wherever she
wants to shoot it from. You know, And I think
it was fun against the Mississippi State game, but then
(04:50):
women played Vandy that first quarter. The energy that we
bought that let us put them away early. And I think,
as I said, it's natural and it brings a different
flair and encourag Brooks always says that you know, energy,
effort and attitude of eight points a game, and I
think it was the thirty points in the first quarter
that we scored.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Really, let's flip it over to you, coach. Obviously you're
busy in the game. You're trying to make sure your
team is doing what they need to do. But how
fun how much fun do you have watching them when
they're out there on the court.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
It's a thing of beauty, you know, you watch them
and you know, watching all their hard work come to fruition.
Just because it was a new team we put together,
you know, a brand new team and they were trying
to get to learn each other. We didn't do very
much during the summer as far as chemistry was concerned.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
We obviously wanted to.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Make sure we kept them healthy as we could, and
then we started putting it together. And it's a testament
to Georgia and her leadership qualities. It's a testament to
all the other players willing to come in here and
sacrifice a little bit of themselves to go out there
and play. They go out and they celebrate each other's successes,
(05:54):
and it's very it's done organically, it's not forced. That's
why you see smiles on our faces so many times
across the country. Sometimes you see a lot of frowns
on kids' faces. And our kids really enjoy playing the
game of basketball. They enjoy being with each other, and
they enjoy doing it here at the University of Kentucky.
So those are all elements that you have to have
in order for you to have a great chemistry with
(06:16):
a basketball group. And as Georgia mentioned, you know, we
really stress energy, effort, natitude. You know, those are things
that you can always can control no matter what, and
always it can help you it get off to a
good start, it can help you when things go bad
for you, and it can help you, you know, put
away teams.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
And that was on full display on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Let's take a quick time out.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
We'll continue with the bluegrass here in clinic Kenny Brooks
Show in just a moment here on the UK Sports Network.
Happy to have you with us tonight here on the
Kenny Brooks Show, as the Wildcats get set to take
on the Florida Gators down in Gainesville and coach against
Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. We got to see a couple
of possessions where you utilized both of the Clara's Clara
Strack and Clara Silva. How has it been trying to
(06:57):
utilize six foot five and six foot seven together on
the floor.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Look at you being a pro and differentiating between Clara
and Clara that that's really good. H Now you've gotta
get you gotta get your you gotta role.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
You are on clouda.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Okay, all right, no, Tennessee, all right, Uh, you know,
you know what, it's something that I'm.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Excited to explore.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And obviously during the non conference schedule it's a little
bit different because you know, you played non conference, played
the Western Kentucky's or the Belmonts uh and they usually
have like five guards out there, so it's really hard
to get uh Silva in and those situations. But this
is what we brought her in here for for games
like this, for the SEC where you're gonna have more
traditional post players and uh, then you look at Clara Strack.
(07:42):
I just finished doing, you know, some media, and I've
said Clara Strack is if there's another, if there's a
better passing post player, I want to see them, you know,
because I just watched film with her and watching her
make a play before it actually happens. She sees plays
before they developed, and that allows us to play her
in different positions if we need be. We could put
(08:04):
her at the three if we needed to, because she
can handle the basketball, She understands the game. She makes
plays in a way that a center usually doesn't make them,
and so that allows.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Us to be able to play those two together.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
And as we play against teams that have traditional bigs,
we can do that and I think that we can
use that to our advantage because you know, they have
to be one of the best tandems that doing the
high low action and we can get opportunities from that.
So excited, you know, happy for our Silver to be
able to be in this position where she can contribute more.
But Clara Strack's versatility allows us to do that.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I want to go back to Georgia Amore, who's also
on the show with us this week, and speaking of
the bigs and their versatility Vanderbilt. They love to press,
they love to get up and try to steal the ball.
So what was it like for you to see a
couple of possessions where tianni Key just brought it up
broke their press. I think she did it twice and
just scored coast to coast.
Speaker 6 (08:54):
Yeah, I mean she took the physicality that they were
giving her. I think, you know, I'm not a referee,
but I think a lot of the times when she
was bringing it up there was a little bit of contact, but.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
She did a great job playing through it.
Speaker 6 (09:05):
And there was one possession actually where I turned around
and said a little bit of an opscreen as a
return the favorite type type of gesture, and she had
a layup from that. So you know, we know that
Tea can do that. And as I said before, like
her athletic maneuvers and everything is just on full display
right now.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
And not only on top of that, she hit two threes.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
Like her growth and her range has expanded, and she's
so valuable to us because if you want to take
me out of the bringing the ball up, if you
want to take Dasia out like, we still have options,
whether it be Tea or, as Coach Brooks mentioned, or
Clara has the ability to do that. So I think,
you know, we're growing together and expanding all of our
games truly to just be really really hard to scout
(09:46):
for because we always have options in our back pocket.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Coach, I've been wanting to talk to you about the
fact that you have recruited some international stars on this team,
and today it may actually be a great time to
do it on this episode because you have one from
Australia sitting beside US Georgia with a couple of players.
They're young, like Clara Silva, freshmen coming from Portugal. Has
she kind of talked to you at all about what
it's like here since you were coming from Australia having
(10:13):
to adjust to America, being a long way from home
sort of on your own. Have you talked to her
any at all about the kind of adjustments over here.
Speaker 6 (10:20):
Early on she would kind of, you know, reach out
and give little nuggets here and there. But you know,
as just like our older sister figured, I kind of
had to seek it out from her. You know, I
was exactly the same as her when I came here.
I didn't want to be a burden on anybody, and
I didn't want to make it seem like I was complaining.
And Clarda is still trying to figure her way through it.
You know, it as difficult because not only as English
(10:42):
as second language, but it's just you going to school.
Everyone around you is just operating at a different like
everything is different culture, food, everything, So it's obviously going
to take some time to adjust, but we keep encouraging
her to just be more open and come out of
her shell. You know, it's not easy to do that,
especially if you are just naturally reserved anyways, but it's
(11:03):
something that is so important as a new international player
to do from the beginning. The more you kind of
become vulnerable and you know, make new friends and maybe
it's outside of the team, the more you get kind
of immersed in the culture, the easier it is to
just understand a bit more. And she's still figuring in
her way through that, but you know, we see growth
in little bits. You know, she comes into the training
(11:25):
room now when she's a little bit more louder and
a little bit more vocal. We'll get it to the
point where it's more natural. But bit by bit she's
you know, taking that challenge on.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
I imagine for you probably the hardest part was just
learning some of the lingo or the slang terms that
we use over here.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Right.
Speaker 6 (11:41):
Yeah, I mean for the longest time, I still call
the lane the key, and every time I say that,
Coachbrook still gets messed up.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Even the basketball rules.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
Yeah, different lingo for sure, But I think if you
just have a basketball mind, you can kind of get
the drift of it, which Clarda does that she's so
good at just picking up little bits of information interpreting it. Yeah,
it goes a long way shows how really smart she is.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
What's it like for you and your staff to try
to make sure that these young ladies are comfortable and
where they need to be when they come over here.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Well, you know, for us now, we're kind of experienced
with it, and obviously Georgie's experience helps out a lot.
We know that George is going to you know, take her,
take them under her wing and talk to them a
little bit about the transition not only to college athletics,
but to our staff in particular.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
And you know that's something that you need.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
And sometimes I can I can go back because people
look at me and Georgia our relationship and what it
is now and her position what she is now, and
they think that that she came over here and it
was like that, you know, but she has to let
them know that she was a freshman one time too
and going through all the adjustments.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
We talk about it.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I think their eyebrows raised a little bit when I
say that, Yeah, Georgia got yelled at a lot when
she was a freshman, you know, and a sophomore. You know,
it isn't always this, but she learned from it. But
it's just, you know, really the things inside and outside.
Cloud of silver. This is the second snow that she's
ever seen. This is the heaviest snow that she's ever seen.
And one of the things we forgot to teach her
(13:07):
was how.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
To walk on the snow.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
So I think she had a little bit an accident
earlier today. We told her, Hey, when you slip and
you fall, just take the l and just go tuck
and roll and don't put any of your limbs out there.
And so that was a lesson that she learned today.
But you know, every day is a learning experience. They're
going to learn something and it's a lot of fun.
Watching them learn from each other and it happens so organically.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Sort of like learning how to take a charge, learning
how to fall right.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Let's take our final time out.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
We got one more segment here on the Kenny Brooks
Show presented by Bluegrass Here in Clinic. As you listened
to the UK Sports Network final segment of this week's
Bluegrass Hearing Clinic Kenny Brooks Showdarreon Hendrick joined by Georgia Amore,
the SEC Player of the Week and Ann Myers Drysdale
National Player of the Week. Coach Brooks also alongside, and
we did get a couple of questions on social media.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I'll throw one after to you.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
The first one is from Brian and he just wondered
how you prepare for games on the road versus at home.
If there's any unique traditions that you or the team
have when you go on the road.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
There are.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
We like to go down the day before and we
like to go into the opponent's arena and we want
to go in and we don't do anything. We just
we just let them go out and you know, just
get a feel for it.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
You'll see Georgia.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Dribbling around the floor finding the dead spots in the floor,
you know, they but they just really get to look
at it and get to shoot.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
We let them play games.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
You may have seen them playing a game the other
day and I think Clara Strack beat our assistant coach
Sierra Gregory in a shooting contest, and uh, but you
just really get a feel for it. And we kind
of we kind of allude to it as going in
as an Airbnb or verbo. You know, we want we
want to go in and we want to rent the
place for you know, for forty eight hours. But that
that's it, just trying to make them familiar as much
(14:53):
as possible. Then we'll go to the hotel, we'll have it,
we'll have you know, dinner, we'll watch film that night.
We do do a shoot around early in the morning,
and you know, like Georgia came and she gave me
a big hug and she said, yeah, we haven't done
this in a while. You know, we had a seven
thirty shoot around for two o'clock game. But we want
to get them up and move and get the blood
going and then you know, come out and be as
(15:15):
comfortable as possible.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I was going to ask Georgia about shooting rounds because
it feels very relaxed, but at the same time, you
guys are getting work done scouting and you're getting ready
to go.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (15:25):
I mean, it's the confidence that you prepare with is
what you're going to go into the game with. So
I think a lot of the times, you know, it's
it's good to get a feel shooting wise and whatnot,
but we know the main reason to be there is
to go over their plays and find tune some of
our stuff. And as we continue with SEC plays, I
think what makes us and Coachbrooks brilliant is the tweaks
we make to our plays. People think that they may
(15:46):
scout this play and we run it really well, but
in our back pocket we have different looks and I
think that that's what makes us really good as a team,
and that's what we do in those shoot arounds. Just
like a gentle reminder, we're watching film the other day
and against Mississippi State, there was some miscommunication on one
of the plays we play we ran, and as a
gentle reminder, I kind of told the girls, we didn't
(16:08):
go through that play and shoot around, so why would
we do it in the game. Like everything that we
have has a rhyme or a reason, and that's our stuff.
It's extremely consistent and once you get in that routine,
you know what you're going to get. So those shoot
arounds are just a kind of like a game day
reminder of hey, this is what to expect. Nothing that
we play in the game is unexpected in terms of
(16:28):
out and the stuff.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
We also got a question on social media this week
asking about minutes. You've got four starters that are averaging
over thirty one minutes, So how do you try to
maintain the wear and tear as you go through two
sec games a week and make sure everybody's fresh.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
And ready to go?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
You know, I went, I got down, I went down
a rabbit hole last night and I just started looking
at everybody's minutes, you know, whether it was the teams
and the it was really pretty much you know, top
teams in the country, and our situation pretty much mirrors
like when Notre Dame is going on. Yeah, we do
have four kids who are in the top ten in
the conference in minutes, so do they and uh, it's
(17:05):
just a situation that we are very very careful and
conscious of. Uh So in practice, you know, we don't
we don't have out there scrimmaging a whole lot.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
You know, we fine tune some things.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
We really challenge them mentally during the during the week,
and then prepare them for you know, battles that are
going to be happening on Thursdays and Sundays, like for instance.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
You know, you know, if it's.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
A Tuesday after a Sunday battle, then you know, Georgia
is probably going to go out there and just shoot.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
You know, she's not going to get into it.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Then we'll get our bench an opportunity to step up
and show that they can be in rotation. It's claristract
the same way, and so I know what the minutes
are and we've unfortunately, we've had to deal with this
the last three years, uh and those are the three
of the most successful years I've ever had as a coach.
So we're well equipped to understand what they need to do,
how they need to do it. We treat them like
(17:55):
pros right now, and you know, taking care of their bodies,
making sure, yeah they're going to battle on Sundays and Thursdays,
but the rest of the week is just really fine tuning,
making sure they stay in shape. But also you know,
being careful with their bodies.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
We've got just about a minute left in the show. Georgia,
the last question I had for you. I thought we'd
have some fun because you are an inspiration a lot
of young ladies across the country.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
They look up to you.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I feel like every game I see you signing something
for young girls or they have a sign supporting you.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
But who is an inspiration for you?
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Was there a player that you kind of looked up
to or wanted to emulate who's kind of an inspiration
for you?
Speaker 6 (18:34):
I think growing up in Australia, it would be silly
not to say someone like Lauren Jackson. You know, she's
a legend. She came over here, made of mark and
she's as well known over here as she is over
at home.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
So from a distance it was LJ.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
And I played with her this summer when I went
to China with the Odpool's Olympic trial squad, which is great.
But you know, in a more one on one perspective,
I would say Kelsey Plum's been really good for me.
She's someone that I have her number, can text her
whenever and she replies to me whenever.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
And you've been to her camp.
Speaker 6 (19:03):
I have been to her camps, but she's just real.
She's never on a superstar status or a level where
she's impossible to reach.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
She's very real, she's very genuine.
Speaker 6 (19:12):
She helped me actually earlier this year in terms of
the stuff that she does off the court and her
strength preparation and you know what she does on a.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Day to day, week week basis.
Speaker 6 (19:23):
So she's always a great contact to have and I'm
grateful that she's made herself vulnerable to I'm sure not
only me, I'm sure there's other girls that went to
her camp, but that just shows how much of a
humble superstar she is.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
I think that's a great note to end on Coach.
This was a fun episode. We'll have to do it
again before the year's over.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Yeah, it should be called the Georgia Amore Show. We
had to change the name for one week.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
All right, guys, thank you so much for joining us
at Georgia Coach.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
We'll see you in Gainesville against the Gators.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
This has been the Bluegrass here in clinic Kenny Brooks
Show in the UK Sports Network
Happy Wednesday, everyone, and welcome into another edition of the
Bluegrass Here in Clinic Kenny Brooks Show. I'm Darren Hedrick.
Coming up soon, Head coach Kenny Brooks will join us
and we've got a special guest, so stay tuned over
the next half hour. The Wildcats are number fifteen in
the latest AP poll. They're off to a thirteen and
one start on the year and two and oh in
(00:20):
SEC play. After picking up big wins over Mississippi State
and Vanderbilt this past week, the Wildcats are on the
road Tomorrow night. They'll take on the Florida Gators at
five o'clock down in Gainesville. Our airtime is four forty five,
and the Wildcats will be back home on Sunday to
host the Auburn Tigers inside Historic Memorial Colisem. That game
(00:40):
and broadcast will be presented by Great Clips. So join
us Sunday when the Cats host the Auburn Tigers. Coming up,
Head Coach Kenny Brooks will sit down to talk with
us about the win over Vanderbilt and the two and
oh start to league play, and we'll visit with our
special guest that's coming up here on the Bluegrass Hearing
Clinic Kenny Brooks Show.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
This is the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Cats are getting set to take on the Florida Gators
down in Gainesville tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Night at five o'clock.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
As we welcome you back into the Kenny Brooks Show,
presented by Bluegrass.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Here in clinic and coach.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Great to be alongside you this week. We also have
a special guest with us. She's the SEC Player of
the Week and the Ann Myers Drysdale National Player of
the Week. Georgia Amore. What a fantastic week she's had
and of course Kentucky off to a two and oh
start in league play.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Is this a time where I ask her for an
autograph because she's so special?
Speaker 4 (01:30):
No, it was a really good week for us.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
She played exceptionally well, very well, deserving of those honors,
but the kids just really stepped up and played great.
You know, she'll admit it. It wasn't just her, you know,
her teammates did a fantastic job. So looking forward to
talking about it and also about well Elizahead.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Georgia, You've obviously earned a lot of accolades over your career.
What does it mean to get your first SEC Player
of the Week on her.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Pretty cool for the pretty for the first week.
Speaker 6 (01:56):
I mean obviously coming into a new conference and not
really knowing what to expect. It's I mean, I said
a post game, every single game that we play is
the expectations that we just go out and give it
our own play great, and that's what we've been doing.
Hopefully we can keep carrying that out. But you know,
it's a pretty big honor for the first week of
SEC play to be.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
But what did that Well, you've played SEC teams before.
You and I were talking about that, But how fun
was it to play new teams and experience a new
environment like you saw in Nashville.
Speaker 6 (02:24):
Well, I'll tell you what. Vanderbilt's court is very, very interesting.
I've experienced nothing like that before in my life. But
in terms of the style of play, as you said,
we've we've played against them before, but in terms of
SEC teams, but it's been it's been challenging, and it's
been exciting because I've never been more like mentally stimulated
before all my life.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
You know, it's different.
Speaker 6 (02:43):
They do talk about different conferences presenting different challenges, and
the SEC is known for different types of things, So
it's been interesting to scout, play against, and reflect on
and prepare for the next So it's been a really
really fun challenge coach.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Your stepf does such a great job scouting, and they're
also so in aged in games. What was the adjustment
like from a communications standpoint being on the opposite end
of the floor, especially in the first half.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, I felt like I was out on an island. Normally,
I set, you know, and I'm within the ear shout
of the group and they can talk about adjustments. But
in order for me to be present and be engaged
with the with the girls on the court, I had
to really be out further, which was difficult because I
do rely on the bench a lot for just adjustments
(03:29):
and whatnot. But it was it was challenging too because
Georgia and I we speak the same language.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
We can kind of look at each other.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
And as she was walking going in the first especially
in the first half, going away from me, it was
really hard to hear. They had a good crowd eighty
five hundred people there. It was hard to hear me.
But what she normally does is she'll read my body
language on my lips and she knows what I'm talking about.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
But going away from me. She couldn't see that.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
So we had we had a couple of times where
I was calling out something and she got to the
point where she just said, you know, forget it.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
I'm gonna call whatever play.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I need to call, because we needed to stay within
and rhythm. And but it was It's definitely a challenge,
but you know, it's definitely a good experience as long
as you have to do it. You know too much,
But you know, I think the kids really did perform
well from it.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Georgia, it was so fun to watch this team against
Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. Obviously you were playing well and winning,
but this team has a lot of fun on the court.
We see you smiling a lot. Where does that joy
that you play with, where does it come from?
Speaker 6 (04:29):
Well, you know, a lot of the energy created it
obviously helps in games. And I wouldn't say that any
of mine really is forced because it is fun. It's
fun to play with a Tiani Key who just does
some incredible athletic maneuvers. It's fun to play with the
Deja Lawrence who's just absolutely dead eye from wherever she
wants to shoot it from. You know, And I think
it was fun against the Mississippi State game, but then
(04:50):
women played Vandy that first quarter. The energy that we
bought that let us put them away early. And I think,
as I said, it's natural and it brings a different
flair and encourag Brooks always says that you know, energy,
effort and attitude of eight points a game, and I
think it was the thirty points in the first quarter
that we scored.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Really, let's flip it over to you, coach. Obviously you're
busy in the game. You're trying to make sure your
team is doing what they need to do. But how
fun how much fun do you have watching them when
they're out there on the court.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
It's a thing of beauty, you know, you watch them
and you know, watching all their hard work come to fruition.
Just because it was a new team we put together,
you know, a brand new team and they were trying
to get to learn each other. We didn't do very
much during the summer as far as chemistry was concerned.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
We obviously wanted to.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Make sure we kept them healthy as we could, and
then we started putting it together. And it's a testament
to Georgia and her leadership qualities. It's a testament to
all the other players willing to come in here and
sacrifice a little bit of themselves to go out there
and play. They go out and they celebrate each other's successes,
(05:54):
and it's very it's done organically, it's not forced. That's
why you see smiles on our faces so many times
across the country. Sometimes you see a lot of frowns
on kids' faces. And our kids really enjoy playing the
game of basketball. They enjoy being with each other, and
they enjoy doing it here at the University of Kentucky.
So those are all elements that you have to have
in order for you to have a great chemistry with
(06:16):
a basketball group. And as Georgia mentioned, you know, we
really stress energy, effort, natitude. You know, those are things
that you can always can control no matter what, and
always it can help you it get off to a
good start, it can help you when things go bad
for you, and it can help you, you know, put
away teams.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
And that was on full display on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Let's take a quick time out.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
We'll continue with the bluegrass here in clinic Kenny Brooks
Show in just a moment here on the UK Sports Network.
Happy to have you with us tonight here on the
Kenny Brooks Show, as the Wildcats get set to take
on the Florida Gators down in Gainesville and coach against
Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. We got to see a couple
of possessions where you utilized both of the Clara's Clara
Strack and Clara Silva. How has it been trying to
(06:57):
utilize six foot five and six foot seven together on
the floor.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Look at you being a pro and differentiating between Clara
and Clara that that's really good. H Now you've gotta
get you gotta get your you gotta role.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
You are on clouda.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Okay, all right, no, Tennessee, all right, Uh, you know,
you know what, it's something that I'm.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Excited to explore.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And obviously during the non conference schedule it's a little
bit different because you know, you played non conference, played
the Western Kentucky's or the Belmonts uh and they usually
have like five guards out there, so it's really hard
to get uh Silva in and those situations. But this
is what we brought her in here for for games
like this, for the SEC where you're gonna have more
traditional post players and uh, then you look at Clara Strack.
(07:42):
I just finished doing, you know, some media, and I've
said Clara Strack is if there's another, if there's a
better passing post player, I want to see them, you know,
because I just watched film with her and watching her
make a play before it actually happens. She sees plays
before they developed, and that allows us to play her
in different positions if we need be. We could put
(08:04):
her at the three if we needed to, because she
can handle the basketball, She understands the game. She makes
plays in a way that a center usually doesn't make them,
and so that allows.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Us to be able to play those two together.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
And as we play against teams that have traditional bigs,
we can do that and I think that we can
use that to our advantage because you know, they have
to be one of the best tandems that doing the
high low action and we can get opportunities from that.
So excited, you know, happy for our Silver to be
able to be in this position where she can contribute more.
But Clara Strack's versatility allows us to do that.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I want to go back to Georgia Amore, who's also
on the show with us this week, and speaking of
the bigs and their versatility Vanderbilt. They love to press,
they love to get up and try to steal the ball.
So what was it like for you to see a
couple of possessions where tianni Key just brought it up
broke their press. I think she did it twice and
just scored coast to coast.
Speaker 6 (08:54):
Yeah, I mean she took the physicality that they were
giving her. I think, you know, I'm not a referee,
but I think a lot of the times when she
was bringing it up there was a little bit of contact, but.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
She did a great job playing through it.
Speaker 6 (09:05):
And there was one possession actually where I turned around
and said a little bit of an opscreen as a
return the favorite type type of gesture, and she had
a layup from that. So you know, we know that
Tea can do that. And as I said before, like
her athletic maneuvers and everything is just on full display
right now.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
And not only on top of that, she hit two threes.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
Like her growth and her range has expanded, and she's
so valuable to us because if you want to take
me out of the bringing the ball up, if you
want to take Dasia out like, we still have options,
whether it be Tea or, as Coach Brooks mentioned, or
Clara has the ability to do that. So I think,
you know, we're growing together and expanding all of our
games truly to just be really really hard to scout
(09:46):
for because we always have options in our back pocket.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Coach, I've been wanting to talk to you about the
fact that you have recruited some international stars on this team,
and today it may actually be a great time to
do it on this episode because you have one from
Australia sitting beside US Georgia with a couple of players.
They're young, like Clara Silva, freshmen coming from Portugal. Has
she kind of talked to you at all about what
it's like here since you were coming from Australia having
(10:13):
to adjust to America, being a long way from home
sort of on your own. Have you talked to her
any at all about the kind of adjustments over here.
Speaker 6 (10:20):
Early on she would kind of, you know, reach out
and give little nuggets here and there. But you know,
as just like our older sister figured, I kind of
had to seek it out from her. You know, I
was exactly the same as her when I came here.
I didn't want to be a burden on anybody, and
I didn't want to make it seem like I was complaining.
And Clarda is still trying to figure her way through it.
You know, it as difficult because not only as English
(10:42):
as second language, but it's just you going to school.
Everyone around you is just operating at a different like
everything is different culture, food, everything, So it's obviously going
to take some time to adjust, but we keep encouraging
her to just be more open and come out of
her shell. You know, it's not easy to do that,
especially if you are just naturally reserved anyways, but it's
(11:03):
something that is so important as a new international player
to do from the beginning. The more you kind of
become vulnerable and you know, make new friends and maybe
it's outside of the team, the more you get kind
of immersed in the culture, the easier it is to
just understand a bit more. And she's still figuring in
her way through that, but you know, we see growth
in little bits. You know, she comes into the training
(11:25):
room now when she's a little bit more louder and
a little bit more vocal. We'll get it to the
point where it's more natural. But bit by bit she's
you know, taking that challenge on.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
I imagine for you probably the hardest part was just
learning some of the lingo or the slang terms that
we use over here.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Right.
Speaker 6 (11:41):
Yeah, I mean for the longest time, I still call
the lane the key, and every time I say that,
Coachbrook still gets messed up.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Even the basketball rules.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
Yeah, different lingo for sure, But I think if you
just have a basketball mind, you can kind of get
the drift of it, which Clarda does that she's so
good at just picking up little bits of information interpreting it. Yeah,
it goes a long way shows how really smart she is.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
What's it like for you and your staff to try
to make sure that these young ladies are comfortable and
where they need to be when they come over here.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Well, you know, for us now, we're kind of experienced
with it, and obviously Georgie's experience helps out a lot.
We know that George is going to you know, take her,
take them under her wing and talk to them a
little bit about the transition not only to college athletics,
but to our staff in particular.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
And you know that's something that you need.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
And sometimes I can I can go back because people
look at me and Georgia our relationship and what it
is now and her position what she is now, and
they think that that she came over here and it
was like that, you know, but she has to let
them know that she was a freshman one time too
and going through all the adjustments.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
We talk about it.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I think their eyebrows raised a little bit when I
say that, Yeah, Georgia got yelled at a lot when
she was a freshman, you know, and a sophomore. You know,
it isn't always this, but she learned from it. But
it's just, you know, really the things inside and outside.
Cloud of silver. This is the second snow that she's
ever seen. This is the heaviest snow that she's ever seen.
And one of the things we forgot to teach her
(13:07):
was how.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
To walk on the snow.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
So I think she had a little bit an accident
earlier today. We told her, Hey, when you slip and
you fall, just take the l and just go tuck
and roll and don't put any of your limbs out there.
And so that was a lesson that she learned today.
But you know, every day is a learning experience. They're
going to learn something and it's a lot of fun.
Watching them learn from each other and it happens so organically.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Sort of like learning how to take a charge, learning
how to fall right.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Let's take our final time out.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
We got one more segment here on the Kenny Brooks
Show presented by Bluegrass Here in Clinic. As you listened
to the UK Sports Network final segment of this week's
Bluegrass Hearing Clinic Kenny Brooks Showdarreon Hendrick joined by Georgia Amore,
the SEC Player of the Week and Ann Myers Drysdale
National Player of the Week. Coach Brooks also alongside, and
we did get a couple of questions on social media.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I'll throw one after to you.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
The first one is from Brian and he just wondered
how you prepare for games on the road versus at home.
If there's any unique traditions that you or the team
have when you go on the road.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
There are.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
We like to go down the day before and we
like to go into the opponent's arena and we want
to go in and we don't do anything. We just
we just let them go out and you know, just
get a feel for it.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
You'll see Georgia.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Dribbling around the floor finding the dead spots in the floor,
you know, they but they just really get to look
at it and get to shoot.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
We let them play games.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
You may have seen them playing a game the other
day and I think Clara Strack beat our assistant coach
Sierra Gregory in a shooting contest, and uh, but you
just really get a feel for it. And we kind
of we kind of allude to it as going in
as an Airbnb or verbo. You know, we want we
want to go in and we want to rent the
place for you know, for forty eight hours. But that
that's it, just trying to make them familiar as much
(14:53):
as possible. Then we'll go to the hotel, we'll have it,
we'll have you know, dinner, we'll watch film that night.
We do do a shoot around early in the morning,
and you know, like Georgia came and she gave me
a big hug and she said, yeah, we haven't done
this in a while. You know, we had a seven
thirty shoot around for two o'clock game. But we want
to get them up and move and get the blood
going and then you know, come out and be as
(15:15):
comfortable as possible.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I was going to ask Georgia about shooting rounds because
it feels very relaxed, but at the same time, you
guys are getting work done scouting and you're getting ready
to go.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (15:25):
I mean, it's the confidence that you prepare with is
what you're going to go into the game with. So
I think a lot of the times, you know, it's
it's good to get a feel shooting wise and whatnot,
but we know the main reason to be there is
to go over their plays and find tune some of
our stuff. And as we continue with SEC plays, I
think what makes us and Coachbrooks brilliant is the tweaks
we make to our plays. People think that they may
(15:46):
scout this play and we run it really well, but
in our back pocket we have different looks and I
think that that's what makes us really good as a team,
and that's what we do in those shoot arounds. Just
like a gentle reminder, we're watching film the other day
and against Mississippi State, there was some miscommunication on one
of the plays we play we ran, and as a
gentle reminder, I kind of told the girls, we didn't
(16:08):
go through that play and shoot around, so why would
we do it in the game. Like everything that we
have has a rhyme or a reason, and that's our stuff.
It's extremely consistent and once you get in that routine,
you know what you're going to get. So those shoot
arounds are just a kind of like a game day
reminder of hey, this is what to expect. Nothing that
we play in the game is unexpected in terms of
(16:28):
out and the stuff.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
We also got a question on social media this week
asking about minutes. You've got four starters that are averaging
over thirty one minutes, So how do you try to
maintain the wear and tear as you go through two
sec games a week and make sure everybody's fresh.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
And ready to go?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
You know, I went, I got down, I went down
a rabbit hole last night and I just started looking
at everybody's minutes, you know, whether it was the teams
and the it was really pretty much you know, top
teams in the country, and our situation pretty much mirrors
like when Notre Dame is going on. Yeah, we do
have four kids who are in the top ten in
the conference in minutes, so do they and uh, it's
(17:05):
just a situation that we are very very careful and
conscious of. Uh So in practice, you know, we don't
we don't have out there scrimmaging a whole lot.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
You know, we fine tune some things.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
We really challenge them mentally during the during the week,
and then prepare them for you know, battles that are
going to be happening on Thursdays and Sundays, like for instance.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
You know, you know, if it's.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
A Tuesday after a Sunday battle, then you know, Georgia
is probably going to go out there and just shoot.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
You know, she's not going to get into it.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Then we'll get our bench an opportunity to step up
and show that they can be in rotation. It's claristract
the same way, and so I know what the minutes
are and we've unfortunately, we've had to deal with this
the last three years, uh and those are the three
of the most successful years I've ever had as a coach.
So we're well equipped to understand what they need to do,
how they need to do it. We treat them like
(17:55):
pros right now, and you know, taking care of their bodies,
making sure, yeah they're going to battle on Sundays and Thursdays,
but the rest of the week is just really fine tuning,
making sure they stay in shape. But also you know,
being careful with their bodies.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
We've got just about a minute left in the show. Georgia,
the last question I had for you. I thought we'd
have some fun because you are an inspiration a lot
of young ladies across the country.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
They look up to you.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I feel like every game I see you signing something
for young girls or they have a sign supporting you.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
But who is an inspiration for you?
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Was there a player that you kind of looked up
to or wanted to emulate who's kind of an inspiration
for you?
Speaker 6 (18:34):
I think growing up in Australia, it would be silly
not to say someone like Lauren Jackson. You know, she's
a legend. She came over here, made of mark and
she's as well known over here as she is over
at home.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
So from a distance it was LJ.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
And I played with her this summer when I went
to China with the Odpool's Olympic trial squad, which is great.
But you know, in a more one on one perspective,
I would say Kelsey Plum's been really good for me.
She's someone that I have her number, can text her
whenever and she replies to me whenever.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
And you've been to her camp.
Speaker 6 (19:03):
I have been to her camps, but she's just real.
She's never on a superstar status or a level where
she's impossible to reach.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
She's very real, she's very genuine.
Speaker 6 (19:12):
She helped me actually earlier this year in terms of
the stuff that she does off the court and her
strength preparation and you know what she does on a.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Day to day, week week basis.
Speaker 6 (19:23):
So she's always a great contact to have and I'm
grateful that she's made herself vulnerable to I'm sure not
only me, I'm sure there's other girls that went to
her camp, but that just shows how much of a
humble superstar she is.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
I think that's a great note to end on Coach.
This was a fun episode. We'll have to do it
again before the year's over.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Yeah, it should be called the Georgia Amore Show. We
had to change the name for one week.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
All right, guys, thank you so much for joining us
at Georgia Coach.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
We'll see you in Gainesville against the Gators.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
This has been the Bluegrass here in clinic Kenny Brooks
Show in the UK Sports Network
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