This is part of a 32-part series previewing the 2024-25 Southeastern Conference Basketball season. Each of the 16 men’s and 16 women’s teams in the SEC are previewed.
November 01, 2024Kevin Scarbinsky
This is part of a 32-part series previewing the 2024-25 Southeastern Conference Basketball season. Each of the 16 men’s and 16 women’s teams in the SEC are previewed from SEC Media Days by blogger Kevin Scarbinsky.
Kentucky rebuilds with something old, new, borrowed and blue
Georgia Amoore and Dazia Lawrence admit it. They’re not crazy about the word “old” as it’s applied to them by new Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks. As in, Brooks said the graduate transfer Amoore and the redshirt senior Lawrence “have to be the oldest backcourt in the country.”
Brooks meant it as a compliment because he sees the two veterans serving as “our calm within the storm.”
“It depends on how it’s delivered,” Lawrence said. “When you say the most veteran backcourt, I’ll take that. When you say the oldest, it’s like, ‘How long these girls been in college?’ ”
Long enough for Lawrence to score 1,170 points in four seasons at Charlotte, with most of that production in the last two years. Long enough for Amoore to play for Brooks for four years at Virginia Tech, help the Hokies reach the 2023 Final Four and win the 2024 ACC regular-season title and follow him to Kentucky for his first season there and her final college campaign.
“It helps when your quarterback follows you,” Brooks said of Amoore, who was fifth in the ACC in scoring last season and fourth in the nation in assists. “We’ve been joined at the hip for four years.”
Amoore, a native of Australia, was named a third-team AP All-American after last season. She said it was an easy decision to follow her coach to the Bluegrass for one last season together, which tipped off in earnest with a memorable evening at Big Blue Madness.
“Without a doubt,” she said. “He’s done unbelievable things for me in my development so one more year with him was the cherry on top.”
She laughed when told that Brooks had called her and backcourt mate Lawrence old.
“We are old, but we’re not washed,” Amoore said. “We do have a lot of experience. As a backcourt, you need that experience. I’m lucky because I played in this system. Dazia is so smart, she’s picking it up quick.”
“Both of us are just ready to play with these veteran legs, with this veteran knowledge,” Lawrence said. “We’re just ready to have fun and play.”
