A Rebuilding Year
The upcoming 2022-23 season may be a rebuilding year for the women. The star of last year’s team, senior Rhyne Howard, was picked #1 in the WNBA draft, then went on to win Rookie of the Year in the league. She left some big shoes to fill at Kentucky.
Furthermore, the 2022-23 team’s only center, and arguably the best incoming player, 6’ 4” freshman center Tionna Herron from Texas, underwent open-heart surgery in August, as reported by numerous news sources.
The surgery was successful. She still plans to play for UK. Personally, I hope she makes a full recovery and plays before the end of this season, if not at the beginning. But it’s important for her not to rush.
Even without Howard and Herron, my guess (and hope) is that this year’s UK team will finish with a winning record. I think the Cats will do better than the early forecasts I’ve seen.
An early preseason ESPN forecast[1] did not put Kentucky in the top 25. That’s not a big surprise. But, worse, ESPN’s Charlie Crème’s April 21 Women’s Bracketology[2] did not list Kentucky among the teams expected to make the NCAA tournament. He didn’t even put Kentucky “on the bubble.”
Furthermore, both those ESPN forecasts came out before Herron’s surgery. Before the surgery, I expected Kentucky to be in the NCAA tournament, and maybe even make the top 25 at the end of the season.
When the Associated Press and Coaches’ polls come out later, expect Kentucky’s name to be absent from the top 25. But it will be interesting to see if (and how many) votes the Wildcats get. One (or a few) voters may put UK somewhere on their ballots.
The Roster
The UK team’s 2022-23 roster is listed on UKAthletics.com[3] and several other websites.
The roster includes: Tionna Herron, Robyn Benton, Saniah Tyler, Kennedy Cambridge, Eniya Russell, Blair Green, Jada Walker, Ajae Petty, Amiya Jenkins, Nyah Leveretter, Maddie Scherr, Cassidy Rowe, Zennia Thomas, Adebola Adeyee, and Emma King.
As usual, Kentucky is blessed with an abundance of guards.
Guard Blair Green returns from an injury that kept her out last season. If she is fully recovered, she can offer experienced leadership and potentially be the best overall player on the court.
Sophomore guard Jada Walker had an impressive freshman year, including making the All-SEC Freshman team. She will hopefully be even better this season.
Robyn Benton returns and may be improved enough to start regularly.
Transfer guard Maddie Scherr from Oregon will hopefully live up to her outstanding high school career after what were probably two disappointing seasons at Oregon. She may earn a starting spot along with Green, Walker, and Benton in a four-guard starting lineup.
Transfer guard Eniya Russell from South Carolina is probably good enough to earn significant playing time at Kentucky after mainly being on the bench at talent-loaded South Carolina.
Freshmen guards Saniah Tyler, Kennedy Cambridge, Amiya Jenkins, and Cassidy Rowe add depth, as does senior guard Emma King.
The Wildcats’ only true center is 6’4” freshman Tionna Herron. Unfortunately, she may miss the season due to her open-heart surgery. If so, forward Adebola Adeyee coming to UK after four years at Buffalo may be the Cats best inside player and earn a starting position.
Returning forward Nyah Leveretter and transfer forward Ajae Petty from LSU will add depth to the Cats’ inside game. Freshman forward Zennia Thomas may earn significant playing time too.
My Expectations
How many games the team wins may depend on how well they work together as a team and how much effort they put forth individually. Expectations are not high. This may give them incentive to work hard to prove forecasters wrong.
The team playing well together (with Kentucky’s well-known tough defense) can make this a successful season.
The nonconference schedule only includes a few quality teams (as I see it, though I could be wrong), so I hope the Cats get some early wins to build a nice record early in the season. The UK Athletics website[4] (and other sources) list the team’s complete regular season schedule.
The season begins with one exhibition game, a November 2nd game against Pikeville. The highlights of the nonconference season will likely be two games in the Bahamas (against Dayton and Virginia Tech) and the Louisville game. If UK loses those three games and wins the others, it can enter conference play with a 9-3 regular-season record. Some of the other opponents are not weak teams. I think UK will enter conference play with an 8-4 record.
The brutal Southeastern Conference schedule includes two games against an outstanding South Carolina team that will probably repeat as national champions. Several other SEC opponents may make the national top 25 rankings.
Many persons will probably forecast UK to experience a losing overall conference record. I optimistically predict an 8-8 conference record to finish the regular season 16-12.
Closing Thoughts
I’m only a fan. I’m not an expert prognosticator of a team’s success. But I’ve been a UK men's and women's basketball (and UK football) fan for decades. Over the years I’ve even accumulated an assortment of fan-related items, such as those pictured below.
If one or two or three of the newcomers plays better than expected, Kentucky can do well, maybe very well.
If Herron is able to return from her injury at some point (say middle of the season) and plays in top form, I think the Cats will win more games, finish strong, and make the NCAA tournament. But her making a full recovery is more important than rushing to make her available this year, and I’m confident the UK staff agrees.
We fans need to be patient with this year’s team. It may not meet our usual Kentucky expectations. But I’m confident it will be a fun year. Let’s enjoy it and look forward to a significantly better season in 2023-24.
ENDNOTES:
[1] Philippou, Alex and Voepel, Mechelle; “Women’s college basketball Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2022-23”; ESPN; June 14, 2022; webpage accessed September 26, 2022; web https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/34086750/women-college-basketball-way-too-early-top-25-2022-23
[2] Crème, Charlie; “Women’s Bracketology 2023 NCAA Tournament”; ESPN; April 21, 2022, 9 a.m. ET; webpage accessed September 26, 2022; https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/30423107/ncaa-women-bracketology-2023-women-college-basketball-projections
[3] “2022 Women’s Basketball Roster”; UKAthletics.com; webpage accessed September 26, 2022; https://ukathletics.com/sports/wbball/roster/
[4] “UK 2022-23 Women’s Basketball Schedule”; UKAthletics.com; webpage accessed September 26, 2022; https://ukathletics.com/sports/wbball/schedule/
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