Kentucky's women's basketball team held a media day and open practice Oct. 27. Here were the three biggest takeaways:
Scoring threats across the board for UK
During practice, UK's guards and forwards split into two groups. On one side of the floor were Clara Strack, Ajša Sivka and Me'Arah O'Neal — the three tallest players on the roster, all 6-foot-5. The three, bunched with the other forwards, hit 17 shots in a row from the short corner.
Once they hit 20 total baskets as a group, they moved to the wing before working their away around the arc and taking the three other spots necessary to complete the exercise. That drill ended pretty quickly.
Kenny Brooks has said repeatedly that this is the best shooting team he's ever had, which is a bold statement for a head coach heading into his 25th season. But after seeing the way that his team could fill it up, there was an understanding of why he said that.
Asia Boone, who hit 96 3-pointers last season, did what everyone expected her to do on the other end of the floor. Freshman Emily McDonald showed off her ability to hit deep shots consistently. That group was doing what they normally do.
The forwards, though, were shooting at such an efficient rate from around the perimeter, it was tough to keep your eyes off them.
"Having multiple shooters is very, very good," Boone told The Courier Journal. "It's a very big advantage, especially when all positions can shoot it. So that's going to be hard for other teams to guard us, and it's going to be deadly if all of us are on fire for one game."
Wildcats have multiple positionless players
A pair of players continued to come up throughout the day anytime versatility was brought up: Sivka and Savvy Swords.
It's not often athletes are described as "unicorns," but Brooks used that term when discussing Sivka. The 6-foot-5 Slovenian player can do it all. She proclaimed she could run the offense, and she wasn't lying. Sivka played point guard throughout her childhood and she just continued to get taller.
Boone's jaw dropped when she watched her teammate workout a few months ago.
"The first time I saw her work out this past summer was with coach Brooks," Boone said. "I was just sitting there, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this girl's nasty,' because she was doing the same drills I was doing, like shooting drills. She sat down, and I started asking her questions. I was like, 'How can you do that?'
The former WNBA draft pick should become a key player for the Wildcats with her ability to shoot, handle the ball and stretch the floor. But she won't be the only player playing multiple positions.
Swords, a 6-foot-2 forward, feels her best when she's playing small or power forward, but her role is quickly expanding.
"She just picks everything up so quickly," Brooks said. "She's played four positions for us this fall, and I jokingly asked her, I said, 'Hey, can you play the point for me?' She said, 'Give me till tomorrow. I'll learn it, and I'll do it for you.' But that's just, you know, the way she is. She offers so much for us."
Between the two positionless players, Kentucky will have a hard time lacking options with how it wants to play with lineups and rotations.
Clara Strack's leadership for Kentucky
The day started with a drill where three players passed the ball and worked their way up the floor to a shot and came back down to do the same. Strack's voice could be heard the entire time.
It's been one of the biggest weaknesses for the All-American center, but she's looking to change that this season. Strack makes consistent trips to Brooks' office where she's learning what to say and how to say it, and it's starting to pay off.
"This year, there's been several times where the coaches have come up to me and they say, "Clara is saying some really good stuff," and she's saying it the right way," Brooks said.
She can feel it, too.
"I learned a lot from Georgia [Amoore] and from Teonni [Key] in the last few years," Strack said. "I think I'm just more confident in myself and what I have to say, and I think I've learned how to deliver it a lot better than in the past. I think I am just more comfortable. It just took time."
Adding another element to her game can only put herself, as well as this team, on another level.
Reach sports trending writer Alaina Morris at amorris@gannett.com and follow her on X at @alainammorris.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 3 takeaways from Kentucky women's basketball media day, open practice