Georgia Amoore and Kenny Brooks have a special bond, one that could only be created through basketball.
Growing up in Australia, Amoore was lightly recruited out of high school as a possible college basketball player. Virginia Tech, coached by Kenny Brooks at the time, was one of the few Divison I programs to express serious interest. Brooks watched the 5-foot-6 point guard dominate the FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup in 2018 and knew then he needed her running his team.
Fast forward nearly six years later and the two remain close. So close that Amoore turned down the possibility of getting drafted into the WNBA, where she was a likely top 10 pick, instead following Brooks to Lexington soon after he accepted the Kentucky women’s basketball head coaching job last week.
Amoore entered her name into the portal on Monday, April 1 and announced her transfer to Kentucky on Thursday, April 4. The news was quickly followed by movement from another one of Brooks’ former Hokies, as 6-foot-5 sophomore Clara Strack also announced that she would also transfer to Kentucky.
Amoore is a two-time All-ACC selection and was tabbed as a Third Team All-American this past season. She averaged 18.8 points and 6.8 assists for the Hokies as a senior in 2023-24. Her name is scattered all throughout the Virginia Tech record books. She’s first in career assists with 656.
It’s not often a program that finished last in the SEC in back-to-back seasons lands an All-American point guard just a couple of weeks into the offseason. But Kentucky made it happen with one (major) coaching change.
The relationship between Amoore and Brooks and the chance to team up together for one last ride was ultimately too much for her to turn down.
“This is my second dad,” Amoore said of Brooks following Virginia Tech’s exit from the NCAA Tournament on March 24. “Seriously, basketball, all that, but off court. I am fearful that we are the same person. I’m a 23-year-old woman, and I think I act a little too much like him. That’s my second dad. That’s my American dad.
“We’ve been through some tough times. We’ve been through some great times. It’s a relationship that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.I know that I always have him, and I love him to death.”
While the Big Blue Nation might like to say that Amoore transferred to Kentucky because she loves the program, it’s okay to acknowledge that she’s only in Lexington because of Brooks. Because of her loyalty to his coaching and guidance. Brooks took a chance on an undersized point guard from the other side of the world and helped develop her into a future professional basketball player.
That relationship should bode well for Brooks’ first season at Kentucky. He already has a floor general he can fully trust.
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