Out of the 13 players on Kenny Brooks’ roster, only two of them have had regular SEC experience: Cassidy Rowe and Saniah Tyler. The pair of juniors have been together for the past three seasons under former head coach Kyra Elzy. While they might stand at an average height of 5-foot-5 and a half, the guards are anything but fearful against their SEC competitors.
The SEC has been a beast of college sports for years. While change is on the horizon, there’s no arguing that the SEC was once a dominant force that drove basketball, men’s and women’s. Ironically, it’s been 12 years since an SEC team has won the Men’s Basketball Championship. That team was, in fact, Kentucky in 2012. On the women’s side, however, there have been three SEC champions in a row: South Carolina (2024), LSU (2023), and South Carolina again (2022). South Carolina won again in 2017, and after that, UConn dominated for a few years.
By a few years, I mean 11. So while UConn is an enigma, and has won 11 championships on its own, the SEC has a combined 12 championships out of 42 total championship games. SEC schools have been to the championship a total of 24 times, making up 57% of the games.
How will Kenny Brooks and Co. perform against the SEC?
That’s not to say that the ACC (Kenny Brooks’ former home) isn’t stacked as well. Louisville, Duke, and North Carolina are all expected to be national title contenders. But, with the expansion of the SEC, and the women’s basketball powerhouses that are South Carolina, LSU, and Tennessee (sometimes), it’s hard to imagine how style of play will differ between Brooks and his SEC opponents. Plus, Texas and Oklahoma are featured in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25, meaning the SEC now has seven solid teams.
Before you get mad at me, I have complete faith in Brooks, Lindsey Hicks, Radville Autukaite, and the rest of the staff. However, I can’t help but wonder how competing with SEC schools on the regular will play out. Thankfully, the NCAA created the SEC/ACC Challenge in women’s basketball, an annual game where, you guessed it, an SEC team and an ACC team play each other.
In the 2023-2024 season, Kentucky played Boston College. Quite underwhelming, though Kentucky just barely came out on top. Virginia Tech, on the other hand, played LSU. So, I decided to take a look at that game. Just to see how Kenny Brooks attempted to take down the No. 7 team in the nation on Nov. 30, 2023.
I should probably start off by saying two things. One, only two of the players on the current Kentucky roster played in that game: Georgia Amoore and Clara Strack. Gabby Brooks was on the Virginia Tech roster at the time, but didn’t play. And two, Virginia Tech lost by 18. The 82-64 loss wasn’t unexpected by any means, given that the Hokies were ranked lower than the Tigers. What was surprising though, is how the game played out.
Virginia Tech held a 20-13 lead over LSU after the first quarter. The two teams shot a combined 7-34 (20.5%) from the three-point line. Honestly, just a really bad showing from both teams. The teams were pretty even in paint points, Virginia Tech scored 30 points, while LSU added 32. The Hokies had 14 turnovers, the Tigers had 13. On paper, the game looks very balanced. That is, until you look at the rebounding.
Virginia Tech grabbed 29 total rebounds. LSU, on the other hand, had 43. From the rebounds come “second chance points,” of which Virginia Tech had eight, and LSU had 17. There, came a nine point differential already contributing half of the 18 point loss.
15 of LSU’s rebounds came from Aneesah Morrow, a 6-foot-1 junior that dominated the 2023-24 season. Elizabeth Kitley led the Hokies in rebounds with 11. Kitley, though, stands at 6-foot-5, and was the tallest player on the court on multiple occasions. Kitley is also insanely talented, so how was she getting beat on the post?
It seems that the Hokies were getting beat because the SEC seems to be the more physical conference. Now, that’s not a factual statement, and its definitely up to the fan to determine which conference is more aggressive. Just by looking at the play-by-play and a highlights compilation on YouTube, it’s pretty easy to tell that LSU was just more physical than Virginia Tech. I mean, you had Angel Reese and Aneesah Morrow dominating the paint. It just looked like it was hard for the Hokies to compete with that.
But, like I said, I have full faith in Kenny Brooks. He completely turned this program around in just a few short months. Plus, the size and talent on this roster is enough to make me feel very confident going into the 2024-25 season against a new SEC. So while there may be only two true SEC players on the team right now, it shouldn’t take long for Kentucky to secure its spot as a newly respected SEC women’s basketball program.
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