Kenny Brooks is a ‘pro’ on Dealing With Lack of Depth

Teonni Key (Vicky Graff Photo)

It’s hard to argue with Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks when he says his starting five is as good as any starting five in the country.

The numbers certainly back him up:

— Point guard Georgia Amoore averages 18.1 points, 7.8 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game. She is shooting 88.7 percent from the foul line and has hit 39 3-pointers.

— Center Clara Strack added 15.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 32 assists and 2.5 blocks per game while shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 74 percent at the foul line.

— Guard Dazia Lawrence leads the team with 43 3-pointers and averages 14.5 points, 2.2 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game. She is a 45 percent shooter from 3, 51 percent shooter overall from the field  and 80 percent shooter at the foul line.

— Forward Teonni Key is averaging 11.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 2.1 assists per game and hitting a team best 57.5 percent from the field.

— Wing Amelia Hassett averages 10.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game and has made 37 3’s. She shoots 81.5 percent at the foul line and 38 percent from 3. She’s also adding 2.2 assists per game.

All five average 28.2 minutes per game or more led by Amoore at 35.4 followed by Hassett 32.3, Lawrence 31.8, Strack 31.5 and Key 28.2.

Recently I asked Brooks if he had to back off anything in practice to make sure he did not over exert his starters.

“Unfortunately I am a pro at this,” he said. “At Virginia Tech we did not have much depth the years we were good. We had to manage it differently. Across the team this year a lot of teams play a short bench.”

Brooks believes UK compares to No. 3 Notre Dame for minutes being played by the starting five.

“We have four kids in the top 10 in minutes in the SEC and Notre Dame has four in the top 10 in the ACC,” the Kentucky coach said. “Our program for the last three years had to have load management. It has worked out well for us.

“Georgia plays a lot of minutes but does not practice a lot. Clara does not practice a lot. They practice enough to keep themselves sharp but we want them fresh in March. We tend to be more like a pro practice rather than a college practice where players are crashing into each other. We are fine tuning (things) but also understand we have to rest.”

Brooks and his staff also obviously do a great job teaching defensive positioning because the Wildcats have not had a player foul out all season even though UK leads the SEC with 118 blocked shots.

“We are not going to be a team that gets out in