Georgia Amoore with coach Kenny Brooks. (UK Athletics Photo)
Georgia Amoore’s trust in coach Kenny Brooks never wavered but now she can admit transferring to Kentucky to stay with Brooks was the “best decision” for her.
‘I’ll stand by that. I threw myself into a situation, obviously, where it was brand new. I trusted coach Brooks. I’ve always trusted him. He’s literally never steered me wrong,” Amoore said Thursday as UK prepared to host Liberty today in the NCAA Tournament.
“I knew this was a huge responsibility coming here. The way it played out, I got so much better in a lot of aspects of my game, my leadership, my ability to adapt to change. It’s what I needed going forward for whatever my future holds.”
Her future likely includes being a first round WNBA draft pick after another All-American season where she led UK in scoring and assists despite being the target of SEC defenses for the last 10 weeks. However, she will cherish her one season in Lexington.
“I couldn’t be more thankful to be part of a program like this. It was kind of a blessing to have a bunch of new girls because we all had an emphasis on being great now,” Amoore said. “We didn’t want the excuses of being a rebuild program or getting people being like, ‘Oh, that’s okay, they’re new; oh, it’s okay, give them time.’ We wanted to win now.
“Obviously, that’s evident having the season we had. Going forward, coach Brooks is going to do amazing things with this program.”
But what about now? What about this weekend and beyond?
“I like the way the bracket is set up, and obviously I’ve been a part of a team (Final Four) where we were successful and we had a deep run. We played teams that were challenging. We played Ohio State that pressed a lot. We played Tennessee that was hungry to finally get past a Sweet 16, and we beat them,” Amoore said.
“I guess at this point it just — we can go on a deep run depending on our perspective and our energy towards it. This part of the year, March, it’s the teams that want it bad and it’s the teams that are starving that get the chance to keep on playing.”
Amoore said Brooks’ message is the same as it has been all year,
“Why change now? Obviously we know the importance of playing great. I guess the message he said yesterday was the biggest message, was a good day can send you home. We have to be great. That’s pretty much all I got from it because I think we’ve been consistent all year round,”
“He’s not one to — I don’t know, I don’t want to say freak us out, but kind of when you start focusing so much on one thing, it could take you out of rhythm. But he’s just been so consistent all year round, and that’s what he’s been these past couple of weeks. I guess the message is you have to stack the great days.”
