Kenny Brooks wants 'the foundation to be from the high school level', even in transfer portal era

The transfer portal is a really amazing tool now at the disposal to college coaches like Kenny Brooks.

Far too often do we see highly-rated high school recruits sort of fizzle out at the collegiate level, and it’s nice for a coach to see an all-conference star enter the portal and go, “Oh, well why don’t we just bring her in?”

Of course, that’s all fine and dandy, but at the end of the day, it’s important that Brooks doesn’t just completely abandon high school recruiting. Luckily, Brooks knows that.

When I sat down with Brooks on Episode 39 of The Memorial Memo, I asked him about the long-term plan for the center position. With Clara Strack being a junior, not retaining Clara Silva and not knowing what all Elsa Vadfors can give you, it’s something to keep in mind.

While Brooks plans on going to the transfer portal for key pieces, he doesn’t want to totally rely on it.

“The center position is at a premium right now,” Brooks told KSR. “Obviously, with the way college basketball is evolving, it becomes difficult to get that prized center out of high school. Maybe you can kind of go into the portal and there’s somebody who’s had some experience, and then you can build off of that experience and you can grow from it.”

“We still want the foundation to be from the high school level so that we can pour energy and effort into it, and we want to see the light bulb come on.” he added. “You look at a player like Clara Strack, she came in and she was supposed to sit and All-American for a year, but probably mid-way through her freshman year, we saw the light bulb come on, and it’s shining brightly right now, and we’re able to mold it like we really want to.”

Of course, if there’s someone that Brooks and the staff just absolutely love waiting for them in the portal, they’ll pursue them. However, if it’s a decision between a five-star center or a well-established transfer big, don’t be surprised when Kentucky decides to go after the former.

“So, that will always be the way to go, but obviously, you can’t ignore the fact that the portal is there,” Brooks explained. “You can get some very talented players, but for us, if we have our preference, we’re going to try to build from the high school ranks, get players there, then we’ll supplement with the portal to make sure that we’re getting the pieces that we need.”

This year’s Kentucky roster consists of five players that Brooks brought in out of high school — Kaelyn Carroll, Elsa Vadfors, Clara Strack, Lexi Blue and Gabby Brooks. If you want to throw in Amelia Hassett, who he got from the JUCO ranks, then it’s six. He’s already got three highly-coveted freshmen in Maddyn Greenway, Savvy Swords and Emily McDonald committed in the 2026 class as well.

That is certainly a solid foundation to build off of for the next several years.

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