Kyra Elzy on new-look Kentucky WBB roster: "You don't replace a Rhyne Howard"

Kyra Elzy put it best during the 2022 SEC Women’s Basketball Media Day: “You don’t replace a Rhyne Howard.”

Elzy, about to enter her third season as Kentucky WBB head coach, is ushering the program into a new era, one without Rhyne Howard, who was the most talented and successful player to come through UK in 40 years. Kentucky is notably welcoming 10 new faces heading into the 2022-23 season — four transfers and six rookies.

“Well people keep asking: What do you do without Rhyne Howard? Obviously you don’t replace a Rhyne Howard,” Elzy said during SEC Media Day on Tuesday in Birmingham, AL. “She is a once-in-a-lifetime type of player that we had the honor to coach at Kentucky. But now we do it collectively. I return five core players that understand the standard and expectations at Kentucky, but they’ve also been in the trenches and had to produce in big games.”

As Elzy said, you don’t just replace someone as special as Howard. It’s going to take a collective effort, and that’s exactly what her staff focused on throughout the offseason while out recruiting. It’s going to take more than just one player to replicate all that Howard brought to the team, both on and off the hardwood.

“Our staff, we were very intentional. I was looking for culture players,” Elzy said. “Someone who had high character off the court but also on the court — a winning mentality. I needed some players that were tough, that were coachable, and played with a high motor. I don’t want to figure out if you have a heartbeat. I have too much energy along with my staff. So someone who played with a high motor on both sides of the court, but then someone who was relentless defensively. That was important to me.”

Over the last four years, Kentucky WBB has been connected first and foremost to Rhyne Howard. She finished with over 2,000 points in her college career, earned multiple SEC Player of the Year and First-Team All-American honors, and was recently named the WNBA’s 2022 Rookie of the Year after going No. 1 overall to the Atlanta Dream over the summer.

There was a minor discussion leading into the 2022 WNBA Draft of who should go No. 1 overall, but when Atlanta traded up to snag Howard not long before the day of, there wasn’t much left to talk about. If you asked Elzy, though, you would have known for a while who the top overall pick should be.

“I was so proud of Rhyne and what she has accomplished in the WNBA,” Elzy added. “She took the WNBA by storm but we were not surprised. If you listen to any of my press conferences, I kept saying ‘she will be a better pro than a college athlete’ because they couldn’t load up on her, she could spread the floor and let her do what she does best.

“But she is a 6-2 guard that is strong, that shoots 3s like people shoot free throws, but her basketball IQ is unbelievable. So watching her do what she does best, obviously we are very happy at Kentucky, but it warms my heart as a coach because she put a lot of work in.”

Strong, 6-foot-2 guards who shoot 3s like free-throws with an insanely basketball IQ don’t grow on trees. In fact, they only grow every decade or so. It’ll be impossible for Kentucky to replace Howard’s individual production, but Elzy is preaching a collective effort that will help fill in the gaps.