What does the Big Blue Nation do over the summer? Well, in addition to speculating about lineups and scouting tickets for the next year’s final four, last year, the Kentucky faithful came together to cheer on LaFamilia.

If you’re unfamiliar with the name, LaFamilia is an alumni basketball team comprised of former Kentucky players, who play against other similar teams from adjacent programs. The competition takes place in “The Basketball Tournament” (TBT), an independent hoops league that has begun to bridge the gap between spring and fall basketball.

Last season, LaFamilia made headlines with a win over Louisville’s alumni team in the tournament; just like any other UK/UL rivalry game, no love was lost. Words were said, players shoved, and one player even spit at another in a particularly heated moment towards the end of the game… and he wasn’t wearing blue.

Anywho, that team, consisting of the likes of Willie Cauley-Stein, Andrew Harrison, Nate Sestina and more, electrified Kentucky fans who had nothing better to do and, despite coming up short of the TBT title, turned all eyes to the next time they’d take the floor.

The first two players confirmed for this year’s LaFamilia unit were Doron Lamb, former sharpshooter and crucial member of the 2012 national championship team and DeAndre Liggins, who was a Wildcat from 2008-11′. The announcement went up today on the LaFamilia X (Twitter).

With the summer season drawing closer, these two Wildcats are likely the first in a string of additional alumni set to join the roster soon. Once a ‘Cat, always a ‘Cat.

After five years in college, most recently transforming the culture at the University of Kentucky, Georgia Amoore is officially in The W. 

Amoore was selected with the No. 6 overall pick by the Washington Mystics, becoming the fifth Wildcat in history to be drafted in the first round of the WNBA draft.

The Australian native is coming off of her most impressive statistical season of her collegiate career, averaging 19.6 points per game and 6.9 assists per game. 

Now, she’ll play alongside guard Brittney Skyes in the backcourt, who averaged 12.2 points per game last season for the Mystics.

Before the draft, Amoore sported a custom made outfit by NBA legend Russell Westbrook, letting her experience her Orange Carpet moment in style.

She was later seen with former Head Coach Kenny Brooks, who coached her all five seasons in college.

When one door closes, another one opens. Finally, Amoore is a professional basketball player.

Although Amoore is 5-foot-6, the shortest player in the year’s class, Big Blue Nation will stand behind the guard and say “you can’t measure heart.”

Amoore brings so much to the table with her shooting and passing ability, but she’s showed time and again that she’s one of the players that truly loves the game of basketball and knows everything about the sport.

Kentucky fans were only able to experience Amoore’s stellar play for one season, but that doesn’t take away from the impact she made. No matter what happens from here on out, Amoore will forever remain a Wildcat in every Kentucky fan’s heart. 

Kenny Brooks and the Wildcats have landed their second transfer of the offseason, this time featuring Liberty guard Asia Boone. 

The 5-foot-8 guard averaged 10.2 points per game last season and shows promise to become a knockdown shooter for the Cats. 

Boone announced via her Instagram that she had committed to the University of Kentucky on the afternoon of April 10.

The soon to be junior didn’t see much of a jump in her averages from her 2023-24 campaign, where she won the CUSA Freshman of the Year award, to this past season, but she’s still a promising talent. 

Brooks, with the addition of Boone, seems to be filling his roster out with shooters and experienced players. The San Diego native has started in every single one of her college games thus far. 

Again, it’ll be interesting to see exactly where she “fits in” on next year’s team. However, one can assume that the starting guards will be Jordan Obi and Dominika Paurová, who both were planned to be big pieces on last year’s team, but ultimately faced sidelining injuries. 

It’s been a focal point in women’s college basketball that you have to have depth on your roster to make it far come March. There’s not a case where you can have “too many players” in today’s game, so adding one more piece makes this team seem so much scarier. 

In hindsight, the offseason is still somewhat young and Brooks is likely far from over when it comes to recruiting more players to put on that Kentucky jersey.