This past weekend, Kentucky women’s guard, Cassidy Rowe, announced that she was retiring from basketball after three years with the program. This news came as a surprise to many due to Cassidy’s outspoken love and passion for the program, leading many to question what happened.

Shortly after the announcement, Rise Up Sports Media reported that Rowe was told that her scholarship would not be renewed for a senior season and was told, “You no longer have a spot on the team.”

On Monday, Cassidy’s father, Lonnie Rowe, spoke in detail about the situation on Alan Cutler’s show “No Filter.”

“Cassidy has been there three years,” Rowe said. “She has given blood, sweat, tears, and everything to the University of Kentucky and to that program. If he wanted to cut her last year, so be it. Now that she’s a senior and she’s ready to enter PT school, for this to take place, I think it’s classless.”

Rowe explained that his daughter did not have the opportunity to transfer as the application process for Physical Therapy school takes place in the fall semester. With the late notice of her scholarship status, she would not have been able to start until Fall 2026 elsewhere with the application process.

What she wanted was to finish her career at Kentucky, “she didn’t want to be anywhere else.”

“She was 100 percent devastated,” Rowe said of his daughter. “She said, ‘I didn’t want to go out like this. I don’t want bad memories of the University of Kentucky, but this makes it tough. I just wanted to have my Senior Night and go through the process of my four years.’”

Kenny Brooks prides his program on a family atmosphere, but Rowe said he believes that is ‘100 percent’ bologna. As for a message for Brooks, “I’ll be praying for you and that you change. That everything changes inside your heart because at this moment, I don’t think you have one,” Rowe said.

Please listen below.

Kentucky’s Cassidy Rowe grew up just over 100 miles away, southeast of Lexington. Recruited by former Head Coach Matthew Mitchell, Rowe, like any kid’s dream near Lexington, committed to Kentucky as a freshman in high school. 

Battling countless injuries before her college career and coming to Lexington under another new head coach, this time Kyra Elzy, Rowe’s journey was far from easy.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end for Rowe, as she battled through two underwhelming seasons with the Wildcats, where they only won 12 games in both years. 

Every single player from the 2023-24 team, besides Rowe and Saniah Tyler, either entered the portal or graduated. 

However, when Rowe said, “I’m a Kentucky girl through and through,” she meant it.

When Kenny Brooks arrived on campus last spring, he said that Rowe cried “blue tears” when meeting with her. “When she started talking about her experiences here, I swore when she started crying, it was blue tears,” he told Phoenix Stevens. “I’m like, man, this kid had me — she had me at hello just because she knew how much she loved Kentucky.”

She decided to return to Kentucky for her junior season under Head Coach Kenny Brooks, and needless to say, Rowe was a part of a historic season. They ranked as high as No.8 in the AP women’s basketball poll, finished fourth in the SEC with a 23-8 record, and broke 11 school records.

Even though Rowe’s playing time decreased drastically this season, only eclipsing ten or more minutes one time once conference play started, she became a resembling fan favorite that many saw as “one of the ones to stick it out” and truly bleed Kentucky blue. 

It shocked many when Rowe took to her Instagram to post news that she would be transferring on March 29th.

“Wow…I wasn’t expecting this to be a goodbye post,” Rowe said. “While I still have a year of eligibility left, I will not be entering the transfer portal. I will be pursuing my new dream of becoming a physical therapist through UK’s DPT program.”

Tonia Witt of Rise Up Sports Media broke the news of Rowe’s decision, which correlated with the Kentucky native’s Instagram post. 

However, as passionate as Kentucky fans are, many took to social media to question the shocking news as Rowe’s love for the program was clear, and she had just one year remaining.

Witt ended the debate on the morning of March 30th, stating that Rowe was told her scholarship would not be available for the 2025-26 season, not that she was told to transfer. 

Rowe’s father, Lonnie Rowe, would repost these to his personal social media, while also reposting a post from Alyx White stating that the fans stating Rowe didn’t deserve a roster spot clearly hadn’t seen Rowe play.

Rise Up Sports has offered an opportunity for fans to send Rowe mail and flood her with positive vibes.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or don’t really pay attention to anything Kentucky except men’s basketball, I’d advise you to start turning that TV on and watching Georgia Amoore play basketball.

Amoore, a Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Player of the Year semifinalist, tied the Kentucky NCAA Tournament scoring record with her 34-point scoring performance against Liberty on March 21.

The star point guard outscored the Lady Flames by herself in the first quarter. 

Even though the Wildcats snuck by with a 79-78 win, it’s safe to say that her amazing first half was the reason they even had such a large lead to lose. 

All season, she’s led this team to win after win, but now, it matters most. 

Kentucky punched their ticket, advanced, and will host the No. 5 seed Kansas State Wildcats on Sunday, March 23. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. ET in Lexington, KY. 

After their win against Fairfield, Kansas State’s Head Coach Jeff Mittie admitted he had no idea on how to stop Amoore.

“Heck of a player. Heck of a player. I don’t have any answers as we sit here today,” said Mittie. 

Zyanna Walker, one of Kansas State’s starting guards, was asked what goes through her mind when guarding a player like Amoore.

”Just know that you’re not going to be able to completely shut them down,” said Walker. “Great players like that, you just got to try to contain them…that’s all you can do, and just hope that the ball doesn’t go in the basket for them.” 

Mittie added Saturday afternoon that Amoore doesn’t just look good on the court, statistically, she’s in the top tier of guards.

“You know, her usage rate in the pick and roll game is as high as anybody we’ve seen in the country,” said Mittie. “Probably her and Van Lith in terms of the usage rate. It’s over 40 percent.”

He later added “So I don’t have all the answers, but I will say that certainly we know that the pick and roll game for them is very very good…I wish Kenny (Brooks) was coming off of a pick and roll instead of Amoore.”

Unfortunately for Kansas State, Brooks will not be suiting up and they will be forced to guard one of the best players in the country with hopes of keeping their March Madness dreams alive.