Diana Collins, Me'Arah O'Neal had standout performances against Kentucky last season

It has become apparent that in the transfer portal, Kenny Brooks favors recruiting players he has previously scouted against. Last year, Brooks brought in Tonie Morgan from Georgia Tech, Asia Boone from Liberty and Josie Gilvin from WKU. Morgan played against Brooks’ Virginia Tech teams, while the Lady Toppers and Flames both fell to Kentucky in his first year in Lexington.

With that in mind, it shouldn’t really be much of a surprise to see Brooks go back to that well yet again. However, he went and got some familiar faces from SEC foes this time around in Diana Collins (Alabama) and Me’Arah O’Neal (Florida).

Both players had some of their best games of last season against Kentucky. The Wildcats went 1-1 against the Crimson Tide and the Gators, falling 64-51 in Tuscaloosa with Teonni Key out due to injury and beating Florida 94-89 in an offensive thriller inside of Historic Memorial Coliseum.

When Alabama beat Kentucky on Jan. 8, Collins recorded 16 points, four rebounds and two assists in 37 minutes of play, cashing in on three three-pointers in the win. She was their second-leading scorer that night, only trailing Jessica Timmons, who had 24 points that night.

As for O’Neal when she played Kentucky, she had one of the better games of her collegiate career thus far, scoring 23 points on 6-12 (2-4 3PT) shooting from the field. It was one of six 20-point games she had last season, falling just shy of her career high of 24 points against Memphis on Nov. 28.

It’ll be fun to watch both Collins and O’Neal wreak havoc again on the hardwood, but now doing so wearing “KENTUCKY” across their chests.

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