Kenny Brooks' incoming freshman class finishes as a top 10 group

Kenny Brooks had to reload this offseason after losing several key pieces to the WNBA, but that hasn’t been a problem so far.

Kentucky women’s basketball has an incoming trio of highly talented freshmen for the 2026-27 season, all of them guards: five-stars Maddyn Greenway and Savvy Swords, along with four-star Emily McDonald. The Rivals Industry Ranking has Greenway and Swords ranked No. 9 and No. 10, respectively, in the class of 2026, while McDonald checks in at No. 36. All three particpated in the McDonald’s All-American Game. McDonald also won the 3-Point Contest at the event.

Rivals does not currently have team recruiting rankings, but the folks over at ESPN do. On Friday morning, the worldwide leader ranked Kentucky’s trio of freshmen as the sixth-best class in the country in what is its final class rankings update of the current cycle. The only schools to finish ahead of the Wildcats were (in order) Southern California, South Carolina, Texas, Duke, and Notre Dame. UK even finished ahead of UConn, which has the ninth-best class.

Maddyn Greenway is on track for the Minnesota State scoring record adding 30PTS to her total last night. The Kentucky signee has been lighting it up early into the season pic.twitter.com/IHGhquEi48

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) December 4, 2025

Also this week, ESPN released another edition of its “Way-Too-Early” Top 25 preseason rankings. But Kentucky fell a few spots from the last update, going from No. 14 to No. 17 despite adding the likes of Ayanna Patterson (UConn), Me’Arah O’Neal (Florida), and Diana Collins (Alabama) through the portal in recent weeks. Those three will help fill the gaps next to the Wildcats’ returning star player, Clara Strack, who is coming off an All-SEC First Team season as a junior in 2025-26.

Despite Kentucky’s slip in the preseason rankings, this note from ESPN’s Charlie Creme should have the Big Blue Nation excited for what’s in store with Brooks’ third season in charge: “point guard Maddyn Greenway has drawn comparisons to Paige Bueckers.” Those are the things we love to hear. Bueckers, who is in her second season with the Dallas Wings, is already considered one of the best players in the WNBA.

Kentucky also plans to have Dominika Paurová, who has missed the last two seasons due to injury, back in the lineup. She was a key contributor to Oregon State’s Elite 8 run in 2023-24 before transferring to UK, although it could take her time to get her feet back under her after such a long time away from the hardwood. Sharpshooter Asia Boone is another key returner.

Brooks could add more help later in the offseason, too. He currently has 10 players committed for next season, leaving him plenty of room to bring in more depth and talent in the coming weeks and months.

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