What Ajša Sivka's commitment means for Kentucky WBB

Kentucky women’s basketball got another massive addition this offseason, this time from Slovenian guard Ajša Sivka. The former top 10 WNBA Draft pick will suit up in the blue and white next season. Here is what her commitment means for Kenny Brooks and his program.

Seems like Kentucky has its starting small forward

KSR recently released an article going over Kentucky’s roster, and our biggest question regarding next year’s team was the small forward position. By bringing in Sivka, it seems like Kentucky has its starting small forward.

Of course, she’s listed as a guard, but she’s 6-foot-4 and in Brooks’ statement in the announcement of her signing, he called her a wing, saying that “Ajša is a tremendous shooter, scorer, and playmaker from the wing position and she will add experience to our team.”

With that in mind, it would be reasonable to see her be more of a forward at Kentucky than a guard. Me’Arah O’Neal and Clara Strack at the five alongside Sivka would make for one of the best frontcourts in the country next season.

International recruiting matters, even during transfer portal season

Kentucky just reeled in one of the best international prospects out there. That used to be much more common to do with high school recruiting — adding an international prospect to a group of McDonald’s All-Americans like Kentucky has — but more and more now we are seeing teams use the international route to help fill holes that they can’t through the transfer portal.

With the roster that Kentucky had assembled prior to Sivka, there was still a need for one more surefire big and while Sivka is certainly not a guaranteed All-SEC player by any means, she will bring a baseline level of ability that should carry her far at Kentucky.

Kenny Brooks and the staff deserve a lot of credit for pulling off this commitment. Assistant Radvile Autukaite, who is more commonly referred to as Coach Rad, is the staff’s international recruiting guru, and it’s more likely than not that she played a big role in landing Sivka as well.

The roster should probably be complete, but…

When O’Neal committed to Kentucky, it felt like the roster was complete. Sure, there were some pieces you would have liked to see added, but at the end of the day, it was a roster — perhaps a complete one. However, Brooks got to work and brought in one more big to throw into the mix.

With Sivka’s addition, you can probably feel pretty good about saying that Kentucky’s roster is complete, but at the same time, Sivka’s addition showed us that Kenny is always cooking.

When you bring in a former top 10 WNBA draft pick, that’s a pretty sweet finish to the roster… but more would be even sweeter.

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