On the morning of Halloween, Georgia Amoore went to Kenny Brooks’ office for coffee. It’s a typical hang for Kentucky’s new point guard and its first-year head coach.

Amoore — a self-proclaimed coffee snob who, as of mid-October, is still on the hunt for the best coffee in Lexington — spends time with her longtime coach and mentor, under whom she’s developed into not only one of the premier point guards in the 2025 WNBA draft class, but one of the most-respected athletes in women’s college basketball.

During office visits, the pair will, naturally, sometimes spend time discussing the game itself — one doesn’t become Georgia Amoore without intense dedication and intentional communication. But, oftentimes, they’ll talk about anything but basketball.

It may sound simple and typical, but even a moment’s observation of the duo demonstrates that they’ve achieved what many student-athletes and head coaches cannot — a deep, genuine understanding of, and mutual respect for, each other’s thoughts, beliefs and actions.

Built off a strong foundation established in Blacksburg, Virginia, when Amoore arrived at Virginia Tech early in January 2020, their relationship created the level of trust necessary for the point guard to transfer to a new program and conference for her fifth and final year as a college athlete.

Amoore’s move to UK was one of college basketball’s most high-profile offseason transfers, and has aided in the reinvigorated excitement from Big Blue Nation surrounding the women’s program.

Not highly touted as a recruit out of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, Amoore was greyshirted at the end of that 2019-20 campaign, and didn’t see the floor until her true freshman season months later. Brooks has joked that it feels like they’ve known each other for 10 years, but one can imagine what it might feel like to move across the world — at, admittedly, an inopportune period for a student-athlete — and proceed to have to deal with the fallout of, truly, unprecedented times.

During the complications of starting a college basketball career in the throes of a pandemic, not to mention on a separate continent from where Amoore’s family lives, Amoore found a new home, a new community and one of the most pivotal relationships of her life.

“I think it really is the ‘dad’ aspect of it,” Amoore said. “He just knows how to talk to someone, like what you need to be said to get you going. He figures out people, he’s a master mind reader, can read behavior, so he takes his time to learn his players and study them. And if you’re not reciprocating that, then that’s definitely difficult.”

It’s not as though Amoore was ever anything but an important contributor for the Hokies. In each of her four seasons at Virginia Tech, she averaged at least 11.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. She’s played in 126 games to this point, and started in 124 of them, while managing to increase her points and assists production.

ESPN and ACC Network analyst Debbie Antonelli told the Herald-Leader that she’s “learned never to count (Amoore) out after watching her for the last four years.”

“I think she has relentlessly worked on her skill set,” Antonelli said. “She has a pure joy of playing, and she has a great sense of team. That’s why I say, in a late game, she understands what’s necessary when. And I call it the three W’s of a good point guard — who to get the ball to when and where.”

Brooks himself refers to Amoore as his “mini-me,” and said he’s “never had a connection with a player like I have with her,” but that wasn’t built overnight; it was earned, through years of hard work, focus and intentional choices made to both get better and make life a little bit easier.

Amoore told the Herald-Leader she had to decide to learn how to work under Brooks.

“This probably sounds stupid,” Amoore said. “But I swear to God, when I started getting in trouble for s---, and I was like, ‘Look. Imma just do it your way.’ And then it started working. I was like, ‘OK, maybe you’re telling me that for a reason.’ It was kind of like, ‘I know I’m not getting in trouble because I did it the way that you asked.’ That’s when I started learning. But I swear, when I started getting in trouble less, I was like, ‘No, I get it.’”

Brooks demanded a lot of Amoore — he still does — and she’s appreciative that he did.

“Because I had to learn,” she said. “And learn on the court, but learn off the court and just stick to his work like Bible because I know he won’t steer me wrong. I don’t think he’s confined me into this player that he needs because I’ve worked on so much. I work on new things every day. I’m taking shots that I probably would have never taken before in my life. ... I’m making clutch plays that I probably wouldn’t have if I didn’t have that trust in him and he developed me. He’s not confining me, he’s turned me into a player that has a lot of things in the repertoire that I can use.”

Amoore, who earned first-team All-ACC honors as a junior and a senior, and was named a third-team Associated Press All-American and third-team WBCA All-American last season, and her repertoire instantly provided further credibility for a burgeoning UK program hoping to reach new levels of success.

A change in perception

At SEC Women’s Basketball Media Day, Brooks likened — as he’s wont to do — Amoore to a beloved quarterback, ready to help make a coach’s life much easier.

“It’s really helped when you have your quarterback that follows you with you,” Brooks said. “Georgia Amoore, she and I have been joined at the hip for the last four-and-a-half years, and the fact that she wanted to continue and follow me here to the University of Kentucky, it’s a blessing. Because now I have another coach, someone who can really talk to the other student-athletes.”

Nationally, Amoore’s designation as the leader and architect of the new-look Kentucky offense has garnered understandable (and plentiful) attention. She was an All-SEC first-team preseason selection by the league’s coaches and media, as well as the seventh player in the 2024-25 AP Preseason All-America voting. For the second season in a row, Amoore has been named to the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Watch List — an award for which she was named a finalist last year. Amoore was the point guard for Virginia Tech’s first ACC regular season championship team and inaugural Final Four appearance, as well as its only ACC Tournament champion.

Kentucky women’s basketball returned to the national polls, coming in at No. 22 in both the AP and coaches preseason top 25 rankings.

The Wildcats have sold out reserved season tickets for the first time in program history. Of course, not all of that can be tied to Amoore alone, but her impact on the perception of a program that had struggled to find success recently, and played in front of largely empty home environments, is inarguable.

“People are just saying whatever,” Amoore said. “But I think we do deserve to be ranked, and we have the people to do that, so we have to prove that as well. Yeah, I would be worried if people weren’t saying anything about this program. There’s an upside and a downside.”

ACC Network analyst Kelly Gramlich told the Herald-Leader why it was such an immediate game-changer — in terms of public perception — when Amoore committed to Kentucky.

“First and foremost, she has proven it on the biggest stage,” Gramlich said. “When you think back to Virginia Tech’s NCAA Tournament run and to the Final Four, (All-America center) Liz Kitley, of course, the best player in Virginia Tech history. But Georgia Amoore was the best player during that run, and she was electric.

“The only player in 2023 in the NCAA Tournament that I felt like was a better offensive player in that whole tournament was Caitlin Clark, other than Georgia Amoore. I mean, she was that good. And it started in the ACC Tournament that year, where she set the three-point record for that tournament, and then just continued it. So, obviously she’s a phenomenal player. She is a dynamic point guard, and she’s unique in that she can score 20 and she can dish out 10 assists. And, you know, both are very normal for her, like that’s just how she plays. She doesn’t have to do one or the other. She can do both. And that’s really special.”

‘The face’

Like Clark and fellow former NCAA superstars Angel Reese and Cameron Brink, or current household names like UConn’s Paige Bueckers and Southern California’s JuJu Watkins, Amoore is a face of the game — and, certainly, a dominant face of Kentucky women’s basketball, the latter of which she calls “definitely a great level of responsibility.”

When asked about the potential pressure or weight of such a role, Amoore highlighted the strength of her teammates.

“Obviously, I have to be a representative,” Amoore said. “On the court, yes, but even when I talk to people where I go, that’s what they’re basing the reflection of this program on. So there’s pressure in that. But in terms of playing, not really because I know the value of my teammates. And I know that this team … I feel that they should be spoken about.

“But that just comes with performing at the levels that I have and performing well in big games. I have done that, yeah, so obviously there is going to be association with that. But I’m sure if you ask Paige or JuJu, yeah, they’re great, but they have great teammates. So there’s no pressure because it’s not like I’m out here doing it all by myself; I know I’m not. I can’t do it without any of the girls. They make it easier.”

WNBA and national team experience

With just one season left before her professional career begins, Amoore has gladly embraced opportunities that push her toward improvement.

From returning for her second showing at the Kelsey Plum Dawg Class — a development camp meant to “help women’s college athletes bridge the gap to a professional level — to attending the Nike Academy, Amoore is not shying away from preparation.

Amoore, who stands 5-foot-6, also said she’s taken a step up in terms of strength and conditioning.

“I’ve tried new things, I’ve tried new warm-ups, I’ve tried new routines,” Amoore said. “And I think now is the year of trial because, going into next year, I’m not going to have someone to tell me what to do. I can have input, but I think if I’m trying it then, it’s almost too late, you know? So I think this year has been really important for me. Rehab, recovery, chiropractor, weights, all of that. It’s been really important.”

Though no WNBA draft class is set until the conclusion of the college basketball season, the projected first round is full of dominant guards. And, as the game continues to change, Amoore is focused on every aspect of what it means to be an elite guard capable of succeeding in the WNBA, whether it be mentality — “some people have it, some people don’t” — or on-court skills and instincts.

“I think there is a need for point guards in the league for sure,” Amoore said. “And when I’m watching it, post passing — and just passing in general — it can be an issue. I mean from watching teams that I’ve watched, there’s definitely like a need. And you need scoring point guards. You do need a traditional point guard who’s looking to pass, but, I think now, the way that the game’s evolved, if you’re not scoring then it’s kind of a disadvantage. You have to be a threat at all levels. I think there’s a lot of requirement from a point guard, but there’s a lot of need for a point guard in the league right now, so it’s a big demand.”

One of Amoore’s most notable achievements during the offseason was her time spent with the Australian National Team before the Opals traveled to Paris for the Olympics. Spending time around, and learning from, Australian basketball icons like Lauren Jackson — “no disrespect to LJ, but she’s been an Opal longer than I’ve been bloody alive!” — and Tess Madgen — “she just knows leadership capabilities and qualities that she needs to have” — served as another “big step” for Amoore.

“Because it’s like, ‘Wow, I’m around so many great girls who have been through a lot, who have seen a lot, who I can take a lot of notes from,’” Amoore said. “But it’s the first moment — I played for Australia in my juniors — but that, as an Opal representative, was like, ‘Wow.’ That’s what I used to dream about being like a kid, you know? It was a crazy experience. It was really cool.”

It remains a goal of Amoore’s to make the Australian Olympic roster.

“It’s definitely something I want to work for,” Amoore said. “But there’s been so many great girls, and the point guard position has been, you know, it’s really competitive. … It’s definitely something to strive for, but I’m completely aware of the depth that we have in that system.”

The Australian National Team is coached by 2024 WNBA champion coach of the New York Liberty, Sandy Brondello. Amoore is familiar with her system and style of play, but is there a particular landing spot Amoore is eyeing in the WNBA?

“I don’t know,” Amoore said. “There’s obviously a lot of great teams out there. I mean, to play under Sandy would be pretty dope. But seriously, anywhere. Because I think I definitely have the ability to meet what’s required from me. I’m not someone that’s going to go to the league and be like, ‘No, I need to do what I did in college and score 25-30 points.’

“No, if you need me to play defense and be a great passer, I’ll do that. If you need me to hit open 3s, I’ll do that. I’m definitely open to trying to fit the mold of whatever any team needs from me.”

UK season opener

USC Upstate at No. 22 Kentucky

When: 5 p.m. Monday

TV: SEC Network+

Series: Kentucky leads 3-0

Last meeting: Kentucky won 67-44 on Dec. 19, 2021, in Lexington