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All-American guard Georgia Amoore has a unique relationship with Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks after playing for him for four years at Virginia Tech before following him to Kentucky.

She’ll be the catalyst for Brooks’ first UK team and she certainly wants to make his first season successful.

“I had potential but that is a word you can throw around a lot until you do something with it,” said Amoore. “He brought out the player in me, developed me and stuck with me.

“I did not see my family for two years (after coming from Victoria, Australia) and there were some tough times. His whole family was there for me and the past four years we have done some incredible things. He poured so much into me. We have done some pretty cool things but I want to do more.”

She averaged 18.8 points and 6.8 assists per game as a senior at Virginia Tech and ranked first in the Atlantic Coast Conference and fourth in the nation in assists per game and fifth in the conference and 41st in the nation in points per game. She became Virginia Tech’s all-time career leader in assists (656), assists / turnover ratio (1.8) and average minutes played (34.3) and also climbed to second in 3-pointers (330) and third in scoring (1,853)

Amoore’s mother, Kelly, said her daughter tried multiple sports, including Australian rules football against the boys.

“The boys used to get frustrated with her and as she sprinted past them they would tug at her ponytail. She was very good at cricket  and she also did taekwondo, swimming and Netball,” Kelly said. “Being the first born we let her play as many sports as she wanted and I encouraged her to try other sports as I thought she would struggle being recognized due to her height in basketball.”

The Kentucky guard started playing basketball at age 5 even though that was not her plan.

“She was actually sitting on the bench watching her cousin playing for a local team and when they were short players they called her up to play. She only had flip flops on and that was how she played her first game of basketball,” Kelly said.

“She went through all the levels of basketball playing at the local club then playing for her local town in Ballarat. Then she got selected at state level and then at a national level representing Australia at the worlds in Belarus in the U17s.

“Her passion was always basketball even though she was overlooked at times because of her size . I think that just made her more determined to prove them wrong.”

Kelly Amoore said Australia does not have a system comparable to the high school system here.

“Representing your town at country championships against other towns is probably the only comparison to your high school system,” Kelly Amoore said. “From there they try out for state teams, then the national level. But they spend a lot of years playing basketball for their local town at junior levels.”

Her mother said Georgia Amoore always did athletic things other girls could not do.

“People would come to watch her play. She was entertaining to watch as a junior. She just needed guidance and someone to believe in her and she got that through coach Brooks and that’s when she excelled,” Amoore’s mother said.

During her third year at Virginia Tech, her mother knew she could be an elite player because of her development under Brooks. She also said the decision to play for Brooks was all Georgia’s.

“(Her father) Phil and I back then knew nothing about college basketball so she didn’t get us involved because we had no idea what she was talking about. She formed a great relationship with coach Brooks on the phone and quite often talked about him,” Kelly Amoore said. “She only visited two schools when we flew over for her visits. One was Portland where her cousin was playing on the west coast and the other was Virginia Tech.

“We were all blown away when we visited Virginia Tech and of course felt comfortable meeting and getting to know coach Brooks and his coaching staff when we visited.”

That’s why she knew her daughter would follow Brooks to Kentucky.

“When someone believes in your daughter and treats her like one of his own you are forever grateful for the relationship those two have formed. Don’t get me wrong, when she first went over there she had some tough times between her and coach Brooks. She eventually got to earn his respect and those two have had each other’s back ever since,” Kelly Amoore said.

“I like coach Brooks because he demands respect and is loyal. I trust that he has my daughter’s best interest at heart and if she trusts him, so do we. So far it’s just worked out just fine for the two of them and I can’t wait to see what he has built at UK for this upcoming season.”

Her mother says there is a different side to her daughter away from basketball.

“She’s so strong and opinionated but also has a wicked sense of humor and loves a good laugh. She loves music and can dance. We wanted to raise strong willed girls and that’s definitely what we have, so we can’t complain.”