Kentucky guard Georgia Amoore received offseason respect before her fifth collegiate season, earning prestigious nods by SEC coaches and the Associated Press (AP).

Amoore was just shy of the AP Preseason All-America Team, receiving the seventh-most votes behind UCLA’s Lauren Betts on Oct. 22.

The team that was officially voted on consisted of UConn’s Paige Bueckers, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo and the USC Trojans’ Kiki Iriafen and JuJu Watkins. 

Despite not making the national team, Amoore was later selected to Preseason All-Southeastern Conference First Team on Oct. 24, voted on officially by coaches not the media.

She joined Texas’ Madison Booker and LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow, who all were voted as Preseason Players of the Year. 

Alabama’s Sarah Ashlee Baker, Oklahoma center Raegan Beers and South Carolina guard Te-Hina Paopao all made the SEC First-Team as well, along with Ole Miss’ Madison Scott, who was originally voted to the SEC Second-Team by the media. 

Amoore, joining elite company in the loaded conference, will have to prove she deserved this praise, leading the Wildcats from the rubble of last year.

She averaged 18.8 points per game along with 6.8 assists last season at Virginia Tech, both of which are more than Booker, Johnson and Morrow’s averages from last season in those categories.

With the ability to enter her name in 2024 WNBA Draft, where she would’ve likely been a first-round pick, now gone, her decision to return to the collegiate level for another year may prove to be a huge mistake or the best decision of her career. 

Kentucky will return to action on Thursday, Nov. 7, against Northern Kentucky inside Historic Memorial Coliseum.