Clara Strack was coming off one of her rare off nights against Auburn. She scored 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 turnovers while going 5 of 10 from the field. That rebound number was the lowest in her conference games and the second lowest of the season overall. It was her worst performance in a month. What came next from Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks left the star forward in tears. At the same time, it sparked one of the most inspired stretches of her career.

When Kentucky finished with a season low of 56 points, one stood out from the rest. It was Clara Strack. Strack scored 24 points and 9 rebounds against South Carolina, one of the best teams in the country. Today, when the Cats opened the SEC Tournament against Arkansas, Clara was the headliner again. In the 93-63 win, Strack scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in just 22 minutes. After the game, coach Kenny Brooks revealed how he motivated his best player ahead of a very important postseason.

“You want to know what I said to her? I might get arrested for child abuse,” he jokingly started during his interview with the SEC Tournament Panel. He revealed the 8 words that no top player in any sport wants to hear. “I looked at her, and I said, ‘You are the worst superstar I’ve ever coached.’ And when she looked at me, she had tears in her eyes.” 

Strack is obviously one of the main reasons Kentucky is 21-9 overall and 8-8 in the strongest conference. At the time, she was averaging 16.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. All those efforts, just to be called “the worst superstar” after one below-average game. However, her reaction showed why she is one of the best players in the nation. 

“Before we got on the plane, she said, ‘Can we watch film tomorrow?’ We had two workouts leading up to South Carolina, and the intensity that she was like, “I am never going to disappoint you again,” Brooks further revealed. “I didn’t say she was the worst player, and I didn’t say she was the worst star. I said, ‘You were the worst superstar,’ and that really got her going.”

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As the popular saying goes, she locked in. In practice, Brooks said she was different than usual, putting in more than her 100%. Such comments imprint on a player’s mind. Maybe, subconsciously, she was also playing to prove Brooks wrong. Brooks singled out Strack and revealed that she is the only player he can criticize in this way. 

“She came out on Sunday (in the team’s four-point loss to South Carolina), and she was unbelievable,” Brooks said. “And she’s had the same look. Because she understands her value, her importance to us. But more importantly, mine and her relationship—I can say that to her. I can’t say it to anyone else, but I can say it to her, and she knows where it’s coming from. She knows I’m challenging her.”

This coach-player relationship is very vital in maintaining the locker room atmosphere. If Strack had misinterpreted her coach, everything could have fallen apart like dominoes. Another such tough love example happened on the other side of the fence in men’s college basketball. Arkansas was facing Vanderbilt and coach John Calipari did not like how Darius Acuff was playing in the first half. 

So he substituted him out and had some stern words. When he put Acuff back in, he dominated. “He was mad at me. He played well because he was mad at me, and he thought I was like, ‘Yeah, he won’t like it. No, I love it. Be mad at me all the time. Just play like that,” Calipari said. Appealing to a player’s ego works especially well on the crème de la crème because the better one is, the more self-belief and ego one holds. While Brooks used one technique to motivate her forward, he is also developing his point guard in an aspect beyond the court.

Kenny Brooks Wishes He Had Another Year Working With Tonie Morgan

Clara Strack is not the only one driving this team, it is Tonie Morgan as well. Morgan is the brain of this squad, averaging 13.9 points and 8.2 assists per game. She replaced All-American Georgia Amoore, who was drafted in the WNBA and it has gone without a hitch for Brooks. She has seamlessly slotted in. And the senior has also evolved into a leader who will be important heading into the NCAA tournament. 

“She just kind of blended in, and so we’ve been working on that as far as her leadership skills and just understanding that she has more value to us than just the assist or the points,” Brooks said in the postgame press conference. “And we need her leadership and she’s growing into that. I just wish I had her for more than one year so that I could develop it to a different level. But she’s done a tremendous job.”

Kenny Brooks’ trickle down philosophy for building a program is working well, especially in the case of Morgan. Despite Amoore leaving, Brooks has made sure to stay in touch with her and invited her to practice. Morgan took a page out of some of Amoore’s book as Brooks’ “quarterback,” including taking the extra time to watch film with the coach before practice. She has embraced that blueprint with the help of her coach. Ultimately, it is Brooks’ philosophy that is guiding the team.