A New Year's 'Resolution' guide to Kentucky Wildcats sports, pt. 1

by Andrew Hardison

With the New Year just around the corner, both Kentucky basketball and football have some New Year’s ‘Resolutions’ they should adhere to for the rest of the season (basketball) and well into 2010 (football).

For Rich Brooks, Joker Phillips, and Kentucky’s football program, it’s all about consistency. How will any coaching changes affect the current situation at UK, especially after Sunday’s tough loss at the hands of Clemson in the Music City Bowl?

John Calipari and the young Wildcats basketball team are rolling on all cylinders, but can things get even better? If there is still room for improvement, then the sky is the limit for this year’s Kentucky basketball team.

With all of that said, let’s take a look at some Kentucky Wildcats sports resolutions for the New Year:

Stability: One of the most important aspects to the New Year for Kentucky Wildcats football is stability. With any announcement of Rich Brooks’ impending retirement is expected in the coming days, the program must maintain a sense of stability going into 2010. Sunday’s loss was a tough pill to swallow, but no one expected the Cats to win in the first place right?

Joker Phillips is the coach-in-waiting and if this is truly Brooks’ last season at Kentucky, then Phillips will need to stabilize any turnover the team may face. There are several seniors whose impact for the Wildcats program has been felt for the past four years. Guys like Micah Johnson, Trevard Lindley, Sam Maxwell, Zipp Duncan, and Alfonso Smith have been some of the most prolific winners in the program’s history.

Now that they are graduating, others will have to step in and avoid a letdown next season. Morgan Newton, Randall Cobb, and Derrick Locke will be expected to carry the load even more next year as this year’s seniors head on to the next level. Another key will be to keep the increased recruiting prowess of Kentucky’s coaches at an all-time high. Keeping commitments and securing others is one of the most important aspects of maintaining stability heading into the future.

Consistency: The 2009-2010 Kentucky Wildcats basketball team was supposed to be good, but did anyone think the #3 team in the nation would be this good?

At 14-0, the Cats are on the verge of cementing themselves as the best team in the nation. Sure, there is Kansas and Texas both ranked ahead of Kentucky since the start of the year. The sheer talent of these teams is overwhelming, but the Wildcats have achieved their success in the face of adversity.

As head coach John Calipari has said throughout his career, he’d take talent over experience any day of the week. This year’s team is a mirror image of those statements. Kentucky’s #1 recruiting class has given UK a talent base that hasn’t been seen at the school since the Rick Pitino years. John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins have solidified a team filled with above-average talent (Patterson, Miller, Liggins) and turned the corner in terms of playing as a team.

Victories over North Carolina, UCONN, and Indiana have given the team a ‘swagger’ that has made resounding headlines throughout the nation. With conference play looming, the Wildcats must continue a sense of consistency going into 2010. Their play from the first 14 games of the season must carry over well into 2010 and beyond. Any late-season run will hinge on how well the players and head coach can maintain the teams dominate performances from 2009.

A coaching solution: As mentioned before, the coaching carosel at Kentucky is expected to be in full swing by the end of the week. Current head coach Rich Brooks has stated that there is an 80% chance that he won’t be back coaching next year, thus making Joker Phillips wait that much longer to take over.

Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart has decided to take the Wildcats out of the coaching carosel mix by already naming the next, incumbent coaching. Phillips holds that distinction and will soon be the new head coach at Kentucky, but must wait for a decision by Brooks which is expected to be announced in the coming days.

A question that must be asked however, is whether Phillips is the coaching solution? He has already had an indelible impact on the football program as the offensive coordinator and head recruiter for head coach Rich Brooks. We’ve seen Phillips develop under Brooks, but does Phillips provide all the answers to the questions at hand.

Who will become offensive coordinator when Phillips takes over, or will he control those duties once more as head coach? Will any other of the current coaching staff leave when Brooks’ days are done? Will there be another head-recruiter-in-waiting? Many of these questions need answering and the New Year should provide some resolutions to those questions that have lingered throughout 2009.

A Final in the making: There have been talks about an undefeated season, something that hasn’t been done since Bobby Knight’s 1976 Indiana team that went undefeated and won a National Championship.

So why would this year’s Kentucky Wildcats basketball team deserve any distinction similar to those of Knight’s undefeated ’76 squad? Pretty simple at this point: the Wildcats are that good.

Many of the players and even the head coach have mentioned the word undefeated when talking about this season and the Wildcats. The freshmen and returning players have molded the Cats into one of the most formidable teams in the nation, giving them a chance to reach their first Final Four since 1998. Talking about going undefeated is fine, but a Final Four may just be what the doctor ordered.

Perfection is something every player wants—just ask the Indianapolis Colts—but it isn’t always feasible. Losing a game or two (3, 4, and maybe even 5) isn’t a bad thing. Many of the decades past winners have varying loss totals but also have one thing in common: they’ve won an NCAA Championship.

Even if Kentucky doesn’t win every single one of their games, the ability to get to the 2010 Final Four would be a sight to see for every Big Blue Nation fan. As the third ranked team thus far, the Wildcats are expected to make a run well into March and early April, vying for a National title with the likes of Kansas, Texas, Purdue, Syracuse, and any other upstart team—think George Mason—the nation has to offer.

*stay tuned for Part 2 of Kentucky Wildcats sports New Year’s Resolutions coming later today*

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