Kentucky women's basketball had a great regular season, one that is far from over if you listen to Kenny Brooks. After going 23-10 in the regular season, the Cats saw their regular season end with a loss to South Carolina, and then their SEC Tournament run ended at the hands of the Gamecocks, too. But Brooks is ready and thinks Kentucky will be playing deep into the month of March.
Kenny Brooks is 'proud' of Kentucky WBB, but is planning for much more
After the loss to South Carolina, Kenny spoke to the media:
"I am so proud of their effort, not only today, but the last three days, and we’re going to continue that. We’re going to build off of that. That’s exactly what we wanted from this experience right here. I think we’re going to be a team that’s going to be able to play a lot of basketball here in the next couple of weeks. So very, very proud of my kids.”"
Kentucky struggled in that game as South Carolina pushed the pace while Kentucky was playing their 3rd game in 3 days, and 4th game in 6 days. It was only close for the 1st quarter. But after watching this team all year long, I can confidently say I would not want to play them rested in March.
Speaking of March Madness, Kentucky is up to host the first and second rounds, but Brooks doesn't really care if they get it or not.
"I honestly don’t care. We’ll go anywhere and play. As long as we get an opportunity. What we wanted out of this, the last couple of days, was to make sure that we got better as a basketball team and to make sure we came out of this thing healthy. And that was mission accomplished. And we want to host. We want to host. We feel like we deserve to host. But we’re not putting all our eggs in a basket, emotionally, to try to figure out and to say if we’re going to host or not, and if we don’t get it, then we’re going to be upset. We’re not. We’ll go anywhere and play anybody. That’s how much confidence we have in each other."
As for what he has planned for this week? "We’ll sit back this week, and we’ll rest, and we’ll fine-tune some things."
Hopefully, that fine-tuning involves fixing the turnover problem. The Cats have been hurt by turnovers all season long, committing 20 of them 4 times this season. For a team that plays at one of the slower paces in the country, you can not give away possessions.
Selection Sunday happens in 6 days, and we will see what Kentucky's path looks like. Regardless of that path, expect Kentucky to be playing a while longer yet.