Kenny Brooks is an accomplished coach. He has Kentucky in the Top 10, and at times, the Cats look like a dangerous team. But something is holding this squad back.
After a bad road loss in Starkville to a Mississippi State team that just physically beat up the Cats, Brooks made some interesting comments.
"We're not as deep as we would love to be. Some kids gotta be superhero-ish. It snowballs, it really does. It's a tough place to play. They're a good team."
"Superhero-ish" is a tough ask in this league. And honestly, it is not a great look for the players coming off the bench, though they barely got a chance in this one, logging only 11 total bench minutes.
Remember, Brooks is the one who built this roster. Yet, after losing Teonni Key, there have been two bad road performances against unranked teams (Alabama and Mississippi State). Kentucky lost by 25 points combined in those two games. Sandwiched between them was an impressive home win over then-No. 5 Oklahoma and a comeback win against an improving Florida team.
But something else stands out in those losses, something that has followed Kenny Brooks since his Virginia Tech days.
Kenny Brooks has a rotation problem
This isn't new. In his Final Four year with Virginia Tech, a team that went 31-5, the Hokies had seven players who appeared in 30-plus games.
- 6 players averaged over 20 minutes.
- 1 player averaged 15 minutes.
- No one else got over 7 minutes per game.
In the Final Four loss to LSU, Brooks played just six players. Elizabeth Kitley never came off the floor. Georgia Amoore, Cayla King, and Kayana Traylor all played over 37 minutes. The Hokies held a 12-point lead at one point, but it evaporated when LSU dominated the 4th quarter 29-13. His players were tired, and they played like it.
The ones that got away
Fast forward to last season. Kentucky had 6'7" Clara Silva, a player who flipped her commitment to follow Brooks to Lexington. She was supposed to be the future. Instead, he played her only 12 minutes a game.
She transferred out after just one year. Now? She is averaging 10 points and 8 rebounds for a Top 10 TCU team.
How good would it have been to be able to put her in when Teonni Key went down? Do you think she could have helped stop some of those 49 rebounds Mississippi State put up? This was an elite talent who wanted to be here, and she was gone after a single season because she couldn't get on the floor consistently.
In yesterday's meltdown, the Cats shot just 23-of-72 (32%), a putrid 5-of-29 from deep, and an astonishingly bad 8-of-15 from the line.
But it wasn't just the shooting or the rebounding. Take a look at the minutes played:
- Clara Strack: 39:22
- Amelia Hassett: 38:56
- Asia Boone: 37:35
- Jordan Obi: 37:01
- Tonie Morgan: 36:05
That is five players playing almost the entire game. Meanwhile, look at the bench:
- Lexi Blue: 7:24
- Josie Gilvin: 1:56
- Kaelyn Carroll: 1:41
Kentucky women's basketball has a good bench; they just don't use Lexi Blue, Kaelyn Carroll, or Josie Gilvin enough
How are Lexi Blue, Kaelyn Carroll, or Josie Gilvin supposed to impact the game, getting that kind of run?
Kaelyn Carroll is a McDonald's All-American, a consensus five-star prospect, and a Top 20 player in her class. Josie Gilvin played 31 minutes a game last year for Western Kentucky, shooting 41% from deep and averaging 13 points. At Kentucky, she is getting 8 minutes and averaging less than 2 points.
Lexi Blue was a Top 40 consensus player when she signed, yet as a sophomore, she is averaging just 12 minutes a game.
These girls can play, but they aren't getting any run to prove it. Because of that, Kentucky is putting too much pressure on the starters. It showed in the second half, where Kentucky was outscored by Mississippi State by 7 in the 3rd quarter and 8 in the 4th.
Kenny Brooks is a special coach; he is 40-11 at Kentucky in 1+ seasons here, the team is 17-3, and things are looking up long-term. But he has to trust his bench more, or like Silva, they may not be on the bench next season.
If Kentucky is going to do anything remotely special this year, Kenny Brooks has to rotate, simple as that. He has a deep enough bench. He just needs to use it.