KSR Today: Not in Dallas, but busy in Lexington
Friday, March 29, 7:09 p.m. ET inside American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas. That spot was reserved for the Kentucky Wildcats in the Sweet 16, instead occupied by the No. 2 seed Marquette Golden Eagles and the No. 11 seed NC State Wolfpack — who beat No. 14 seed Oakland, who beat the Cats in the first round just over a week ago.
It’s been nothing short of a whirlwind for the folks in Lexington since then, all the way up to the very top with John Calipari. From the minute Kentucky’s loss went final, Coach Cal’s job security became the only thing people wanted to talk about the rest of the weekend. Would he be brought back, bought out or take another job elsewhere? Mitch Barnhart decided to run it back for year 16 — a controversial, but understandable decision considering the cost and lack of clear upgrades available elsewhere. With a recruiting foundation set and the possibility of bringing back some key returning talent, along with a fire lit under Calipari’s butt regarding his dwindling approval rating in Lexington, you can see how his AD would feel OK giving it another shot.
Then came the program-controlled press run, starting with Coach Cal’s own call-in radio show Monday night, followed by their private meeting Tuesday to discuss the trajectory of the program, then a sitdown on-camera interview the following day to clear the air on a few things — namely his expectations (and demands) for men’s basketball moving forward.
“There’s no one that has missed the standard, we understand that,” Barnhart told BBN Tonight’s Keith Farmer. “We’ve won six SEC Tournaments with Cal, we’ve won six regular-season titles, we’ve been to four Final Fours, seven Elite Eights. It’s not that we don’t know how to get there. We’ve hit a patch where we haven’t, and that is not lost on us. He and I are a little bit competitive, we certainly like to win.
“That has been in our DNA from the beginning of his career and mine. We didn’t come to this program to sit here and say, ‘Hey, let’s just see if we can casually walk through this thing and in sashay all the way to the end of the deal.’ I want to win.”
That brought us to wild Thursday for both basketball programs in Lexington — what else would you expect?
Kenny Brooks wakes up a “sleeping giant” in Kentucky WBB
Say what you want about Barnhart’s polarizing decision to retain John Calipari, but the guy hit one out of the freaking park on the other side of the Joe Craft Center. Kenny Brooks, formerly of Virginia Tech, was introduced as the next head coach of Kentucky women’s basketball and absolutely crushed it. I mean, crushed it, checking all of the boxes you hope for to lead a program that has underwhelmed in recent years, but clearly has top-of-the-SEC potential in terms of talent base, resources and passion for basketball.
The Wildcats finished in the top four of the SEC from 2009-17 and won the regular season title in 2012, tournament title in 2022. Brooks led the Hokies to four straight NCAA Tournaments and a Final Four in 2023. Dude has done nothing but win since taking over the VT program, and now he plans to do the same in Lexington.
“I know it’s in a rich history of the SEC, and the SEC’s leadership and where it’s going, you want to be aligned with that to try to create something very, very special,” Brooks said in his opening press conference. “When I added all that up, what I came up with was it’s gonna be a sleeping giant and it just needs to be awakened.”
A behind-the-scenes look at Brooks’ first day on the job
To close out the night, the school released a must-see video on Brooks’ first day in Lexington, starting with Barnhart picking him up on a private jet and showing him around the facilities before sitting down for his press conference.
“This practice facility is for…?” he asked his new AD.
“You,” Barnhart said.
“Just for me? Just women?”
“Just women.”
“Bless you.”
It’s a must-see clip to start your morning.
New-look Memorial Coliseum is beautiful
Brooks made it clear that part of his desire to take this job was the new-and-improved Memorial Coliseum, an $82 million investment that will be ready in time for the upcoming season. He wanted
“Not sure if I would be here if it weren’t,” Brooks said of the upgrades factoring into his decision. “In this day and age, it matters. It really does. It’s an arms race sometimes for facilities. You have to have something really nice to be able to lure them in.”
Barnhart said the seating capacity will be from 6,500-6,700, a “home environment that will be uniquely cool to us.”
The school shared some early renderings of the new facility at Brooks’ press conference — and it’s impressive.
Yeah, doesn’t get much better than that.
Adou Thiero enters portal, tests draft waters and considers return
As for the men’s side of things, that Thursday news dump wasn’t totally positive. One of the guys fans had their eyes on as a must-have next season among potential returners, Adou Thiero, decided to officially enter the transfer portal.
KSR also learned he will be testing the draft waters and will consider a potential return to Lexington, keeping all of his options open going into what would be his junior campaign.
Thiero averaged 7.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per contest in his second season with the Wildcats.
“It’s all there for him. He’s gotten so much better,” John Calipari said of Thiero to close out the regular season. “He’s not even what he was a year ago and what he is now. And I still think he’s going to be 6-9. He’s probably 6-7, maybe a little bit bigger now. By the time next year rolls around, he’ll be 6-9.”
Will that be at Kentucky, though? That’s for him to decide in the coming weeks.
Hey, how about Alabama beating North Carolina?
I know it’s hard to love March Madness right now, but we got some late-night excitement between two familiar faces (and foes) for a big upset? Led by Grant Nelson with 24 points and three other scorers of 18-plus, No. 4 seed Alabama took down No. 1 seed North Carolina to advance to the Elite Eight. On the other side, Armando Bacot had 19 and 12 to close out his 37-year career in Chapel Hill while Cormac Ryan added 17 and RJ Davis went for 16.
The Tide shot 47.8% from the field and 42.3% from three en route to the big-time victory and Elite Eight appearance. They will face off against No. 6 seed Clemson for a spot in the Final Four — wild, right?
Elsewhere, No. 1 seed UConn beat the brakes off of San Diego State (82-52 — woof) to advance alongside No. 3 Illinois State, who defeated No. 2 Iowa State. And then tonight, No. 1 Houston will take on No. 4 Duke while No. 2 Marquette will face off against No. 11 NC State in our intended slot. No. 1 Purdue will take on No. 5 Gonzaga and No. 2 Tennessee will take on No. 3 Creighton.
Great night of basketball. Wish we were there.
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