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KSR's takeaways of Kentucky WBB at BBN United Fan Fest and Big Blue Madness

Screenshot 2023-11-10 at 1.25.30 PMby: Phoenix Stevens10/12/25PStevensKSR
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Kentucky women's basketball and The Memorial Memo at BBN United Fan Fest and Big Blue Madness

Big Blue Madness has always been a special event for Kentucky basketball, but that always hasn’t been the case on the women’s side. Even with the Matthew Mitchell dancing and whatnot, the girls have been lost in the shuffle a lot of the time.

Well, that’s not the case under Kenny Brooks.

UK Athletics has really made it known that Kentucky basketball is one brand — not two separate entities of men’s and women’s basketball. Yes, they are technically separate, but you get my point. It was a big day for the women’s program, so here are KSR’s takeaways from what was a truly special time on Saturday.

Hosting The Memorial Memo at Rupp Arena was a milestone moment for yours truly

Alright, I have to be selfish for a second. Is that okay? Good, thanks. It won’t be long, I promise.

Today was a really special day for me personally because for the first time ever, my podcast, The Memorial Memo, went remote to put on a live show for the listeners. Being able to be a part of BBN United Fan Fest was really, really cool, and on behalf of myself and everyone else here at KSR: thank you, UK Athletics, for putting on something special that included us too.

Of course, the biggest thanks goes out to you all — the fans, the listeners, the subscribers, Big Blue Nation. You’ve touched me in a way that I didn’t know was possible when I started this gig. Thank you to everyone who came up and shook my hand, thanked me for the content and asked for a photo or an autograph.

You made a Kentucky kid feel special. Today wasn’t about me by any means, but it felt like it for a short time. So, thanks.

If you didn’t catch myself and Zack Geoghegan on Episode 40 of The Memorial Memo, click below. It’s our biggest episode yet at 5.7K views as of me writing this, so keep adding to it.

Back to actual Kentucky women’s basketball takeaways. Well, not all the way.

Talking with Asia Boone 1-on-1 was really fun

I also got the privilege of being able to interview guard Asia Boone at BBN United Fest to get her thoughts on the event, Big Blue Madness, the upcoming season and more.

She’s going to play a pivotal role on this year’s team — getting minutes at point guard even though she spent a lot of time at Liberty playing at the two. Boone was really fun to speak with. So, here’s that if it got lost a bit in all of the (big blue) madness.

It was a MASSIVE recruiting day with several five-star visitors at Big Blue Madness

KSR learned early Saturday that there would be some very significant five-star visitors in the building for Big Blue Madness in order to capture the grandeur of the event. To see who those visitors were, click here.

Brooks and the staff just added to their 2026 recruiting class — the best in the country, may I add — by picking up a commitment from four-star guard Emily McDonald. However, that doesn’t mean the ‘crootin stops.

While it seems likely that Kentucky may be done in the 2026 class, the future beyond that still has to be shaped.

Want more Kentucky basketball intel? Join KSR Plus for access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.

Kenny Brooks’ swag didn’t go anywhere

Last year, Kenny Brooks entered Big Blue Madness by making a very slow, dramatic walk out onto the floor from within the tunnels of Rupp Arena. It was awesome, but if he ran it back again, it could’ve start to become stale. So, he pivoted and did something different.

Instead of a very drawn out introduction, we were blessed with an awesome video package narrated by Kentucky legend Makayla Epps with the theme being about Kenny’s “record-breaking” first year at Kentucky and how it’s only up from here.

And when I say “record-breaking”, I mean he was literally breaking records.

It’ll be interesting to see what Brooks has in store for next year’s Madness. It may be hard to top his first two entrances, but knowing Brooks, he can just re-channel his swag and come up with something even better.

The end goal? Go win the program’s first national title

Following Brooks’ entrance, he took the stage to address Big Blue Nation — but above all else — to let the world know that the party is just getting started.

Last year was great with all of the “record-breaking” accomplishments, but Brooks made it known that this is only the beginning. As he put it when talking on the stage, “We will not stop until we become National Champions.”

Kentucky has been to four Elite Eights, but the Final Four still eludes them. Is this the year that weight is lifted off the program’s shoulders?

Amelia Hassett, Asia Boone shined in the three-point contest

Getting into the actual basketball side of things, we saw some really good shooting from Asia Boone and Amelia Hassett. Throughout this offseason, we’ve heard that Boone is one of the better shooters on the team — and Brooks even called her one of the better shooters in the country in his recent interview on The Memorial Memo — and for good reason.

Boone started off the three-point contest at Big Blue Madness by hitting what felt like 100 consecutive threes to give her 24 points in the opening round. It was truly incredible to see. Not only that, but Rupp was in a frenzy with each swoosh of the net. It was golden.

Then, in the final round, Hassett secured the trophy by going on her own hot streak, tallying up a score of 25 as she caught fire toward the end. She made the finals last year as well before ultimately falling to Dazia Lawrence, but she got her get-back this time around.

There is no better time to be a women’s basketball fan than NOW

From talking to people in and around the program as well as the fanbase, it’s pretty clear that Kentucky women’s basketball has reached its peak level of popularity as the sport itself has grown — but again, as Mark Stoops once said, “We’re just getting started, bro”.

I’ll tell you all right now — there were a number of fans, media and all kinds of folks connected to other schools telling me all day long that, “Oh, man, this thing they’re doing at Kentucky is actually pretty sick.” So, props to UK Athletics for a special, special day as we gear up for basketball in the Bluegrass. No other women’s basketball program is getting exposure like this.

There is a very fun season waiting to be experienced, and the sooner it gets here, the better. Let’s have a hell of a season. Go Cats.

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2025-10-20