Mitch Barnhart's expectation for Kentucky? "Find a way to do something in March."

If you expect Mitch Barnhart to make any big-picture decisions in the middle of basketball season — both men’s and women’s — you’re wasting your breath. Kentucky‘s athletic director is, however, keeping a close eye on their respective runs in March, just as he does every year.

“In both programs, you find a way to do something in March,” Barnhart told the Herald-Leader this week.

We’ll start with the men’s team, one with clear Final Four potential, but also some issues with discipline and consistency that could lead to an early exit. That’s how we got to the eight-loss mark with five regular-season games still to go.

Barnhart sees that potential, but also understands health has limited this team from hitting its ceiling in a timely manner. Going into the Alabama matchup, the Wildcats still have not played a complete game at full strength.

He wants to see what this group looks like with the entire roster available. His gut, though, is that they’ll figure out how to fire on all cylinders when those March lights flick on.

“We’ve got to get all of our guys on the court at the same time,” Barnhart said of John Calipari’s bunch. “I think that is certainly a focus. I have full understanding and thought that this team can make a deep run in March and can play with anybody. I mean, they’ve shown that.

“I think it’s just a matter of getting all of our pieces together and being able to practice and compete for extended periods of time. The good news is we’ve still got five regular season games left to find a way to get to Nashville and position ourselves well for the NCAAs. I like watching them play.”

As for the women’s program, which sits at 11-16 overall and 4-9 in the SEC under Kyra Elzy, Barnhart acknowledged what the rest of us see: the Cats are coming up short.

To their credit, though, they’ve won back-to-back games with a chance to prove themselves against the nation’s top-ranked team in South Carolina this weekend. And they’ll get the Gamecocks on their home floor, hosting them inside Rupp Arena on Sunday.

Factor in some of the March magic Elzy has found in the past, and it’s fair to go into these next few weeks with an open mind. That’s how Barnhart is viewing the situation on the other end of the hallway inside the Joe Craft Center — for now, at least.

“Women’s basketball is struggling to find a way to get to the top half of the league,” he said. “There’s no mystery in that. You can look at the record and see that. We’ve got a little bit of time left to do some things in the regular season, and then you get to the (SEC) tournament.

“Kyra has always had some success in the tournament. But at the end of the day, Kyra is one of ours and she has worked diligently hard to represent this program the right way, and we’ll just keep battling with her and our women on our team.”

Needless to say, an important month is on the horizon for UK Athletics.

[Herald-Leader]