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'We have the resources.' Kenny Brooks confident Kentucky has the NIL, rev-share and fanbase to win national title

Screenshot 2023-11-10 at 1.25.30 PMby: Phoenix Stevens10/13/25PStevensKSR
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Photo of Kenny Brooks at 2025-26 Big Blue Madness by Dr. Michael Huang | Kentucky Sports Radio

Kentucky has never really been amongst the powerhouses in the sport of women’s basketball, even when the Valerie Still-led Lady Kats won the 1982 SEC Championship and made a run to the Elite Eight. Or when Matthew Mitchell took Kentucky to three Elite Eights in four years.

However, in this modern era of college athletics with UK Athletics being at the forefront of investing in women’s basketball, it feels like Kenny Brooks can do something really special in Lexington.

It’s clear that in order to win big nowadays, you have to be willing to spend the money when it comes to NIL and revenue-sharing. The schools that decide to invest in women’s basketball will be the ones raising banners, and that could end up being the case at Kentucky.

When Brooks took the stage following his epic Big Blue Madness entrance on Saturday, he addressed Big Blue Nation and made one thing very clear: the goal is to bring home a national title.

Kentucky has never been to a Final Four. Brooks himself has at Virginia Tech, but as for Kentucky, the Elite Eight is as far as they’ve ever been. After all, Brooks had Georgia Amoore and the greatest Hokie ever, Elizabeth Kitley, at his disposal, so what make’s him think that he can do what’s never been done before?

Well, it’s simple, really.

When you factor in funding from NIL, the piece of the pie that the women’s program is getting from revenue-sharing and having the best fanbase in college basketball — Big Blue Nation — behind them, Kenny Brooks believes Kentucky is set up perfectly to go do something special.

In an interview on the SEC Network+ broadcast at Big Blue Madness, Brooks said it best: “We have the resources.”

He added, “Mitch Barnhart, the administration, they do a tremendous job of passing that along to us, and I wanted to give myself a chance to win a national championship. If you can’t say it — if that’s not what you want to do — then it’s not going to happen. If you play in the best conference in the country and you compete in the best conference in the country, you give yourself a chance to win a national championship.”

“Resources” goes beyond dollars. Everything about the University of Kentucky makes it a haven for potential.

“So, the resources that we’re afforded — Lexington is a beautiful city,” Brooks continued. “Such a wonderful city. The University of Kentucky is a wonderful university — and the best fans. These are the best fans in the country. So, you couple all of that — all of that together — and you give yourself an opportunity.”

The quest for the program’s first national title begins on November 3rd against Morehead State. The season can’t get here soon enough.

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2025-10-19