Brooks Giddy Over Win, Staff, Sweet 16, Hotel, Restaurant

Kenny Brooks had some tense moments during his team's win over West Virginia but he was all smiles after the win. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Who could blame Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks for being just a bit giddy after his team escaped with a 74-73 victory at No. 4 seed West Virginia Monday?

Brooks lost in the 2024 NCAA Tournament when Virginia Tech was a No. 4 seed and hosted. Same thing last year at Kentucky when UK was a No. 4 seed and lost at home when Georgia Amoore’s last second shot against Kansas State danced off the rim much like West Virginia’s final shot did Monday.

Now Kentucky is headed to No. 1 seed Texas to play Saturday at 3 p.m. Kentucky lost 64-53 at Texas Feb. 9 but UK trailed only 49-48 before the Longhorns pulled away in the final seven minutes.

Brooks admitted getting the win to earn a Sweet Sixteen bid was a “smell the roses” moment for him.

“I’m too old to be living life and not stopping and smelling the roses. With that mentality, I adopted it a couple years ago, and it’s allowed me to enjoy moments like this even more so,” Brooks said after the West Virginia win. “We’re going to be prepared (for Texas). We’re going to be ready for the next opportunity, but you’ve got to really embrace it.

“I have a group of young women in that locker room that are so much fun to be around. They’re great kids. They’re very smart. I think they have like a 3.5 (GPA). Not one of them has been late to a meeting yet. They tell the bus driver yes, sir, or thank you every time they get off the bus.

“When you have a group like that and they’re good at basketball, you’d better stop and smell the roses because you never know, and you want to make sure that you enjoy every second of it. That’s what I’m doing with this group.

“In two years (at UK) — not just the team, but my coaching staff. In two years, we got here in two years, and we were a missed shot away last year from going to the Sweet 16, then we were one point win this year going to the Sweet 16. We’ve been a ranked basketball team every week that we’ve been at Kentucky. That’s a tribute to my staff, to the young people that we brought in, everybody believing in what we’re trying to do.

“To do this in two years, it’s pretty remarkable. So heck, yeah, I’m going to sit back and smell the roses and really enjoy this because we’ve gotten so much support. That’s one of the reasons why I came here. I wanted to come here to be on this stage. If it weren’t for the guidance of (athletics director) Mitch Barnhart, I wouldn’t be here. It was like, okay, we want something bigger. We want to be able to compete consistently.

“The support that we get, it allows us to do so. As we move forward, we’ve got three McDonald’s All-Americans coming in next year, and the trajectory of Kentucky women’s basketball is on the rise. It’s a testament to the hard work that our kids put in, but also my staff puts in.”

Brooks enjoyed his “smell the roses” moment so much that he did something I don’t remember a coach doing before at the NCAA. He praised where his team stayed and ate in Morgantown.

“I also want to give a shout out to The Cranberry. That’s the hotel we stayed at. If you have not been there, their hospitality in a very short amount of time to accommodate us was really good. They treated us very well,” the Kentucky coach said. “Then The Tropics, I don’t know if you’ve been to the Tropics restaurant over there. Food was unbelievable. They kept us afloat. They really kept us afloat.

“I know it’s tough when you have — because I’ve been there, and you don’t know if you’re hosting. Then all of a sudden, we went to eat one night, and there was a Marriott. I’m like why aren’t we staying there? I think there was some youth something going on there. But I really appreciate the hospitality. The Cranberry, they did a tremendous job, and The Tropics restaurant. If you guys live in Morgantown and you haven’t been to The Tropics, you need to get there. It’s really good.”