April 30, 2025 • 43 mins
Welcome to episode sixteen of Behind Kentucky Basketball presented by UK Federal Credit Union! Kenny Brooks sits down with Michelle Knezovic to discuss Year 1 at Kentucky. The achievements in his first year att the helm and how he plans to continue that success in Year 2.
Presented by: UK Federal Credit Union
Presented by: UK Federal Credit Union
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So you mentioned that success there. I'm going to read
off some things that were accomplished in year one. Signed
eleven new players, hired eleven new coaches and staff, a
four seed and a double buy in the SEC tournament,
a four seed, and hosting the NCAA tournament. Twenty plus wins,
ten plus SEC wins, produced two hoop Haul finalists, earned
(00:22):
five AP top twenty five wins, sold out reserve season tickets,
sold out four games, some nine school records broken, and
a National Coach of the Year.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Wow, hold on, let me wake up. And that's like
a dream?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Could you have written a better script?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You know? I don't know if Disney would about it,
you know, because you know it was it's almost a
little too far fetched, you know, especially you know, just
coming in and doing that, and but it just I'm
very proud, very proud of everything you just said, because
it took a team effort.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Okay, well, first off, you're one in the bucks as
we sit here on April twenty fourth. I mean, just
describe in a few words.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
When you look back at this year emotional, you know,
just just an array of emotions throughout the year, just
because you're going in you can anticipate, but you don't
have an expectation until you actually go through it. You know,
it's just a whirlwind. Just trying to get to work
for a long time, you know, without my GPS, and
then trying to navigate the building, you know when I
(01:36):
needed to get you know, my ID out for a
code or whatnot, and just learning every face that walked
past you and said, hey, how can we help you?
We're looking forward to the season. And then you gather
a group of young women together who you have no idea,
you know, what to expect other than you have talent,
and then just watching them grow, come together, hand with
(01:59):
it verse throughout the year, and then to be able
to put together a product as such, and to go
out and be able to compete in the SEC one
of the best leagues, if not the best league in
the country, but all the while doing it with dignity,
with grace, having so much fun. Probably one of the
most enjoyable seasons I've ever been involved in, just because
(02:22):
of those factors in the way that the kids came together.
And then you know, you add in BBN. You know,
you talk about Big Boot Nation in Kentucky and basketball.
The reason I came here was because the van base
was so avid and they were going to be able
to get behind you and support you. But you have
no idea, and then you go through it, you know,
and then it's you know, better than you thought. The
(02:43):
season was better than some anticipated. But it was a
very joyful season. Emotional with all the roller coasters, but
at the end of the day, it was very, very enjoyable.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So you sit here today after a phenomenal season, so
many changes, so many new things. But do you remember
maybe what you were feeling on April twenty fourth last year.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, I thought I was crazy, and not in a
bad way, you know. Obviously it's well documented that, you know,
I was going through a lot with my family, you know,
my wife's medical condition, and no one in their right
mind would pick up and move during that situation. But
with a lot of prayer, her blessings, she looked at
(03:26):
the opportunity and she said, we can't pass it up.
You know, I want this for you. I want you
to have an opportunity. I'll be okay, and you know,
just you know, leaving her back in Virginia for a
little while, getting here, and then all of a sudden
I'm just like, you know, what is going on? You know,
how do I get to work? You know? How do
I figure everything out? But you knew that there was
(03:48):
excitement underneath all of that turmoil because this was like
a sleeping giant and there was a lot of opportunities
out there and your life just changes, you know, your
life just changes. But with the help of the community,
Big Blue Nation, just so many people were very very supportive. Yeah,
and welcoming and uh. And when you can feel welcomed
(04:09):
and you feel like your family is okay, then you
can go be a coach and uh. And that's what
I felt. But it was, it was it was a
crazy time, you know, and but it was one that
we were able to get through it because of the support,
you know that we received immediately.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
How gratifying was it to have Chrissy here and then
also two of your girls who you know, Gabby on
the team and Kendall on staff with you, and also
to be able to celebrate her this year at the Pink.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Came we know it. Uh. I am family first, and
you know the best title that I'll they'll have is
father and husband And that's what means the most to me.
And you know, growing up, I was a college basketball
player and my coach, my mentor, Leffy Giselle, you know,
he showed me, you know that you can have family
(04:56):
and you can mix it with business and if you
incorporate it, and you have to have the right mindset
you have to have. You have to be thick skinned,
you have to be tough, because lazy narrative is always
going to come after your children, or come after the
situation if things don't go the way that they're expected
to go. But I think it has strengthened our family,
(05:16):
our values, our love for each other. We have each
other's back. And for me seeing them around, seeing their smiles,
me getting bonus time with my daughters because for so long,
for so long, you know, trying to build a career,
you're so busy building a life that you don't live
a life. And I missed out on so much, you know,
(05:38):
on recitals or practices or games. I'm at someone else's
game where my daughter has a game and I'm missing it.
And then for me to be able to incorporate them
into what I'm doing right now, it's bonus time. It's
probably the best feeling that I can have watching them
enjoy the team atmosphere. Gabby is working working hard to
(06:00):
see her score her first basket this year is probably
one of the biggest joys of my of my coaching career,
so much so that I couldn't even hide my smile.
It just kind of boom comes up because you know,
I know everything that she's gone through, you know, and
you know, her dad is the coach, so she catches
stray sometimes so to speak. You know, you know, people
want to come after me, well then they'll go after her.
(06:21):
But that just really strengthens our relationship. But coach Grizelle
taught me that you can do that, and I saw
him incorporate it. I saw, you know, my affection for
his family. His wife would come and love on us
and hug on us when he would yell let us
and you know, and so you know, those are just
things that you need. You need that balance. And and
then having my family around, having Kendo and Chloe around,
(06:44):
Chloe and then Gabby. I think sometimes it humanizes me
to our players, you know, because they look at me,
you know, one way, as a coach, coach, coach, but
then they can also see me as a dad and
they'd come over to my house and they see how
I interact, and so that just helps build, you know,
the trust with all of us, and it really helps
(07:05):
us develop a family atmosphere. And I think when people
ask me a lot, they say, well, why do your
kids play so hard for You's because they trust us,
they know us. It's a relationship based. It's not just hey,
that's coach, that's player. You guys figure it out. There's
a lot of trust in there because of the relationships
that we built.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And I think coach from the outside looking in, you know,
your two daughters, but then your loyalty and also bringing
your staff from Virginia Tech to Kentucky and having that
culture built. Why was that important for you to bring
so many people here that you've coached with for a
while and know the way that you like to run things.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It was important. It's necessary. I don't do it all
by myself. I have the best staff that you can
have in the country, one that's very experienced. We've been
through a lot together. You know, we've handled adversity and
still succeeded. You know, we went to a final four.
We were short a coach because we had one coach
that that wasn't with us throughout the whole season, and
(08:02):
they had to pick up the slack and they were
able to do it. They gained valuable experience that way,
and I've often said that, you know, the trust that
you have within your staff, you know, if you take
another job and your staff doesn't follow you, you know,
that kind of speaks volumes a little bit. You know,
what are you? Are you guys coworkers or are you family?
And we're family. And so for me to be able
(08:24):
to have them in tow that first couple of days
when I was here by myself, I was lost. I
didn't know what to do. And once I got coach Hicks,
coach Rad and Tim and the building, everything started to flow.
Everything started to flow, and we were able to start
the direction of this program. We were able to start
(08:45):
getting in recruits in. I can remember the first few
days that they were here and we would meet every
day over at one of the local hotels, and we
were just drained, but we were all like, okay, let's continue,
let's go. And we built that off of the strength
of each other, you know, fighting it. And then when
we brought our players in, you know, to have success
(09:08):
you know, and obviously it's documented that the previous two
years before we won six conference games we got here.
This year we won eleven. You know, we almost tied
you know, the win total from the previous two years,
and that was all because of the familiarity that we
had with each other. We brought players Georgia Amore who
(09:28):
knew anything and everything about me. She was able to
trickle it down to Clara Strack who had played one
season for me, Gabby who had played a season for me.
And then we had three recruits that we had recruited previously,
but we knew them, they knew us, so it wasn't
a hey, let's get to know each other type deal.
And I think that really accelerated our success. And you know,
(09:49):
just having the mindset, ow winning mindset and understanding what
it takes to win. But a lot of that was because,
you know, there's a lot of trust because of we
are family, and I can lay that I can just
really a test that to all the wins, the success
that we had this year, just because we knew each other,
we knew how to read each other, and it trickled
down to everyone else.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
So you mentioned that success there I'm going to read
off some things that were accomplished in year one. Signed
eleven new players, hired eleven new coaches and staff, a
four seed and a double buy in the SEC tournament
a four seed, and hosting the NCAA tournament, twenty plus wins,
ten plus SEC wins, produced two Hoop Haul finalists, earned
(10:32):
five AP top twenty five wins sold, that reserve season
tickets sold out, four games, saw nine school records broken,
and a National Coach of the Year.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Wow, hold on, let me wake up. And that's like
a dream.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Could you have written a better script?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
You know, I don't know Disney would about it, you know,
because you know it was it's almost a little too
far fetched, you know, especially you know, just coming in
and doing that. But it just I'm very proud, very
proud of everything you just said, because it took a
team effort, sure, and the way that we came together.
And you know, when we started off last summer, I
(11:07):
felt like we had a very good basketball team, a
team that could contend for championship, and I was over
the moon excited about it. And then we had adversity
where we lost two players who I had pencilvanas starters. Yeah,
and I thought they were going to contribute in a
major way and they went down. And at that time,
you know, it was either you know, all right, we're
(11:29):
gonna reinvent ourselves or we're gonna fold. Sure, and I
never saw hesitation on anyone's face. It was like, Okay,
we have to reinvent ourselves and uh. And so to
accomplish everything that you just said is amazing, especially considering
everything we had to go through, UH and starting brand new.
You know, we had never we signed that group, we
had never taken a shot in Historic Memorial Coliseum and UH.
(11:52):
And for us to be able to accomplish that is
a testament to the hard work. But the family type
atmosphere that we have.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
We're gonna go through a couple pillars of year one
and just what you remember, I mean, you mentioned your
daughter getting her first bucket U see Upstate, your first
wins the Kentucky head coach, What do you remember about
that game?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I remember walking out and being a little bit nervous
just because I didn't know the layout. Sure, you know,
I didn't know what it was going to be like
when I walked out, I didn't know, you know what
people were going to expect or what their impressions would be,
because let's face it, you know, we we have to
win basketball games, but it's also our job to entertain.
(12:33):
You know. I don't know too many people who want
to see a forty two to forty win, unless it's
against Louisville. They'll be okay then, but you know, but
they but they want to be entertained. And I think
we play up entertaining style of basketball. And so it's
like rehearsing for a play and now you're on display,
you know, now it's showtime, and and just just getting
(12:54):
the feels of the arena, you know what the sound
system was going to sound like, you know, the PA announcer,
the cheerleaders in the building, you know, just the fans,
you know, where they going to be on top of you,
where they're going to be loud. And so there was
a there was a whole gamut of emotions going through.
And then once we you know, settled in and start playing,
(13:15):
everyone I started performing. Well. It was a really good
experience and it felt like it feels like a little
mini NBA arena, and with the sounds and the feel
of it, and so I was very excited.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
How long do you think it took you to get
your game day routine? Like that might be something people
might not think about, but you had a routine for
however many years you're at JMU and then Virginia Tech.
I mean, was that something that you had to refigure
out how to do here?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It's huge. People don't realize that. I think they just
see that. They think that you just appear on the
side and you go coach. Your routine is huge. And
I'm not superstitious. I'm little stitious, all right, So yeah,
I don't want to be like think about everything that
I do, but I think about everything that I do,
and sometimes I'll know what shoes I wore if we won,
(14:04):
I'll know what shoes we wore if we didn't play well.
And then I'm like, okay, I'll put those shoes in
the back of the closet. You know. I try not
to remember, you know, the routine that I have, like
when I walk out, because I don't want it to
be in my head. So that's why I say, I'm
a little stitches, So I think about all that stuff.
But it did. It probably took me until probably halfway through,
(14:28):
probably after Christmas when we start the SEC. When I
finally started getting into a routine, you know, like I
used to at Virginia Tech. I would take my pregame
meal home, eat it, talk with my wife, get ready
for the game, come back. Well here, I can't because
you can't travel down Nicholasville Road during that time and
(14:52):
get back. So I had to learn to sit in
my office and I would watch Andy Griffith before the games,
and I would kind of watch film, but any g
Griffith would be on, and then I would go down
and then get ready for the games. But it took
me probably to go after Christmas to really get my
routine downpat And part of it is because I'm little stitious,
(15:14):
not superstitious, so I didn't want to develop it, but
I always ended up doing it.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I love that little stitshes little stitches. So this year, Coach,
you found yourself in similar situations but in different seats.
And what I mean by that is when the Louisville
came up, Louisville game came up. You know, you faced
Louisville in the ACC it was a battle between you two.
But now you're sitting in the Kentucky head coaching chair.
How different was that share with that rivalry.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
It was very different. And then obviously Jeff Walls and
I we have a relationship, the one that was built
when I was in the ACC and when I first
got to Virginia Tech, they were a team that we
were chasing. You know, they were the standard. You know,
they were winning, they were going to final fours, and
I think we lost to them, you know, my first
few years we were there. And finally, you know, at
(16:01):
the latter part of my career there, we were able
to compete with them. We beat them a couple of times,
including the ACC championship game. So we had built, you know,
a respect, and then when I came here, we carried
that respect on, you know, and I knew we were
playing uh at that time, I was saying Louisville and
(16:21):
and that's the way that you know, we looked at it. Louisville, Okay,
it's going to be a really tough game. You know,
we got to chase them, to try to catch them,
because they were the standard. But when I got here,
I very quickly became Louisville yep, okay, And I'm like okay,
And everyone kept talking about it. And the blue and
the red and you know, the dominance of the state
(16:44):
and what it was and uh. And then that week
we were preparing for the game as it was Louisville,
and everyone kept talking about Louisville and I'm like, okay,
it's just another game. It's just another game, and that's
why we prepped for it. And when we walked out there,
it was a totally different buzz. It was totally different,
(17:04):
you know. The game. The game was as intense as
any game I've ever been around. It was exciting, went
down to the wire, goes overtime. And when we won
that game, we were walking off the court, I had
a blackout moment and all of a sudden, I don't
even remember doing it, but I'm pumping my fist, you know,
to the crowd. And the only reason I know it
because somebody captured it on camera. But it was a
(17:28):
different feel. And then we walked out and then the
celebration began, you know, when you know, everyone was coming
up to you and they were thanking you, and you know,
I don't know if I paid for a meal all week,
you know, after that, But it was just the enthusiasm,
the excitement and later on I found out that I
think it was the first time we had beaten them
in eight years. I think it was. And then you
(17:50):
understood the rivalry. And I don't think i've called it
Louisville since you know it's Louisville and so, but I
think it's very healthy, not only for the state, but
for women's back squad in general, to generate that much
interest for a basketball game and something that's very special.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
And you mentioned Kentucky being the sleeping giant. I feel
like historic Memorial Coliseum, that game was unleashed and you
got to see what an atmosphere and a home atmosphere
can be like in that game. We'll move forward to
your first SEC win. I remember you said in a
press conference that you felt like it was the first
day of school. You were a little nervous the night before,
(18:28):
just because you'd never coached in this conference. You'd seen teams,
but you've never coached a season in this conference. What
comes up when you think about that first SEC win?
And then we'll really just look at how successful this
team was in the conference.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah, I mean eight years in the ACC you pretty
much have it on cruise control. You know, the style
the fit, the feel of the league. You know each opponent,
you know the coaches what to prepare for and coming
into the SEC. I remember I got the job up
and a few of the SEC coaches they text me
(19:03):
and they were like, welcome to the jungle, and I'm
like okay. And then from that point on, everyone was like,
are you ready for the SEC? Are you ready for
the SEC? And in my mind I kept thinking to myself, well,
is the SEC ready for us? I never said it,
but then they kept saying it, kept saying it, and
then I remember one time it just slipped out. I'm like, well,
(19:23):
it's the SEC ready for us. After that point it
was like, okay, you better be ready. And so we
went into that game Mississippi State, very good basketball team,
made to the n cl A Tournament, and we were
playing okay leading up to that, and I didn't really
know how they would all respond. Georgia her first SEC game, okay,
(19:47):
Dejah Lawrence had never played, you know, an opponent like
that consistently. Claire Strack, you know, her first really prominent
role as a starter. Tianni Key, same thing, Amelia hass
At her first conference game, and we didn't know how
they would really respond. We also had Kaylen Carroll, she
(20:09):
came down to visit another recruit that I can't say
her name. She was in the building too, So it
was really special. It's really special, and we were on
display for everyone to see. You know, the recruits had
made their decision to come play for us. Okay, they're
wanting to see what we were going to look like.
We had a lot of questions about ourselves and we
(20:29):
go out and man, it's like the rim was like
that big, you know, and I felt like they could
have closed their eyes and just threw it up and
it was going to go in. The execution was great.
They came out and I think they made a statement.
They made a statement. I think they put a lot
of people on notice. But more importantly, they built confidence
within themselves, you know, because we had some good wins
(20:50):
against Louisville, we had disappointing laws to North Carolina, and
I think that springboarded us into you know, a run.
I think we won seven straight SEC games. But that
was That's a game that I'll always remember because I
just felt like, you know, it was relief, sure, you know, relief, excitement,
(21:11):
joy all rolled into one and It's a game that
I'll go back and watch if I want a little
feel good moment. I'm sitting on the on the back porch.
That's one of the games I'll pop in and watch
just because, you know, I really enjoyed the way that
they played that one.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
And maybe the Tennessee one.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Tennessee is definitely one. I had that on repeat on repeat.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That's a good one. Yeah, you mentioned family culture. This
team in year one really setting the standard for you.
Georgia and Desa, your your veteran backcourt. Of those two women,
I mean, what was it like being able to see
them And we talk a lot about Georgia, but really
seeing how DASA thrived moving from the American Conference to
(21:50):
the SEC.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I will be forever indebted to those two young women
for the rest of my life, especially my career, for
what they were able to do for this program in
year one. Dejah Lawrence, you know, she is a remarkable
young lady. She will be a CEO of some company
(22:12):
one day. I just don't know which one it's going
to be, but whatever she touches is going to be very,
very successful. She knows how to read a room. She
comes in tremendous leader, not only by example, but a
vocal leader. She has a way of leading young people
and that they want to follow her, and just a
tremendous spirit. And she came in and you know, she
(22:32):
was a focal point of everything that they did at
UNC Charlotte. She came in and was able and willing
to sacrifice a little bit of herself for the betterment
of the team, just because she loved to win. I
learned I had to learn how to coach her because
whatever I said, she took her to heart, and that
there was no gray area. If I said, you know,
I remember one game, I said, you know, Daja, she
(22:53):
came down on a fast break and she shot the ball,
and you know, just trying to teach her, you know,
some other opportunities that she could have had. I said,
you could have come down and you could have passed
the ball for one more and we could have got
a better shot. Well, she took that to heart. At halftime,
and then the second half she stopped shooting. She was
passing it every time, every time, just because she wanted
(23:14):
to please meet the team and everyone. And so we
found a balance in that and where she was able
to play freely. But just the way that she led
is a big reason why we were successful this year.
And you know, she watched and she learned and she
applied and that was a beautiful thing. And then Georgia Amore,
I think it's well documented. You know, that's my little
(23:36):
mini me, you know, and she jumped on board very
quickly and took a more of a leadership role. You know,
at Virginia Tech, she was a leader, but she kind
of deferred a lot to some of the other older players.
This year, she took full rain and she came out
and she just led. She knew exactly what I wanted.
(23:56):
She was my little interpreter, you know. If I would
get out to the team and she would go in
the locker room and she would say, well, he said this,
but he really means that. You know, when he's like this,
you guys have to do that. And I think that
was just like a cheat code. And I watched her
grow this year into something that I could only have
dreamt her doing. This year, she left everything that she knew.
(24:18):
She took a blind leap of faith with me to
come here, put her WNBA dreams on hold, to try
to better herself. With a group of young women that
she knew nothing about, and she did it with grace.
She came in and she worked very very hard, had
her best year, had her best year, you know, all around,
(24:38):
and she was like a little coach on the floor.
One of my favorite stories with her this year. We
were playing at Purdue and they were playing what I
thought was a zone and we were very stagnant on offense.
We just couldn't get the movement. I'm like, they're everywhere
we are. And finally, six or seven possessions in, she
comes over to me and she says, coach, they're in
(24:59):
a box and one me, what do you want to run?
And if I was a cartoon character, you would have
saw the light bulb go over on my head. I'm like, oh,
that's what that is. Well, let's do this and do
that and do this. We ended up winning by thirty,
but that's in our relationship. There was so much trust
that she could come over to me and tell coach
what's going on and coach didn't get offended, and coach
(25:20):
took advice from the player. But that's how special our
relationship was, and it morphed into that even more so
this year because we felt like we were all we
had in the beginning, because we didn't know anything else,
and we grew closer together and as a result, she
had a phenomenal year which you know ended, you know,
in storybook fashion with her getting drafted to the WNBA.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Being with her in New York for that moment. Just
walk us through what that draft night was like.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
You know, it was very special. And I'll go back
a year. Elizabeth Kitley, who you know only Kentucky fans
won't know her, but she got injured late in the year,
got a late invite to the WNBA, and I wasn't
able to go with her because it was late invite.
(26:08):
My wife had a chemo treatment the very next morning,
so I wasn't able to be there with her. And
it's something that really bothered me because just like Elizabeth
and Georgia, it was five years together building to get
to that moment, and so it was devastated wasn't able
to get there. So when this opportunity came and Georgia
(26:29):
got invited, you know, I was excited to be able
to go, to have the opportunity to go, and because
it is this accumulation of just all the years of
hard work. Every day I would go out there and
work with them. It was to get to this moment,
to get to this moment, and it was such a
just a milestone, you know, a monumental moment because not
everyone gets it's only fifteen players to get invited every year,
(26:52):
and so when Georgia got the invite, you know, we're very,
very excited. I'm not a New York City fan. I
don't like the city. I just yeah, Lexington is is perfect.
It's fast, it's you know, it's just a hustle and
the bustle. But there was no place I'd rather have
been that night, just because watching the way the w
n b A, the way they've treated the players, it
(27:15):
it was unbelievable. You know, it's first class, you know,
just giving them education on what to expect, meeting people,
seeing the players that you compete against so much, seeing them,
you know, get dressed up, you know, looking like business
women and being paraded on national TV when nothing else
is going on. It's their night. You know, everyone's focused
(27:35):
in on the w n b A and and it's
like a who's who of women's basketball in that in
that area. And so I was very very proud because
Kentucky was very well represented. You know, Georgia went out,
she she killed all the interviews. She was stunning in
her outfit, and it was proud Papa moment. So when
(27:56):
they when the cameras were on, like so they kind
of like a cheat code. I guess the camera people
got kind of tipped off of of who was about
to get drafted, because they would come up to the
table and they would like, Okay, the camera's ready. Then
the announcement was made and they'd get the expressions, which
makes sense. Yeah, And so when the camera came over
(28:17):
to us right before ger Georgia got uh uh selected,
I don't think I've ever been as nervous as I
had no my whole life. You know, my heart was
ba pounded really fast. I look over at her and
I'm I'm just talking gibberish. I I just just like
I gotta say something. I don't know what to say,
but i'm'a say something stupid. Yeah, and uh and sh
I looked at her and she was just so calm,
(28:39):
just so calm. And when they when they announced her name,
it was almost like slow motion. It was like the
Washington Mystic select George uh, And it was like in
a moment for me, and we were able to get
up and we we do a little handshake before every
game that honors her her late grandfather, and we were
able to do that right in front of her mom,
and her mom had no idea what it was, and
(29:00):
when she found out what it meant, she just lost it.
But to be able to have that embrace, watch her
go up there and represent, but also to know it
was accumulation of a lot of hard work to get
her to that point, because no one, including ourselves, could
have imagined that she was going to be able to
get on that stage, have those accomplishments, and be able
to walk across that stage and shake the commissioner's hand,
(29:23):
you know, as the number six pick. That's the highest
draftic I've ever had. And so it was. It was
a wonderful, wonderful night, and then to be able to
celebrate it throughout the evening was tremendous.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
The camera got a great shot of the handshake. I
saw that on my couch.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
And when Georgia after she got drafted, Holly Row asked her,
you know, what's the secret sauce to the jump shot?
Or something like that, and she's had her quads in
Kenny Brother. Oh yeah, yeah, I don't know if you
heard that when you were sitting there.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I did. I did. I got a chuckle out of
it because you know, it just again, it's just so
many flashbacks, and you know, just teaching her things that
was already inside of her, but just unleashing it. And
you know, just the ability that she had, and the
more and more I gave her, she was very comfortable
with being uncomfortable. I would put her in situations where okay,
(30:14):
go master it, and she would and then she would
look at me like, Okay, what's next, And so she
challenged me as a coach. She made me better in
that aspect. And then just I mean, I can't tell
you how many hours that we worked together, and a
lot of it was relationship ability, you know, just being
down there one on one, get to learn each other,
learning her dreams, her goals, her aspirations, and then putting
(30:38):
it to the test and then her coming through on
it is just it's the best feeling and it's why
you coach. It's why you coach. Now. Georgia is the
epitome where she has reached that ultimate goal. But I'm
just equally as proud of you know, I got players.
I got a player who was a biomedical engineer major
and she forewent her last year of eligible so that
(31:00):
she could go go with a startup company. And they
make like the masks that you see, you know, NBA
players wearing break their nose, you know, And she'll come
up to me and she'll say, yeah, I made that mask,
and I'm just like, you know, so I'm equally as
proud of that. And that's why you coach. And it's
not just watching the ones who reached the ultimate goal
of basketball. But you know, those are just stories that
(31:24):
you know, keep you going. They keep you going when
there's so much negativity, you know, and people will say, well,
how can you live through negativity? Because you know it's true,
and you know the impact that you do make, you know,
and that's what you thrive on, that's what you know,
live for and that's what really keeps me going.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Well. And I know, an exciting thing for Kentucky fans
as you turn the page to year two the triplets, Yeah,
looking to see how they grow from year one to two.
I mean, what are you looking for and Amelia Hassett,
yianni Key, and Claire Strack.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Well, if this postseason is any indication, they're ready for
a huge jump, ready for huge jump, and I think
they've had guidance that's going to really help them become
great leaders. Amelia has it we'll get to play more
of a natural position next year with the depth that
we've created, and I'm excited for her. She did a
(32:16):
wonderful job for us last year. Probably probably hit a
wall a little bit just because we had to use her,
you know, so many different ways. We were asking her
on one end to guard the best player and rebound
and come down the other end and make some shots,
and she did a really good job, really good job
at it, and I was very very proud of her
and pleased with her. She's working extremely hard to add
(32:38):
some things to her game. Tiani Key very very proud
of her and what she went through. She went through
three years of playing at another school and not really
having a prominent role and then coming here and being
thrust into you know, production, We need you to produce,
and so she would probably say it was a little
(32:59):
bit more inconsistent than she would have liked. I will
say it was a great first year and a great
stepping stone to what she can become. We're adding stuff
to her game that's going to be very marketable for
her at the next level. You know, I've had so
many people come up to me, whether it's w NBA
people or agents or what and they say, hey, we're
(33:19):
excited about Tiani Key next year because she's six foot four,
she's long, she's athletics, she's smooth, she can handle the basketball,
she can block shots. There's a lot of things that
she can do, and we're excited about, you know, her
next steps. And then Clara Clara, Clara just has that
it factor. You know, she's competitive, she's not afraid of anything,
(33:44):
and she's getting better. You know, we're having workouts with
her right now and we've expanded her game where she's
shooting at three and she's shooting it exceptionally well. You know,
I can work out Georgia at ten o'clock and Clara
at eleven o'clock and there's no difference in a three
point shooting, you know, because we have we have a
little tracker, and she shoots the ball exceptionally well right now.
(34:05):
And last year we were teaching her how to shoot,
you know, And so there were times in the season
where she would miss three, four in a row, five
in a row, go a couple of games without making one,
and I kept encouraging her to shoot it because you
were teaching her how to shoot in a game. So
this year, the expectation is she's going to shoot a lot.
You know, she's going to be a matchup nightmare for
(34:26):
a lot of different people. And and you know she'll
be a w NBA draft pick, you know, in two years.
And so you know, the future is very bright with
those three. And I'm excited for what they're going to do.
But I think the I think they're going to make
a huge jump on and off the floor that's going
to help us continue what was started this year.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
And then two players that you mentioned, coach, who you
marked in as starters, but Jordan Obie coming from the
IVY League Ivy League and Dom what or how are
they at least right now as far as like their
injuries working out? And then what do you think.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
They can bring to the table in your love both
of them, and you know, as devastating as it was
to not have them, they were the missing pieces last
year and we would still be playing right now. They
were playing and even though there's no basketball to be played,
that's how good we would have been. You just kept going,
He just kept going, kept going. But it means that
we get them for this year, you know, And that's
(35:20):
the silver lining. Dom is energy. She's energy sitting out
this year. She's worked extremely hard in her rehab to
get better and she's not cleared fully yet, but she
will be probably a little bit ahead of a schedule
with her recovery. But in the process she's put on
(35:41):
about eight to ten pounds of muscle, which she needed,
and she provides length at the guard position. She's long,
she's athletic, she's fearless. I think that's that Eastern European
and her where she would just go after anything and
very loud vocal. When Dom hits our offices, we know
(36:01):
she's there. She can be one hundred feet away from us,
but we know she's in there. But she's a joy.
She's a joy and I think BBN is gonna love
watching her because she just gives everything that she has.
She was she was a key, you know, piece to
Oregon State's run to the lead eight. She was a
sixth man on that team, and so she has experience
NCAA experience, and now that's gonna bode well for us
(36:24):
as we lose Deja Lawrence and then Jordan. You know, Jordan,
Jordan probably would have been our second or third leading
scorer last year, that's how prolific of a score she is.
Jordan has the ability to do things I've never had
in a player before. And that's saying a lot, you know,
because I've had draft picks, I've had Georgia, I've had
(36:47):
a lot of players before that. But Jordan can do
things that just makes me go wow. Now we have
to get her the mental side of it to where, okay,
she's ready to be the aggressor, you know, as we speak,
the dog in her. But man, she's talented. She's very talented,
and we're excited for her her contributions to what she's
going to be able to bring. She's big, she's strong,
(37:09):
she's quick, she's savvy, she's versatile. She can play a
lot of different positions. And as we go through the
transfer portal now and you see people getting players and
you know they'll they'll do the way too early, you
know whatever, class, Yeah, I think one thing that people
(37:29):
kind of they overlook with us is that essentially we
have those two players that no one's seen before. They're
essentially in this class too. And I think it's just
going to bolster where we are and who we're going
to be. And I don't know where they'll they'll select us,
but if they select us low, then it will surprise
a lot of people. And I think if they select
us hot, then we'll prove some people right.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
And then a couple women I want to ask about
who transferred Tony Morgan from Georgia Tech? Yeah, just what
can people expect from her?
Speaker 2 (38:00):
All right? First thing with Tony Morgan, do not expect
her to be Georgia. Okay, I think people they play
the same position, sure, and other than that, and they
have some similarities in what they do. But you know,
in that recruiting process, I was like, look, I'm not
asking you to be Georgia. You know, I'm not asking
you to be her. There are some things that you
(38:21):
guys do similar, but there's things that you guys do
very different. But Tony Morgan is a phenomenonal basketball player
and I know that firsthand because we competed against her
for two years while we were in the ACC and
there were games where we won the game, but we
couldn't do anything with her. And I just recognize her talent,
(38:41):
her ability to lead get people better. I think coming
here for her final year, what we did with Georgia
is kind of like the blueprint, and we can add
some things to her game alongside playing with very talented players. Well,
I think it's going to really put her in a
situation that she desires as it comes to you know,
(39:02):
professional ranks playing in WNBA, and she's phenomenal talent. You know,
she's she's big, she's strong, she's crafty. We'll work with
her shot a little bit, but everything else she's got it.
And we hit a home run when we went to
the portal. That's exactly the type player we were looking
for and we were able to secure her. And she's
(39:22):
a great kid. She's already graduated. She will graduate from
Georgia Tech in about two weeks and three years, and
so she's coming here to work on her master's degree.
And yeah, so's she's special and I think BBN is
going to fall in love with her. Just don't compare her,
you know, just let her be Tony. Let her be Tony,
and we want her to be Tony and she's gonna
(39:44):
be the best version of herself and that's gonna be
great too.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
And two more players coach, Asia Boone from Liberty and
then Josie Gilvin from w k OH.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yeah, we got a chance to scout against both of
those players. Asia Boone is a prolific shooter. She's ball
exceptionally well, something that we wanted to add. You know,
she's a forty percent plus shooter from three and playing
alongside very talented players, she's going to get a lot
of open looks and she can step up and knock
those down. It's going to be an element that we
(40:13):
desperately need. She will play some point guard for us
as well and distributing into basketball. So we're very very
excited for her. I coached against her sister when her
sister was at William and Mary and I was at
James Madison. So great family and we were very very
fortunate to get her. Josie Gilvin, I think that there's
(40:36):
an nil opportunity for an energy drink. She needs to
get it because she is a ball of energy. Yeah,
she just never stops moving. I recognize that when we
played against them early and then it was really it
wasn't as tough of a sale as I was anticipating
because her mother played basketball at Louisville and so mother
(40:56):
came accompanied her on the visit and I was like, okay,
or we're going to have to really over sell this
thing for you, but wonderful family. Josie's going to be
a great addition to what we need. Tremendous defender, very
very active as as I mentioned, shoots the basketball and
a high clip, add some length to our perimeter that
we need. And uh and she's and she's a winner.
(41:19):
And so I'm excited about the addition of both of
those young women and I think it's gonna make us better.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
You can give Josie's mom a lot of you K gear, Yeah, yeah,
I hope.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
So that'll be at interest in the Sea.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
So so I know, as as a coach, you know,
the season, it just always keeps going with the transfer portal.
But you know, year two, are you ready to go?
Speaker 2 (41:40):
I am? I am. I can't wait to put this
roster together, sign off on it, finish out our schedule,
and obviously I think we're going to have a very
challenging schedule again, because I think that we can we
can afford to do so we want to you want
to be the best, you gotta beat the best and
put yourself in the best situation. The SEC will prepare
(42:01):
us for that, but we also need to have the
opportunity to do what we did last year and host.
You know, you host the game, you get a great
opportunity to advance. But I'm looking forward to doing that
and then I'm going to get a little down time
so that i can explore Lexington. Yes, I can't wait.
I was at Keenland last week and never been to
(42:26):
a horse race before. I was not on my bucket
list to ever go to a horse race, but I
actually got to go down with some friends and they
had a horse in the race that they that they
are part owners with, and then the horse came around
to turn and it's kind of like a Louisville game.
I had an out of body experience. I'm like jumping,
I'm like go, go go, And so definitely something I
(42:49):
want to go back to. My wife's been there like
four or five times and she absolutely loves it. Wants
to volunteer out there and I'm like, hold on, okay,
that's that's a little much. But Lexington. Lexington is a
great town, and you know, we've been here, so I'm
looking forward to getting to know it a little bit
better because I know it a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Well, I know. It's been such a pleasure covering this
team in year one and looking forward to it in
year two. Thanks so much for sitting down with us,
coach and looking forward to however many days until big
Blue Madness.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Yeah, I gotta get a different routine. We killed it
last year.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
We killed it last year. It was fun.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
It was fun. So I don't know what we're going
to do point encore, but I have plenty of time
to rest and I get ready for it.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
So go Cats, Go CAATs, love it things, Coach,
So you mentioned that success there. I'm going to read
off some things that were accomplished in year one. Signed
eleven new players, hired eleven new coaches and staff, a
four seed and a double buy in the SEC tournament,
a four seed, and hosting the NCAA tournament. Twenty plus wins,
ten plus SEC wins, produced two hoop Haul finalists, earned
(00:22):
five AP top twenty five wins, sold out reserve season tickets,
sold out four games, some nine school records broken, and
a National Coach of the Year.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Wow, hold on, let me wake up. And that's like
a dream?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Could you have written a better script?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You know? I don't know if Disney would about it,
you know, because you know it was it's almost a
little too far fetched, you know, especially you know, just
coming in and doing that, and but it just I'm
very proud, very proud of everything you just said, because
it took a team effort.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Okay, well, first off, you're one in the bucks as
we sit here on April twenty fourth. I mean, just
describe in a few words.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
When you look back at this year emotional, you know,
just just an array of emotions throughout the year, just
because you're going in you can anticipate, but you don't
have an expectation until you actually go through it. You know,
it's just a whirlwind. Just trying to get to work
for a long time, you know, without my GPS, and
then trying to navigate the building, you know when I
(01:36):
needed to get you know, my ID out for a
code or whatnot, and just learning every face that walked
past you and said, hey, how can we help you?
We're looking forward to the season. And then you gather
a group of young women together who you have no idea,
you know, what to expect other than you have talent,
and then just watching them grow, come together, hand with
(01:59):
it verse throughout the year, and then to be able
to put together a product as such, and to go
out and be able to compete in the SEC one
of the best leagues, if not the best league in
the country, but all the while doing it with dignity,
with grace, having so much fun. Probably one of the
most enjoyable seasons I've ever been involved in, just because
(02:22):
of those factors in the way that the kids came together.
And then you know, you add in BBN. You know,
you talk about Big Boot Nation in Kentucky and basketball.
The reason I came here was because the van base
was so avid and they were going to be able
to get behind you and support you. But you have
no idea, and then you go through it, you know,
and then it's you know, better than you thought. The
(02:43):
season was better than some anticipated. But it was a
very joyful season. Emotional with all the roller coasters, but
at the end of the day, it was very, very enjoyable.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So you sit here today after a phenomenal season, so
many changes, so many new things. But do you remember
maybe what you were feeling on April twenty fourth last year.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, I thought I was crazy, and not in a
bad way, you know. Obviously it's well documented that, you know,
I was going through a lot with my family, you know,
my wife's medical condition, and no one in their right
mind would pick up and move during that situation. But
with a lot of prayer, her blessings, she looked at
(03:26):
the opportunity and she said, we can't pass it up.
You know, I want this for you. I want you
to have an opportunity. I'll be okay, and you know,
just you know, leaving her back in Virginia for a
little while, getting here, and then all of a sudden
I'm just like, you know, what is going on? You know,
how do I get to work? You know? How do
I figure everything out? But you knew that there was
(03:48):
excitement underneath all of that turmoil because this was like
a sleeping giant and there was a lot of opportunities
out there and your life just changes, you know, your
life just changes. But with the help of the community,
Big Blue Nation, just so many people were very very supportive. Yeah,
and welcoming and uh. And when you can feel welcomed
(04:09):
and you feel like your family is okay, then you
can go be a coach and uh. And that's what
I felt. But it was, it was it was a
crazy time, you know, and but it was one that
we were able to get through it because of the support,
you know that we received immediately.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
How gratifying was it to have Chrissy here and then
also two of your girls who you know, Gabby on
the team and Kendall on staff with you, and also
to be able to celebrate her this year at the Pink.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Came we know it. Uh. I am family first, and
you know the best title that I'll they'll have is
father and husband And that's what means the most to me.
And you know, growing up, I was a college basketball
player and my coach, my mentor, Leffy Giselle, you know,
he showed me, you know that you can have family
(04:56):
and you can mix it with business and if you
incorporate it, and you have to have the right mindset
you have to have. You have to be thick skinned,
you have to be tough, because lazy narrative is always
going to come after your children, or come after the
situation if things don't go the way that they're expected
to go. But I think it has strengthened our family,
(05:16):
our values, our love for each other. We have each
other's back. And for me seeing them around, seeing their smiles,
me getting bonus time with my daughters because for so long,
for so long, you know, trying to build a career,
you're so busy building a life that you don't live
a life. And I missed out on so much, you know,
(05:38):
on recitals or practices or games. I'm at someone else's
game where my daughter has a game and I'm missing it.
And then for me to be able to incorporate them
into what I'm doing right now, it's bonus time. It's
probably the best feeling that I can have watching them
enjoy the team atmosphere. Gabby is working working hard to
(06:00):
see her score her first basket this year is probably
one of the biggest joys of my of my coaching career,
so much so that I couldn't even hide my smile.
It just kind of boom comes up because you know,
I know everything that she's gone through, you know, and
you know, her dad is the coach, so she catches
stray sometimes so to speak. You know, you know, people
want to come after me, well then they'll go after her.
(06:21):
But that just really strengthens our relationship. But coach Grizelle
taught me that you can do that, and I saw
him incorporate it. I saw, you know, my affection for
his family. His wife would come and love on us
and hug on us when he would yell let us
and you know, and so you know, those are just
things that you need. You need that balance. And and
then having my family around, having Kendo and Chloe around,
(06:44):
Chloe and then Gabby. I think sometimes it humanizes me
to our players, you know, because they look at me,
you know, one way, as a coach, coach, coach, but
then they can also see me as a dad and
they'd come over to my house and they see how
I interact, and so that just helps build, you know,
the trust with all of us, and it really helps
(07:05):
us develop a family atmosphere. And I think when people
ask me a lot, they say, well, why do your
kids play so hard for You's because they trust us,
they know us. It's a relationship based. It's not just hey,
that's coach, that's player. You guys figure it out. There's
a lot of trust in there because of the relationships
that we built.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And I think coach from the outside looking in, you know,
your two daughters, but then your loyalty and also bringing
your staff from Virginia Tech to Kentucky and having that
culture built. Why was that important for you to bring
so many people here that you've coached with for a
while and know the way that you like to run things.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It was important. It's necessary. I don't do it all
by myself. I have the best staff that you can
have in the country, one that's very experienced. We've been
through a lot together. You know, we've handled adversity and
still succeeded. You know, we went to a final four.
We were short a coach because we had one coach
that that wasn't with us throughout the whole season, and
(08:02):
they had to pick up the slack and they were
able to do it. They gained valuable experience that way,
and I've often said that, you know, the trust that
you have within your staff, you know, if you take
another job and your staff doesn't follow you, you know,
that kind of speaks volumes a little bit. You know,
what are you? Are you guys coworkers or are you family?
And we're family. And so for me to be able
(08:24):
to have them in tow that first couple of days
when I was here by myself, I was lost. I
didn't know what to do. And once I got coach Hicks,
coach Rad and Tim and the building, everything started to flow.
Everything started to flow, and we were able to start
the direction of this program. We were able to start
(08:45):
getting in recruits in. I can remember the first few
days that they were here and we would meet every
day over at one of the local hotels, and we
were just drained, but we were all like, okay, let's continue,
let's go. And we built that off of the strength
of each other, you know, fighting it. And then when
we brought our players in, you know, to have success
(09:08):
you know, and obviously it's documented that the previous two
years before we won six conference games we got here.
This year we won eleven. You know, we almost tied
you know, the win total from the previous two years,
and that was all because of the familiarity that we
had with each other. We brought players Georgia Amore who
(09:28):
knew anything and everything about me. She was able to
trickle it down to Clara Strack who had played one
season for me, Gabby who had played a season for me.
And then we had three recruits that we had recruited previously,
but we knew them, they knew us, so it wasn't
a hey, let's get to know each other type deal.
And I think that really accelerated our success. And you know,
(09:49):
just having the mindset, ow winning mindset and understanding what
it takes to win. But a lot of that was because,
you know, there's a lot of trust because of we
are family, and I can lay that I can just
really a test that to all the wins, the success
that we had this year, just because we knew each other,
we knew how to read each other, and it trickled
down to everyone else.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
So you mentioned that success there I'm going to read
off some things that were accomplished in year one. Signed
eleven new players, hired eleven new coaches and staff, a
four seed and a double buy in the SEC tournament
a four seed, and hosting the NCAA tournament, twenty plus wins,
ten plus SEC wins, produced two Hoop Haul finalists, earned
(10:32):
five AP top twenty five wins sold, that reserve season
tickets sold out, four games, saw nine school records broken,
and a National Coach of the Year.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Wow, hold on, let me wake up. And that's like
a dream.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Could you have written a better script?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
You know, I don't know Disney would about it, you know,
because you know it was it's almost a little too
far fetched, you know, especially you know, just coming in
and doing that. But it just I'm very proud, very
proud of everything you just said, because it took a
team effort, sure, and the way that we came together.
And you know, when we started off last summer, I
(11:07):
felt like we had a very good basketball team, a
team that could contend for championship, and I was over
the moon excited about it. And then we had adversity
where we lost two players who I had pencilvanas starters. Yeah,
and I thought they were going to contribute in a
major way and they went down. And at that time,
you know, it was either you know, all right, we're
(11:29):
gonna reinvent ourselves or we're gonna fold. Sure, and I
never saw hesitation on anyone's face. It was like, Okay,
we have to reinvent ourselves and uh. And so to
accomplish everything that you just said is amazing, especially considering
everything we had to go through, UH and starting brand new.
You know, we had never we signed that group, we
had never taken a shot in Historic Memorial Coliseum and UH.
(11:52):
And for us to be able to accomplish that is
a testament to the hard work. But the family type
atmosphere that we have.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
We're gonna go through a couple pillars of year one
and just what you remember, I mean, you mentioned your
daughter getting her first bucket U see Upstate, your first
wins the Kentucky head coach, What do you remember about
that game?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I remember walking out and being a little bit nervous
just because I didn't know the layout. Sure, you know,
I didn't know what it was going to be like
when I walked out, I didn't know, you know what
people were going to expect or what their impressions would be,
because let's face it, you know, we we have to
win basketball games, but it's also our job to entertain.
(12:33):
You know. I don't know too many people who want
to see a forty two to forty win, unless it's
against Louisville. They'll be okay then, but you know, but
they but they want to be entertained. And I think
we play up entertaining style of basketball. And so it's
like rehearsing for a play and now you're on display,
you know, now it's showtime, and and just just getting
(12:54):
the feels of the arena, you know what the sound
system was going to sound like, you know, the PA announcer,
the cheerleaders in the building, you know, just the fans,
you know, where they going to be on top of you,
where they're going to be loud. And so there was
a there was a whole gamut of emotions going through.
And then once we you know, settled in and start playing,
(13:15):
everyone I started performing. Well. It was a really good
experience and it felt like it feels like a little
mini NBA arena, and with the sounds and the feel
of it, and so I was very excited.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
How long do you think it took you to get
your game day routine? Like that might be something people
might not think about, but you had a routine for
however many years you're at JMU and then Virginia Tech.
I mean, was that something that you had to refigure
out how to do here?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It's huge. People don't realize that. I think they just
see that. They think that you just appear on the
side and you go coach. Your routine is huge. And
I'm not superstitious. I'm little stitious, all right, So yeah,
I don't want to be like think about everything that
I do, but I think about everything that I do,
and sometimes I'll know what shoes I wore if we won,
(14:04):
I'll know what shoes we wore if we didn't play well.
And then I'm like, okay, I'll put those shoes in
the back of the closet. You know. I try not
to remember, you know, the routine that I have, like
when I walk out, because I don't want it to
be in my head. So that's why I say, I'm
a little stitches, So I think about all that stuff.
But it did. It probably took me until probably halfway through,
(14:28):
probably after Christmas when we start the SEC. When I
finally started getting into a routine, you know, like I
used to at Virginia Tech. I would take my pregame
meal home, eat it, talk with my wife, get ready
for the game, come back. Well here, I can't because
you can't travel down Nicholasville Road during that time and
(14:52):
get back. So I had to learn to sit in
my office and I would watch Andy Griffith before the games,
and I would kind of watch film, but any g
Griffith would be on, and then I would go down
and then get ready for the games. But it took
me probably to go after Christmas to really get my
routine downpat And part of it is because I'm little stitious,
(15:14):
not superstitious, so I didn't want to develop it, but
I always ended up doing it.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I love that little stitshes little stitches. So this year, Coach,
you found yourself in similar situations but in different seats.
And what I mean by that is when the Louisville
came up, Louisville game came up. You know, you faced
Louisville in the ACC it was a battle between you two.
But now you're sitting in the Kentucky head coaching chair.
How different was that share with that rivalry.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
It was very different. And then obviously Jeff Walls and
I we have a relationship, the one that was built
when I was in the ACC and when I first
got to Virginia Tech, they were a team that we
were chasing. You know, they were the standard. You know,
they were winning, they were going to final fours, and
I think we lost to them, you know, my first
few years we were there. And finally, you know, at
(16:01):
the latter part of my career there, we were able
to compete with them. We beat them a couple of times,
including the ACC championship game. So we had built, you know,
a respect, and then when I came here, we carried
that respect on, you know, and I knew we were
playing uh at that time, I was saying Louisville and
(16:21):
and that's the way that you know, we looked at it. Louisville, Okay,
it's going to be a really tough game. You know,
we got to chase them, to try to catch them,
because they were the standard. But when I got here,
I very quickly became Louisville yep, okay, And I'm like okay,
And everyone kept talking about it. And the blue and
the red and you know, the dominance of the state
(16:44):
and what it was and uh. And then that week
we were preparing for the game as it was Louisville,
and everyone kept talking about Louisville and I'm like, okay,
it's just another game. It's just another game, and that's
why we prepped for it. And when we walked out there,
it was a totally different buzz. It was totally different,
(17:04):
you know. The game. The game was as intense as
any game I've ever been around. It was exciting, went
down to the wire, goes overtime. And when we won
that game, we were walking off the court, I had
a blackout moment and all of a sudden, I don't
even remember doing it, but I'm pumping my fist, you know,
to the crowd. And the only reason I know it
because somebody captured it on camera. But it was a
(17:28):
different feel. And then we walked out and then the
celebration began, you know, when you know, everyone was coming
up to you and they were thanking you, and you know,
I don't know if I paid for a meal all week,
you know, after that, But it was just the enthusiasm,
the excitement and later on I found out that I
think it was the first time we had beaten them
in eight years. I think it was. And then you
(17:50):
understood the rivalry. And I don't think i've called it
Louisville since you know it's Louisville and so, but I
think it's very healthy, not only for the state, but
for women's back squad in general, to generate that much
interest for a basketball game and something that's very special.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
And you mentioned Kentucky being the sleeping giant. I feel
like historic Memorial Coliseum, that game was unleashed and you
got to see what an atmosphere and a home atmosphere
can be like in that game. We'll move forward to
your first SEC win. I remember you said in a
press conference that you felt like it was the first
day of school. You were a little nervous the night before,
(18:28):
just because you'd never coached in this conference. You'd seen teams,
but you've never coached a season in this conference. What
comes up when you think about that first SEC win?
And then we'll really just look at how successful this
team was in the conference.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah, I mean eight years in the ACC you pretty
much have it on cruise control. You know, the style
the fit, the feel of the league. You know each opponent,
you know the coaches what to prepare for and coming
into the SEC. I remember I got the job up
and a few of the SEC coaches they text me
(19:03):
and they were like, welcome to the jungle, and I'm
like okay. And then from that point on, everyone was like,
are you ready for the SEC? Are you ready for
the SEC? And in my mind I kept thinking to myself, well,
is the SEC ready for us? I never said it,
but then they kept saying it, kept saying it, and
then I remember one time it just slipped out. I'm like, well,
(19:23):
it's the SEC ready for us. After that point it
was like, okay, you better be ready. And so we
went into that game Mississippi State, very good basketball team,
made to the n cl A Tournament, and we were
playing okay leading up to that, and I didn't really
know how they would all respond. Georgia her first SEC game, okay,
(19:47):
Dejah Lawrence had never played, you know, an opponent like
that consistently. Claire Strack, you know, her first really prominent
role as a starter. Tianni Key, same thing, Amelia hass
At her first conference game, and we didn't know how
they would really respond. We also had Kaylen Carroll, she
(20:09):
came down to visit another recruit that I can't say
her name. She was in the building too, So it
was really special. It's really special, and we were on
display for everyone to see. You know, the recruits had
made their decision to come play for us. Okay, they're
wanting to see what we were going to look like.
We had a lot of questions about ourselves and we
(20:29):
go out and man, it's like the rim was like
that big, you know, and I felt like they could
have closed their eyes and just threw it up and
it was going to go in. The execution was great.
They came out and I think they made a statement.
They made a statement. I think they put a lot
of people on notice. But more importantly, they built confidence
within themselves, you know, because we had some good wins
(20:50):
against Louisville, we had disappointing laws to North Carolina, and
I think that springboarded us into you know, a run.
I think we won seven straight SEC games. But that
was That's a game that I'll always remember because I
just felt like, you know, it was relief, sure, you know, relief, excitement,
(21:11):
joy all rolled into one and It's a game that
I'll go back and watch if I want a little
feel good moment. I'm sitting on the on the back porch.
That's one of the games I'll pop in and watch
just because, you know, I really enjoyed the way that
they played that one.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
And maybe the Tennessee one.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Tennessee is definitely one. I had that on repeat on repeat.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That's a good one. Yeah, you mentioned family culture. This
team in year one really setting the standard for you.
Georgia and Desa, your your veteran backcourt. Of those two women,
I mean, what was it like being able to see
them And we talk a lot about Georgia, but really
seeing how DASA thrived moving from the American Conference to
(21:50):
the SEC.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I will be forever indebted to those two young women
for the rest of my life, especially my career, for
what they were able to do for this program in
year one. Dejah Lawrence, you know, she is a remarkable
young lady. She will be a CEO of some company
(22:12):
one day. I just don't know which one it's going
to be, but whatever she touches is going to be very,
very successful. She knows how to read a room. She
comes in tremendous leader, not only by example, but a
vocal leader. She has a way of leading young people
and that they want to follow her, and just a
tremendous spirit. And she came in and you know, she
(22:32):
was a focal point of everything that they did at
UNC Charlotte. She came in and was able and willing
to sacrifice a little bit of herself for the betterment
of the team, just because she loved to win. I
learned I had to learn how to coach her because
whatever I said, she took her to heart, and that
there was no gray area. If I said, you know,
I remember one game, I said, you know, Daja, she
(22:53):
came down on a fast break and she shot the ball,
and you know, just trying to teach her, you know,
some other opportunities that she could have had. I said,
you could have come down and you could have passed
the ball for one more and we could have got
a better shot. Well, she took that to heart. At halftime,
and then the second half she stopped shooting. She was
passing it every time, every time, just because she wanted
(23:14):
to please meet the team and everyone. And so we
found a balance in that and where she was able
to play freely. But just the way that she led
is a big reason why we were successful this year.
And you know, she watched and she learned and she
applied and that was a beautiful thing. And then Georgia Amore,
I think it's well documented. You know, that's my little
(23:36):
mini me, you know, and she jumped on board very
quickly and took a more of a leadership role. You know,
at Virginia Tech, she was a leader, but she kind
of deferred a lot to some of the other older players.
This year, she took full rain and she came out
and she just led. She knew exactly what I wanted.
(23:56):
She was my little interpreter, you know. If I would
get out to the team and she would go in
the locker room and she would say, well, he said this,
but he really means that. You know, when he's like this,
you guys have to do that. And I think that
was just like a cheat code. And I watched her
grow this year into something that I could only have
dreamt her doing. This year, she left everything that she knew.
(24:18):
She took a blind leap of faith with me to
come here, put her WNBA dreams on hold, to try
to better herself. With a group of young women that
she knew nothing about, and she did it with grace.
She came in and she worked very very hard, had
her best year, had her best year, you know, all around,
(24:38):
and she was like a little coach on the floor.
One of my favorite stories with her this year. We
were playing at Purdue and they were playing what I
thought was a zone and we were very stagnant on offense.
We just couldn't get the movement. I'm like, they're everywhere
we are. And finally, six or seven possessions in, she
comes over to me and she says, coach, they're in
(24:59):
a box and one me, what do you want to run?
And if I was a cartoon character, you would have
saw the light bulb go over on my head. I'm like, oh,
that's what that is. Well, let's do this and do
that and do this. We ended up winning by thirty,
but that's in our relationship. There was so much trust
that she could come over to me and tell coach
what's going on and coach didn't get offended, and coach
(25:20):
took advice from the player. But that's how special our
relationship was, and it morphed into that even more so
this year because we felt like we were all we
had in the beginning, because we didn't know anything else,
and we grew closer together and as a result, she
had a phenomenal year which you know ended, you know,
in storybook fashion with her getting drafted to the WNBA.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Being with her in New York for that moment. Just
walk us through what that draft night was like.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
You know, it was very special. And I'll go back
a year. Elizabeth Kitley, who you know only Kentucky fans
won't know her, but she got injured late in the year,
got a late invite to the WNBA, and I wasn't
able to go with her because it was late invite.
(26:08):
My wife had a chemo treatment the very next morning,
so I wasn't able to be there with her. And
it's something that really bothered me because just like Elizabeth
and Georgia, it was five years together building to get
to that moment, and so it was devastated wasn't able
to get there. So when this opportunity came and Georgia
(26:29):
got invited, you know, I was excited to be able
to go, to have the opportunity to go, and because
it is this accumulation of just all the years of
hard work. Every day I would go out there and
work with them. It was to get to this moment,
to get to this moment, and it was such a
just a milestone, you know, a monumental moment because not
everyone gets it's only fifteen players to get invited every year,
(26:52):
and so when Georgia got the invite, you know, we're very,
very excited. I'm not a New York City fan. I
don't like the city. I just yeah, Lexington is is perfect.
It's fast, it's you know, it's just a hustle and
the bustle. But there was no place I'd rather have
been that night, just because watching the way the w
n b A, the way they've treated the players, it
(27:15):
it was unbelievable. You know, it's first class, you know,
just giving them education on what to expect, meeting people,
seeing the players that you compete against so much, seeing them,
you know, get dressed up, you know, looking like business
women and being paraded on national TV when nothing else
is going on. It's their night. You know, everyone's focused
(27:35):
in on the w n b A and and it's
like a who's who of women's basketball in that in
that area. And so I was very very proud because
Kentucky was very well represented. You know, Georgia went out,
she she killed all the interviews. She was stunning in
her outfit, and it was proud Papa moment. So when
(27:56):
they when the cameras were on, like so they kind
of like a cheat code. I guess the camera people
got kind of tipped off of of who was about
to get drafted, because they would come up to the
table and they would like, Okay, the camera's ready. Then
the announcement was made and they'd get the expressions, which
makes sense. Yeah, And so when the camera came over
(28:17):
to us right before ger Georgia got uh uh selected,
I don't think I've ever been as nervous as I
had no my whole life. You know, my heart was
ba pounded really fast. I look over at her and
I'm I'm just talking gibberish. I I just just like
I gotta say something. I don't know what to say,
but i'm'a say something stupid. Yeah, and uh and sh
I looked at her and she was just so calm,
(28:39):
just so calm. And when they when they announced her name,
it was almost like slow motion. It was like the
Washington Mystic select George uh, And it was like in
a moment for me, and we were able to get
up and we we do a little handshake before every
game that honors her her late grandfather, and we were
able to do that right in front of her mom,
and her mom had no idea what it was, and
(29:00):
when she found out what it meant, she just lost it.
But to be able to have that embrace, watch her
go up there and represent, but also to know it
was accumulation of a lot of hard work to get
her to that point, because no one, including ourselves, could
have imagined that she was going to be able to
get on that stage, have those accomplishments, and be able
to walk across that stage and shake the commissioner's hand,
(29:23):
you know, as the number six pick. That's the highest
draftic I've ever had. And so it was. It was
a wonderful, wonderful night, and then to be able to
celebrate it throughout the evening was tremendous.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
The camera got a great shot of the handshake. I
saw that on my couch.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
And when Georgia after she got drafted, Holly Row asked her,
you know, what's the secret sauce to the jump shot?
Or something like that, and she's had her quads in
Kenny Brother. Oh yeah, yeah, I don't know if you
heard that when you were sitting there.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I did. I did. I got a chuckle out of
it because you know, it just again, it's just so
many flashbacks, and you know, just teaching her things that
was already inside of her, but just unleashing it. And
you know, just the ability that she had, and the
more and more I gave her, she was very comfortable
with being uncomfortable. I would put her in situations where okay,
(30:14):
go master it, and she would and then she would
look at me like, Okay, what's next, And so she
challenged me as a coach. She made me better in
that aspect. And then just I mean, I can't tell
you how many hours that we worked together, and a
lot of it was relationship ability, you know, just being
down there one on one, get to learn each other,
learning her dreams, her goals, her aspirations, and then putting
(30:38):
it to the test and then her coming through on
it is just it's the best feeling and it's why
you coach. It's why you coach. Now. Georgia is the
epitome where she has reached that ultimate goal. But I'm
just equally as proud of you know, I got players.
I got a player who was a biomedical engineer major
and she forewent her last year of eligible so that
(31:00):
she could go go with a startup company. And they
make like the masks that you see, you know, NBA
players wearing break their nose, you know, And she'll come
up to me and she'll say, yeah, I made that mask,
and I'm just like, you know, so I'm equally as
proud of that. And that's why you coach. And it's
not just watching the ones who reached the ultimate goal
of basketball. But you know, those are just stories that
(31:24):
you know, keep you going. They keep you going when
there's so much negativity, you know, and people will say, well,
how can you live through negativity? Because you know it's true,
and you know the impact that you do make, you know,
and that's what you thrive on, that's what you know,
live for and that's what really keeps me going.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Well. And I know, an exciting thing for Kentucky fans
as you turn the page to year two the triplets, Yeah,
looking to see how they grow from year one to two.
I mean, what are you looking for and Amelia Hassett,
yianni Key, and Claire Strack.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Well, if this postseason is any indication, they're ready for
a huge jump, ready for huge jump, and I think
they've had guidance that's going to really help them become
great leaders. Amelia has it we'll get to play more
of a natural position next year with the depth that
we've created, and I'm excited for her. She did a
(32:16):
wonderful job for us last year. Probably probably hit a
wall a little bit just because we had to use her,
you know, so many different ways. We were asking her
on one end to guard the best player and rebound
and come down the other end and make some shots,
and she did a really good job, really good job
at it, and I was very very proud of her
and pleased with her. She's working extremely hard to add
(32:38):
some things to her game. Tiani Key very very proud
of her and what she went through. She went through
three years of playing at another school and not really
having a prominent role and then coming here and being
thrust into you know, production, We need you to produce,
and so she would probably say it was a little
(32:59):
bit more inconsistent than she would have liked. I will
say it was a great first year and a great
stepping stone to what she can become. We're adding stuff
to her game that's going to be very marketable for
her at the next level. You know, I've had so
many people come up to me, whether it's w NBA
people or agents or what and they say, hey, we're
(33:19):
excited about Tiani Key next year because she's six foot four,
she's long, she's athletics, she's smooth, she can handle the basketball,
she can block shots. There's a lot of things that
she can do, and we're excited about, you know, her
next steps. And then Clara Clara, Clara just has that
it factor. You know, she's competitive, she's not afraid of anything,
(33:44):
and she's getting better. You know, we're having workouts with
her right now and we've expanded her game where she's
shooting at three and she's shooting it exceptionally well. You know,
I can work out Georgia at ten o'clock and Clara
at eleven o'clock and there's no difference in a three
point shooting, you know, because we have we have a
little tracker, and she shoots the ball exceptionally well right now.
(34:05):
And last year we were teaching her how to shoot,
you know, And so there were times in the season
where she would miss three, four in a row, five
in a row, go a couple of games without making one,
and I kept encouraging her to shoot it because you
were teaching her how to shoot in a game. So
this year, the expectation is she's going to shoot a lot.
You know, she's going to be a matchup nightmare for
(34:26):
a lot of different people. And and you know she'll
be a w NBA draft pick, you know, in two years.
And so you know, the future is very bright with
those three. And I'm excited for what they're going to do.
But I think the I think they're going to make
a huge jump on and off the floor that's going
to help us continue what was started this year.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
And then two players that you mentioned, coach, who you
marked in as starters, but Jordan Obie coming from the
IVY League Ivy League and Dom what or how are
they at least right now as far as like their
injuries working out? And then what do you think.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
They can bring to the table in your love both
of them, and you know, as devastating as it was
to not have them, they were the missing pieces last
year and we would still be playing right now. They
were playing and even though there's no basketball to be played,
that's how good we would have been. You just kept going,
He just kept going, kept going. But it means that
we get them for this year, you know, And that's
(35:20):
the silver lining. Dom is energy. She's energy sitting out
this year. She's worked extremely hard in her rehab to
get better and she's not cleared fully yet, but she
will be probably a little bit ahead of a schedule
with her recovery. But in the process she's put on
(35:41):
about eight to ten pounds of muscle, which she needed,
and she provides length at the guard position. She's long,
she's athletic, she's fearless. I think that's that Eastern European
and her where she would just go after anything and
very loud vocal. When Dom hits our offices, we know
(36:01):
she's there. She can be one hundred feet away from us,
but we know she's in there. But she's a joy.
She's a joy and I think BBN is gonna love
watching her because she just gives everything that she has.
She was she was a key, you know, piece to
Oregon State's run to the lead eight. She was a
sixth man on that team, and so she has experience
NCAA experience, and now that's gonna bode well for us
(36:24):
as we lose Deja Lawrence and then Jordan. You know, Jordan,
Jordan probably would have been our second or third leading
scorer last year, that's how prolific of a score she is.
Jordan has the ability to do things I've never had
in a player before. And that's saying a lot, you know,
because I've had draft picks, I've had Georgia, I've had
(36:47):
a lot of players before that. But Jordan can do
things that just makes me go wow. Now we have
to get her the mental side of it to where, okay,
she's ready to be the aggressor, you know, as we speak,
the dog in her. But man, she's talented. She's very talented,
and we're excited for her her contributions to what she's
going to be able to bring. She's big, she's strong,
(37:09):
she's quick, she's savvy, she's versatile. She can play a
lot of different positions. And as we go through the
transfer portal now and you see people getting players and
you know they'll they'll do the way too early, you
know whatever, class, Yeah, I think one thing that people
(37:29):
kind of they overlook with us is that essentially we
have those two players that no one's seen before. They're
essentially in this class too. And I think it's just
going to bolster where we are and who we're going
to be. And I don't know where they'll they'll select us,
but if they select us low, then it will surprise
a lot of people. And I think if they select
us hot, then we'll prove some people right.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
And then a couple women I want to ask about
who transferred Tony Morgan from Georgia Tech? Yeah, just what
can people expect from her?
Speaker 2 (38:00):
All right? First thing with Tony Morgan, do not expect
her to be Georgia. Okay, I think people they play
the same position, sure, and other than that, and they
have some similarities in what they do. But you know,
in that recruiting process, I was like, look, I'm not
asking you to be Georgia. You know, I'm not asking
you to be her. There are some things that you
(38:21):
guys do similar, but there's things that you guys do
very different. But Tony Morgan is a phenomenonal basketball player
and I know that firsthand because we competed against her
for two years while we were in the ACC and
there were games where we won the game, but we
couldn't do anything with her. And I just recognize her talent,
(38:41):
her ability to lead get people better. I think coming
here for her final year, what we did with Georgia
is kind of like the blueprint, and we can add
some things to her game alongside playing with very talented players. Well,
I think it's going to really put her in a
situation that she desires as it comes to you know,
(39:02):
professional ranks playing in WNBA, and she's phenomenal talent. You know,
she's she's big, she's strong, she's crafty. We'll work with
her shot a little bit, but everything else she's got it.
And we hit a home run when we went to
the portal. That's exactly the type player we were looking
for and we were able to secure her. And she's
(39:22):
a great kid. She's already graduated. She will graduate from
Georgia Tech in about two weeks and three years, and
so she's coming here to work on her master's degree.
And yeah, so's she's special and I think BBN is
going to fall in love with her. Just don't compare her,
you know, just let her be Tony. Let her be Tony,
and we want her to be Tony and she's gonna
(39:44):
be the best version of herself and that's gonna be
great too.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
And two more players coach, Asia Boone from Liberty and
then Josie Gilvin from w k OH.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yeah, we got a chance to scout against both of
those players. Asia Boone is a prolific shooter. She's ball
exceptionally well, something that we wanted to add. You know,
she's a forty percent plus shooter from three and playing
alongside very talented players, she's going to get a lot
of open looks and she can step up and knock
those down. It's going to be an element that we
(40:13):
desperately need. She will play some point guard for us
as well and distributing into basketball. So we're very very
excited for her. I coached against her sister when her
sister was at William and Mary and I was at
James Madison. So great family and we were very very
fortunate to get her. Josie Gilvin, I think that there's
(40:36):
an nil opportunity for an energy drink. She needs to
get it because she is a ball of energy. Yeah,
she just never stops moving. I recognize that when we
played against them early and then it was really it
wasn't as tough of a sale as I was anticipating
because her mother played basketball at Louisville and so mother
(40:56):
came accompanied her on the visit and I was like, okay,
or we're going to have to really over sell this
thing for you, but wonderful family. Josie's going to be
a great addition to what we need. Tremendous defender, very
very active as as I mentioned, shoots the basketball and
a high clip, add some length to our perimeter that
we need. And uh and she's and she's a winner.
(41:19):
And so I'm excited about the addition of both of
those young women and I think it's gonna make us better.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
You can give Josie's mom a lot of you K gear, Yeah, yeah,
I hope.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
So that'll be at interest in the Sea.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
So so I know, as as a coach, you know,
the season, it just always keeps going with the transfer portal.
But you know, year two, are you ready to go?
Speaker 2 (41:40):
I am? I am. I can't wait to put this
roster together, sign off on it, finish out our schedule,
and obviously I think we're going to have a very
challenging schedule again, because I think that we can we
can afford to do so we want to you want
to be the best, you gotta beat the best and
put yourself in the best situation. The SEC will prepare
(42:01):
us for that, but we also need to have the
opportunity to do what we did last year and host.
You know, you host the game, you get a great
opportunity to advance. But I'm looking forward to doing that
and then I'm going to get a little down time
so that i can explore Lexington. Yes, I can't wait.
I was at Keenland last week and never been to
(42:26):
a horse race before. I was not on my bucket
list to ever go to a horse race, but I
actually got to go down with some friends and they
had a horse in the race that they that they
are part owners with, and then the horse came around
to turn and it's kind of like a Louisville game.
I had an out of body experience. I'm like jumping,
I'm like go, go go, And so definitely something I
(42:49):
want to go back to. My wife's been there like
four or five times and she absolutely loves it. Wants
to volunteer out there and I'm like, hold on, okay,
that's that's a little much. But Lexington. Lexington is a
great town, and you know, we've been here, so I'm
looking forward to getting to know it a little bit
better because I know it a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Well, I know. It's been such a pleasure covering this
team in year one and looking forward to it in
year two. Thanks so much for sitting down with us,
coach and looking forward to however many days until big
Blue Madness.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Yeah, I gotta get a different routine. We killed it
last year.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
We killed it last year. It was fun.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
It was fun. So I don't know what we're going
to do point encore, but I have plenty of time
to rest and I get ready for it.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
So go Cats, Go CAATs, love it things, Coach,
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