In honor of Thanksgiving, we give thanks to Kenny Brooks for revitalizing Kentucky WBB

When Kenny Brooks was first hired at Kentucky, we knew that Mitch Barnhart and UK just hit it out of the park, but I’m not sure that we realized that it would be one of the best hires of his tenure as AD, but boy, it sure seems like that seven games through the season.

On Wednesday, Kentucky — No. 14 Kentucky, that is — beat No. 19 Illinois by 23 points to move to 7-0 on the year. According to our good friend and UK Statistician Corey Price, the Cats haven’t beat a ranked opponent that bad since the 2015-16 season.

A pretty damn good start for Kenny Brooks in Lexington, to say the least.

The season got started with a big win over USC Upstate as Brooks led Kentucky to a 98-43 win over the Spartans. A 55-point win isn’t some sort of a fluke, and they proved that on November 16th when they took on the then No. 18 Louisville Cardinals.

Going into that game, Kenny Brooks was riding a three-game winning streak of the Cards, but Kentucky had lost seven consecutive to the dirty birds. Fortunately, the good side of history showed itself as Kentucky won 71-61 in overtime to beat Louisville.

At that point, Brooks had gotten the attention of folks at the national level, landing the Cats at No. 15 in the following AP Poll. After handling business against Purdue Fort Wayne, however, Brooks’ squad would be tested yet again, this time in Nashville in the Music City Classic.

First up were the Arizona State Sun Devils, who are not that great admittedly, but they could have beaten Kentucky if they didn’t come ready to play. Instead, the Cats got a 15-point, 77-61 win over them. Then, on Wednesday, Brooks coached Kentucky to a 76-53 statement win over the No. 19 team in the country.

All of that you just read, that hasn’t happened in Lexington in over a decade, and it’s all thanks to Kenny Brooks.