Josh Petersen talks Kentucky WBB's philosophy on the recruiting trail and more

When Kenny Brooks first got to Kentucky on March 26th, he had to assemble a staff that would help him try to replicate the success he had at Virginia Tech. In order to do that, he went out and got Josh Petersen, an assistant coach from Miami (FL) who had competed against Brooks in the ACC for the last six years.

Finally, after going at each other both on the sidelines and on the recruiting trail, the two came together to create a powerful tag team in Lexington. It was an easy decision for Petersen.

“In all honesty, I think it’s a no-brainer from a professional standpoint,” Petersen told KSR. “You need to check off all the personal boxes and make sure you know who you’re working for and the life aspect of it, but from a professional standpoint and the brand of Kentucky, it’s hard not to be attracted to that for sure.”

He added, “It’s the promise of getting some of the best and a great market and a great fan base. No-brainer.”

Since Petersen starting working with Brooks, their relationship has grown, and it has helped them in what they do day-to-day. Even before the two joined together, Petersen knew that he’d like to work with Brooks. Plus, it makes his job easier as a recruiter.

“Obviously, my situation was a little different with my head coach retiring,” Petersen noted. “But the following week, I hear from Kenny, and to me — [my wife and I] actually play this game. My wife plays this game when we’re watching the NCAA Tournament. ‘Would you work for that coach,’ and so she’s always asked me about Kenny. I’m like, ‘Yeah, absolutely” because I think philosophically, what he does on the court, from a tactical standpoint, X’s and O’s, there’s nobody better.”

Petersen also mentioned, “Then, when you couple his relationship with the kids and his ability to make adjustments on the floor, it creates an incredible product and kids that overachieve. I think that’s what our goal is in recruiting — what your sell is. If you’ve got somebody that you can sell from a recruiting standpoint that will fulfill those promises, it makes it that much easier. There’s proof in the development. So, I just knew it was going to be a good situation. Couple that with UK, right? It’s pretty good.”

And speaking of recruiting, Petersen dove into his (and the staff’s) overall philosophy when it comes to recruiting.

“I think we’re a team — the four of us as assistants plus Coach Brooks,” Petersen explained. “Can you get a kid by yourself? No. Can you technically? Sure. Is it as fulfilling? I think all that’s nice to hear, but I think the reality is, the only way we win, the way we want to win, is if we’re connected as a crew, and as a unit of coaches, like, are we on the same page?”

But why does it matter if it’s a collective thing? Getting recruits is still getting recruits, right? At the end of the day, though, with the introduction of the transfer portal, you can lose those recruits just as fast.

“Can we get kids consistently year after year, and not just get kids, but get the right ones? I think that’s key,” Petersen said. “I’ve done this a while. I’ve been at several places. I think that’s been the most successful staffs I’ve been on. Not the ones that are, this is my kid. This is your kid.”

He continued, “At the end of the day, the transfer portal is real. These kids leave for varied reasons. I think if you’re not buttoned up as a staff, the cracks will be found, and I think that’s huge. It’s not my kid, it’s our kid. It’s not anybody’s, you know, it takes all of us to really connect with the family.”

Of course, recruiting is cool and all, but the reality is, tipoff is just eight days away now. We have just a little bit over a week before the Kenny Brooks era is officially underway. As it should be, most of the focus is on this year’s team.

Petersen spends a lot of his time working with the post players in practice, and he gave KSR a quick rundown as to how the four traditional posts are doing in practice and how they have improved over the summer and into the fall.

Clara Strack: “She’s obviously still very young in her career. I think the thing that she’s got is this high skill set. You’ve seen just, you know, aside from the basketball piece with her, the thing that stands out is her confidence has grown. Obviously, I didn’t work with her last year. Now, seeing her in this setting, she looks extremely confident. I think that’s been the biggest piece for her, is just confidence in her game. The skill is going to be there, her ability to make reads, all that. But, you know, that’s going to take her game the next level.”

Clara Silva: “She comes in as more of a finesse post. The biggest adjustment has been finding another speed and kind of another gear with everything on the floor. That’s been her challenge, but that’s not unusual for any freshman. The pace of the game at this level is so much faster, and then the physicality piece, those are the two areas where she’s really improved a lot and needs to continue to improve.

Amelia Hassett: “Versatility — I think that’s been the biggest improvement for her. I guess you could say definitely and naturally, [she’s] like a stretch four, she’s shown that she can play at the three and can really be a threat from the perimeter and offer you size. For what you may lack in athleticism, if you’ve got size that can kind of overcome some of those deficits, it’s just as good.”

Teonni Key: “I work with her directly on a day-to-day basis. But for me, it’s been so refreshing because being in Miami, she’s in the league at North Carolina. I know her, but I didn’t really know her game because she didn’t play a lot. So, I think she’s extremely comfortable here because she’s just a unique player. She’s got athleticism, she’s got skills, she’s got some glimpses of guard skill — mix that with being a forward. Overall, I’m really impressed with what she can do. Now, she’s just honing in on those areas, whether she’s on the block, face-up post, or she’s on the perimeter, handling the ball. She’s been a pleasant surprise.”

Of course, after all of that, Brooks has to find a way to make sure he utilizes all of those pieces and makes sure they get adequate time on the court. However, you couple their versatility with some of the unfortunate injuries that occurred this offseason, that shouldn’t be too difficult to do, fortunately.

“[The playing time is] for Coach Brooks to make that decision, but as we all evaluate as coaches, like, what combinations are good together,” Petersen explained. “Sometimes, you don’t always know that until you’ve experimented a little bit, but I think they’re all going to have great opportunity to play this year, and some stuff will naturally happen.”

He added, “Who’s at the three today? How are they playing? Well, okay, maybe Amelia needs to be at stretch four today because of matchups. I think some of that stuff is going to shake out because we’re going to use the bigs in such a versatile way this year. Whether it’s Clara Strack playing at the four or the three or the five, you know, moving them around. I think that’s going to be extremely useful for us because [we don’t have] a super deep bench, but when you can have players that can play multiple positions, you can still get adequate looks in different lineups, in that way.”

To round things out, Petersen had a message for Big Blue Nation as we approach November 4th:

“We need you. We’re excited. If you’re excited about us, come to the games. Spread the word. It takes everybody. I’m excited. I can’t believe it’s here. I’m ready to go.”