Kentucky praised in ESPN's "100 days to Women's NCAA Basketball"

Well, it’s finally official! There’s now under 100 days left before we get to see some Kentucky Women’s Basketball action. In lieu of the beginning of the NCAA women’s basketball season, ESPN dropped an article summarizing everything you might’ve missed in the offseason, courtesy of Michael Voepel and Alexa Philippou.

Of course, Kentucky’s whirlwind of an offseason was featured more than once, and for all good things.

Transfer portal highlights

As we’ve been talking about for months, Kentucky has basically remodeled itself after what seemed like a worst-case-scenario season last year. Obviously, we have a new head coach, and almost an entire new team (besides Saniah Tyler and Cassidy Rowe, of course). The first shoutout to Kentucky commends Kenny Brooks and former Hokie Georgia Amoore for their efforts to “revitalize Kentucky.” And yes, that’s exactly what the ‘Cats needed. However, Amoore isn’t the only player to bring some spark back to an otherwise lifeless program.

While we all absolutely adore Tyler and Rowe, the addition of players like Clara Strack, Amelia Hassett, Jordan Obi, and so many more made this program take a complete 180. Unfortunately, ESPN couldn’t let the ‘Cats have a moment to shine because it had to mention USC’s almost unanimous bid for the national title.

All-around coaching changes

I’ll spare you the pain of having to read about Tennessee, just skip to the bottom of the paragraph. This shoutout gives Brooks the recognition he deserves.

The former Hokie made history at Virginia Tech, taking his team to its first NCAA Final Four in years. Plus, Brooks boasts a 180-82 (68.7%) overall record in seven seasons at Virginia Tech. He’s had multiple players thrive under his guidance, including Elizabeth Kitley, an All-America center who became the program’s first 2,000-point scorer. And somehow, he convinced Georgia Amoore to forgo the WNBA draft (where she was predicted as a top 10 pick) and follow him to Kentucky. Props to Coach Brooks!

Finally, a back-handed compliment?

And of course, Kentucky can’t earn any compliments without one of them being just the slightest bit back-handed. I understand what they were trying to say, how Brooks’ tenure at Virginia Tech started with a “clean slate,” obviously. He was very successful as a Hokie, but never won a championship. At Kentucky, apparently, the expectations are the same. No one really knows how this team is going to perform during the season. It seems like the common consensus is that the ‘Cats might be average or slightly above. I for one, am an optimist, so I think that this team is going to surprise some fans.

Nonetheless, it’s pretty cool that Kentucky and Coach Brooks are receiving the recognition they deserve. It’s been a crazy offseason, but fear not, there are less than 100 days until tip-off.