Familiar faces coming to Memorial for March Madness. Digging into UK’s Big Dance bracket
Before Kentucky women’s basketball’s reveal as a No. 4 seed — and, therefore, a host — on Selection Sunday, head coach Kenny Brooks encouraged his team to “cherish every opportunity,” that comes with the NCAA Tournament.
While Georgia Amoore is now five-for-five in NCAA Tournament appearances, most of Brooks’ inaugural roster lacks the experience of meaningful postseason minutes.
Sophomore center Clara Strack has not only been in the hosting position before with Virginia Tech, but she also had the first taste of a starter’s responsibility last season when she became the primary post option during postseason play after All-American Liz Kitley tore an ACL near the end of the regular season. Graduate guard Dazia Lawrence, who spent the majority of her career at Charlotte, has one March Madness matchup under her belt, a first-round exit against Indiana in 2022. Junior forward Teonni Key was privy to the NCAA Tournament during each of her years at North Carolina, but never shouldered the same responsibility that she had this season.
“So everyone’s going to be experiencing this thing for the first time,” Brooks said. “But it’s just like, you know, everything that we’ve experienced this year. And we’re going to lean heavily on Georgia and her experiences, and she’s going to lead us, and I think the kids are willing to follow her and her lead and her demeanor, and I think that’s going to be a big key for us to advance.”
One of the most beautiful aspects — depending on your rooting interest — of this time of year is the possibility of an upset. Maybe a bunch of 3-pointers sends a 14-seed over a 3-seed, or a team you haven’t watched all year makes a deep run and wins the hearts of basketball lovers everywhere. So much magic can come from a clash of two teams who may very well have never met before.
That said, the Wildcats do have somewhat of an advantage in addition to their hosting privileges in Memorial Coliseum this week. Because Kentucky’s first-round opponent is a program Brooks has faced for years. Enter the No. 13-seeded Liberty Flames, crowned Conference USA champion after a five-point win over familiar NCAA Tournament face Middle Tennessee in the CUSA Tournament finals.
On Friday at noon, Liberty University (26-6), nestled in Lynchburg, Virginia, will make its first appearance in the Big Dance since 2018. The Flames have now made the NCAA Tournament 18 times, including 15 appearances under longtime head coach Carey Green, who took over the program in 1999 and has been a mainstay in the world of Virginia state basketball ever since. Green’s tenure with the Flames predates Brooks’ start as a head coach in the early 2000s, and the two coaches have battled it out several times. Brooks and Green last matched up on Dec. 7, 2021, when Virginia Tech fell by 19 in Lynchburg after a slow start. Amoore scored four points, dished three assists and grabbed two rebounds in 34 minutes on the floor.
When asked about his past experiences with Liberty, Brooks said the Flames have “always been a pain in my side.”
“Carey does a tremendous job with their program,” Brooks said. “It’s well documented, you can look at his record and it’s real. It’s no fluke. He does a tremendous job. He got their program back. ... You know, I come to Kentucky, and I’m still playing against Carey Green. And I played against him a lot when I was at James Madison, I played against his team a lot when I was at Virginia Tech and I get an opportunity to play against him again. You know you’re going to play against a very well-coached basketball team.”
The first-year UK coach owns a 10-3 advantage over Green, dating back to Nov. 29, 2006, when Brooks guided James Madison to a 74-64 victory in Harrisonburg, Va. That season, Brooks’ fifth at the helm, would culminate in his first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance as a head coach, and mark his first time leading a team ranked in the Associated Press Top 25.
The Flames rank No. 79 in this season’s NCAA NET rankings, an official tool used to help determine the bids and seeding in the NCAA Tournament. They faced three NCAA Tournament teams — Duke, Tennessee and Grand Canyon — during the regular season, losing each of them by at least 16 points. Liberty shared three common opponents with Kentucky this season — Tennessee, Arkansas and Western Kentucky — falling to the Lady Vols once, defeating Arkansas once and Conference USA foe Western Kentucky twice.
Also headed to Lexington
Basketball fans in Lexington will be further rewarded with a matchup between two teams who have become regular presences on Selection Sunday. In addition to Kentucky (22-7) vs. Liberty, Historic Memorial Coliseum will play host to No. 5 seed Kansas State vs. No. 12 Fairfield — two teams who also happen to be led by coaches with whom Brooks is quite familiar. Furthermore, Brooks noted that there are “no enemies in that group,” and that he roots for them all.
Kansas State (26-7), helmed by Jeff Mittie for the 11th year, is preparing for its fifth appearance in the Big Dance under Mittie. The Wildcats enter this weekend ranked ninth in the NET ratings, with a 21-0 record against teams classified as Quad 3 or 4, a 3-1 record against Quad 2 teams and a 2-6 record against Quad 1 teams. Kansas State finished in the top half of the Big 12 regular-season standings, and fell in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament to NCAA Tournament 6-seed West Virginia.
The Wildcats finished 2-0 against shared opponents with Kentucky this season, defeating Belmont by 26 at home and tackling Texas A&M on the road by 39, and 5-6 against teams that made the NCAA Tournament. Kansas State dropped a neutral-site matchup to second-seeded Duke during nonconference play, and suffered losses at Oklahoma State and Iowa State, against Baylor and twice to West Virginia.
“Jeff is a good friend,” Brooks said. “We don’t talk, you know, we see each other on the road. We have very similar paths, how we got to where we are. I’ve always watched his teams, and we watch each other, compliment each other, root for each other. He does a tremendous job there, so it’ll be good to have him in town.”
Fairfield (28-4), in its third season under Carly Thibault-DuDonis, will make its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance — and seventh overall — this weekend. Thibault-DuDonis, a name thrown around during Kentucky’s coaching search last year, has led the Stags to their first-ever consecutive NCAA Tournament bids, and back-to-back seasons of at least 28 wins. The Stags are No. 52 in the NET.
This year, the Stags lost each of their games against NCAA Tournament teams — by 23 vs. No. 9 Richmond and by two at No. 7 Oklahoma State — but beat their sole overlapping opponent with Kentucky — a 14-point victory at Arkansas to open the season.
“Carly’s a rising star,” Brooks said. “I interviewed Carly one year. She’s got ties with my assistant coach Josh Petersen, I think they were on the same staff at Florida State (2013-14). So she’s a rising star, and so I know them well. I know them well. So it’ll be really good to have all of ‘em here, knowing each other, and you know that they’re all good for women’s basketball. I think the fans who come out and watch all four teams, you’re gonna see really good basketball.”
Path to the Final Four
Though there’s no such thing as an easy path to where no Wildcat has gone before, UK has a difficult road ahead in hopes of achieving its first Final Four appearance in program history.
In a season with unparalleled parity, where several teams stand a good chance at hoisting the national championship trophy when all is said and done, Kentucky finds itself in the Spokane 4 Regional with the following bids — No. 1 Southern California, No. 2 Connecticut, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 5 Kansas State, No. 6 Iowa, No. 7 Oklahoma State, No. 8 California, No. 9 Mississippi State, No. 10 South Dakota State, No. 11 Murray State, No. 12 Fairfield, No. 13 Liberty, No. 14 Florida Gulf Coast, No. 15 Arkansas State and No. 16 UNC Greenboro.
That includes the top-overall team in the NET rankings (Connecticut), three in the top 10 (No. 6 Southern California and No. 9 Kansas State) and five others in the top 45 (No. 24 Iowa, No. 27 Oklahoma State, No. 31 Mississippi State, No. 38 California and No. 44 South Dakota State) with which Kentucky may potentially contend. Not to mention, of course, No. 51 Murray State, No. 52 Fairfield, No. 59 Florida Gulf Coast and No. 79 Liberty, plus Southern Conference Tournament champ UNC Greensboro (No. 139) and Sun Belt Tournament champ Arkansas State (No. 142).
And, of course, there is no shortage of storylines. Here are a few to follow throughout the Wildcats’ March Madness journey:
▪ Paige Bueckers-led No. 2 Connecticut seeks its first title since 2016, and 12th overall. Bueckers is the predicted top pick in this year’s WNBA Draft. She’s healthy, and, this year, she’s put on Grade-A performances against the likes of North Carolina, Ole Miss and South Carolina, among others. Can she, freshman sensation Sarah Strong and the ever-reliable Azzi Fudd return the Huskies to the top of the table?
▪ National player of the year frontrunner Juju Watkins hopes to lift No. 1-seed Southern California to its first championship since 1984, back when the Trojans were a mainstay in the national spotlight. USC won the Big Ten regular-season title in its first year post-Pac-12 demise, but ultimately fell short in the conference tournament championship to archrival UCLA — does the final No. 1 seed (by which head coach Lindsay Gottlieb felt “disrespected,”) have what it takes to win it all? Furthermore, the Trojans and the Huskies could have a repeat of last season’s Elite Eight matchup, which Connecticut won by seven to advance to the Final Four before falling to eventual runner-up Iowa.
▪ No. 15 Arkansas State is one of six teams to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time. The Red Wolves defeated Sun Belt favorite James Madison in overtime in the league championship to earn a spot in the Big Dance.
▪ Several coaches in the Spokane 4 Regional have had their names circulating around newly open jobs around the Power Four. Mittie, Thibault-DuDonis and Mississippi State’s Sam Purcell have each been rumored as options for vacant seats at some of the biggest brands in Division I athletics.
▪ Barring 2020, during which the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been awhile since somebody not named Florida Gulf Coast won the ASUN. The last time the Eagles didn’t win the conference tournament, it was 2016. On paper, it was expected for FGCU to take the league’s autobid once again, but the women’s basketball world was thrown for a loop when longtime leader Karl Smesko left after two games this season to become the head coach of the Atlanta Dream; despite Smesko’s absence, longtime assistant and former Eagle Chelsea Lyles led FGCU to its ninth consecutive ASUN Tournament title, a 30-win season and an undefeated record in conference play.
Friday
Women’s NCAA Tournament games in Lexington
Where: Historic Memorial Coliseum
Noon: No. 4 seed Kentucky vs. No. 13 seed Liberty (ESPN)
About 2:30 p.m.: No. 5 seed Kansas State vs. No. 13 seed Fairfield (ESPNews)
Tickets: All-session and single-session tickets for the three games in Memorial Coliseum were to go on sale Monday at 10 a.m.
Scouting Kentucky’s first-round opponent
Team: Liberty Flames
Location: Lynchburg, Virginia
Enrollment: 16,000 on campus; 124,000 online
School colors: Blue, Red, White and Grey
Head coach: Carey Green (591-239 in 26 seasons at Liberty and overall)
Conference: Conference USA
NCAA berth: Automatic (Liberty tied Middle Tennessee for first place in the conference in the regular season then won the league tournament.)
All-time series: Kentucky leads 2-1
Last meeting: Kentucky won 83-77 on March 20, 2010, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Louisville.
Common opponents with Kentucky this season: Liberty lost to Tennessee 109-93 (Nov. 16) and beat Arkansas 75-61 (Dec. 18) and Western Kentucky 77-66 (Jan. 2) and 74-70 (March 8).
Notable games this season: Against power conference teams in addition to Tennessee and Arkansas, Liberty lost to Duke 83-67.
