by LARRY VAUGHT
“I did make that statement. That’s why I came here. I wanted an opportunity to compete at a very high level,” Brooks said at the SEC Media Days. “If you can compete at a high level in this league, you’ll give yourself a chance to win a national championship.
“I think everyone should try to play for that. I don’t know if anybody’s going to come in and say, I just want to get to the tournament. I’ve been there. You want to go a step further. I’ve had a taste of the Final Four. It was wonderful. You want to get back. But this time you want to win it.
“I think I would be cheating Kentucky fans if I didn’t think that way. If you’re not confident enough to say that’s what you want to accomplish, then you really are not doing your job. We have the resources. We have the support, whether it’s from our administration or from our fans, our fan base.
“The Kentucky brand gives you an opportunity to dream big. We feel like if we continue to work hard, we can work towards a goal, understanding that only one team wins. It’s very hard to do. If you’re not working towards that goal, if you’re too afraid to say it, maybe you’re not confident enough to speak it into existence.”
Brooks is also more confident he’s better prepared for SEC competition this season than he was a year ago even though he had occasionally played SEC teams while he was head coach at Virginia Tech.
“I remember one coach said, ‘Welcome to the jungle,’ is what she referred to the SEC as. But you go through it,” the UK coach said. “We bring something that’s probably a little bit different I think to the SEC. We play a little bit of a different style than most have seen. I think that’s worked for us.”
Kentucky finished fourth in the SEC standings last year but was only picked eighth in the preseason SEC poll this year.
“In year two we have an expectation, understanding of what’s going to happen when you go on the road in the SEC. But we also got a little bit stronger, got a little bit bigger this year,” he said. “I think we’re going to be able to provide a little bit of physicality that we weren’t able to last year. I think you have to have those qualities in order to compete in the SEC.”
Junior Clara Strack, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year last season when she led the league in blocked shots, feels the same way.
“I remember after our first SEC game last year, I sat there and I was like, ‘Dang, that really is what they talk about.’ We are just more prepared, and we know what to expect going into this season,” Strack, a Virginia Tech transfer, said.
