The Kentucky women's basketball season has come to an end, but the words of wisdom shared by head coach Kenny Brooks along the way have found a permanent spot with Alexis Allen and Gracen Wynn, two of the team's student managers.
"You don’t always get to pick the cards life deals you. But it’s always 10 percent what happens and 90 percent how you deal with it," Wynn told BBN Tonight anchor Maggie Davis, in reference to her head coach's "90-10" rule. "And it can’t rain forever. You choose when you put up your umbrella and keep walking straight."
"Ever since I’ve gotten the job, it’s kind of steered me in a different direction," Allen, a senior who is set to graduate this May, added.
"Basketball kind of planted me... And flowers came from it because I’m stopping to realize this is what I’m meant to do. This is what I have been looking for the whole time I’ve been in college, and I’ve found it through basketball."
Their sentiments reflect those of the program's head coach, who has frequently shared his determination to "stop and smell the roses" this season, including when the Cats advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in a decade.
"I'm too old to be living life and not stopping and smelling the roses. I adopted that mentality a couple of years ago, and it’s allowed me to enjoy moments like this even more so," Brooks said following Kentucky's one-point win over West Virginia in the Round of 32.
"I have a group of young women in that locker room that are so much fun to be around," Brooks continued in his post-game press conference. "They’re great kids. Very smart, a 3.5 [GPA]. Not one of them has been late to a meeting yet. They tell the bus driver "yes sir" and "thank you" every time. When you have a group like that and they’re good at basketball? You better stop and smell the roses. Because you never know. You want to make sure you enjoy every second of it and that’s what I’m doing with this group."
His words also struck a nerve with long-time Kentucky fan, Pam Larson, who's had season tickets for 20 years. Even two decades in, she found something special with this particular team.
"I am a "sayings" person. I grew up with a father and grandfather using sayings. My staff will say to me," what’s the Pam-ism for this?,'" Larson told Davis, before listing "not my circus; not my monkeys" and "nobody dies; we can fix it" as a few of her personal favorites.
A reminder your words can leave a permanent mark
— Maggie Davis (@MaggieDavisTV) April 3, 2026
Tonight at 7:30 on @BBNTonight 🌹 pic.twitter.com/Zl4jNfG2wE
"So I related to him using those kinds of things with the team, and it really resonated with me when he said stop and smell the roses. I also think as professionals, we forget to do that. Athletes, whatever. We think: what didn’t we do? What haven’t we done? What’s our next goal to achieve? So it hit me when he said that. I thought, 'You know what? Let’s do something fun and a little crazy.'"
Larson made the drive from northern Kentucky to Lexington to personally deliver a fresh bouquet of roses to the program's gym, eager to congratulate her favorite team on a season's worth of work and a decade's worth of waiting.
"If they didn’t have some in the basketball office or where the team was, they needed to. They had that crazy game the night before, and they needed a little celebration."
The managers, including Wynn and Allen, were as struck by Larson's thoughtfulness as Larson herself was by Brooks' coaching on and off the court.
"I think we are on this really awesome trajectory right now," Larson said of the women's program. "One of the things I believe in strongly is culture. I see the culture is changing... And the culture of what UK basketball and UK sports are is really now coming into the women’s program. I was really excited when the commitment was made years ago to put money into women’s basketball, the renovation to Memorial, that is exciting. And I think this team is special because they know they’re building for the future. I love seeing that."
"You never really understand the impact you have on people," Allen said after the flower delivery. "As managers, we don’t understand until donors or season ticket holders know our name because they come to every game. You don’t think people need to know our names. We don't think that. But we do help the team."
"We’re down here every day, with them every day," Wynn added. "To us, we see them as Coach Brooks. That’s Amelia [Hassett]. But to people outside, they can be viewed as superheroes. Just being able to take the fact that we get to be up close and personal and learn from them, just try not to take it for granted."
"We don’t realize how much we do to help them succeed. Everyone knows how much Coach Brooks means to us. So it’s nice other people are resonating with what he says, too."
Watch the full story here for more on the impact of this season and the advice shared along the way, as well as an up-close look at the tattoos Allen and Wynn got during the team's trip to Texas to commemorate the season.
Story shot and edited by BBN Tonight photojournalist, Nick Lazaroff.
For more on Kentucky basketball and all of the Wildcats, join us on BBN Tonight, airing weeknights at 7:30 p.m. on the official station for UK Athletics, LEX 18.
