Final Four Is A Full-Circle Moment For Kenny Brooks, Hokies

SEATTLE — Kenny Brooks took it all in. At the top of the ladder used to cut down the net in Climate Pledge Arena, he scanned his surroundings, soaking in the moment. Almost seven years to the day of when he was named head coach at Virginia Tech, he guided the Hokies to their first-ever Final Four berth.

It was a full-circle moment. He remarked in his opening press conference that, “If Syracuse can do it, we can do it.” Little did he know that it would take him seven seasons to reach that same stage, which the Orange reached in 10 under Quinten Hillsman.

On top of that, the Hokies are the second team in the last 20 years to make the NCAA Final Four after being bounced from the first round the year prior. The other: Washington in 2016. Their season ended in the NCAA tournament semifinals at the hands of — you guessed it — Syracuse.

Moreover, the draw couldn’t be more fitting. In the school’s first trip to the Lone Star State since playing in San Antonio in the 2021 NCAA tournament, it sees a familiar face in LSU’s Kim Mulkey. Two years ago, she coached Baylor past Tech in a second-round game en route to the Elite Eight.

Now, Mulkey’s Tigers are 32-2 and Brooks’ Hokies are 31-4. And LSU might be a two-point favorite in Las Vegas, but Virginia Tech is the higher-seeded squad.

“We’ve come a long way in a very short time,” a reflective Brooks said after his team won Seattle Regional 3. “And she told me we would. She said, ‘Kenny, I know you’re smiling behind that mask because you’ve got babies, and they’re going to be good.’ And she was right.”

At the time, D’asia Gregg was a junior, Elizabeth Kitley and Cayla King were sophomores and Georgia Amoore was finishing up her first year of college basketball.

Fast forward two seasons. Gregg is Tech’s “sixth starter” while King is Brooks’ security blanket. Kitley’s a two-time ACC Player of the Year; Amoore was the most valuable and outstanding player at the ACC Tournament and in the Seattle Regional, respectively.

“You saw raw talent that you just knew they were going to get better,” Mulkey said of Brooks and the Hokies on Tuesday morning. “You knew when he got those kind of kids what that program was about to do. … When those young ladies were freshmen and sophomores, you saw the talent. You knew if he could keep them together, which he did, that they were just going to be phenomenal.

“They’re older, and they’ve been together. He hasn’t had a lot of them transfer out. They don’t play a lot of players, so they have that continuity together.”

Virginia Tech faces LSU in the Final Four on Friday, March 31 in the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas (7 p.m. ET, ESPN). Five years prior, it played at Indiana in the WNIT Championship in Brooks’ second season. The Hokies and Hoosiers, led by Teri Moren, were both No. 1 seeds in this year’s NCAA tournament.

One of the most heartwarming parts for Brooks, though, ties into the last time the Final Four was in Dallas in 2017. A father of three girls, he took his middle daughter, Chloe, to the tournament, and they watched Mississippi State and South Carolina take care of UConn and Stanford, respectively.

“We watched Mississippi State beat up on UConn,” Brooks said. “Never in my wildest dreams… I wish I could tell you guys that I told [Chloe] that we were going to be here one day; I didn’t. Because that’s how hard this is to do. We’re going back to Dallas, and this time we can take the whole family. And we’re a part of the Final Four.”

Surreal indeed.