The Firecrackers will be back in Rupp Arena Feb. 17 when Kentucky hosts Alabama. (Gary Moyers Photo)

Kelsey LaCroix thought about what it would be like to participate in the Olympics when she was a young gymnast.

She assumed any chance of participating in the Olympics ended when she made the decision to stick with cheerleading over gymnastics at age 11.

That decision worked out well, though, as she recently helped Kentucky win a third straight national cheer title. But now she’s going to the Olympics – along with other members of UK’s national cheerleading team.

They will participate in an exhibition cheer competition at the Olympics in South Korea. Teams from Great Britain, Russia, Germany, Norway, Australia and Canada will also be there as part of a push to hopefully one day make cheerleading an Olympic sport.

“That’s some of the top cheerleading powers around the world,” UK cheer coach Jomo Thompson said. “Cheerleading is exploding everywhere. To be chosen from so many great college teams to represent the United States and have that UK on our chest is just awesome.”

Kentucky will have 10 male cheerleaders, eight female cheerleaders, one athletics trainer and Thompson in South Korea.

“Nationals is the big thing for us and we focused on that for so long,” said LaCroix, a senior from Illinois. “The Olympics is a chance to celebrate what we have done and help make cheerleading even bigger. It’s kind of like the icing on the cake.”

Kentucky had been chosen to represent the United States before it won its 23rd national title. However, LaCroix said the Olympic invitation did add a little pressure at nationals.

“We wanted to win nationals first to prove to everyone that us getting the opportunity to go to the Olympics was legitimate and was a big deal for us,” she said. “It definitely increased the pressure on us. What if we had not won nationals? Some might have thought we didn’t deserve to go to the Olympics. But we did win and I think that shows we are very deserving to represent the United States.”

LaCroix has no idea what the international competition will be like. A select Team USA – UK cheerleader Whitney Agee and Dallas Pringle made this year’s team – competes in the World Championships each spring, but that doesn’t tell LaCroix how good the other countries might be.

“In the past they have been good,” the UK senior said. “We are going to give our best performance to represent USA. We are going to incorporate a few more skills and things into our routine. It won’t be harder, just different.”

The cheer team took a few days off after nationals to give their “bodies a break” from the intense practices they had leading into the national championships. They will be in South Korea from Feb. 18-25. The Olympics start Saturday and end Feb. 25.

“We will not be there for the opening ceremony, but from what we know we will be staying in the Olympic Village,” LaCroix said. “We will be there for the closing ceremony and hope we get to participate in that. But we don’t have a lot of details.

“I know it would be really cool to meet some of the athletes and be around them and in the same venue. It’s just an honor to be going. I think it will be an amazing experience.”

Her parents are just as excited that she has the opportunity to be part of the Olympics.

“The Olympics are always in some crazy place that is far away that is really expensive,” LaCroix said. “I hoped one day in the future I would get to go, but I never dreamed of this. My parents know they will keep us in safe and nice places.”

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Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy is in his 12th year in the SEC and is a coach I’ve always respected for not being afraid to share his opinion whether it is popular or not.

When he says this is the best the league has ever been, I pay attention.

“I think the most bids that the SEC has ever gotten (to the NCAA Tournament) is six, that’s going to get shattered, I think,” Kennedy said. “I think winning the Big 12/SEC Challenge brought some validity and fuel to the fire as to how good the league is.

“Think about this, the teams that typically play Wednesday night in the SEC Tournament are the teams that finished in the bottom four. The top has always been good in the SEC. The middle has gotten a lot stronger, and the back has been a little bit of a fall off. Well now, there is no fall off.

“All four of the teams that were playing in last year’s Wednesday night in Nashville have all gotten a lot better. So I think top to bottom, this is the best that the league has ever been.”

The bottom four teams in the SEC tourney last year were Auburn, Mississippi State, LSU and Missouri. Auburn leads the SEC this year. Missouri and Mississippi State were tied for sixth place in the league after 10 games and LSU had already doubled its league win total from last year after 10 games.

Look at Alabama. It beat nationally-ranked Oklahoma and then lost at home to Missouri. But the Tide bounced back by winning at Florida.

Another sign of the league’s strength? After Kentucky lost at Missouri on Saturday, coach John Calipari said his team could lose all eight remaining games – and no one thought it an outlandish statement. No, I don’t think that will happen, but there are no gimmes left for UK – or any other SEC team.

•••

It’s not going to happen, but Calipari’s players should pay attention to some advice from former Wildcat Patrick Patterson about the 2018 draft.

Patterson was on UK’s 2010 team that lost in the Elite Eight. He’s now in his eighth year in the NBA, and after the Cats lost at Missouri on Saturday, he posted this on Twitter: “I would be utterly thrilled if everyone of these kids came back (to UK) next year.”

Depending on which mock draft you select, Kentucky has three players – Kevin Knox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Hamidou Diallo – projected as potential first-round picks in the 2018 draft.

Most assume Knox will go to the NBA despite his up-and-down season. Gilgeous-Alexander was not seen as a one-and-done player, but his play at times has boosted his stock. Diallo almost went to the NBA last year without ever playing at Kentucky and there seems little doubt he wants to go even though one NBA scout told me his “average defense and lack of outside shooting” would not appeal to his team despite Diallo’s athleticism. “An average defender his size who can’t score outside doesn’t play for our team,” the scout said.

Believe it or not, one recent mock draft has Jarred Vanderbilt in the first round even though he’s been hurt for most of the last three seasons and has lacked any scoring flow since his return to play in January.

Patterson stayed at UK until his junior year and turned that into a long, productive NBA career.