UK alum Tom Leach has been the play-by-play “Voice of the Wildcats” for the football Cats for 13 years and 10 years for men’s basketball. He is a four-time winner of the Kentucky Sportscaster of the Year award. Tom offers an entertaining and insightful perspective into UK athletics. Column entries will be posted twice per week through April. Read Tom’s full biography.A dream come true.That’s the best way to describe the Mark Krebs’ story at the University of Kentucky.He grew up in Northern Kentucky fantasizing about wearing the blue and white Kentucky uniform, as so many youngsters in this state do. Out of Newport Central Catholic High School, he opted to attend college at Thomas More to be close to his family because his mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer.The dream kept tugging at him so he approached then-UK coach Tubby Smith and got the opportunity to join the Wildcats as a walk-on player. And Krebs kept his spot through two coaching changes, all the while dealing with his mom’s battle with cancer, which she ulmiately lost this past spring.The whole story is chronicled in Krebs’ new book, “Beyond a Dream.”  It’s available now in local bookstores and via beyondadreambook.com and coach John Calipari has written the foreword. Part of the proceeds go to benefit the Terri Krebs Dream Foundation.Krebs said he’s proud of how the book turned out and the process of writing was somewhat cathartic.”It helped me to write about it and see a different perspective about things because when I was a kid, my mom had breast cancer and everything she went through,” Krebs said. “Just to be a part of Kentucky basketball and look back on the things I did with Kentucky basketball and just reflect was therapuetic for all that was going on over summer. I always took notes. I am the type of guy that no one ever knew. When something crazy happened or something important happened that I would want to remember, I would write it in a journal and my family would write good notes during my mom’s battle. Through that, I learned a lot and it helped all the way with writing the book.”When his mom passed away, Krebs said one of the first calls came from Calipari.  He also heard from ex-Wildcat Billy Gillispie (“he told me the story of what my background meant to him and I didn’t know that he knew as much as he did”), among others.Terri Krebs, Mark’s mother, was given a terminal diagnosis when Mark was a freshman in high school. That’s why this past season’s Senior Night was one of the most emotional ever, as Krebs was able to enjoy the ceremony with his mom and the rest of his family at his side.”I didn’t know that much then (when I was in high school) but I realize that she was sick 98 percent of the time and she went through 395 chemo treatments and did it all for the sake of family,” Krebs said. “It was the little moments that people take for granted that made her live the nine years instead of nine months (of her diagnosis), and it is because of family. Never once did she suffer. She found joy in living and it was something special and she saw her kids through adulthood and did it with a smile on her face, and I love her for it.”Krebs was also involved in another memorable moment later last season, when he stroked a 3-point shot for his only career NCAA Tournament basket during the Wildcats’ second-round rout of Wake Forest.”First of all , I think it was set up because the game before when I shot an air ball I got a lot (of teasing) for it,” Krebs said. “Patrick was like ‘Man, you need to get in there and make one.’ When I went in there, everyone was like ‘You’ve got to make one,’ and Coach Cal made a remark as I went by and I was like, ‘I am going to knock one down.’ “Krebs said he missed one that he thought was going in and then had another shot swatted back in his face. But finally, the moment came — catch, fade, shoot, swish. “Going back down the court, looking at all my teammates, it was special because they all understood that I was in it for the team,” Krebs said. “Coach Cal sat me down early and said we need a senior leader that can help the team and be a practice player. If we need you in the games, be ready, and being a leader on the team, it was nice to hit one.”Coach Calipari recently told a crowd in Birmingham, Ala., that he thought his players might have been looking ahead to a possible matchup with Duke when the Cats faced off against West Virginia. Krebs says he did not sense that.”I didn’t,” Krebs said. “Obviously when you are in that position in the Elite Eight, your heart is beating and it is an amazing feeling going up and down the court. We thought that we were the best left and that was our goal to win it.  And I think once we  got behind (things changed). We were down four and it felt like 100. “It was because we were not making shots and then the rim was getting smaller and smaller and the way they played, it didn’t seem like we were getting enough shots. Once they got up seven, we thought we were done. All that considered, we had a great run and I will not sugarcoat it. Maybe we were looking forward but I don’t know.”