For the first time in school history, the Kentucky women?s basketball team has earned top-25 preseason rankings by Athlon Sports magazine and Lindy?s Basketball Annual which were released recently.

The Wildcats, who had a record-breaking regular season in 2006 that included the most wins (22) in 16 years, a school-record nine SEC victories, the highest conference finish (fourth) in 23 years, and UK?s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in seven years, are ranked No. 14 by Athlon Sports and No. 18 by Lindy?s.

?It?s exciting for our program to be ranked in these preseason polls,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?With that excitement there are also a lot of expectations but I think I am much more accustomed to dealing with high expectations than no expectations. The culture here has changed over the last three years. My first year, we came in with literally no expectations. Now, going in to my fourth year, there are much higher expectations. That?s something that I will embrace and I think our team will as well.?

Kentucky finished 22-9 in 2005-06 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to No. 16/17 Michigan State.

DeMoss, named the 2006 SEC Coach of the Year by the league coaches and The Associated Press, welcomes back 10 letter winners and all five starters from last season?s squad, including the top three scorers in All-SEC selection Samantha Mahoney (Detroit), junior center Sarah Elliott (McKee, Ky.), and sharp-shooting senior Jenny Pfeiffer. Senior forward Jennifer Humphrey (Memphis, Tenn.) also is back after receiving a medical hardship for missing all but six games of her sophomore year with an illness. Humphrey led UK and ranked fourth in the SEC last season in rebounding (8.5 rpg). Carly Ormerod (Louisville, Ky.), an All-SEC Freshman team member last season, returns as the floor general after starting in all 31 games during her rookie campaign and averaging a team-high 31.1 minutes per game. UK welcomes three prep standouts in Brittany Edelen (Springfield, Ky.), Amani Franklin (Decatur, Ga.,) and Lydia Watkins (Hopkinsville, Ky.)

The first opportunity to see the 2006-07 UK Hoops squad is Friday, Oct. 13 at Big Blue Madness in Rupp Arena at 9 p.m. ET.

After two exhibition games on Nov. 1 (Northern Kentucky) and Nov. 7 (Shawnee State), the Cats

Will begin their 2006-07 slate by playing host to the Women?s Sports Foundation Tournament Nov. 10-12 in Memorial Coliseum. Teams include Indiana, Wake Forest and Washington State.

2006-07 ATHLON SPORTS PRESEASON TOP 25 POLL

1. North Carolina
2. Maryland
3. Oklahoma
4. Stanford
5. Ohio State
6. Duke
7. Tennessee
8. Georgia
9. LSU
10. Baylor
11. Arizona State
12. Vanderbilt
13. Connecticut
14. KENTUCKY

15. UCLA
16. Purdue
17. BYU
18. Rutgers
19. California
20. Bowling Green
21. DePaul
22. NC State
23. Louisiana Tech
24. Texas A&M
25. Western Kentucky

2006-07 LINDY?S PRESEASON TOP 25 POLL

1. Maryland
2. North Carolina
3. Stanford
4. Connecticut
5. Tennessee
6. Oklahoma
7. Duke
8. Georgia
9. Rutgers
10. Ohio State
11. Purdue
12. LSU
13. Arizona State
14. Vanderbilt
15. Texas A&M
16. USC
17. New Mexico
18. KENTUCKY

19. BYU
20. Michigan State
21. Bowling Green
22. St. John’s
23. Louisiana Tech
24. Iowa
25. Cal