There’s something about watching a Kentucky native play basketball at the University of Kentucky that makes the heart of a UK fan beat just a little bit faster.Ask a fan about watching Kentucky natives Richie Farmer, John Pelphrey, Leslie Nichols, Patty Jo Hedges, Carly Ormerod or even current Cat Jon Hood play and you’re sure to see a certain twinkle in their eye. Kentuckians have pride in watching their very own develop, mature and play basketball for the epicenter of college basketball and the state’s flagship university.”We always want to find the best players in the state of Kentucky. We think that’s important,” UK Hoops head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “We think that Kentucky is a special place. Our fans are connected to the program in a special way and one of those things that make it special is because they want to see kids from Kentucky do well here.”That’s why it was so important for Kentucky, a program trying to climb back into the nation’s elite, to sign one of the state’s most heralded recruits in years. A’dia Mathies, Kentucky’s 2009 Miss Basketball, torched the state’s high school basketball scene as a senior, averaging 17.1 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.9 steals, 3.8 assists and 1.9 blocks as a senior at Iroquois High School out of Louisville.Miss do-everything led the Lady Raiders to their first state tournament title in school history, en route to being named Gatorade Kentucky Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year, among a long and distinguished list of other awards.Schools came calling by the dozens to have Mathies, a 5-foot-9 guard, play for their programs. Yet when Mathies trimmed the schools down to her final list, it was Florida and Kentucky’s two top schools battling it out for her services – archrivals UK and U of L.For some of Mathies’ friends and family, the choice seemed like a no-brainer. Kentucky was in the midst of a transition from former coach Mickie DeMoss to current coach Mitchell while Louisville was on a torrid upswing. It had to be Louisville, right? Wrong. As it turns out, it was never an issue for Mathies. Her heart pumped blue from the very beginning.”Basically because I wanted to get away from home but I didn’t want to be too far off so my family could support me,” Mathies said of choosing the Cats. “UK has a great tradition with men’s basketball and everything. I just wanted to be here. They’ve got good fan support.”U of L would later go on to the 2009 national title game before losing to powerhouse Connecticut. Mathies was expecting to take some heat from her family and friends for skipping out on her hometown school, but surprisingly she said it wasn’t too bad.”It wasn’t a whole lot of grief,” Mathies said. “People just wanted to know why I did not go to Louisville, especially since they were coming off the national championship game. I just wanted to get away from there.”What did she tell some of the cynics?”I said UK is better for me,” she said.It appears Mathies knew best. While Louisville isn’t on a slide, it has lost three games to start the season. Meanwhile, Mathies’ college choice is off and rolling to a 9-0 start, one win short of setting the school’s best start to a season.Mathies has been one of the key cogs of the equation. The first-year star is averaging 12.0 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, both second-best marks on the team.To hear Mitchell describe her, she has great athleticism and versatility, traits that were key factors in UK transitioning to a more up-tempo offensive game and an in-your-face defensive mentality.”When we recruited her I told her that we needed her to come in and produce right away,” Mitchell said. “That’s just where we were as a basketball program. We needed to sign someone to come in and do what she has been doing. I’m not surprised as much as I’m pleased that she has actually been able to do what we needed her to do. She still has some things she can get better doing to progress as a player. But she is – from a talent and ability standpoint – what we thought when we signed her.”What she is, is a physical, confident tenacious scorer who plays with poise far beyond her years. Mitchell pointed to the Cincinnati game, one of the few matchups she got flustered in, as a prime example. “She really got down on herself in my opinion and usually you don’t see a freshman come out of it,” Mitchell said. “It took her a little bit longer than I wanted her to come out of it, but the great thing about it is she came out of it and really helped our team win that game down the stretch and made some big plays.”  Plays freshmen usually don’t make. Besides her bashfulness off the court – Mathies has rightfully earned the nickname the “Silent Assassin” – she acts and plays like a four-year veteran. Example? In the UK women’s basketball media guide Mathies was asked who she would choose to play one-on-one on the men’s basketball team. Mathies chose John Wall because she thinks she “can take him.””She’s just so gifted,” Mitchell said. “She has a great body for basketball. She’s strong, she’s fast, she’s athletic, can jump and then I think the huge difference for her is her mentality. She’s very confident in herself, bounces back from mistakes better than most freshman do. She just is a really gifted basketball player.”Although Mathies didn’t know what to expect coming into college, she isn’t at all surprised by the record start the Cats are off to, which has them knocking on the door of the top 25.”I’m not really surprised,” Mathies said. “We’ve put in a lot of hard work and I knew that it would pay off if we put in a bunch of hard work in the preseason.”Coincidentally, the Cats will have to go through Mathies’ hometown school and Kentucky’s arch-nemesis to record the all-time best start in school annals (Sunday vs. Louisville at 1 p.m. in Memorial Coliseum). Although she doesn’t know the exact number attending, Mathies is expecting a huge turnout of family and friends because of the game’s ramifications and history. If there was a game where undesirable freshman traits could break through, this game could potentially be it.”I just need to stay focused and stay calm,” Mathies said. “This is a big game because it’s against a team that was recruiting me just as much as UK and it’s from my hometown.”Mitchell said he would be lying if he wasn’t concerned about how Mathies will respond to the situation and the potential hype in Memorial Coliseum. However, if her first nine games are any indication, she’ll likely continue to play far beyond her years.”That’s our job as coaches is to help our team focus this week because there are a lot of things that could distract us,” Mitchell said. “What we’ve tried to tell A’dia and all of our team is the only thing that’s going to impact that game is what we do between the lines during practice from now until the game. “Of course that’s a concern. I would be dishonest if that wasn’t a concern. This team wants to win and wants to win badly. Our job is to make certain they focus on what needs to be done to get that done.”