There’s the respect I talked about a couple of days ago regarding the UK softball team.
Graham Hays is running through his preseason top 25 for ESPN.com and appropriately titled the Cats as a team on the rise. Hays tabbed the Cats No. 19 in his preseason poll.
“… skeptics might want to give Lexington, Ky., a wide berth this spring,” Hays writes in his preview for the season. “There is ample reason to believe that Kentucky’s giant leap forward last season may yet prove to be one small step in a program’s emergence as a national contender as long as coach Rachel Lawson is around.”
As I’ll write about in the coming weeks in my season preview, he couldn’t be more right. Kentucky has done the hardest part in building a foundation. Sure, measuring up to expecatations will add another element to contend with this season, but the chance to springboard off last year’s success makes Kentucky a potentially dangerous team.
