It’s a sweep!The Kentucky women’s basketball team has swept all three of the major Southeastern Conference season awards, as head coach Matthew Mitchell was named SEC Coach of the Year, junior forward Victoria Dunlap was tabbed SEC Player of the Year and A’dia Mathies was selected as the SEC Freshman of the Year. It’s only the second time in SEC history a team has swept the Coach, Player and Freshman of the Year awards. Tennessee conquered the feat in its national championship season of 1998 when Pat Summitt, Chamique Holdsclaw and Tamika Catchings won all three awards.The awards come as yet another stamp of approval on the rebuilding job Mitchell and Co. have undergone. Just a season ago, UK Hoops was stuck in the realm of mediocrity, going to its third straight Women’s National Invitation Tournament.The league’s coaches predicted a similar fate for the Cats in the preseason when they picked UK to finish 11th in the league. Now, after UK put the finishing touches on a second-place finish, those same SEC coaches have displayed their nod of approval by voting Mitchell, Dunlap and Mathies for postseason awards.”The way all of those awards turned out is an ultimate testament to how this team came together,” Mitchell said. “I think most of its born out of a lack of expectations. People didn’t we were going to be very good. You can’t get anything done in this league if you don’t have a really good team. I think both players would be the first to tell you where individuals have been able to stand out by themselves, but because we had both of these players play at the level along with their teammates, we had a very special regular season.”Mitchell’s 2010 coaching job has been by far his best. Entering this season, Mitchell had a career record of 63-61 in four years of head coaching at Morehead State and UK. Now, in his third season with the Cats, Mitchell has led UK to a 23-6 record and on the brink of its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006. The Cats’ 11-5 mark in conference play is a school best.”It shows how much work he puts in to make us get better and help us through the season,” Dunlap said. “He talks a lot about listening to him and becoming better people. His coaching is a reflection of us playing on the court. We’re always trying to work really hard and do our best.”
Dunlap, who was also named to the All-Defensive team, had shown flashes of brilliance in her first two seasons at UK but had never been able to piece it together because of inexperience. In leading UK into the top 25 for the first time since 2006, Dunlap averaged a team-best 17.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and an SEC-best 3.1 steals per game.After ranking in the top 10 of seven different SEC statistical categories, Dunlap becomes just the ninth player in school history to be named to the All-SEC first team and the first since Stacey Reed in 1994.Not too shabby for a player that didn’t even make All-SEC first team in the preseason. “I think we surprised other people, not ourselves,” Dunlap said. When Mitchell recruited Mathies out of Iroquois High School in Louisville, he knew he had a potential star on his hands. However, even he couldn’t have predicted the 2009 Kentucky Miss Basketball to be the type of difference maker she’s been this season.In her first year in collegiate basketball, Mathies is averaging 12.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. She’s scored in double figures in 21 of 29 games, including 11 of 16 league contests, en route to second-team All-SEC honors. “I didn’t know what to expect coming in,” Mathies said. “I just knew I wanted to work hard and put forth my best effort in everything I did. Along with the players and the coaching staff, they pushed me to give all that I had. I’m blessed to win an award like this and to share it with my coach, who got Coach of the Year, and Victoria Dunlap, who got Player of the Year, along with the rest of the team.”With the help of Dunlap and Mathies, UK ranks 12th in the nation in steals (11.5) and third in turnover margin (plus-7.59).
“What I am so happy about is that as long as I have an opportunity to coach here, I can’t imagine that defense won’t be extremely valued,” Mitchell said. “Both of these players, while they are winning individual awards, it makes me really happy that both are so committed as defensive players. I think that tells you a little bit about their character as people. Because a lot of great players, talented players, don’t play and practice defense like these two have. For me, it’s particularly exciting because of that. They embody what we are trying to be about in this program.”The awards are another reminder of the special season it’s been in the Bluegrass State as UK prepares itself for the SEC Tournament in Duluth, Ga. The Cats earned a first-round bye in the tournament with their second-place finish and will not play until Friday at 2:30 p.m. UK will face the winner of the Florida-Auburn first-round matchup.No matter what happens in postseason play, it won’t be the end-all for the Cats’ postseason award winners. Both Dunlap and Mathies, along with the majority of UK’s roster, are expected to be back next season.Is it possible to imagine this team doing even bigger and better things in the future?With the hardware now to prove their worth, there’s no telling where the future of UK Hoops is headed.”If you look at it that way, it’s a tremendous opportunity,” Mitchell said. “Neither one needs to look at it as an arrival. All of these awards, you need to take in stride. Both of these players will take the awards humbly and gratefully, but both will understand they need to get better.”