The following preview story will run in the 2010-11 women’s basketball media guide …Matthew Mitchell had a dream for his team last season.Despite a recent stretch of mediocrity and a streak of three straight years without an NCAA Tournament appearance, Mitchell believed that his team had the parts to build something special. People around the program didn’t necessarily believe him, and it took the national pundits several months to take notice, but by the time UK had trounced Louisville, knocked off nationally ranked Vanderbilt and LSU, and swept the major Southeastern Conference regular season awards (Victoria Dunlap – SEC Player of the Year; A’dia Mathies – SEC Freshman of the Year; Matthew Mitchell – SEC Coach of the Year), people started to take notice of what Mitchell and his up-tempo women’s basketball team were doing at Kentucky.And then, somewhere between making the SEC Tournament finals, notching the most wins in school history (28), knocking off No. 1 seed Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament and marching to the program’s second Elite Eight, everyone started to believe the legitimacy of the seemingly out-of-nowhere magical run.From relative unknown to one of the nation’s elite, Mitchell and his team pulled off one of the best storylines of the 2009-10 college basketball season and joined the nation’s elite.Now the mission is staying there. After flying relatively under the radar last season, Kentucky will no longer be able to rely on the element of surprise. Teams now know about UK’s relentless up-tempo, in-your-face style of play that took the nation by surprise a year ago.The target is now positioned squarely on Kentucky’s back.”I’m real proud of (last year’s) team, where they will stay in the history of the program and where they’ll stay in my heart will always be a real, real special place,” Mitchell said, “but this is a brand new team. Everybody’s changed since last year. It really is a whole new ball game for us.”With a new year come news expectations and goals. After getting picked to finish 11th in the SEC in preseason polls last year, Kentucky is expected to compete for a conference crown.Just a year separated from entering the season without an ounce of respect from national analysts, the Wildcats begin the 2010-11 season with top-15 preseason rankings from Lindy’s (No. 9), Athlon Sports (No. 11) and Sporting News (No. 12). “I’m keenly aware that the externals are going to be different, but we have to focus on the internals,” Mitchell said. “The internals are the focus because it’s about to start happening – the comparison to last year is inevitable. We would like for it not to be that, but that’s not reality. It’s something they have to deal with. It’s a big, big pitfall that we could encounter if we spend much time, if any, focused on last year.”Instead, the goal will be about building on last year’s success and achieving new goals. “The thing we’re trying to make sure of is it’s not like we’ve done this 10 years in a row,” Mitchell said. “I’m trying to stay humble and stay hungry. We’ve had some challenges as we’re growing into this. It’s all uncharted territory for us, so I’m just trying to figure it all out.”One thing Mitchell won’t have to figure out is the type of style UK will run this year. The Cats ranked in the top 10 in turnovers per game (7.3) and steals per game (11.6) last year. With much of the same personnel returning this season, Mitchell will likely reinstitute a style that some have likened to former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson’s “40 Minutes of Hell.””I think it really depends on your players,” Mitchell said. “What we are doing is we’ve been very fortunate that the kids that have wanted to come to Kentucky are very athletic, quick and can move. So this team, if they’ll pay the price, can absolutely play pressure, in-your-face, up-tempo. That’s what we were trying to do and I think it can be a very fun way to play for a number of years.”The personnel group certainly calls for it this year.BackcourtWhen Mitchell was asked who the fastest player on the team was, he had trouble answering. “We have a lot of fast players,” Mitchell said.From speedster Crystal Riley to Mathies and freshman Maegan Conwright, a gritty defensive stalwart, speed is everywhere in Kentucky’s backcourt.Mitchell said last year’s full-court defense wasn’t part of his “grandmaster scheme,” but rather a necessity because of Kentucky’s lack of size. While a shortage of height won’t necessarily be the case this season, UK’s backcourt depth calls for even more reason to use the relentless defense.”From what I’ve seen, we’re deeper at guard and that’s what really fuels you to be able to get people to get up and pressure the ball,” Mitchell said. “We’re awfully deep in the backcourt and we have some kids in the backcourt that can swing in the frontcourt that are very versatile players. I think the depth is good and have the potential to build a faster more athletic team.”Depth will be important as the Cats will have to make up for the loss of senior point guard Amber Smith, who is out indefinitely with a knee injury she suffered in a pickup game during the offseason. With Smith’s return in doubt, Mitchell will go to a point-guard -by-committee look with last year’s backup, Riley, freshman sensation Jennifer O’Neill and the versatile Mathies.Riley, known for her speed and ability to push the ball, played well in relief of Smith last year, but she missed the final 10 games, including the NCAA Tournament, with a stress fracture in her left foot. O’Neill, meanwhile, arrives on campus as one of the most highly decorated recruits in program history. The 5-foot-6 point guard out of the Bronx, N.Y., enters college as the nation’s 10th-best point guard prospect in the class of 2010 and is the Kentucky’s first incoming freshman to earn McDonald’s All-America honors.”She’s extremely explosive, fast, has all the dribble moves, has all the ball-handling skills, can get by people (and) can make all the open-court plays,” Mitchell said. “She will be as dynamic as anybody we’ve signed here at that position. Amber makes some plays that will make your jaw drops sometimes, makes some finds that only she can see. Jen is in that mold. Jen is just a great passer, someone who will be able to keep the pressure on. From an offensive standpoint, she’ll be able to push the ball with anybody.”If Riley or O’Neill aren’t available in certain situations, Mitchell has the luxury of using Mathies at the one. Mathies played the point in key stretches last year when Riley was out and showed she’s capable of playing just about any position in college basketball by averaging 13.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.6 steals.”I have coached three kids now, with A’dia being the third, that I thought were extremely intelligent and that I thought knew where everybody was on the court and needed to be,” Mitchell said. “Those are rare players and A’dia is one of those.”Though Smith’s lightning-quick speed, career-high 9.2 points per game and 4.2 assists per game (fourth in the SEC) will be missed, Mitchell is more concerned about replacing Smith’s experience and leadership.”Crystal is further along from that standpoint clearly as a junior, but Jen is extremely mature for a freshman (and) has probably the same kind of passion for the game than Amber has,” Mitchell said. “She loves basketball, she’s a gym rat, she’s in here all the time (and) it seems like her hobby. Another thing Jen has working for her is she’s extremely talented, so that helps you fit into that role. Players respect kids with talent.”Kentucky’s shooting woes of the past are no longer an issue with the likes of Keyla Snowden and Carly Morrow at the two spot. Snowden, who set the single-season school record for most 3-pointers in a season at Akron, hit 51 treys for the Wildcats last season. Long before she knocked down a program-best four 3-pointers in the NCAA Tournament, Snowden was forcing opposing defenses to guard the perimeter.Against Florida in mid-February, Snowden scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, including five triples. Snowden topped that scoring mark earlier in the season with a career-best 25 points and six 3-pointers vs. UT-Martin.Though Morrow struggled with consistency last season, Mitchell said she’s had one of the best offseasons.”I think that Carly Morrow has looked phenomenal in preseason,” Mitchell said. “Will she look good in five-on-five, I don’t know. She is shooting the ball better than she ever has. Keyla looks like she is moving better. There is a lot of competition there. Keyla and Carly will have to fight for minutes to get on the court.”Expect freshmen guards Kastine Evans and Bernisha Pinkett, both of whom can play multiple positions, to push for key reserve spots.
FrontcourtAt times last year, when Dunlap found herself in foul trouble or in need of a rest, Kentucky looked like a team without much of a frontcourt. That won’t be the case this season.With the additions of highly touted freshmen Sarah Beth Barnette and Samantha Drake, in addition to the improvement of Brittany Henderson, UK’s frontcourt should be much more balanced and formidable.Barnette, who was named the 2010 Kentucky Miss Basketball and 2010 Gatorade Kentucky Player of the Year after averaging a squad-best 23.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks for Lexington Christian Academy, has the size to be a great inside player at 6-foot-2, but she tore up the high-school scene as a prolific outside shooter.Drake doesn’t have the range that Barnette possesses, but she’ll remind fans of former forward Eleia Roddy with her low-scoring presence. Rated the eight-best post player and one of the top 50 players in the nation by two different recruiting services, Drake set Nelson County (Ky.) records – both boys and girls – with 3,068 career points and 1,381 rebounds.The freshmen twin towers will have the unenviable position of replacing departed seniors Amani Franklin and Lydia Watkins, two “selfless” players who Mitchell credits much of last season’s success. “I think that is where it is important for us to stay focused on doing what the group is going to be good at doing,” Mitchell said. “Maybe Samantha and Sarah can’t do exactly what Amani and Lydia could do, but maybe they have other strengths and we have to tweak things.”Henderson, who played in all 36 games as a first-year player and averaged 10.6 minutes per game, will also be relied on to fill the gritty, versatile roles that Franklin and Watkins flourished in last year. When asked for a returning player who might surprise fans with her improvement and growth, Mitchell pointed to Henderson.”I think that Brittany Henderson has a chance to be a really good player for us in the role that we have her in,” Mitchell said.But ultimately, much of the success of this year’s team will fall on the shoulders of one of the nation’s best players and returning SEC Player of the Year, Dunlap. As the team’s general last year, Dunlap averaged a team-high 18.1 points and 8.4 rebounds. The 6-foot-1 forward from Nashville, Tenn., set UK single-season records in blocks (66), blocks per game (1.9) and steals (107).En route to finishing among the SEC leaders in six major categories (steals, scoring, blocked shots, offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding), Dunlap was named the program’s first SEC Player of the Year and an All-American by State Farm/WBCA, The Associated Press and the United States Basketball Writers Association. If there is one part of her on-the-court game Mitchell would like to see Dunlap improve as more players key on her, it’s her shooting range.”She is shooting the ball very effectively from 17 feet and in,” Mitchell said. “She still is not quite as proficient from 19-9 as I’d like her to be, but it is better. I still wouldn’t say that is going to be a bread and butter part of her game the way it will be with Sarah Beth. Vic is not that kind of shooter, but she is getting better. I think that if Vic can hit the 17-footer and she can make people honor that, she really opens the floor up for her perimeter game to go by people and finish at the rim.”Now, with aspirations of becoming a top pick in next year’s WNBA Draft, Dunlap is the face of the nation’s newest elite team.”I want her to continue to try to push out of comfort zones,” Mitchell said. “I don’t want her to totally depart from her personality.  She doesn’t need to walk around and jump down people’s throats because that’s not genuine, that’s not her. I do want her to, when she sees things not going well, it’s much more powerful for Victoria to recognize that and say something than it is for me. I want her to stay who she is but maybe push out of some of her comfort zones she can get in and lead by example. I just want her to be more vocal.”