For four months of the regular season, Matthew Mitchell has known who his team would play next. He and his coach staff were able to focus on that next opponent and prepare the team accordingly. As UK Hoops heads into Southeastern Conference Tournament play and eventually the NCAA Tournament, a little more uncertainty enters the picture.Mitchell knows his team will play on Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET. He knows they will be playing in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. What he doesn’t know is whom his team will take the floor against.The Wildcats will face the winner of a Thursday first-round tilt between the LSU Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide. Even though Mitchell has to deal with the stresses of not knowing his next opponent, he views the situation as an opportunity to hone in on his own team.”What we will try to do for this tournament and for the rest of the season, however many games we’re able to play, is focus mainly on Kentucky,” Mitchell said. “There are certain things that we need to do that we can control.”In a time of year when so much is out of a team’s hands, Mitchell will emphasize to his team the things that have become hallmarks of the program during his tenure: pressure defense and an up-tempo style of play.In fact, Mitchell believes the UK brand of basketball is perfectly suited for the unique obstacles presented by March Madness. While many coaches may view the lack of time to rest and prepare for an opponent as a hindrance, Mitchell sees it as an opportunity.”I’ve always thought our style of play is built for tournament play,” Mitchell said. “I think it’s hard to get ready for with a little bit of preparation time.”Postseason play last year was a proving ground for Mitchell’s approach.After a 23-6 regular season, UK made runs to the finals of the SEC Tournament and eventually the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament.”We went down there (to the SEC Tournament) three straight days and played really tough, up-tempo basketball,” Mitchell said. “Then we were fantastic with that in the NCAA Tournament.”That philosophy will be subject to an immediate test Friday, as UK will face either the Crimson Tide or the Tigers, two teams that play heavily contrasting styles.Alabama will jump at the opportunity to run with Kentucky in an up-tempo game. When the teams last played in January in Lexington, UK ran past Alabama in a fast-paced 82-69 affair. LSU, on the other hand, is going to do everything it can to turn the game into a half-court grinder. The Tigers succeeded in doing so just a couple weeks ago when Brittany Henderson hit a last-second shot to give UK a 49-47 win.Fortunately for the Cats, whichever team ends up winning that game on Thursday will have less than 24 hours to turn around and prepare for UK. That’s exactly what Mitchell is banking on.”The good thing about this time of year is that it becomes so much more about who you are,” Mitchell said. “After that first day, you play another one 24 hours later if you’re fortunate enough to win.”However, it’s not as though Mitchell and his staff are going to skip out on the whole scouting process.”What we’ll do is prepare for both and we’ll have assistant coaches who are working hard on both of those teams,” Mitchell said. “We’ll try to get ready for both of them from a coaching staff standpoint and with our players we’ll be focusing mainly on what Kentucky needs to do.””Once we know who it is, we’ll zero in on a couple keys we can try to work on.”  Last season, UK was able to use the experience of the SEC Tournament as a stepping stone to further success in the NCAAs. With games on consecutive days and additional familiarity between teams, the SEC Tournament is even more of a challenge than the NCAA in some respects.”I think (the SEC Tournament) is a great mental exercise,” Mitchell said. “It’s more difficult than the NCAA Tournament because you’re playing games on consecutive days, so I think it’s fantastic preparation.”The greatest lessons of the conference tournament are in mental preparation and time management, rather than the physical preparation of practices.”It gives you that opportunity where the kids mentally have to prepare,” Mitchell said. “There’s not a lot of physical preparation time. I think it’s so important all year long to put an emphasis on mental preparation and we have tried to do that. They just get another chance to sharpen that up in the SEC Tournament and then it’s so important (in the NCAA Tournament) because you’re fighting for your life every day.”Although ultimate success is measured in the NCAA Tournament, Mitchell sees the SEC Tournament as more than just another step in the process of the season.”I just think it’s an outstanding tournament and always has a great champion,” Mitchell said. “We’ll go down there and work real hard and see if we can survive and advance.”Mitchell is also not shy about stating his goal for the conference tournament and it doesn’t have anything to do with NCAA seeding or something even more general like improving his team.”Nothing would be greater than cutting down some nets on Sunday,” Mitchell said.