MARCH 10, 2010 WWW.KYKERNEL.COM

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CELEBRATING 39 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

POSTSEASON PREVIEW

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PAGE A2 | Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Raise your hand if you saw this one com-ing: a basketball team going from NationalInvitation Tournament regular to an NCAA

Tournament top-fourseed?

Matthew Mitchell, putyour hand down. Obvious-ly, you don’t count.

To tell you the truth,my hand is one of thosenot raised. Before the sea-son, I would have neverguessed Mitchell wouldhave turned the Cats frommediocre to really, reallygood.

Two years ago, Iwatched this same program lose an exhibi-tion game to a bunch of thrown-together for-mer women’s basketball players and won-dered how much longer Mitchell could lastas head coach of the women’s basketballteam.

After this season, one in which the Catsfinished second in the Southeastern Confer-ence and are a lock to make the NCAA Tour-nament, my guess is for as long as he wantsto be.

After a few seasons of decent play,Mitchell has righted the ship. The only thingkeeping the UK women from the spotlight isthe success of the men’s team. But at the endof the day, the women’s team, depending onthe draw, has just as much of a chance to godeep into the Big Dance as the men.

How did Mitchell do it, seeminglyovernight?

Truth be told, it wasn’t that quick of aturnaround.

Players needed to graduate to allow SECPlayer of the Year Victoria Dunlap toprogress as she has and command this year’ssquad. They needed to move on to allowAmber Smith to flourish.

Mitchell had to work the recruiting trailand the phone lines to get his current roster.He took three transfers – Rebecca Gray,Keyla Snowden and Crystal Riley – at theexpense of the 2008-09 season, but to thebenefit of this year’s squad.

And he got the state’s best player, SECFreshman of the Year A’dia Mathies, to wearblue instead of going out-of-state like manyothers have.

Mix that all together and the outcomeseems to be what Mitchell has this year: a re-ally good basketball team.

That was proven Sunday evening as theCats nearly won their second SEC Tourna-ment title over powerhouse Tennessee. At the

same time, we saw that some work is stillleft over.

Regardless of whether UK gets upset inthe first two rounds or the Cats make it to theFinal Four, this season is a success forMitchell. It’s a cornerstone to build the pro-gram off of.

All the top players return for another sea-son at the helm. They’ll all be hungry forwhat they missed out on – SEC titles, maybean NCAA title.

And they’ll know what it takes to getwhere they want to be.

So enjoy the ride, UK Hoops fans. It’sonly up from here.

Mitchell and the Cats should play likethey have nothing to lose (because theydon’t) and set a strong foundation for nextyear.

Because then we won’t need a Drive for5K, baking shows or seemingly weekly ap-pearances by Mitchell on local country sta-tions to get people in the seats.

The basketball will do the talking.And we’ll all raise our hands, saying we

knew this was coming.Kenny Colston is a journalism senior. E-

mail kcolston@kykernel.com.

PHOTO BY ADAM WOLFFBRANDT | STAFFThe UK women’s basketball team huddles during its 70-62 loss to Tennessee on Sunday in the SECChampionship. The women missed the NCAA Tournament last season.

UK Hoops’ turnaroundequals high seed in NCAA

KENNYCOLSTONKernel

columnist

kernel. we do it daily.

PHOTO BY ADAM WOLFFBRANDT | STAFFJunior forward Victoria Dunlap, the reigning SECPlayer of the Year, has emerged as an offensiveforce to lead the Cats in her third season.

Go Green.Recycle this Kernel.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 | PAGE A3

By Nick Craddockncraddock@kykernel.com

The Cats will be dancing forthe first time since 2005-06.

Although UK’s place in thewomen’s NCAA Tournament won’tbecome official until SelectionMonday, the No. 19 Cats (25-7, 11-5 Southeastern Conference), run-ners-up in the SEC regular seasonand SEC Tournament, simply haveto sit and wait to find out whereand when they’ll play in the fieldof 64.

“I know that many consider ita down year in the SEC, but Idon’t think anyone thought (UK)would be this good,” said ChrisHansen of ESPN’s HoopGurlz.“(The Cats) were criticized earlyon for not scheduling a difficultnon-conference schedule, butleague play has rendered that criti-cism moot.”

ESPN women’s college basket-ball bracketologist Charlie Cremeprojects UK as a No. 4 seed in theKansas City Regional. The Cats’projected opponent is the HorizonLeague’s Wisconsin-Green BayPhoenix (26-3), which was in thetop 25 for eight consecutive weeksduring the season, reaching as highas a No. 14 ranking in the coaches’poll in week 10.

According to Creme’s projec-tion, UK would head west to Seat-tle for the first two rounds andplay on a Saturday/Monday sched-ule.

Most importantly, the Cats cur-rent projection has them avoidingthe Connecticut Huskies, who areriding an NCAA women’s basket-ball record 71-game win streak, asthe top seed in their region.

“No team, regardless of seed-ing, wants to be in Connecticut’sregion,” Hansen said. “(UConn)has the tourney experience, elite

players at multiple positions andplayers that put winning over sta-tistics.”

The Cats’ performance againstTennessee this Sunday proved theyare capable of sticking aroundagainst an elite team, especiallywhen junior forward Victoria Dun-lap is on her game. Creme has theVolunteers projected as a No. 1seed.

Dunlap heads into the NCAATournament after being named tothe SEC All-Tournament Team.She averaged a little more than 22points and seven rebounds in UK’sthree tournament games.

“I think people forget that Vic-toria Dunlap was a highly-toutedrecruit,” Hansen said. “We rankedher in the top 60 based on her ath-letic potential and she’s lived up toit and then some.”

Both UK and Dunlap show nosigns of slowing down, but the rel-atively young Cats — only AmaniFranklin and Lydia Watkins areseniors — will be experiencingsomething completely new cometournament time.

In fact, the only player withNCAA Tournament experience forUK is sophomore guard RebeccaGray, a true freshman on the 2008North Carolina team that reachedthe regional final.

Even UK head coach MatthewMitchell will be making his firsttournament appearance as a headcoach, following back-to-backWNIT appearances in his first twoyears at UK.

Although UK’s tournament runmay be unpredictable, the postsea-son experience will be good for theupward trend of the program,Hansen said.

“With some good young play-ers returning (UK) should continueto compete at the top of the SECand for tournament bids (in the fu-ture),” Hansen said.

Inexperienced Cats holding own to get into tourney

PHOTO BY SCOTT HANNIGAN | STAFFThe UK women’s basketball team hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since the 2005-06 season, but they finished secondin the SEC this year and are predicted to receive a No. 4 seed.

SEC Freshman ofthe Year A’diaMathies drivesduring UK’s winover Ole Miss onFeb. 4 at Memo-rial Coliseum.

PHOTO BYSCOTT HANNIGANSTAFF

“I know that many considerit a down year in the SEC,but I don’t think anyone

thought (UK) would be thisgood.”

Chris HansenESPN’s Hoopgurlz

PAGE A4 | Wednesday, March 10, 2010

By Metz Camfieldmcamfield@kykernel.com

On Oct. 15, 2009, freshmanforward DeMarcus Cousins had amessage to the doubters: “We’llshow you.”

It was Media Day at that time,and Cousins was more known forhis nicknames, dancing and stag-gering size than anything else.With the Southeastern ConferenceTournament beginning on Fridayand the NCAA Tournament begin-ning the week after that, the Catshave another chance to silence thedoubters.

But unlike most SEC teams,UK’s main focus is not the SECTournament.

The current focus of the No. 2Cats (29-2, 14-2 SEC) is to get aNo. 1 seed in the NCAA Tourna-ment. The future focus is to hanganother banner in the rafters ofRupp Arena.

“My teams have had success(in conference tournaments), his-torically, we don’t worry aboutthem,” UK head coach John Cali-pari said. “We’re only trying towin it to get a high seed (in theNCAA Tournament). And I knowpeople may be mad, ‘We’re Ken-tucky we don’t do it that way.’You hired me and that’s how I doit.”

College basketball punditsacross the country say the Cats area virtual lock for a No. 1 seed inthe Big Dance, but Calipari saidhe wasn’t so sure. Calipari be-lieves if the Cats win two gamesin the SEC Tournament, whichwould put them in the conferencechampionship game, they will be aNo. 1 seed. If they win only onegame it would be dicey, Caliparisaid, and if they lose in their firstgame he’s not sure they will be aNo. 1 seed.

To get to the SEC champi-onship game, the Cats may have togo up against both of the teamsthat beat them earlier this season,South Carolina and Tennessee.

“The hottest team (Mississip-pi) is on our side (of the bracket),”Calipari said. “Two teams that justwon their last game of the season(South Carolina and Alabama),we’re going to play one of them,which means they’re going to uswith a two-game win streak andthey’re stretched and ready to go.Mississippi has won four straight,

Tennessee has won three straight.That’s all on our side (of thebracket). What? Who’s on the oth-er side?”

For the Cats, the proverbialbull’s-eye on their back will be thebiggest it’s been all season. Withthe SEC having only three teamsas locks for NCAA Tournamentbids, the nine other schools will becompeting for the automatic bidthat comes with winning the con-ference championship.

The Cats have had great suc-cess in the SEC this season and theSEC Tournament historically, win-ning more conference tournamentsthan all other members combined.But their inability to put teamsaway has drawn the eye of naysay-ers.

Freshman guard John Wall saidhe expects his first SEC Tourna-ment to be crazy like the regularseason.

“Some teams get a run andthey feel like they can win games,”said Wall after UK’s game againstFlorida on Sunday when the Catsallowed an 18-point lead to betrimmed to two. “We haven’t doneour best to put pressure on them.We needed to do a better job at notletting them think they have achance.”

With conference tournamentsserving as the initial heat to themayhem that is March Madness,allowing a team back into a gamethat at one point seemed to be outof reach is something UK will notwant to happen.

“Whenever we get up 18, weneed to make it 25, probably con-tinue on,” junior forward PatrickPatterson said. “We need to stepup, if we get tired we need to comeout the game. We can’t let up.”

Almost five months later,Cousins had another message that

still rings true today. When askedabout how big of a recruiting toolCalipari’s ability to turn freshmen

into NBA-ready players afteronly one year in college was,Cousins said they weren’t fo-

cused on that.“We’re worried about winning

a national championship,” he said.

Calipari, Cats focused on ‘that other tournament’

“Mississippi has won fourstraight, Tennessee has wonthree straight. That’s all on

our side (of the bracket).What? Who’s on the other

side?”JOHN CALIPARI

UK head coach

PHOTO BY BRITNEY MCINTOSH | STAFFFreshman forward DeMarcus Cousins is projected as a high pick in the NBA draft, but he said he and his teammates areonly worried about winning a championship.

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Wednesday, March 10, 2010 | PAGE A7

Now that the weather’s turning, I can usethe excuse of spring cleaning to get rid ofsome things I don’t ever want to see again.

I need to get rid of oneparticular document burn-ing a hole in my harddrive: my preseason top 25,as published in October.

My picks weren’t aw-ful. I aced the top two spotsand, even if a bit out of or-der, correctly tabbed six ofthe top 10. Spots No. 11-25weren’t great. Stupidchoices.

Preseason top 10, inorder: Kansas, UK, North

Carolina, Michigan State, Texas, West Virginia,Villanova, Duke, Purdue, Mississippi State.

Seven of those teams are still legitimateFinal Four contenders. Kansas, UK and Texashave each held that No. 1 spot at some pointin the season, but Texas has since faded intothe pack.

Two of those teams, though, won’t evenmake the tournament. Usually, North Carolinacoach Roy Williams proves people wrong bywinning. This year, he and his team went an-other direction. And even if Renardo Sidneydidn’t play (and I didn’t expect him to when Imade picks in October), Mississippi State stillreturned all five starters from last year’sNCAA Tournament team. Is Bulldogs coachRick Stansbury feeling any heat?

Preseason Nos. 11-20, in order: Con-necticut, Butler, Washington, Tennessee, OhioState, California, Georgetown, Notre Dame,Maryland, Michigan.

As of this week’s polls, three of theseteams still fall in this range: Butler, Tennesseeand Maryland. Ohio State has since jumped upto No. 5, and could earn a No. 1 seed in the

NCAA Tournament if it wins the Big 10 tour-nament and gets some help from Duke in theACC.

Both Washington and California, membersof the Pac-10, fell off early in the season. Un-less a rogue team from outside the projectedNCAA field wins the Pac-10 tournament, theleague will likely only have one NCAA bid.That’s a pretty far stretch from two teams inthe preseason top 20.

Michigan, a team reliant on 3-point shoot-ing, hit 29.8 percent from outside and finishedeighth in the Big 10.

Preseason Nos. 21-25, in order: Clem-son, Siena, Louisville, Oklahoma, Dayton.

None of these teams are ranked.Louisville, playing well as of late, and Sienareceived a combined four votes in the regularseason-ending Associated Press poll. No. 25Texas-El Paso received 134.

Preseason unranked teams now ranked,with current ranking: Syracuse (No. 3), NewMexico (No. 8), Kansas State (No. 9), Wis-consin (No. 13), Brigham Young (No. 14),Pittsburgh (No. 16), Temple (No. 17), Gonza-ga (No. 18), Vanderbilt (No. 20), Baylor (No.21), Texas A&M (No. 23), Xavier (No. 24),Texas-El Paso (No. 25).

Ouch.Not that my picks were much different

than that of the mainstream — Syracuse didlose an exhibition game to Division II LeMoyne — but it still stings knowing that mypreseason No. 3 is a lock to miss the tourna-ment, and the current No. 3, which I had un-ranked, is a Final Four favorite. Basketball canbe kind and it can be cruel.

Glad that’s off my chest. It gives me a fewdays to breathe well before my always-awfulbracket fills its void.

James Pennington is a journalism senior.E-mail jpennington@kykernel.com.

JAMESPENNINGTON

Kernelcolumnist

Preseason doesn’t hold up

Ben Jones n Sports EditorSEC Tournament champion: TennesseeWhy they'll win: No one in the SEC had a

better mindset for big games than the Volunteers,who rose to the occasion to beat UK and Kansas.They're still in the fight for a high seed, and a deepSEC Tournament run could mean as much for themas anyone in the conference. Even though they did-n't get a bye, they caught a break with a first roundmatchup against Louisiana State and a possiblesecond round game against Mississippi.

Final Four teams: Kansas, UK, Syracuse,West Virginia

National champion: KansasThe Jayhawks have a combination of raw tal-

ent, experience, coaching and depth no other teamin the country can match. Offensively and defen-sively, no team is as balanced as they are. Theywere the preseason favorites for a reason, and theyshould still be the odds-on favorite to win it all.

The Cats are the only other team with a level oftalent comparable to Kansas, and that should pro-pel them deep in the tournament (as long as theymake their 3’s). Syracuse and West Virginia have al-ready survived a brutal conference schedule andhave proven they have the track record to succeedin a tournament-type environment.

Metz Camfield n Assistant Sports EditorSEC Tournament champion: UKWhy they'll win: They have the most talented

team not only in the SEC, but possibly the country.The only knock on the Cats is their youth. The youngCats made clear all the things they want to accom-plish this season, and winning the SEC Tournamentis one of those goals.

Final Four teams: Kansas, Syracuse, UK, Vil-lanova

National champion: KansasWhat Kansas has that many other teams do not

have is experience and players who know how towin NCAA Tournament games. Kansas senior guardSherron Collins has won a national championship,as has center Cole Aldrich. The wealth of talent willpush the Jayhawks over the top.

Syracuse could win the national championshipdue to their inside-outside presence with WesleyJohnson, Andy Rautins, and Arinze Onuaku.

While UK may have the most talented roster,they also have the most inexperienced roster of allthe teams that can compete for a championship.Not one player on UK's normal starting lineup oramong the first three off the bench has ever playedin an NCAA Tournament game. The Cats could winthe national championship with their wealth of tal-ent, but they could also lose in the second round.They're too risky to pick for your national champion.

Villanova is a good team that, like UK, couldwin it all or lose in the second round. The differencewith these Wildcats is Scottie Reynolds. If Villanovaisn't hitting from outside though, their lack of adominant big man could cause them to get upset bya hot-shooting team.

Kevin Novak n UK studentSEC Tournament champion: UKWhy they’ll win: UK will win the SEC tourna-

ment if they limit their turnovers and spread the ballout between Patterson, Cousins, and Wall. Thebiggest threat in the tournament for the Cats will beTennessee, but they will be out for revenge againstthe Vols after suffering a loss to them two weeksago. Other than Tennessee, UK should have no prob-lem getting to the championship game and takinghome the SEC crown.

Final Four teams: Kansas, UK, Ohio State,Kansas State

National champion: UKKansas has been dominant all season against a

tough schedule, suffering only two losses to a verygood Kansas State team and Tennessee who beatUK as well. Other than those two losses Kansasdidn’t have very many close games. They have agreat team with four players averaging over 11points a game.

UK is going to go into the tournament with a lotof energy and as long as they limit their turnoversand hit their shots they will coast their way throughto the Final Four. The two losses to South Carolinaand Tennessee will help them in the tournament.

Ohio State has been playing great basketball asof late, winning a share of the Big Ten regular sea-son title. They go into the tournament with the front-runner for the Player of the Year in Evan Turner. Aslong as Turner gets support from guard Jon Diebler

on the outside knocking down 3’s and Dallas Laud-erdale playing good down low, I feel the Buckeyeshave a very good chance to make it to the Final Four.

Kansas State is another very good team out ofthe Big 12. They have great players on the team thatwill help them win in the tournament. They have sixlosses but four of the six losses have been qualitylosses (if there is a such thing). Both of their startingguards average over 16 points per game.

Nick Craddock n Staff writerSEC Tournament champion: Mississippi St. Why they'll win: I’m throwing — something

Mississippi State fans have been guilty of — cau-tion to the wind with this pick. The Bulldogs have afavorable draw and wouldn’t have to meet UK orTennessee until the final, and unlike the Cats orVols, who are more concerned with a better seed-ing, the Bulldogs need to win out to go dancing, justas they did a year ago.

Final Four teams: Kansas, UK, Villanova,West Virginia

National champion: Kansas The Jayhawks, the No. 1 team for the most

weeks, have a dynamic inside-outside duo in Sher-ron Collins and Cole Aldrich. The Cats’ John Walland DeMarcus Cousins aren’t too shabby either, butthey aren’t upperclassmen like Collins and Aldrich,and experience matters come March. How Walland Cousins respond on the biggest stage yet, isstill an uncertainty.

Guard play is also crucial in March, and Villano-va has three dynamite guards in Scottie Reynolds,Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes that should send‘Nova back to the Final Four for the second straightyear. Plus, ‘Nova and West Virginia, a team withgrittiness, have been battle tested by the Big East,the toughest conference in nation.

James Pennington n Sports columnistSEC Tournament champion: UK Why they'll win: Postseason play is less

about rising up to a big-game situation than what isoften talked about. It's the postseason; everybody isrising up to the challenge. Looking at it that way,unfiltered talent is what will carry UK to winningthe league tournament. The fact that UK is likelythe only school in the conference to have takeneach team's best shot also helps.

Final Four teams: Kansas, UK, Ohio State, NewMexico

National champion: KansasThe teams to beat in three of the brackets will

be Kansas, UK and Syracuse. Of those teams, Syra-cuse may be the strongest when it is playing well. Itmay also be the most beatable. Louisville showedtwice this year the way to beat the Orange is just toshoot well. If a likely No. 2 seed like New Mexico ismatched in a region with Syracuse, the Lobos' out-side shooting, if it's on, would be tough for the Or-ange to overcome.

UK and Kansas have the talent and coaching tomake it through to Indianapolis. Whichever team isthe final No. 1 seed will likely be paired with OhioState, which should be the highest of the No. 2's. TheBuckeyes would have been a clear-cut top-line teamif Evan Turner hadn't missed six games earlier in theyear. Making the Final Four will prove it. You could tellme today either Kansas or UK will win it all and I’dbuy it. I’d just be less surprised if it’s the Jayhawks.

Kenny Colston n Editor in chiefSEC Tournament champion: UKWhy they’ll win: They ran through the confer-

ence with only two losses on the road and undefeatedat home all year long. If you haven't noticed, even indown years the SEC Tournament is more like RuppArena than a neutral site. Playing in an arena full ofBlue and White will allow John Wall and Co. to makequick work of whoever stands in the way. Add in a byegame and there's really no other choice in Nashville.

Final Four teams: Kansas, UK, MichiganState, Villanova

National champion: UKObviously, this could all be skewed by the time

the brackets are released, but the above mentionedare the best suited for the Big Dance. Kansas andUK boast the best talent, while there is not a bettercoach in the country when it comes to drawing upcrucial plays and winning in the tournament thanTom Izzo. And while Syracuse may be the betterteam, my guess is Villanova gets an easier road toIndianapolis. UK and Kansas will finally meet in thetitle game and Calipari will learn to foul before let-ting a Jayhawk hit a crucial 3-pointer that turns thetide against his squad.

Staff picks for SEC, NCAA