Kentucky Wildcats

Wake Forest hits game-winning jumper in OT, will play Kentucky on Saturday

2010-03-19T05:11:48Z

NEW ORLEANS -- For all that worrying about Texas, it will be Wake Forest -- not the Longhorns -- facing UK in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The ninth-seeded Demon Deacons, after blowing a 12-point second-half lead, rallied from eight down in overtime to defeat the eighth-seeded Texas Longhorns in New Orleans Arena. Wake Forest's Ishmael Smith hit 10-foot jumper with 1.6 seconds left in the game to defeat Texas 81-80.

Texas' Gary Johnson two missed free throws with 10 seconds left opened the door for the late-game heroics.

"The second part of the second half, Texas did a great job of keeping me out of the lane," Smith said. "I knew I wasn't going to be able to get all the way to the lane so I knew I had to pull up. Thank God I hit a big shot. We live to play another day."

The Demon Deacons, now 20-10 on the season, are viewing it has a new window of opportunity. Before the NCAA Tournament, Wake Forest was in a serious funk, losing five of the last six regular-season games.

Now with Kentucky, the East Region's No. 1 seed on the schedule for Saturday - game time is scheduled for 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Baylor-Old Dominion game at 5:40 p.m. ET - the Atlantic Coast Conference team has new life.

"Everybody knows that we can play," said sophomore forward Al-Farouq Aminu, who finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds. "This is going to give us confidence. Hopefully we can carry it on to the next game."

If nothing else, they'll have a swagger should the game go into overtime. The Demon Deacons are now 5-0 in overtime games.

Afterward, Wake Forest head coach Dino Gaudio admitted to knowing very little about UK. The third-year Wake Forest coach said assistant coach Dave Wojcik was in charge of scouting Kentucky in the case the two teams met.

"I have not seen one second of Kentucky tape," Gaudio said. "We'll see a lot of it between now and daybreak tomorrow. ...They're just really, really good. They're very well coached. It will be a challenge for us."

If there is one thing Kentucky should be concerned with, it's on the glass. The Demon Deacons whipped a tall, athletic Texas team on the boards 59-34, including 20 offensive rebounds. The rebounding dominance led to 42 points in the paint and 25 second-chance points.

Aminu, alone, had 15 rebounds, and Smith, a 6-foot guard, pulled down 12 boards.

That'll be a daunting task for a Kentucky team that has been outrebounded four out its last six games.

That's all from me tonight. I have about 20 minutes to catch the media shuttle and need to get some sleep. There is media availability back here at New Orleans Arena Friday afternoon, so be on the lookout for more posts and videos on Friday.

Is UK 'unbeatable' if it makes perimeter shots?

2010-03-19T04:01:10Z

NEW ORLEANS -- The critics would have you believe that Kentucky can't shoot from the perimeter. The Cats calmly answered that concern with 15 three-pointers.

They'd also have you think UK is too young to cut down the nets. The Cats' first-year players responded with 64 points.

The Kentucky men's basketball team did all the things it wasn't supposed to be capable of doing Thursday night in New Orleans Arena in crushing No. 16 seed East Tennessee State 100-71. Playing in its much-anticipated NCAA Tournament game for the first time in two years, the Cats looked like a team that was out to prove it's one of the favorites to march to the Final Four.

Eric Bledsoe scored a career-high 29 points behind a record-setting day on the perimeter.

The freshman guard drilled 8-of-9 attempts from behind the arc to set the school record for most three-pointers in an NCAA Tournament game. Bledsoe's barrage broke Tony Delk's previous mark of seven set during the 1996 national championship game against Syracuse.

Bledsoe, grinning ear to ear, had a few words for UK's assistant director of basketball operations after the game.

"I just said, 'Tony who?' " Bledsoe joked after the game. "He got mad. He said I should have stopped at seven."

The Cats dropped 15 three-point bombs in all, coming just one short of tying UK's team record in the NCAA Tournament. Shooter's touch, good luck, whatever you want to call it -- it was pretty obvious things were going UK's way when a Ramon Harris three-pointer clanked between the glass and the iron and rolled in. Freshman guard John Wall would later bank in a trey.

Not bad for a team that can't shoot it.

"I've been playing well for the past couple of weeks and in the SEC Tournament," Bledsoe said. "Coach just told me to keep my aggressiveness. Once I started playing hard on the defensive end it carried over to the offense."

Bledsoe wasn't heralded as a three-point shooter coming out of high school and described himself as streaky shooter. An hour of work with assistant coach Rod Strickland before practice every day is quickly changing that reputation.

"I knew Eric throughout his high school career," freshman forward DeMarcus Cousins said. "Eric is shooting the ball real well now. He puts in the work every day in the gym. He's in there every day before practice just shooting the ball. It's helping him and it's shown."

"Usually he would just take over the game with layups. Now he's doing it everywhere."

Kind of sounds like the rest of Kentucky, huh?

UK shot the ball well (59.4 percent), Wall dished out 11 assists, junior forward Patrick Patterson scored 22 energetic points, and freshman forward Daniel Orton added eight big points, seven rebounds and three blocks off the bench. All that came in spite of a pedestrian five-point performance from Cousins, who scored his first field goal with 8:06 left in the game.

"It's pretty tough (to beat us playing like that)," Wall said. "If we play defense like we do and we're making three-point shots, we can beat anybody in the country."

Even more encouraging was Kentucky's efficiency and ability to share the ball. Out of the Cats' 31 field goals, 27 came off assists.

"That's the key to this team," Wall said. "We're not selfish. If somebody is open we're going to make the extra pass."

It makes you think: If the Cats can shoot like the ball like it did Thursday and get all-around performances from its youth, how good can they be?

"We're pretty much unbeatable," Cousins said.

It looked like it during stretches against the Buccaneers. Sure, it was against an Atlantic Sun team that didn't boast a player taller than 6-foot-8, but the Cats looked dominant during their first-half run.

Trailing 10-9 with 15:51 to play, UK went on a 29-4 run to take control of the game. Patterson provided all the muscle the Cats need inside, routinely finishing plays from the passes of Wall with his patented two-hand slam.

When the ball wasn't going inside, Bledsoe was pouring in triples. On a pair of daggers, the net hardly moved.

"Eric can do that," Cousins said. "When he comes out with that mindset, with that tough-man mindset, he's pretty much unstoppable. He's just as good as John."

If that is indeed the case, maybe this team is unbeatable.

Video: Cats crush ETSU, advance to second round of tourney

2010-03-19T02:47:37Z

East Region live chat: No. 1 UK vs. No. 16 East Tennessee State

2010-03-18T22:01:46Z

East Region: No. 1 UK men's basketball vs. No. 16 East Tennessee State

NCAA.com

Video: UK Hoops heads to Derby City for NCAA Tournament

2010-03-18T21:28:40Z

Standing in Kentucky's way

2010-03-18T02:30:52Z

NEW ORLEANS -- Kentucky is without a doubt one of the favorites to reach Indianapolis and make it to the program's 14th Final Four, but before the Wildcats can think about weekend No. 3, they have to make it out of weekend No. 1.

Standing in their way is No. 16 seed East Tennessee State and either No. 8 Texas or No. 9 Wake Forest. Let's take a brief look at the first- and second-round opponents in UK's pod.

No. 16 East Tennessee State Buccaneers

The skinny: The Buccaneers earned an at-large berth into the tournament by winning the Atlantic Sun Tournament. ... ETSU went 20-14 in the regular season, 13-7 in the A-Sun despite losing Mike Smith, the heart and soul of the team, to a season-ending injury. ... Tommy Hubbard, a second-team All-Atlantic Sun selection, leads the Bucs in both scoring (14.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.3). ... No player stands taller than 6-foot-8 (sophomore Isiah Brown) and only two stand 6-7 or taller. ... Coach Murry Bartow and Kentucky coach John Calipari have a longstanding friendship from Conference USA.

Why Kentucky should be concerned: Although a No. 16 seed has never toppled a No. 1 seed, ETSU has come the closest. The Bucs took No. 1 seed Oklahoma down to the wire in the 1989 tournament before dropping a heartbreaking 72-71 decision. Just last year, ETSU played second for second with Jamie Dixon's one-seeded Pittsburgh before losing 72-62. Sure, those two teams are different from this year's, but play close so many times and you're eventually going to pull off the upset. Kentucky just hopes it's not the first victim.

Key quote(s): "What makes the NCAA Tournament so special is we don't have to play Kentucky seven times. We only have to play them on one given night. Any team is capable of beating another team, no matter the seeding. So every team that comes out and ready to play tomorrow night, throws their hearts out the most and the team that sticks together ,,, has a real good chance." - head coach Murry Bartow

"I would say a No. 1 seed may feel a little pressure as opposed to what we feel as a 16. I think that with them being No. 1, a lot of people predicting them to go pretty far in the tournament, I would say they probably do have a little pressure on them more than we do. I think we just need to go out there and just play. I think we can play loose and kind of play like we have all year." - junior Micah Williams

No. 8 Texas Longhorns

The skinny: The Longhorns enter the postseason as an at-large team after going 24-9 in the regular season, including 9-7 in the Big XII. ... The Longhorns started the season 17-0 and climbed to No. 1 in the national polls before finishing 7-9 down the stretch. ... Senior Damion James, long considered a National Player of the Year candidate, averaged a team-high 18.0 points and 10.4 rebounds per game in the regular season.

Why Kentucky should be concerned: Texas coach Rick Barnes would be the first guy to tell you that the Longhorns struggled down the stretch. Most would even call it a disappointing season. But the fact of the matter is that this was once the No. 1 team in the land. Injuries and struggles at the guard position derailed this team for a bit, but that doesn't change the fact that this team is still made up of Final Four talent. James was at one point a Player of the Year candidate, senior Dexter Pittman can match up with anybody in the nation, including Kentucky's DeMarcus Cousins, because of his 6-foot-10, 290-pound frame, and freshman guard Avery Bradley was one of the top recruits coming out of high school last season. The Cats are hoping the sleeping giant doesn't awake in time for the NCAA Tournament.

Key quote: "I think being No. 1 was cool, but like Dexter (Pittman) said, with Texas being on your jersey, you always took the opponent's best shot. And now it's 65 teams playing for one goal. The team that's better that night for 40 minutes is going to win. We're going out there with that attitude. People forget we were the best team in the country. We're still the same team. We just have to go out there with that swagger and that demeanor and go out there and go at it." - senior Damion James

No. 9 Wake Forest Demon Deacons

The skinny: The Demon Deacons enter the tournament as an at-large team after going 19-10 in the regular season, 9-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. ... Wake Forest notched six wins over teams in the RPI top 50. ... The Deacs are led by All-American forward Al-Farouq Aminu, a 6-foot-9 forward. ... Aminu was the only player in the ACC to average a double-double this season (15.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game). ... All-ACC guard Ishmael Smith ranks in the top 10 nationally in assists (6.0 assists per game). ... Wake Forest lost five out of their last six games.

Why Kentucky should be concerned: Al-Farouq Aminu, quite possibly the best player you've never heard of. Aminu, in his second season with the Demon Deacons, had a disappointing season by some accounts. But it's hard to be disappointed while averaging a double-double. Aminu, a five-star prospect coming out of high school, has the potential to score 20 points and grab 15 rebounds on any given night and could be a future NBA lottery pick. A Cousins-Aminu matchup down low could be one of the best of the tournament.

Key quote: "It's a fresh start for everyone. But this tournament is a chance for us to really get back to what we were accomplishing early in the season. We've obviously been down a little bit, but we had a couple of great pictures coming in. I feel really confident coming to the tournament." - senior L.D. Williams

UK has been building for this tourney run for a long time

2010-03-18T00:34:25Z

NEW ORLEANS -- The 2010 NCAA Tournament has been in motion for a long time for the Kentucky Wildcats.

When Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart hired head coach John Calipari on March 31, he had an eye on the next March. When John Wall signed with UK just weeks later, he did so to win a national championship. And when Patrick Patterson decided to return to Lexington for his junior season, he did so to take the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his career.

Now he's making sure he doesn't miss a moment of it.

To ensure he didn't miss the Big Dance because of any unforeseen accidents, Patterson surrounded himself in an imaginary safety bubble. The only time he left the Wildcat Lodge was to eat and practice. When he did leave, it was by two feet and not the four wheels of a car.

"I wanted to make sure nothing happened," said Patterson, who missed the NCAA Tournament in 2008 with an injury. "I wanted to make sure I didn't get hurt, didn't get injured, mess up my ankle or get in a car accident. I wanted to make sure nothing happens so I could be here today."

Now that he's here, he's worried he can't sleep. Nyquil and sleeping spills are the solution to that.

The caution and anxiety are byproducts of a season's worth of work and expectations. When UK missed the NCAA Tournament last year for this first time in 18 seasons, the Cats, new and old, vowed to restore the program to college basketball's elite.

They did it in the regular season with a Southeastern Conference regular-season and tournament championship, but this, as head coach John Calipari has reminded everyone all season, is what UK has been slowly building for.

On Thursday at 6:15 p.m. CT in New Orleans Arena, UK (32-2) will begin its season-long journey against No. 16 seed East Tennessee State in the first round of the East Region.

"This is the last stage in college basketball for the season," freshman guard John Wall said. "This is your last statement to leave as a team and do something special."

Like it or not, an early exit in the NCAA Tournament - or even a second-place finish - will leave a feeling of disappointment for the players, fans and coaches.

"They don't hang up banners for a conference championship or the SEC Tournament," Wall said. "They hang banners for national championships."

It's an unfair and unenviable position to be in, but it's the one everyone knew Kentucky would be in when Calipari hauled in the nation's No. 1 recruiting class last spring. The Cats have weathered doubts about their maturity, outside shooting and strength of schedule all season.

Now they're a No. 1 seed and a Final Four contender.

Although a No. 16 seed has never defeated a No. 1 seed before and no East Tennessee State player stands taller than 6-foot-8, Calipari warned his players not to think they're going to waltz into the second round.

"At some point a one is going to get beat by a 16," Calipari said. "I just hope it's not here in New Orleans."

The naysayers point to UK's lack of inexperience as its potential downfall. Most believe the Cats possess the talent and the coach to make it to the final game, but Kansas has become the hands-on favorite to cut down the nets in Indianapolis.

"A lot of teams want to come at us because of who we are and what individuals we have on our team," freshman forward DeMarcus Cousins said. "At the same time, if we lose, we were basically supposed to lose because of our inexperience. If we win, we were supposed to win because of our talent."

Senior Ramon Harris is one of just two players on the team with NCAA Tournament playing experience. Harris spoke on Wednesday of a more confident feeling in this team than the 2008 squad.

Harris believes the talk of youth is overrated. He points to the road battles, the 32-2 record and the clutch plays the freshmen have come up with time and time again.

Just a few days ago, it was two freshmen - Cousins and Wall - who lifted UK to another improbable come-from-behind win to capture the SEC title.

"At this point, we've played so many teams in so many situations," Harris said. "We've played in the Garden and in Nashville at Vandy. There are a lot of games that we've had that we've played that have been like tournament games."

Harris was asked which is more important in tournament time: talent or inexperience.

"I'd go with talent because it just got us the No. 2 one seed," Harris said. "Why not take what we have right now? The talent that we have right now has beaten experience."

If Kentucky is to ride talent for the rest of the season, Calipari believes it will once again have to overcome inexperience. The Cats are the youngest team in the tournament by average years of collegiate experience.

"When you have a team this young, you're in the survive-and-advance mode," Calipari said. "What we're talking about and the message I've given the team is land the plane. Land the turbulence. There's storm, there's lightning, people drinking their 'Hater-ade' and coming at you. There are going to be things written and said. It's all coming at you. Land the plane. Survive and advance."

With every win, even one over a lowly 16 seed, the Cats are hoping to prove their doubters wrong.

"We do want to prove people wrong," Cousins said. "The whole youth thing and us being a brand new team and all that other trash talking, we have a lot of business to prove. Winning the championship is our main goal."

Video: The real season begins

2010-03-18T00:08:55Z

Obama picks UK as national runner-up

2010-03-17T20:36:13Z

NEW ORLEANS -- Kentucky has the Presidential Seal of Approval.

President Barack Obama has picked Kentucky to advance to the national championship game in his NCAA Tournament bracket. Obama has Kentucky losing to Kansas in Indianapolis in the season's final game.

Big Blue fans won't be pleased to hear the president has UK finishing second - not first - in the Big Dance, but the commander in chief does know a thing or two about college basketball. Although his track record is small, he's 1-for-1 in picking the national champion as the president. Last year he correctly picked North Carolina to cut down the nets.

Earlier in the season, Obama called the Cats before the South Carolina game to thank them for their efforts in the "Hoops for Haiti" telethon. UK went on to lose its first game of the season later that night.

Should Kentucky meet Kansas in the national championship game, it woud pit John Calipari and Kansas coach Bill Self in the national title game for the second time in three years. Self's Jayhawks came from behind in the 2008 championship to defeat Calipai's Memphis team.

Obama unveiled his bracket on ESPN SportsCenter. It's the second year in a row the self-described basketball fan revealed his bracket on national television.

New Orleans in pictures (part 2 of 2)

2010-03-17T20:24:43Z

New Orleans in pictures (part 1 of 2)

2010-03-17T20:21:27Z

NEW ORLEANS -- Media availability is about to begin in just a few moments. I'll have video and a post or two following the interviews on the blog. In the meantime, check out a few photos I snapped of the city of New Orleans. Warning: I'm not the greatest photographer in the world, but they should give you at least a small glimpse of what you're missing in New Orleans.

UK Hoops mentally recharged for tourney

2010-03-17T15:27:46Z

Time is supposed to heal all wounds. In the physical sense, time did not come through for the UK women's basketball team.

Head coach Matthew Mitchell expects to be without the services of sophomore guard Crystal Riley (stress fracture) and freshman center Anna Cole (stress fracture) for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Junior guard Carly Morrow remains day-to-day with an undetermined illness.

But the near two weeks that will pass from UK's last game and Saturday's first-round NCAA Tournament game against No. 13 seed Liberty should serve as a mental recharger for the UK Hoops team.

"It's been great," Mitchell said. "I'm telling you, it's been exactly what I'd hoped. Right now, for us, it's all about our mentality and can we play close to our identity.Tthat is so much more mental than it is physical. You just have to be tough minded. You have to be mentally strong. We have to have great enthusiasm that leads to great energy. Great energy leads to great effort and it's a real simple formula for us."

Unlike the men, the women had to sit through a full week before learning of their postseason plans. The week was well worth the wait as the Cats learned they would be playing just down the road in Louisville, but now they have another week before tipping things off in Freedom Hall on Saturday.

The time off could affect any positive momentum UK built during the SEC run, but the players welcomed the time off.

"Oh, yes, it was lovely," Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year A'dia Mathies said. "I enjoyed that."

Although the break didn't allow for Riley and Cole to fully recover, Mitchell said seniors Amani Franklin (ankle) and Lydia Watkins (foot, back) are near 100 percent.

UK held one practice last week and has resumed for activity in preparation for the postseason run.

"I think mentally and physically we're just getting back into the rhythm of basketball," said junior forward Victoria Dunlap, this year's SEC Player of the Year. "We practiced last week before we got the weekend off. We had some little ups and downs but we still have the same mentality, same effort that we had."

Even though the team remains banged up physically, their mental engines have been revved up for the postseason run.

"Mentally for them to have a few days to recharge has been tremendous because they have been able to come back and to play the way they have been in practice has been encouraging," Mitchell said. "I'm excited. I think the time off has helped us a lot."

Road to Final Four starts in the Big Easy

2010-03-17T03:34:40Z

NEW ORLEANS - All is quiet now in the Big Easy, but that won't be the case starting Wednesday when New Orleans Arena officially opens for NCAA Tournament festivities.

The team touched down around 7 p.m. CT at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport after about a two-hour flight. We immediately boarded a bus for the team hotel, which is located downtown at the JW Marriott.

The Cats were supposed to practice upon arrival but head coach John Calipari decided to cancel it and give the players a night to themselves. Some of them won't have this opportunity again (to be in a city like New Orleans for the NCAA Tournament), so Calipari wanted to give them a chance to take in the sights and sounds of the city.

Most of the players headed for the world famous Bourbon Street, but rest assured, Calipari made sure to remind them that this was a business trip only.

Speaking of Bourbon Street, I have yet to wander to the French Quarter but plan on doing so once or twice before the week is over. A late dinner, a long day of work and travel convinced me that I better get some rest while I can before this week's festivities.

Not a lot of Wildcat fans out on the streets Tuesday night but it's still a couple of days away from the start of the actual games. I expect Big Blue Nation to start filing in Wednesday, although there is still reportedly a good chunk of tickets left. We did happen to see a few Texas players walking the street, one of which I believe was Longhorn superstar Damion James.

As far as Thursday's plans go, every team at the New Orleans pod is scheduled to have an open practice for the fans and media (I'll post the schedule below). In between the practices, each team will have media availability, of which I'll have a few posts from later Wednesday.

The practice that most of you are concerned with, of course, starts at 4:25 p.m. CT when the Cats take the court.

Before calling it a night, I just wanted to remark how loose the players seemed to be on the plane ride and bus trip to the hotel. Without getting into specifics, let me just say that the atmosphere has been completely transformed from last season.

I can remember sitting with the team on the trips to Florida last season and noticing how tense the mood felt. The coaching controversy, the struggles of the regular season and the uncertainty of the postseason was unbelievably taxing on last year's squad. It looked as if the weight of the world was on the shoulders of the players.

That certainly isn't the case with this year's team. These guys are loose, confident and taking in the experience. They're smiling, laughing and joking with one another.

Is the pressure still immense? Sure. But because of the season's success, the atmosphere head coach John Calipari has created and the confidence this team has gained over the year, they seem to be at ease with themselves. This isn't a team that's feeling the pressure, which I think is certainly a good thing.

More than anything, this team has outstanding chemistry. From the players to the coaches to the trainers to the student mangers, everybody seems to truly like each other. I really believe, in a time where everybody will have to rely on one another, that's extremely important.

I know it's only a small window into what goes on behind the scenes, but I can personally tell you that it is night and day from what I witnessed last year.

We'll see how it all transpires over the next few days and weeks. Again, I'll be with you throughout the postseason to bring you the latest updates, features, videos and more. I'll check back with everybody on Wednesday from the arena.

Wednesday practices (open to media and general public)
Noon-12:40 p.m. Old Dominion (11)
12:45-1:25 p.m. Sam Houston State (14)
1:30-2:10 p.m. Notre Dame (6)
2:15-2:55 p.m. Baylor (3)
4:25-5:05 p.m. Kentucky (1)
5:10-5:50 p.m. Texas (8)
5:55-6:35 p.m. East Tennessee State (16)
6:40-7:20 p.m. Wake Forest (9)

NCAA Tournament coverage

2010-03-16T20:33:19Z

I'm on the road again -- actually the air this time -- for the men's NCAA Tournament.

I have just boarded the private plane set for New Orleans along with ~~Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart~~ (turns out Barnhart didn't board the plan after all and is flying down on another jet), radio broadcaster Tom Leach, compliance director Sandy Bell and several other noteable figures in the athletics department. As soon as the men's team arrives, we'll hit the runaway and take off for the Big Easy and the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

Before we get this bird in the air, I wanted to use this opportunity to give a short programming note for the upcoming postseason.

Given that I will be traveling with men's team throughout their stay in the Big Dance, I'll be bringing you the latest updates, features, commentary, video, live blogs and more. With the exception of the Associated Press recaps, photos and notes we will have on the homepage, this will be your one-stop click for all the latest postseason news.

Although I won't be able to tag along with the women's team throughout their run, Cam, UK's Web site coordinator, will be making the trip with the team. He'll have videos and live blogs with the Cats, and I'm hoping to add a few blog posts, time permitting, from the road as well.

If all goes according to plan, I should be able to make it Louisville on Monday for the women's second-round game, but that's very tentative at this point.

I'll check back in later tonight once we get settled in at the hotel in New Orleans. Until then, make sure you stay tuned to Cat Scratches and UKathletics.com for all your latest postseason news.

Mitchell, Dunlap earn top SEC honors

2010-03-16T19:24:49Z

Wherever this mythical trophy case is, it must be getting overfilled by now as the awards for the men's and women's basketball teams continue to roll in.

The latest went to Matthew Mitchell and Victoria Dunlap from the UK Hoops team.

Mitchell was selected as the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year and Dunlap was named SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press. Two weeks ago, each won the respective awards from the league's coaches.

Dunlap, who was a unanimous selection, earns her second major award after averaging 17.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.1 blocks per game for the 25-7 Cats. She is the only SEC player to rank among the league's top three players in scoring and rebounding.

In his third season at the helm, Mitchell has led UK to its first NCAA Tournament since 2006. Picked to finish 11th in the SEC in the preseason, Mitchell guided UK to a second-place finish in the regular season and conference tournament.

In addition to the AP award, Mitchell was also named the Russell Athletic/WBCA Region 3 Coach of the Year.

Complete details are available on the homepage.