LOUISVILLE — Matthew Mitchell isn't from Kentucky, but he often sounds as though he might be.
When the coach talks about UK basketball and what it means to the commonwealth, he sounds as though he spent his childhood shooting hoops in his driveway re-enacting the 1978 national championship.
"Kentucky is such a unique place and the passion for basketball is so strong here," he told the media gathered before No. 19 UK's start in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Freedom Hall.
At times in his first couple seasons as Kentucky coach, Mitchell worried that the players in his locker room didn't understand how special their opportunity was.
"I felt like the people inside the room needed to be more passionate than the people outside the room," he said.
So Mitchell started finding ways to get his team to appreciate what it had. He had the players learn the fight song, which they sing as the band plays after every home victory. He had them dribble blue and white basketballs around campus every day.
"I always felt that we needed to get them to understand how special it is to be at a place like Kentucky, that values basketball so much," Mitchell explained.
He finally feels like he has that team. He says the aggressiveness and passion with which the team plays shows how much it values being at Kentucky.
He knows that few outside the walls of the Joe Craft Center believed the Cats could do anything beyond a fourth straight trip to the WNIT, but he's had a feeling building all season that this team could be something special.
The same Kentucky that finished second in the Southeastern Conference was picked by both the media and the coaches to finish 11th.
That helped drive players like juniors Amber Smith and Victoria Dunlap to get better and push their teammates to keep getting better.
"Everybody just bought into the concept of what we were trying to accomplish, which was not to be selfish and that we are a team," Dunlap said.
Mitchell thinks that passion shown by his team on the floor will make it a difficult out in the NCAA Tournament, which starts with the fourth-seeded Cats facing No. 13 seed Liberty.
"They need to view themselves as the most dangerous team in the tournament," Mitchell said Friday. "I say that because they have a style of play that is difficult at this time of year if you can get it going. It's difficult to prepare for on one day of preparation."
Or even a few days of preparation, which is what the Big South champion Flames have had. Liberty Coach Carey Green said he's had a difficult time simulating UK's pressure in practice.
"It's very difficult to do that," he said. "They are exceptional at their ball pressure."
Specifically, the Cats' ability in the open floor has him concerned.
"I've seen other teams (UK has played) score a free throw and within 3.5 seconds UK's shot a layup on the other end," he explained.
Slowly over the course of the season, UK has evolved from a team that would have just been happy to make the field of 64 to a team with more lofty expectations.
"Our goal is to go out and win a national championship," Dunlap said matter-of-factly during interviews Friday at Freedom Hall. "We still have a lot more to show of ourselves. We had a great season, but it's not over for us."
Hearing things like that make Mitchell smile.
As he looked around the locker room before the SEC title game less than two weeks ago, Mitchell saw a team that loved Kentucky basketball as much as his adopted state does.
Mitchell told his players he was looking at a team that understood what it meant to play at UK.
"When you see them on that court and when you see those players play, that's what I've been looking for," he said. "It takes time to build, and I think that it's been happening for a while. ... You're slowly starting to see it take root and that's a good thing."
Saturday's matchups
KENTUCKY
Probable starters: Amber Smith, 5-5, Jr., G (9.7 ppg, 4.4 apg, 2.8 rpg); A'dia Mathies, 5-9, Fr., G (13.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.4 spg, 2.4 apg); Keyla Snowden, 5-7, So., G (6.3 ppg); Amani Franklin, 5-11, Sr., G/F (7.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg); Victoria Dunlap, 6-1, Jr., F (17.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 3.1 spg).
Top reserves: Lydia Watkins, 6-1, Sr., F (6.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg); Rebecca Gray, 5-10, So., G (5.6 ppg); Carly Morrow, 5-11, Jr. G (5.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg); Brittany Henderson, 6-2, Fr., F (2.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg).
liberty
Probable starters: Amber Mays, 5-6, Sr., G (8.5 ppg, 3.8 apg); Rachel McLeod, 5-10, Jr., G (4.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg); Devon Brown, 5-10, Fr., G (16.9 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.0 spg); Kylee Beecher, 6-4, So., F (6.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg); Avery Warley, 6-3, So., F (10.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg)
Top reserves: Jelena Antic, 6-2, Fr., F (8.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg); LaKendra Washington, 5-8, Fr., G (4.4 ppg); Danika Dale, 6-1, So., G (4.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg); Dymond Morgan, 5-7, Jr., G (4.1 ppg).
