Newcomers blending in quickly

By Jennifer Smith / jsmith3@herald-leader.com

Transfers Crystal Riley, left, Rebecca Gray and Keyla Snowden are among six new players Coach Matthew Mitchell is counting on to help UK improve on last season's 16-16 record. All three players are sophomores.

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Meet the UK women's team

Kentucky has so many new players this year, even Coach Matthew Mitchell might need them to wear blue and white "Hello, My Name Is ... " tags for the first few weeks.

There are three starters back and a key role player, but other than that, the new faces and names could take some getting used to.

There are three freshman newcomers.

There are three transfers from three different programs who are finally ready to take the court in games.

There is Lydia Watkins, who sat out most of last season for an undisclosed personal reason, who hasn't played in a game since Dec. 21 of last season.

In all, only four of the 11 players on this year's team were around to finish out last season's 16-16 run that stalled in the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.

"Off the court, it's been a great group," Mitchell said. "We tried to encourage the leaders on the team to take seriously the need for us to be a close-knit group and have chemistry."

The leaders, namely past starters such as senior Amani Franklin and juniors Victoria Dunlap and Amber Smith, have taken that charge seriously.

Having a lot of new faces means a lot of new opportunities for success on the court, but it also means a lot of getting-to-know you moments, too.

They've been found in the strangest places.

"Well, there's always IHOP and Waffle House — you can't downplay the importance of Waffle House," said Smith, describing how a love of food has brought together players from as far away as the California coast and as close as Scott County.

"We all hang out a lot at our house together," Dunlap said. "We chill, listen to music, talk. ... We have a lot of fun together."

It's become a sort of habit.

"Everybody comes over every weekend and we have a lot of fun together," Smith said.

Mitchell has learned you can't hurry love, as the Supremes song confirms.

"It's hard to force chemistry," he said. "It's hard to stage that; it has to be genuine."

It helps that three of the new players — Rebecca Gray, Keyla Snowden and Crystal Riley — all transferred to UK last season and have been practicing with the team for a long time. They know the expectations and the system.

Mitchell has done what he can to help the chemistry along.

He's had every player who was on campus this summer dribbling a blue and white basketball to and from classes.

They're still doing that exercise now that the fall semester is well underway.

The coach also issued a 70,000-shot challenge.

It was quite a step up from the 35,000-shot challenge that his players undertook last off-season, when only five of them spent enough time in the gym to make that many shots.

This season, it was a little different.

"Everybody made them this year," said Dunlap, UK's top returning scorer and rebounder. "It just shows our commitment and our desire to want to get better for each other."

Taking on the responsibility of getting into the Craft Center and getting up that many shots has meshed into a desire to be a better team, the players say.

"We've grown a lot since last year, overcoming different things that happened," said Franklin, one of only two seniors on the team. "We have a better mind-set. We'll be pretty good. I'm excited about this year."

The incoming freshmen — 2009 Kentucky Miss Basketball A'dia Mathies and post players Brittany Henderson and Anna Cole — seem to understand they are lucky to be playing at Kentucky, Mitchell said.

He credits the veteran players with that.

"I really enjoy the character of this team," said Mitchell, who is 33-32 entering his third season at UK. "In the entire pre-season, I haven't had to deal with a lot of problems, a lot of knuckleheads."

The coach just hopes that the chemistry he sees developing off the court will turn into chemistry (and wins) on the court.

"We still don't know what they're going to look like on the court," he said. "But we've seen what they look like together off the court, and we like what we see so far."

Scouting report

Coach: Matthew Mitchell (33-32 in two seasons at UK; 30-29 in two seasons at Morehead State)

Last season: 16-16 overall (5-9 in Southeastern Conference)

What's at stake: Even though Kentucky has advanced to the post-season via the WNIT each of the past three years, fans have been grumbling for more. Year three is a pivotal one for most coaches, and it likely will be for Mitchell as well. Against what could be a tougher 16-game Southeastern Conference schedule, the coach needs to find tangible ways to show the program is moving in the right direction (like a win over Louisville for the first time in since 2003 or another top-25 recruiting class). There will be a lot of new pieces to fit into the larger puzzle, which could make this season a challenge. But Mitchell likes the character and skill of this group and thinks it will be better than its media-projected 11th-place finish in the SEC.

Jennifer Smith