‘I believe this team is going to be heard from,’ Mitchell says of No. 19 Kentucky women

Kentucky will start its season at No. 19 nationally, its lowest preseason ranking since 2010, when the Cats started getting regular national attention.

That ranking, released Tuesday by The Associated Press, is fine with UK Coach Matthew Mitchell.

“I don’t know where we will be,” he told the Herald-Leader recently. “I won’t even pay attention to it … but if people want to doubt this group, that will be just fine with me because I know it’s special. I believe this team is going to be heard from.”

Voters no doubt had to weigh the amount of players who parted ways with the Kentucky program in the past year, seven in all, five who transferred, one who transferred after graduation and another who was dismissed.

It left UK with a limited roster, even if that roster contains one of the nation’s top guards in Makayla Epps and a promising top post player in Evelyn Akhator.

“Makayla Epps, Evelyn Akhator, I just believe are going to hear their names called in the draft,” Mitchell said of the 2017 WNBA Draft. In most mock drafts, Epps is predicted to be a top-10 overall pick. “I just believe that’s going to happen.”

Since 2010, Kentucky has been ranked no lower than No. 17 to start the season, which was where the Cats were picked at the start of last season.

They climbed to as high as No. 7 and finished 25-8 in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. The Cats finished last season ranked No. 12 by The Associated Press.

Mitchell likes this group coming back and doesn’t need a preseason poll to tell him it’s going to be special.

“This is going to be a really good basketball team because of the kind of people we have on the team,” he said. “We will be a very, very hard-working, high-character team and I just think you end up in a good spot when you have those kind of people that can play.

“If people could watch our practices every day, our kids are good players.”

For the first time in a long time, defending national champion Connecticut is not rated No. 1in the preseason poll. That spot instead goes to Notre Dame, followed by Baylor, Connecticut and UK rivals South Carolina and Louisville rounding out the top five.

Miami (Fla.), who UK opens its season with on Nov. 11 in Memorial Coliseum, is ranked No. 14.

In all, Kentucky is slated to face nine teams ranked in the preseason top 25, including South Carolina, Louisville, No. 10 Mississippi State, No. 13 Tennessee, Miami, No. 16 Oklahoma, No. 18 Arizona State, No. 20 Florida and No. 24 Missouri.

Other UK opponents that received votes include Auburn, Texas A&M and Duke.

This story was originally published November 1, 2016 at 10:19 AM with the headline "‘I believe this team is going to be heard from,’ Mitchell says of No. 19 Kentucky women."