UK women have one goal. Five storylines to watch this season.

There’s no question about it, not being a part of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009 bothered Kentucky.

It meant that there was an NCAA regional being played less than a mile away from campus at Rupp Arena, and they weren’t one of the teams in it. It meant Memorial Coliseum went dark in March, not hosting the first or second rounds.

So the biggest story line going into this new season is getting Kentucky back on track, back to the perennial power that was always one of the final four teams in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, one of the teams in the big dance as it had been eight straight seasons.

How much has it motivated this Kentucky team?

“It drives it a bunch,” Coach Matthew Mitchell said in an interview with the Herald-Leader in October. “We’re past that point as a program. … We need to be developing ourselves to the best we can be and I think if we do that, we’re an NCAA Tournament team.

“They don’t need to feel like there’s an option to miss the tournament.”

Five important storylines to track during the 2018-19 season:

1. Dancing again?

There aren’t any big signs in the facility reminding of what could have been and should have been last March, but in the toughest moments of practice when players don’t think they can keep running or stay in a stance any longer, Mitchell will mention it.

Often a senior will say something about how there’s a goal they’re all shooting for.

“I’m really just trying to direct this team toward being its very best every day; and if it helps them, remind a player here or there, we might say it,” Mitchell said.

“But it’s nothing we want to experience this year. We don’t want to be home in March out of the NCAA Tournament. It’s something we have enjoyed doing and competing in, and it’s something we’ll be striving for. I think we can achieve this year.”

UK will have a few weeks to figure out who it is from the comfort of home before games against South Florida, which likely will be a top 25 team, and then facing perennial powers like UCLA and North Carolina in the U.S. Virgin Islands tournament in late November. Then there’s a trip to top-five Louisville in December.

Mitchell believes it’s a tough enough non-conference schedule to help the Cats prepare for the never-easy SEC slate, which could include as many as six ranked teams this season.

2. ‘Get on the attack’

Kentucky got away from what Kentucky did best: forcing turnovers and turning those into points, playing up-tempo, aggressive basketball that Mitchell dubbed “40 minutes of dread.”

The Cats had to adjust to the rosters they had, which included one that had been depleted by defections in 2016, and then they had to play with the fewer number of players. It meant less run and gun and more deliberate play.

Mitchell hinted that there would be a return to that last season, but he realized there were too many freshmen that just weren’t ready to play that style. Those players are a year older and he believes the newest newcomers are built for it.

“We’re committed to it. It fits our personnel,” he said. “I don’t think it would be the smartest thing for us to kind of sit back and let somebody come at us. I think we do have the athleticism and the personnel to get on the attack.”

The goal is to have the team ready to play that way around the start of the season, but it’s a process.

“You’ve got to trust each other and you’ve got to trust what your coaches are saying but we’ve come a long way in the last three weeks,” he said, noting that the goal is to score at least 20 points a game off turnovers again.

3. Position-less basketball

Men’s basketball coach John Calipari likes to tout position-less basketball, and there’s some of the same across the hall in the women’s gym where UK doesn’t have a true post presence but does have six to seven players that are in that 6-foot to 6-foot-3 range.

Most of them have athleticism, impressive length and some speed. Aside from the point guard spot, almost every player on the floor can guard players at any other position.

“So we’ve got a lot of those players that kind of look the same size, same athleticism, so that’s where I think we can really be versatile defensively, be disruptive, be up-tempo and attacking,” Mitchell said.

UK might struggle — as most do — with some of the massive, veteran post players around the country in the halfcourt, but there are fewer of those players in the SEC this season, which might make it more do-able.

4. Enough offense?

One of the knocks on those old “40 minutes of dread” teams coached by Mitchell for nearly a decade was their offensive struggles in the halfcourt when other teams slowed them down or didn’t cough up the ball.

The head coach said he’s learned his lesson and is much more balanced in offensive and defensive coaching.

“We’re trying to shoot 30 minutes a day in practice and back in those days, we probably didn’t spend 30 minutes a week shooting,” he mostly joked. “We are better at attacking an opposing defense.”

In years past, there were teams that just didn’t shoot the ball well and UK was able to mask the deficiencies with defense, but this time around, he sees a gym full of shooters like Maci Morris, Blair Green, Rhyne Howard and even others who have improved dramatically this off-season like Taylor Murray and Amanda Paschal.

More than one or two players on the roster can create her own shot now, he said. UK worked hard this summer on timing and spacing offensively.

He added: “This team has got the potential to really shoot the ball great, and I’m excited about our offense, I really am.”

5. Can these freshmen make a difference?

Kentucky got an injection of talent in the last recruiting class and brings in Rhyne Howard, the Most Valuable Player from her Team USA play this summer, and fellow guard Blair Green, one of the most talented players in the state last year.

The learning curve is different with these two players, who both will add instant offense. Mitchell also noted that Howard was able to be a lock-down defender on a professional player during UK’s Italy trip this summer despite little sleep and a late arrival on the trip.

The coach mentioned that both players have a high basketball IQ, catch on quickly and are coachable.

They have the intangibles — strong desire and high effort levels — that will make them great once they get it all figured out.

“They will make a difference, depends on when,” Mitchell said. “They’re still freshmen, they’ve still got to figure out how to play against stronger players.”

But Mitchell is confident they’re pieces that will help UK grow. “They’ll contribute big time. They’re just working too hard not to.”