Emotional night expected for UK's 'Earth, Wind and Fire'

Sometimes you don't have to have a lot in common to become lifelong friends.

For Kentucky's Victoria Dunlap, Carly Morrow and Amber Smith, it was a love of breakfast food at dinner time.

It's a relationship that's a lot more complicated than that for the three UK seniors, two of whom will be honored at Senior Night ceremonies Thursday night.

They come from different places and different backgrounds, but a love of basketball led all of them to Kentucky, and a love of breakfast for dinner has brought them together in ways that are hard to explain.

"I don't know what it is," Smith said. "We get along on the court, off the court. Our chemistry is great. The bond has just grown stronger throughout the years. We've been through a lot of ups and downs."

It's probably what got them through the rough times their freshmen year.

"We've gone through a lot of growing pains together," Morrow said. "That causes you to have a bond no one else can really understand."

YouTube and Facebook are littered with examples of how much fun they have together.

Through the years, they've made various videos like "Southside Apologize" where Dunlap tries to apologize to Smith for her desire to move to the other side of campus.

Or the video of them singing with helium-inflated lungs.

"Get us three together in one room you'll probably laugh and you won't stop laughing," Smith said.

A few years back, Smith gave the other two Nike bracelets and they dubbed themselves "Earth, Wind and Fire."

Morrow, a natural, earthy type, is Earth.

Dunlap, who sometimes absently blows through life, is Wind.

Smith, the outspoken point guard, is Fire.

The trio have become the masterminds behind a series of pranks pulled on head coach Matthew Mitchell and some of his assistant coaches.

They placed hundreds of forks tine-side up in the yard of assistant coach Kyra Elzy. They sneaked in Mitchell's garage and filled his sport utility vehicle with balloons.

"I have some deep resentment for these players," Mitchell joked on Wednesday.

But he admitted that he's been flattered to be the target of their antics.

"Those things show that they care," Mitchell said. "Well, either they care about me or they have very boring lives."

Mitchell has a special connection to Earth, Wind and Fire. They were the class he didn't recruit but opted to join him when he took over as head coach at Kentucky.

"We all came in as freshmen together," he said. "None of us knew what in the world we were doing when we got here. ... I don't know what it's like without these kids here."

Behind those three players, UK has gone from a team that was fighting to get into the Women's NIT each season to a team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight last season.

It's likely they'll make it back to the Big Dance with a 20-7 overall record and nine wins in the Southeastern Conference with two more games to play.

Mitchell said the aggressive, up-tempo style that has become UK's signature was built in large part around the personalities of Morrow, Smith and Dunlap.

"It can't be understated," he said. "It had a lot to do with those personalities. Those three kids are really hard-nosed competitors on the court. They're hard workers in practice."

The seniors just hope that what they've started at Kentucky will continue long after they're gone.

"We don't want last year to be a one-hit wonder," Smith said. "We want Kentucky to be on that national level consistently. We've definitely come a long way.

"What this (current) team doesn't understand is where we came from and how hard it was and how we don't ever want to go back to that point. (Dunlap and Morrow) understand that."

And they understand each other. It's a friendship that will live longer than the four years they're together at UK.

"Vic and Amber have been an incredible source of strength for me over the last four years," Morrow said.

They're going to need each other on Thursday night, which is sure to be emotional, Dunlap said.

"Just walking on the floor knowing it's going to be my last time playing at Memorial with that team, in that jersey, with those coaches, with the fans," she said, her voice trailing off.

It also will be sad to not have Smith out there with them, Dunlap said. The point guard will return next season after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament last summer.

It will be hard saying goodbye to them.

"Thursday night's going to be really tough," Smith said. "I don't know if I'm even going to be able to be out there."

But they're counting on her and several thousands in the stands to get them through.

"We're very motivated to win our last home game of the year and to send Carly and Victoria out with a victory," Mitchell said. "It's something that's very important to everybody in the program."

This story was originally published February 24, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Emotional night expected for UK's 'Earth, Wind and Fire'."