Can UK women’s basketball give Rhyne Howard enough help to do something special?
ESPN.com writer Graham Hays this week tabbed Kentucky Wildcats star Rhyne Howard as the favorite to be the 2020-21 NCAA women’s college basketball National Player of the Year.
Before the coronavirus pandemic prematurely ended this past season, Howard looked every bit like a future Wooden Award winner. The Cleveland, Tenn., product led UK in scoring (23.4 ppg), rebounding (6.5 rpg) and steals (62 in 27 games) and was voted SEC Player of the Year.
However, Hays issued one caveat to Howard’s chances of being selected as the nation’s top player: “Players of the Year historically come from teams near the top of the polls,” he wrote.
Kentucky (22-8) finished this past season ranked No. 16 and tied for third in the SEC.
For Matthew Mitchell and the UK Hoops program, the defining question for the next two seasons is simple: Can Kentucky surround Howard, a junior-to-be, with a supporting cast of sufficient quality to allow the UK star to elevate the Cats into the nation’s elite?
“We’re excited about our future, there’s no doubt about that,” Mitchell said Thursday.
From last season’s UK team that reached the semifinals of the SEC Tournament, Kentucky will lose five seniors — starting guards Jaida Roper and Sabrina Haines; backup guard Amanda Paschal; and post players Ogechi Anyagaligbo and Nae Nae Cole.
Nevertheless, UK should boast a higher talent ceiling in 2020-21.
It starts with having Chasity Patterson, the Texas transfer and 2017 McDonald’s All-American, for a full season.
In 19 games after becoming eligible at mid-semester, Patterson averaged 11.5 points this past season. The dynamic 5-5 guard earned SEC Sixth Woman of the Year honors from the league’s coaches.
Unless incoming transfers Jazmine Massengill (Tennessee) and Robyn Benton (Auburn) find a path to immediately eligibility, Patterson will enter next season as Kentucky’s only experienced lead guard.
“I think Patterson will be on the floor a ton. I think she is excited about that,” Mitchell said.
Utah transfer Dre’Una Edwards, the 2018-19 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, will be eligible for Kentucky in 2020-21 after sitting out this past season as a transfer. The 6-foot-2 Edwards averaged 11.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and shot 54 percent as a Utes frosh.
“We’re expecting her to be able to score, to help us out with that,” Mitchell says. “To help us with a physical presence. Although she is not extremely tall, she’s got very long arms and she is just strong, very, very strong and very aggressive. She loves to (battle) in the post.”
Edwards will be returning from multiple injuries. Her freshman season ended due to a torn ACL. She also underwent surgery to repair a shoulder issue while sitting out this past season at UK.
Incoming freshman Treasure Hunt, a 6-2 wing from Chattanooga, Tenn., is one of the most-anticipated recruits Mitchell has signed at Kentucky. A former AAU teammate of Howard, Hunt was chosen a McDonald’s All-American and is ranked the 15th best prospect in the class of 2020 by ProspectsNation.com.
“Physically gifted. Tall, long, fast, strong,” Mitchell says. “Shoots the three great. Can get to the basket and finish. And she is long and athletic and explosive enough to create some havoc for us on the defensive end.”
Nyah Leveretter, a 6-3 post player out of South Carolina, and Erin Toller, a 5-6 guard from Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville, fill out Mitchell’s 2020 high school recruiting class.
The UK coach thinks Leveretter’s athleticism, length and motor could get her on the court early; Toller’s outside shot and court savvy intrigues Mitchell.
Kentucky will return veteran contributors in senior-to-be post players KeKe McKinney (6.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg, team-high 42 blocked shots) and Tatyana Wyatt (5.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg); and ex-Harlan County star Blair Green (5.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg), a junior-to-be wing.
Former Lincoln County star Emma King (1.4 ppg in 15 contests as a true freshman) will be seeking a larger role, while backup point guard Kameron Roach and freshman forward DeAsia Merrill will try to return from injuries that sidelined them for all of 2019-20.
With one scholarship still available for 2020-21, Mitchell said Kentucky will continue to seek a remedy to its most pressing concern: Lack of front-court length. “If we can address that through the transfer portal, we definitely will do that,” he said.
One thing UK knows it will have in 2020-21 — thanks to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association — is Rhyne Howard determined to prove a point.
The UK star was named a 2019-20 First Team All-American by the Associated Press, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and the Wooden Award.
Inexplicably, the WBCA left Howard off its 10-player All-America team.
For Kentucky, having Howard entering her junior season feeling disrespected figures to be a boon.
“Rhyne is the kind of kid that doesn’t get down about (being snubbed) — she gets inspired,” Mitchell said. “So maybe it will end up being a good thing for us.”
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 8:11 AM.
