On Sunday, Mathies was named to the seventh annual Gballmag.com Young All-America team for her significant contributions to her team’s success during her rookie campaign. Nine other players joined Mathies on the list, including Southeastern Conference opponent Jasmine James, a guard for Georgia.

Mathies averaged 13.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.6 steals for the season. She also set the school record for steals by a freshman with 93.

Mathies has already picked up UK’s first SEC Freshman of the Year award, in addition to being named to the Full-Court Press Freshman All-America team, All-SEC second team, All-SEC Freshman Team and SEC All-Tournament Team.

Dunlap, the AP and coaches’ choice for Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, was named to the second team by a panel of Full Court Press correspondents from across the nation. Mathies was named to the second team on the Freshman All-America squad.

Mathies also earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors from the SEC coaches.

According to ESPN HoopGurlz’s recruiting rankings, Drake is the 74th-best player and the eighth-best post player in the nation.

Drake averaged 22.9 points and 8.5 rebounds as a senior en route to setting her high school’s career scoring record.

With the addition of Drake, UK’s 2010 recruiting class is now ranked No. 5 in the nation, the highest ranking in school history. Drake joins Jennifer O’Neill, Maegan Conwright, LaQuinta Jefferson, Kastine Evans and Sarah Beth Barnette as a member of this fifth-ranked class

This marks the second time Gray has transferred during her collegiate career. Following her freshman year at North Carolina in 2007-08, Gray, a former Miss Kentucky Basketball and Georgetown, Ky., native, decided to return to the Bluegrass.

After sitting out the 2008-2009 season because of NCAA transfer rules, Gray played in 33 of 36 games for the Cats this season. She averaged 5.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in a little less than 20 minutes per game.

Gray joins seniors Amani Franklin and Lydia Watkins as the departures from the UK hoops team.

“I’m very blessed to have been a part of such a great program,” Gray said in a news release. “I’m so appreciative of all the time and effort this staff and team put into me as a person and player. They will always be like family to me.”

Then again, outsiders’ expectations didn’t do anything to prevent the Cats from rewriting the record books on their path to putting together the most successful season in program history.

Despite being picked to finish 11th out of 12 teams in the SEC during the preseason, UK set school records for most wins in a season (28), most wins in conference play (11), finished with an undefeated home record (17-0) , reached its first SEC championship game since 1982 and capped its season by reaching its first Elite Eight since 1982, when the NCAA Tournament field consisted of only 32 teams.

“People thought (we) were going to be a bad team; (we) didn’t listen,” UK head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “People thought we wouldn’t get to the SEC tournament championship game.  No one probably thought we’d get to the Sweet 16. Certainly no one thought we were going to get to the Elite Eight.”

Yet well before UK’s postseason run, the Cats were exceeding preseason expectations and set the school record for best start (11-0), which included a 34-point win over archrival Louisville. All 11 victories were by double figures.

Still, skeptics didn’t believe UK could maintain its early success through the rigors of the SEC schedule. But UK used a school-record eight-game conference win streak to all but secure a place in the postseason.

Then, in their first tournament appearance since 2006, the undersized Cats knocked off taller teams, Liberty and Michigan State, in the first two rounds to advance to the Sweet 16 where they upset No. 1-seeded Nebraska, 76-67.

However, the Cats’ next game would be their last as their NCAA Tournament run ended with an 88-68 loss to No. 3-seeded Oklahoma, in an uncharacteristic defensive display by the Cats.

The same UK defense that forced 20 or more turnovers in 26 of 36 games this season was not the same defense in the Elite Eight, said UK junior forward Victoria Dunlap following the loss. The 88 points, including the 31 points scored by Oklahoma’s Nyeshia Stevenson, were the most surrendered by the Cats to a team and an individual, respectively, all season.

“All I can say is that it definitely hurts that we lost, but we’re definitely going to cherish this moment, this season, this team because we started something new,” Dunlap said. “The people coming next year are definitely going to have a lot (of expectations) to fill.”

Those players coming in next year are five freshmen that constitute a top-10 recruiting class. Perhaps more important than who’s coming in to the program is who’s sticking around.

The Cats lose Amani Franklin and Lydia Watkins to graduation, but will return four of five starters, including Dunlap, the Associated Press and coaches’ choice for SEC Player of the Year, as well as SEC Freshman of the Year A’dia Mathies.

“This team has accomplished a lot, and so for next season, whatever good we can take, whatever momentum builds, whatever standard has been set, I think that’s how you use this season getting ready for the next,” Mitchell said. “(But) these kids aren’t robots; they’re human beings.  They have to go out and go through it and do all the work.”

Dunlap was one of 40 players under consideration by a selection committee. The announcement was made in San Antonio, Texas, ahead of Sunday’s Final Four games.

Dunlap excelled both offensively and defensively for the Cats this season as she averaged 18.1 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 1.9 blocks per game.

Dunlap has also earned Southeastern Conference Player of the Year honors from the AP and SEC coaches.

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The most successful season in UK women’s basketball history is over.

The Cats (28-8) were denied their first trip to the Final Four in their second Elite Eight appearance after falling to the Oklahoma Sooners (27-10) 88-68 on Tuesday night at the Sprint Center.

In their 11th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Sooners were paced by senior Nyeshia Robinson’s 31 points on their way to their second consecutive Final Four. UK’s defense, its bread and butter, gave up its worst shooting percentage all season on the biggest stage.

Entering the game, OU’s halfcourt execution concerned UK head coach Matthew Mitchell, while OU head coach Sherri Coale believed her team, led by third team All-America point guard Danielle Robinson, were equipped to handle the defensive intensity of the Cats.

“We’ve played guards that quick before… we just turned the ball over too much,” junior guard Amber Smith said.

The first five minutes of the first half demonstrated anything but OU’s poise, as the Cats jumped all over the Sooners with a 13-2 run to open the game.
The Sooners did not make a field goal in the first 6:14 of the game as they began a paltry 1-for-8 from the field.

However, the Cats’ quick start was their saving grace in the first half because they trailed 43-39 at the break once OU found its offensive rhythm.

“They fought back from an early deficit and really took control of the game,” Mitchell said. “Oklahoma really absorbed our initial blow.”

Following the slow start, the Sooners started to find their shooting touch, converting 17 of their next 20 shots, as Robinson and OU senior forward Nyeshia Stevenson seemingly drove to the basket at will, combining for 27 of the Sooners’ 43 points at the break.

The start of the second half was a continuation of the Sooners’ potent offensive performance. OU went on 15-4 run following halftime. Robinson and Stevenson combined for 11 of the 15 points.

UK answered with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to eight, but OU countered with an 11-0 run of its own to stretch the margin to 19 points with 6:23 left in the game.

“At the end (of the game) we just weren’t ourselves, we weren’t the same defensive team that we’ve usually been,” Dunlap said.

Overshadowed by Robinson and Stevenson, who sported matching red hair-dos, was UK junior Victoria Dunlap’s 31 points — two shy of tying her career high.

OU, champions of the Kansas City Regional, will meet the one-loss Stanford Cardinal (35-1) in the National Semifinal on April 4. The overall No.1 seed Connecticut and fourth-seeded Baylor will clash in the other National Semifinal.

Still, Mitchell believes this season is a stepping stone to greater things for his team, which loses only two players —Amani Franklin and Lydia Watkins — to graduation.

“I don’t think there’ any question that when we reflect back on this season, we’ll know this was a special basketball team,” a choked up Mitchell said. It’s not even about not going to the Final Four tonight, it’s about being in that locker room with a bunch kids that pushed it to the limit. I told them back there I wouldn’t trade places with coach Coale.”

Actually, I’ve noticed a few things about the perception of the UK hoops team, too.

Despite the magical ride UK hoops has taken in the most successful season in program history, I don’t think many people have stopped to take notice of UK. And now, all of a sudden, the team is one win away from a trip to the Final Four.

Case in point, a day after taking Nebraska behind the woodshed (this is my least favorite sports cliché, but it certainly fit the situation on Sunday night) the media gathered to ask UK players and UK head coach Matthew Mitchell their thoughts on Oklahoma.

The news conference started swell, but then all of a sudden, a question was directed to a “Kayla” Snowden. I scrambled to check my notes to see when a “Kayla” Snowden started to play shooting guard for UK.

Oh never mind, I thought, the guy meant “Keyla” Snowden, who has knocked down eight 3-pointers in the NCAA Tournament in a starting role for the Cats.

OK, it was just a slip of the tongue. I’ll let it slide.

A few questions later, a question was intended for Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year A’dia Mathies. I doubt she would’ve known that she was the one supposed to answer the media member’s question if she wasn’t making eye contact with him, based on the weird string of syllables he put together in an effort to say “A’dia.”

Mathies’ teammates realized the mistake, as they tittered quietly on the podium.

Naturally, the one logical conclusion for all these mistakes in addressing the UK women’s hoops team must be that UK has come from so far under the radar this year, that certain members of the media want to keep its successful season concealed from the national spotlight by giving the entire UK roster aliases.

I’m sure all women’s basketball pundits have been following UK’s magical ride all season. And I’m sure certain media members can drop this get-names-wrong-on-purpose charade if the team reaches the Final Four because then everyone will be aware of UK’s historic season, right?

Speaking of name recognition

UK’s Elite Eight opponent, Oklahoma, has two players with well-known relatives in the sporting world. OU junior forward Carlee Roethlisberger is the sister of two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, while senior Abi Olajuwon is the daughter of NBA legend Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon.

Dunlap has piled up accolades since the end of the regular season following a season in which she was the only player in the Southeastern Conference to rank in the top three in scoring (17.7) and rebounding (8.2).

The AP had already selected Dunlap as the SEC Player of the Year, after she was given the same honor from the SEC coaches. Dunlap is the first player in UK’s history to garner All-America honors.

Other players on the All-America Third Team are:  a pair of Duke players in junior Jasmine Thomas and freshman Elena Delle Donne, Xavier junior Amber Harris and Oklahoma junior Danielle Robinson, who will meet Dunlap in Tuesday’s Elite Eight game between OU and UK.

On Sunday night, second-seeded Notre Dame fell to third-seeded Oklahoma (26-7), and top-seeded Nebraska lost to fourth-seeded UK (28-7). The respective results set up an Elite Eight matchup between two teams that have become more accustomed to the role of underdog all season.

“We’ve been talking about how we are the underdog this whole season, but (UK) comes in thinking that they are more of the underdog for tomorrow night’s game,” said OU junior guard and leading scorer Danielle Robinson.

UK is making their first Elite Eight appearance in the modern format of the NCAA Tournament, whereas the Sooners have established themselves as a legitimate contender in head coach Sherri Coale’s 13-year tenure. OU has two Final Four appearances this decade, including one last season, and has familiarity playing on the biggest stage with a berth in the NCAA Tournament every year this decade, too.

However this season, OU finished in third place in the Big 12 behind Nebraska and Iowa State and posted a 2-6 record against teams that finished in the top-five of the conference making this tournament run anything but a shoe-in.

Likewise, UK didn’t fair much better against its top-tier conference opponents with a 3-5 record vs. top-five Southeastern Conference schools.

Yet at this point, each team’s regular season play seems to have taken a backseat, and both teams could hardly be considered an underdog, especially given their close seeding.

Still, UK will be in for yet another test from a team  believing it has been battle tested by the rigors of conference play and thus, can adequately deal with UK’s pressure defense.

“Well I think we have a pretty good guess (of what to expect from UK’s defense) because we play in the Big 12 South. If anything can prepare you for that, it is that,” said Coale, who likened UK’s defensive pressure to Texas A&M’s, an opponent OU faced three times this season. Coale added, A&M boasts more length than UK will, but UK is the quicker team “if that’s even humanly possible.”

Just as he has done all year, UK head coach Matthew Mitchell emphasized UK’s defense to the media present at the pre-game news conference, as he echoed Coale’s sentiments.

“I think (the game) will be won for us on the defensive end, and we will have to do a good job,” Mitchell said. “The reason we have progressed, and we’re in the position we are now is because (we) never grew weary of the (defensive) fundamentals.”

As good as UK’s defense has been in the tournament, OU’s offense has been clicking in their past three games. The Sooners have shot better than 40 percent from the field in five of six halves they’ve played so far in the tournament.

“I do think our (offensive) rhythm is good,” Coale said. “I think we’re sharing it, and I think that begins with Danielle Robinson.”

Mitchell called Robinson a taller version of his own point guard, junior Amber Smith.

Smith, the smallest player on UK’s undersized roster, who has relished the role of underdog her entire career because of her height, viewed the matchup with Robinson as more than a dual between two individuals.

“I look at (this) as an opportunity, and I mean, we’re just going to play (Robinson) like we have been playing everybody else, and we’re going to pressure her,” Smith said. “We’re going to pressure the whole team … it’s a great opportunity, and we’re going to take advantage of it.”