brucemaples dot com

Just saw this headline at, of all places, the GoVols web site:

Kentucky sweeps All-SEC for player
and coach in women's basketball

The SEC announced its women's basketball postseason awards Tuesday, highlighted by Kentucky's Victoria Dunlap being named Player of the Year and Matthew Mitchell being named Coach of the Year.

I am thrilled to see Coach Mitchell get the recognition he deserves. And Dunlap is clearly the POY in the SEC this year.

Here's my comment on the story at the GoVols site:

The Kentucky coach has done at Kentucky what Bruce Pearl has done at UT -- taken a program bordering on irrelevancy (third behind men's basketball and football) and made it both a winner and relevant to the everyday fan. The coaching job he has done this year has been amazing, and he will keep doing it. UK is going to be one of the Lady Vols main rivals, even more than now.

As for Player of the Year -- sorry, I haven't seen any of the Lady Vols that have shown me what the UK player has. Next year? Hope so. But for now, I'm happy that the UK folks got the recognition they deserve.

As for the Lady Vols -- an SEC tourney championship, a #1 seed, and either Elite Eight or Final Four would be, in my opinion, a great year with this young team. Would I LOVE to see them win it all? Of course. But I also realize how far they have come.

Today, it's congrats to the UK folks. Next week, and in a month, let's have some congrats for the Lady Vols.