A’dia Mathies, Diary 1

SLAMonline introduces its newest blogger.

The SEC’s reigning Player of the Year, A’dia Mathies, will be linking back with SLAMonline throughout the season, as her sixth-ranked squad aims to reach the Final Four. Her first entry spans over two days—before and after UK’s bout against national champion Baylor. Brittney Griner and the Lady Bears handed UK a tough loss, but Mathies is already looking toward the team’s next challenge.—Ed.

by A’dia Mathies / @A1Mathies_UK

11/13/2012 – Before Baylor game

First of all, I want to thank SLAMonline for giving me the opportunity to share my collegiate hoops experience with all of my fans. I can’t believe this is already my senior year. Feels like yesterday when my coach (Matthew Mitchell) was recruiting me to the University of Kentucky.

We are in Waco, TX, right now and we just got done eating our pre-game meal at the Hilton Hotel. They have beautiful facilities here and everyone is anxious and amped up to go tonight. We had a great shoot around today; we really focused on the things we have been working on in practice and this whole year.

I’m very excited to go up against No. 1 ranked Baylor and their two great players in Odyssey Sims and Brittney Griner. It’s going to be a great match and I’m looking forward to it. We just have to stay focused and if we do that, then I think we can come out with a victory.

It’s going to be a great atmosphere out there tonight and the game is going to be televised on ESPN 2, so all of our friends and family can tune it. Also, this is a special night for my teammate Maegan Conwright, who is from Texas. This is an opportunity for her family to come out and support her because this is the first time we have played in Texas.

We know how big and important this game is. In practice we have been giving our best effort and executing. People have been communicating more and you can tell everybody realizes how important this game is and everybody is ready to go and wants this game bad.

11/15/2012 – Afterthoughts

We are back in Lexington, KY, and getting ready to watch some film before we begin practice. Thought I would share my Baylor experience with you all before we got back on the court to start preparing for High Point on Saturday.

Our team was so amped up and ready to go during pregame. We were all clapping and cheering each other on as we were winding down to tipoff. The whole atmosphere was unreal. There were a lot of fans there supporting them and it was definitely the complete opposite from being back home in Memorial Coliseum, where we have the nation’s number one fan base rooting us on. Maegan Conwright’s family came out to support us that night so we had about 35 fans, haha.

Baylor is a great team and we are just going to use this game as a stepping stone to get better. It was the second game of the year and this game will not define our season. We have over 30 games left on our schedule and we are ready to move on and take the next step.

Thanks for tuning in SLAMonline fans, and check back in a few weeks for another update on UK Hoops.