C.A. Carter had an illustrious high school golf career at Lexington Christian as well as on various junior golf circuits.

Still, she was not exactly sure what to expect during her freshman season at Kentucky when she averaged 75.6 strokes per 18 holes in the four events she played in for the Cats. She called it an “amazing experience” to play for Kentucky (her father, Jimmy, played football at UK).

“I didn’t really know what to expect going into college golf. You just try and stick to your process and routines every day, and just put in the work and hope it pays off,” said Carter, who finished as runner-up in the recent Kentucky State Amateur to UK teammate Cathryn Brown. “I was really fortunate to come out and get a taste of playing against some of the best college players, especially in the spring.”

She knew Southeastern Conference golf would be “challenging” and knew she had to trust her routines and teammates to get her through her first season. Carter said she is a much better player now than when she got to UK.

“I feel like all of the experiences I got and the lessons that I’ve been able to learn in such a short amount of time really made me a different player just with the mindset and knowing what to expect. I have more awareness for my game,” she said.

She also got a chance to enhance her knowledge last month when she played in the LPGA Legends Tour event in Woodford County for the second straight year. She got to play with and watch some of the best players ever to play on the LPGA Tour.

“They’ve been where I’m trying to get to, and I feel like there’s just so much to learn from them,” Carter said. “They have so much great advice and wisdom. It was just such a treat getting to play it again this year. I’m just honored to have been invited back.

“I got to meet Nancy Scranton, a former Wildcat. It was really cool being around all those players. I played with Jane Blalock, who made 299 straight cuts during her career, which is incredible. That’s just unheard of. It’s tough enough to make a cut in our college tournaments and thinking about doing that 299 straight times on the LPGA Tour is amazing. I picked up a lot of little things just by watching her and talking to her because she likes to talk and share advice.”

The LPGA Legends again showed Carter the value of a solid short game.

“They’re able to score from anywhere around the greens and that’s definitely a part of my game that I’ve been trying to work on and get better and tighten up going into this next (college) season,” Carter said. “So that was really cool to see what a tour player could do.”

Carter is confident about the upcoming golf season for Kentucky. The Cats lost only one senior off last season’s team and have signed Samantha Paradise, an All-American and national champion from Daytona State College.

“I think we’re going to have a really great year. We have our schedule, and I think it’s going to make for a really fun season,” Carter said. “I think last year we were pretty young. Now with all of our freshmen coming back and the experience we gained last year, it just really bonds you as a team. I think we have that chemistry aspect that we didn’t have going into last year.”

Kentucky hosted an NCAA Regional last season, but just missed qualifying for the NCAA due in part to the difficult strength of schedule it faced. Carter admits not getting to play on their home course in the NCAA was “disappointing” for them all.

“We all have our expectations going into the season and it definitely stung coming up short (of playing in the NCAA), but I think it serves as a learning opportunity,” Carter said. “We’re gonna use that to get better and work even harder to give it a good run next season.”

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He is not being mentioned as one of the prominent players on next year’s Kentucky team, but sophomore guard Trent Noah of Harlan County certainly has the support of teammates and coaches.

“I think the expectations for Trent are very high, because of his skill set,” said Collin Chandler, another sophomore guard. “And you can’t really look back on last year. I mean, you can look at what he’s done — the potential he shows — but he’s going to be a completely different player. A better player.

“He’s had months to work on his game. And I think everyone in Kentucky knows what Trent is capable of, and so I think he’s just going to continue to get better. And he’s always exciting to watch.

“Even if there were times where me and him weren’t playing in games, there’s a lot of things behind the scenes that people don’t see – and the spurts that he shows.”

Coach Mark Pope said when the season ended that Noah had made tremendous strides on the defensive end considering he basically only played zone defense in high school.

Pope recalled late in the season when he had Noah guarding Alabama’s Mark Sears, the 2023-24 SEC Player of the Year.

‘When he first got here, the speed and athleticism was shocking to him and every day, he picked up more and more and more,” Pope said. “By the end of season, he just felt like he belonged.”

Pope also expects Noah to be better “off the bounce” as a sophomore and be more physical on both offense and defense.

“I think he’s going to get better and more creative with what he’s doing in terms of his reads. He’s going to be a tremendous player,” Pope said.

The coach asked Noah to add weight during the offseason and he has. Noah believes that will help his overall play.

“The SEC is a monster. So I mean, you go in there, you’re playing really big, athletic players every game,” Noah said. “You have to be able to match that and it (more weight) should make that easier for me.”

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Kentucky women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks knows with the turnover in college basketball now via the transfer portal that returning experience gives a team even a bigger advantage.

“There’s a lot of movement in college basketball and although we did add some very important pieces, we have a good core back,” Brooks said. “A core that understands exactly what we want, how we want it, who’s actually been through it here at the University of Kentucky.

“So no longer are you ever going to go and not know what the SEC is going to be like, not knowing what crowds in Memorial are going to be like. So that familiarity is great.”

Kentucky lost All-American point guard Georgia Amoore, a first-round WNBA pick and UK’s clear leader in Brooks’ first season, off last season’s NCAA Tournament team along with guard Dazia Lawrence (graduation) and Clara Silva (transfer portal).

But the Cats do return starters Clara Strack, Amelia Hassett and Teonni Key who combined for 47% of UK’s scoring last season and 71% of its rebounding. All three players averaged 1.3 blocked shots or more per game.

Strack was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year after averaging 2.4 blocks per game last season.

Brooks thinks that the returning trio gives UK a “leg up” going into his second season.

“Gives us a leg up on a lot of the competition because a lot of our key players know exactly what’s expected of them, and they’ll be able to provide even more,” the UK coach said. “So that’s something that we’re going to hang our hat on in order for us to have success right out of the gate.

“Just understanding each other, that’s a big factor. And when we had the core come back, we knew that we were going to be a step ahead.”

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Alabama transfer Mo Dioubate is expected to be a physical, defensive addition to Kentucky and provide a toughness, especially on defense, that coach Mark Pope’s team lacked last season.

Dioubate admitted during a recent media session that the scouting report for Kentucky last season noted a lack of physicalness by the Cats.

“I knew that was something that they lacked a little bit. So once we’d seen that, we just apply the pressure to them every time we can,” Dioubate said. “I’m happy that I’m able to play with Kentucky this year and bring it to this team.

“I sensed the dominance that we had in those games. The aggression that we had, the energy that we had, it was unmatched during some of those games. When you smell blood in the water, you attack it. That’s what a shark does and that was the motto last year.”

Pope expects a lot more than just physical play from the junior forward.

“Coach Pope wants to get a lot of 3s up and he told me not to pass up any open 3s. Any open 3s that I have, do not pass it on,” Dioubate told BBN Tonight’s Maggie Davis.

Dioubate was a 46% 3-point shooter last season at Alabama, but he only took 26 shots. He knows he will get more 3-point attempts than that this season.

“I feel like that’s something that I always wanted to do is to get my shooting volume higher. Coach Pope is giving me an opportunity to do that,” Dioubate told Davis. “I just got to keep working and give him the trust for me to keep doing that. That’s going to bring my game to a different level that nobody’s seen so far.”

Mark Pope described Dioubate as a guy “who can really stir the drink for us” when he transferred to UK after being part of Elite Eight and Final Four teams his two years at Alabama.

“I’m easy to get along with. A lot of the guys know, I’m goofy off the court. I make a lot of jokes,” Dioubate told Davis. “I bring good camaraderie to the team and to the locker room. I feel like it starts with the chemistry off the court, and it brings it on the court. I feel like I bring the love and make people comfortable. But once you’re with me on the court, they know what time it is. Guys respect that. It makes us get along pretty well.”

Greg Williams’ Sr., the father of UK sophomore Kam Williams, said it was obvious at the UK basketball camps in early June that Dioubate was a team leader by the way campers and UK players followed his lead.

Maybe that leadership is easy for him because Kentucky was his dream school growing up in New York.

“If I could have came there out of high school, I probably would have, you know what I’m saying? The opportunity presented itself. Where I was at that point in my life, I feel like that was the right choice for me and my family. That’s why I came here,” Dioubate said.

“When I was younger, I was watching the NBA a lot. But when I got to start watching college, that happened to be the first team that I actually liked. The players they got? It was just so good, they were so good. That’s what I expected from college players, the Kentucky players I was watching when I was younger.”

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Quote of the Week: “Here’s the problem with people saying he’s on the hot seat. He has a $30 million buyout. So, will the university part with that much money to get a new football coach? My gut feeling is no,” SEC Network radio/TV host Paul Finebaum, on UK coach Mark Stoops’ future.

Quote of the Week 2: “It’s been a lot of laughs at nighttime. We always play games and stuff like that together. Always walking to go eat together. Different stories from either previous schools or stuff in high school. It’s been very fun. The team is gelling good, we gelled very quickly since day one,” Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen, on bonding with his new Kentucky teammates.

Quote of the Week 3: “It’s hard to believe that I’m part of that group. It’s hard to even fathom that I’m that type of basketball player sometimes,” former Kentucky guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, on joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O’Neal as only players to sweep regular season MVP, Finals MVP and the scoring title in the same year.