On Thursday afternoon, the annual USA Today/Coaches Preseason Top 25 rankings was released for women’s college basketball, and the Cats found themselves in a slot they are used to seeing. 

For the seventh year in a row, the Cats were ranked in the top 20, this year taking the No. 19 spot.

Also in the USA Today/Coaches Preseason Top 25 is a lot of teams the Cats will face this year. Their first game of the year will be against No. 20 Miami (FL).

Aside from UK, a number of Southeastern Conference teams made the top 25 list as well, including No. 3 South Carolina, No. 11 Mississippi State, No. 14 Tennessee, No. 22 Texas A&M and No. 23. Florida.

Related: Recap from Blue-White scrimmage 2016

Including the Cats’ non-conference schedule, UK will play 16 of their 29 regular season games against teams who either made the top 25, or received votes in the USA Today/Coaches Preseason Poll. Head coach Matthew Mitchell has built tough schedules for the Cats in the past, and this year’s schedule proved to be no different.

The Associates Press Preseason Top 25 has yet to be released, but is expected to be released in early November.

The Cats will be led this year by senior guard Makayla Epps, who was just added to the Nancy Lieberman Award preseason watch list. The award recognizes the top point guard in NCAA division one women’s college basketball.

Epps is the only guard from the SEC to be included in the watch list.

The Cats will be tipping off their season very soon, as they will host the Kentucky Classic on Nov. 11-13. The Cats will start the event by playing No. 20 Miami on Nov. 11, then playing Albany on Nov. 12. Both games will be hosted at Memorial Coliseum.