You can have the stats if you like - let's just pepper through them, although you know them by heart now: 1,098 wins, 8 national championships, 16 SEC regular season titles, 16 SEC tournament titles, 21 All-Americans, 8-time SEC Coach of the year, 7-time National Coach of the Year, 1 gold medal. I probably left a bunch out, too.

Still, you and I know those stats don't matter. Pat Summitt was never an accumulation of statistics, of victories, of championships, of titles. You don't coach somewhere for 38 years (confession time: I've never known a Lady Vol head coach who wasn't Pat Summitt before, oh, 3 hours ago or so) by just being the woman behind the bench, bringing in top-ranked class after top-ranked class, cutting down nets, and winning. You don't get the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame 15 minutes from your arena by just being there. You don't play on a court named after you by just showing up.

Some coaches get to be called institutions. That happens when you put enough coaches in the ranks that about half the games you play in a season are against people you either had on your staff, coached, or heavily influenced. That happens when other schools recognize the quality of your product and want to emulate what you've done - not just the on-court performance (although that helps), but the off-court stuff as well. That happens because you put women through your program who graduate, who learn, and who carry that knowledge on with them the rest of their lives.

Pat Summitt is an institution. Not many coaches get to say that, full stop. Her program has influenced thousands of people, changed lives, and - yes - won a heck of a lot of basketball games. (More than anyone else who's coached a game in the NCAAs, if you want to get technical about it.). Whether or not she's the head coach has nothing to do with what she's done, and will have nothing to do with what she does as long as there's a Tennessee Lady Volunteer basketball program. The program will be defined by Coach Summitt, up in lights and on the court, and none of us would have it any other way.

So yes, Pat Summitt stepped down as the head coach today. That doesn't change a thing. Holly Warlick is the head coach now, but that doesn't change a thing. Coach Summitt will continue to do - let's be honest - whatever the heck she wants to do. Attend practice? Sure. Talk to players? Of course. Recruit? Yes indeed. (When in doubt, remember: who's gonna tell her no?) Whatever Summitt's role, that doesn't change what this program is and who it looks up to.

And yes, we know why Pat Summitt stepped down. It was time; not our definition of time, mind you, but hers. That's how it is, and that's how it's going to be, from now until the end. And yes, there is an end, at some point for a day that's not today, and probably isn't tomorrow, and more than likely isn't the day after that. This isn't a time to be sad; that time will come, and we'll know when that time is. Until that time, Pat Summitt will be the Tennessee Lady Vols.

Go Lady Vols.

You can't win a game when you're playing scared. Tennessee took the game to Baylor for the first few minutes of the game, taking a quick 9-4 lead. After that, Baylor went on a 31-11 run to close the first half, and that was that. As much as I mock the overhyped coverage of Brittney Griner, her impact on Tennessee's psyche had as much of an effect on the game as her coverage. Sure, the 8 blocks in the first half helped, but Tennessee doesn't shoot 22% from the floor in the first half if they're not running scared. Sadly, it was obvious - straight iso sets followed by hastily jacking up the first semi-open shot you have does not a Final Four team make.

The second half was more of the same; Tennessee opened up strong but faded again as the half wore on. Baylor, by that point, was content to simply keep Tennessee at arm's length. Heck, Odyessy Sims was content to do it on her own, hitting shot after shot to do most of the damage. At the end of the day, that was enough.

As much as it pains me to say, this senior class will graduate without tasting a Final Four. Regardless of the talent and skill of Glory Johnson and Shekinna Stricklen, Final Fours are the bar by which Tennessee classes are judged. Not making a Final Four doesn't invalidate the SEC regular season titles or SEC tournament championships, but it will be one of the first things that people remember when they think of this class.

Game notes after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

	March 26, 2012 Ames, IA 7:00 PM EDT TV: ESPN / ESPN3 Internet Audio: Lady Vols Network Live Stats: GameTracker
37-0 (18-0 Big 12) #1 (AP) #1 (USA Today) Seed: 1		27-8 (12-4 SEC) #9 (AP) #7 (USA Today) Seed: 2

This is kind of fun, isn't it? Undefeated Baylor, who have torn through the season with various degrees of abandon (their closest wins were both 5-point affairs, one against Connecticut, the other against Texas Tech(!)), who have the best player in the nation (Brittney Griner, maybe you're heard of her hey you guys did you know Brittney Griner is 6'8" Brittney Griner and she dunked last game maybe you saw the video Brittney Griner times no seriously this is going to be the entire Brittney Griner broadcast Brittney Griner), who have a coach who ...um, calls out opponents for playing their starters when they're down 15, are going up against little ol' Tennessee. You know, the team that lost home games to South Carolina and Arkansas, who's only rounded into form in the last three weeks (and, as we saw a couple days ago, that may not happen all the time), whose best player is subject to change depending on the night.

Why even bother playing this game, right? It's over. Anoint Baylor champions of all time (they can fight it out with that UConn squad from a couple years ago, who was better than those UCLA squads from the '70s). And yet, it's not over. This Lady Vol team has a shot to make it to the first Final Four these seniors have seen. In their way is a 37-0 team who already won in Knoxville this year.

To be the man, you gotta beat the man.

Continue reading this post »

I kind of hate that I called most of this game earlier, but sometimes that's how it goes. Some of the details were a bit off - Tennessee, for whatever reason, decided that they were going to get into a three-point shooting contest instead of taking advantage of their copious interior size - but the end result was the same. Still, that doesn't preclude the fact this game was sloppy on the part of the Lady Vols. Maybe it was the layoff, maybe it was knowing they could just out-talent UT-Martin, maybe it was just the unfortunate return of Bad Tennessee for a little while; regardless, this wasn't the same team we saw in the SEC Tournament.

Even with that, once Tennessee went up 8-7 with 14 minutes to go in the first half, there were no runs (unless you count an 8-0 run over four minutes early in the second half, which isn't really a run as much as it is a plod) until the game was well in hand; It was just a steady stream of "we're better than you", which is like the SEC Tournament, getting two-for-one scoring opportunities and eventually getting a lead that the Lady Skyhawks couldn't come back from. As it goes, that's about it, really. Sometimes the story is simple.

Still, that doesn't do justice to the team defensive effort the Lady Vols did on the two biggest threats on the Lady Skyhawks. Heather Butler and Jasmine Newsome took 43 shots combined and only scored 24 points. The rest, at that point, was window dressing. If the Skyhawks couldn't shoot from downtown (20% on the day), they weren't going to do anything of note. Tennessee's rebounding advantage was what you expected - +13, with strong offensive board numbers.

The offensive spark came from Meighan Simmons (20(!) points on 13 shots, including 4 of 7 from beyond the arc) and Glory Johnson (ho-hum 14 point / 12 board performance). Simmons nets the breadsticks this time, though.

Survive, advance. The Lady Vols play the winner of BYU / DePaul, set to tip off shortly. Game notes, as always, are below.

Continue reading this post »

	March 17, 2012 Chicago, IL 4:10 PM ESDT TV: ESPN2 / ESPN3 Internet Audio: Lady Vols Network Live Stats: GameTracker
23-8 (15-1 OVC) NR (AP) RV (USA Today) Seed: 15		24-8 (12-4 SEC) #9 (AP) #7 (USA Today) Seed: 2

Hey guys, did you know that Pat Summitt went to UT-Martin? Would you like to hear all about it, especially if this game gets out of hand? Well, do I have a deal for you! (No, seriously, she did. We have UT-Martin to thank for Coach Summitt, so: thanks, y'all!) Still, expect this story line to get beaten into the ground because this is still a 2 seed vs. a 15-seed game - and, unlike the men's game, I wouldn't expect a rash of first-two-days upsets, so by all rights this should be smooth sailing. Then again, if we've learned anything this year, it' to not count on anything.

Oh, I should mention the other story line we'll hear a lot of: the last time Lady Vols won it all, they opened against UT-Martin. This game will be heavy on sentimentality and story; quite frankly, let's hope the only stories are off the court. I'd rather have a nice, relaxed win.

Then I got a look at UT-Martin's guards.

Continue reading this post »

This wasn't supposed to go like this. Well, I mean, sure, it was; Tennessee was the rightful favorite, and although Nikki Caldwell has done a fantastic job with this LSU squad, at the end of the day it wasn't quite enough. Part of the reason it wasn't quite enough was due to an accidental Glory Johnson knee to LaSondra Barrett's face with 14 minutes to go in the second half; following that unfortunate injury, Tennessee went on a 7-0 run, which provided just enough separation to hold through to the final whistle.

Still, what a game on both ends. Remember the things John Calipari was saying about Tennessee's men's team after the first Kentucky game and where they are now? The same applies to LSU's team, who I have nothing but respect for. Losing Destini Hughes in Knoxville, losing Barrett tonight, and not losing focus or drive until the game was over. The game ended with Theresa Plaisance and Glory Johnson in a loose ball fight on LSU's side of the court, which is as appropriate a symbol of the game as you'd care to imagine. LSU never gave up; they're going to be back, and they're going to be good.

But this isn't about LSU, is it? Not when there's hardware to talk about. This is Pat Summitt's 16th SEC Tournament Championship, her 1,095th win (yeah, you can do the math to see if she can top 1,100 this year), and one of the more difficult trophies we've seen in a while. She will once again lead a team that's no worse than a 3 seed into the NCAA Tournament.

This senior class, though. For all the discussion about if they're good enough and if they're strong enough, they're certainly talented enough and they're certainly resilient enough. The South Carolina game was applying the gas; this game was against a team who refused to go away. Both wins were huge for the Lady Vols' confidence, both wins mean more because of the time of year we're in, and both wins serve as a jumping-off point to the one venue this senior class hasn't broken through yet: the NCAA tournament.

A bit of a digression: like more than a few people, I grew up basically expecting the Lady Vols to be good and to win, always. The 2008-09 season - which was the freshman year for much of this class - was surprising to me because they weren't winning always, or even frequently. That team - not 1997, or 1998, or 2007, or 2008 - is why I started following the Lady Vols. This season was the hardest season this class has gone through; they didn't have the weight of expectations in 2008-09, 09-10 was a growing season, in 10-11 we all knew they had one more chance, but this season, with the distractions and upheaval and the giant targets on their back - and yes, getting smoked by three separate #1 seeds, you can't ignore that - it means more. They needed this, a trophy, a championship they could all point to and go "hey, we did this!". That matters. To say that I'm happy for them is an understatement. Faced with expectations, they came through. Who expected us to say that back in February?

And yes, it's Glory Johnson's world and we should consider ourselves lucky she chooses to let us stay. For all Shekinna Stricklen's first half struggles, this team relied on Glory to carry them through, and once again, she did. 20 points, 11 boards, 1 three (yeah, what?), 87 fouls drawn against her, and - always - reliable production. That doesn't preclude Stricklen, who delivered the final blows to LSU and did the one thing you want to see struggling shooters do: get to the line. 16 points on the night, but 5-13 from the floor and 1-5 from beyond the arc. How'd she get 16? 5-5 from the line, and that one three turned it into a nine-point game with 57 seconds left. That doesn't preclude Vicki Baugh, who's been dangerous as the second option on the interior; tonight she added 10 points and 7 boards (which goes well with her 8-10 against South Carolina and 6-8 against Vanderbilt). That doesn't preclude Alicia Manning, who was all energy and adding a handful of boards to go with the energy. That doesn't preclude Briana Bass, left at the end of the bench for the better part of the last two seasons, only to start every game in the SEC Tournament and stabilize ball distribution. Those five players were on the court when the game ended, and that's how it should've been.

Glory Johnson was named the SEC Tournament MVP; Stricklen and Glory were both named to the all-SEC Tournament team. We wouldn't have it any other way, would we? She gets the breadsticks, and good luck stopping her from taking them if you didn't want to give them to her. It might've taken four months and some painful learning, but we have a team. A real, honest team that's playing their best basketball when the game matter most. What else do you want?

Well, other than Denver. I want that, too. So do they. And you know what? They just might do it after all.

Game notes after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

	March 4, 2012 Nashville, TN 6:00 PM EST TV: ESPN2 / ESPN3 Internet Audio: Lady Vols Network Live Stats: SEC Digital
22-9 (10-6 SEC) NR (AP) RV (USA Today) RPI: 27		23-8 (12-4 SEC) #13 (AP) #10 (USA Today) RPI: 5

In the end, this is what it had to come down to, didn't it? After an ...well, let's go with "exciting" 41-40 win over Arkansas, the LSU Lady Tigers basically dominated Kentucky start to finish, rolling in a 72-61 win that was shockingly comfortable. Also shocking: that they scored 72 in the absence of Destini Hughes, last seen getting carted off the floor of Thompson Bolling-Arena when LSU came to Knoxville. (Hughes is still out, and will remain so for the rest of the season.)

Still, this is the perfect storyline for the Lady Vols, even moreso than the rubber match potential against Kentucky. It's present vs. future among the benches with Nikki Caldwell patrolling the sidelines for LSU (and we're not talking about her being late-term, either). Caldwell, if you haven't heard, is one of Pat Summitt's most successful disciples and has been bandied around as the eventual potential replacement when Summitt has to step down. On one hand, it's good to see Caldwell have a chance to get SEC hardware, but ...at the expense of the Lady Vols? Sorry, Nikki; we can't do it this year.

As far as the Lady Vols go, the SEC tournament has been a bit of rounding into form. It's also been defined by Shekinna Stricklen sleeping through the first half before going off in the second half (see the win over Vandy for the better example of this). Yesterday, that applied to the entire team, who turned around and ran South Carolina off the court in one of those impressive "get ahead, then get more ahead, then get more ahead" games. Today? Beat your best disciple and come home with a trophy. Lose, and take a 3 seed into the NCAA Tournament.

Continue reading this post »

This team wasn't supposed to do this. Not yet, and not like this. At the beginning of February, Tennessee sat at 10-12, and there were pieces, but not a picture. After today, Tennessee will at worst have a bye in the SEC Tournament, and - with a Kentucky win against Florida - will finish at #2 in the SEC.

Not bad for a team left for dead a year ago, is it?

I'm not even sure where to begin, to be honest. Watching the game, it felt like Vanderbilt kept coming - especially in the first half, when they answered an early Tennessee run with one of their own to go up 6. Then again, Tennessee promptly answered that run with a run of their own to go up 5. From there, Tennessee mostly kept Vanderbilt at bay, and how weird does that sentence look? This team, which got played off the court in Memorial Gym, kept Vanderbilt at bay. Vandy never got it closer than 3 after the under-16. That other shoe, the one that tells us this is just a fortunate coincidence and this team still needs work and this isn't Tennessee's year? It's hanging from a telephone wire outside TBA, and it's not coming down any time soon.

It came from places we expected: Cameron Tatum, providing clutch shooting all game and leading the team with 18 points; Trae Golden, 17 points, 4 assists, 8-8 FT shooting, no fouls after picking up 2 early in the first half; Jarnell Stokes, hosting a block party (5 on the day), 14 boards, and 11 points; Jeronne Maymon, 12 points and 7 boards. And you know what? That's okay. Those are the guys the Vols need now.

Does this make Tennessee a NCAA tournament team? Not yet. They still need wins during the SEC Tournament. But those wins start coming on Friday instead of Thursday, and at this point, anything can happen. Tennessee's 8-1 in their last 9, 9-2 in their last 11, and the second-hottest team in the conference. Why not?

It's tough to not give Tatum player of the game on Senior Day, and you know what? I'm not into trying to figure it out otherwise. He's the POG. Game notes after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

	March 3, 2012 Nashville, TN 6:00 PM EST TV: ESPNU / ESPN3 Internet Audio: Lady Vols Network Live Stats: GameTracker
23-8 (10-6 SEC) #25 (AP) RV (USA Today) RPI: 31		22-8 (12-4 SEC) #13 (AP) #10 (USA Today) RPI: 5

Well, this was unexpected. No, I'm not talking about Tennessee's win yesterday; I didn't expect South Carolina was going to make it past Georgia, 59-55. Am I complaining? Well, probably not; on one hand, Georgia was a great matchup for Tennessee and I could easily see winning a third game against the Bulldogs, but on the other hand, I'd be happy to see a chance at revenge from one of the two teams who beat the Lady Vols in Knoxville. (LSU mercifully took care of the other team; Future Lady Vol Head Coach Nikki Caldwell was doin' work, but with a 41-40 final, let's just say I was glad I didn't see it.) With a win today, Tennessee has a chance of taking home a championship tomorrow; lose, and get ready to be a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. No pressure, really.

Continue reading this post »

On Tuesday, Hooper covered the likely opponents for the Lady Vols during the SEC tourney. Still, there's more to the conference than the likely Kentucky-Tennessee tilt on Sunday; there's a very real chance the SEC can get 8 teams into the NCAA tournament, which is no mean feat (unless you're the Big East, in which case you just stack your conference so full of teams getting eight happens as a matter of course). Since tournament action tips off today - and yes, that sentence sounds weird to say on March 1st, it's not just you - it's probably a good idea to assess the odds of each team taking home the trophy.

• Auburn (13-16, 5-11), Mississippi State (14-15, 4-12), Ole Miss (12-17, 2-14), Alabama (12-18, 2-14): 200-1. It's probably even a stretch to call their chances at 200-1, but strange things happen. Somehow, Alabama beat Kentucky at home three weeks ago; this still makes no sense. Ole Miss comes in on an 0-11 skid, MSU didn't beat anyone who's not in this group, and Auburn has a win over South Carolina. Really, the Bama win over Kentucky makes absolutely no sense; that shouldn't have happened. The odds of that happening four days running for any of these teams is low.

Continue reading this post »

Kentucky won before Tennessee's game tipped. The only thing riding on the Florida-Tennessee tilt was pride and rivalry, but for the Lady Vols, that was just enough. Matter of fact, having more riding on the game might have been a detriment, as we've seen before. For whatever the reason, the Lady Vols have played better when there's less riding on the game, which served them well tonight. Will it serve them well in the next month? Signs point to no.

That's a question to be addressed in a few days, though. For now, the Lady Vols close their regular season at 21-8, 12-4 in-conference, and will be the #2 seed in the SEC Tournament this week (yes, this week). This game wasn't much contention; after a quick three by Jordan Jones, Tennessee went on a 15-0 run. Florida never got closer than 4 in the first half, and never got closer than 7 in the second half.

The seniors are mostly to thank for that (aside from Vicki Baugh, who was rendered irrelevant by foul trouble, and Brianna Bass, who ...well, we love her but there's BassWatch for a reason); Alicia Manning, Shekinna Stricklen, and Glory Johnson all played vital roles in the win. Manning was everywhere, especially early on, stat-stuffing to the tune of 11 points, 8 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, and a block - in other words, the Manning Special. Stricken didn't have the best night from the floor (5-12 overall, 14 points), but she re-established her perimeter shot (3-5 from beyond the arc, which is sorely needed come March) and chipped in 5 boards. Glory was an absolute beast; 21 points (on 17 shots, 8 made and 9 missed layups, give or take), 9 boards, an assist, a steal, and levying property tax on Azania Stewart and Jennifer George.

At the end of the day, this was Florida's worst loss of the season(!), which comes off as a bit surprising but can only be interpreted as a positive for the Lady Vols. Their best performances have come in games where the pressure is off; I don't know how you convince them the pressure is off in March, but if you can, look out. Florida, meanwhile, finishes 8th in the SEC and gets a virtual bye (playing one of Mississippi State or Auburn, and I'm not going to lie: it's not worth figuring out which one, they're both bad).

It's a tough contest for the breadsticks between Glory and Manning, but since it's Senior Night they get to split the breadsticks. Bass gets the chicken nuggets. Game notes below the fold.

Continue reading this post »

	February 26, 2012 Knoxville, TN 3:30 PM EST TV: ESPNU Internet Audio: Lady Vols Network Live Stats: GameTracker
18-10 (8-7 SEC) NR (AP) NR (USA Today) RPI: 33		20-8 (11-4 SEC) #10 (AP) #9 (USA Today) RPI: 4

Well, Thursday settled the regular season conference championship. Thanks to Tennessee's narrow overtime loss to Arkansas, Kentucky surged one game clear with two games that matter: this game, and Kentucky on the road at 4-11 Mississippi State. Not to put too fine a point on it, but not a whole lot rides on this game; the odds of Kentucky losing at Starkville are slim, as we saw in the desultory performance Tennessee put in when they went there. That game tips at 1:30, so Tennessee will know before (or right at) tip if there's anything to play for. (Hint: there won't be.)

That's probably for the best, as it allows the Lady Vols two things: the ability to play this game relaxed (since there's next to nothing riding on it), and focusing on the seniors. This senior class is one of the more interesting ones in recent Lady Vol history - the reasons why are worthy of further discussion than just here - and for all their struggles and flaws (and this team is flawed, but so are most), there are some unique talents that deserve accolades. They'll get them today.

Continue reading this post »

The end result was expected, but the methods certainly weren't. After a dead lackluster start, Tennessee came back in force - and it wasn't thanks to Jeronne Maymon, either. Amazingly, Dwight Miller and Jordan McRae led the charge back before Maymon, Cameron Tatum, and Trae Golden came in to help finish the job.

This game certainly didn't look good at the start. Ole Miss jumped out to a quick 15-2 lead thanks to Terrance Henry and Murphy Holloway combining to physically dominate the Vols for the better part of the first six minutes of the game. Frustrated, Cuonzo Martin basically did a complete subbing out of the starters (with the exception of Jeronne Maymon) to see if that would provide a spark.

It worked. Tennessee promptly (well, as promptly as this team does anything on offense) went on a 21-2 run over the next 6 minutes thanks to Miller and McRae dropping seven each on that run. Somewhere in there, the rest of the game fell into place - defense, rebounding, ball control to an extent (although that took until the second half to really get nailed down) - so when the Rebels responded with a late 9-0 run to close the first half, it didn't feel like the game was over. It felt a little like the last gasp.

The second half was straight anaconda. Ole Miss had a chance according to the scoreboard, but there was no way they were going to actually come back. A 31-30 Tennessee deficit turned into a 39-33 Tennessee lead turned into a 47-39 Tennessee lead turned into a 60-50 Tennessee lead and by that point, it was just too late.

I'm floored at the team maturity in a game like this; quite frankly, I thought this game was over after the 15-2 Revel opening. After that, the Vols outscored the Rebels 71-45, which is just absurd for a team that is still in many ways a year away. (We're not talking NCAA here, don't start. There's too far to come and not enough time to get there.) That's a credit to CCM, who I'm becoming more and more impressed with as days go by.

McRae gets the POG award with 16 points, 6 boards, 4 assists, and one thundering tomahawk dunk that will show up on highlight reels for at least a night. Miller gets some serious props for an out-of-nowhere 10 points, 7 boards, and 2-3 from beyond the arc . Game notes are below the fold.

Continue reading this post »

	February 22, 2012 Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, TN 7:00 PM ET TV: SECN (?) Internet TV: ESPN
14-13 (6-6) NR		15-11 (5-7) NR

Jackson the Mule says . . .

. . . #beatmississippistate. That is all.

Leave your pre-, in-, and post-game thoughts below.

Maybe it's just the state of Mississippi. Maybe it's knowing that you have far more talent than your opposition and can coast. Maybe it's the gravy. Whatever the reason, the Lady Vols went 2-for-2 in sleepwalking through games against Mississippi State and Ole Miss.

The catalysts today weren't the same women who carried the Kentucky win; instead, the combination of Glory Johnson, Vicki Baugh, and Cierra Burdick shouldered most of the load. While we've come to expect that from Glory, it doesn't normally fall to Baugh and Burdick to shoulder the load, but at least someone on the bench was awake. Baugh in particular was instrumental in the 10-2 run to close the first half, hitting the first two shots of the run. Then again, Burdick hit the last three of that run.

It bears noting that there's yet another guard we can add to the list of guards who have gone off against the Lady Vols; Valencia McFarland had a stellar shooting night, going off for 21 points (although it should be noted that it wasn't the most efficient game, since it took 21shots to get there). Aside from her, though, Ole Miss struggled from the field, needing to be bizarrely hot from beyond the arc to even keep it close; on the game, they barely made more field goals (22) than they had turnovers (16), which isn't exactly a recipe for awesome.

Game notes, such as they are, are below the jump. Your breadsticks go to Cierra Burdick, who had 10 points in only 18 minutes of action.

Continue reading this post »

	February 19, 2012 Oxford, MS (Ox Vegas, MS? Nah, that doesn't sound right) 2:00 PM EST TV: SECN / ESPN3 Internet Audio: Lady Vols Network Live Stats: GameTracker
19-7 (10-3 SEC) #13 (AP) #10 (USA Today) #4 RPI		12-14 (2-11 SEC) NR (AP) NR (USA Today) #180 RPI

Just in case the snoozer of a 57-41 victory in Starkville wasn't enough of a potential mismatch, the Lady Vols continue the All-Dregs Tour of the greater Mississippi schools with a visit to scenic Oxford. Incidentally, this is the second visit in a row to the Tad Pad; through a couple of scheduling quirks, Tennessee's second game against the Lady Rebels was in Oxford last year, and this is the only match-up between these two teams.

And yes, that is one of the more interesting points of this game. Otherwise? This game is going to be a massacre. Ole Miss has had a habit of getting run off the court in the first half against average teams before their opponents have pity on them and let off the gas a bit. This bodes well for a team like Tennessee, who needs experience not letting off the gas against overmatched opponents. As much as I'd love to talk up the dangers of facing a conference opponent on the road, there's challenges and then there's this. Case in point: last year's Ole Miss team scored 87 points total against the Lady Vols in two games; the Ladies scored 86 in their home game alone. This isn't going to be much of a contest, but if you want blood, this will work.

Continue reading this post »

We're not talking Final Four. We promised. Now that that's out of the way, this was the most complete Lady Vol performance since Georgia, and against a team as good as the Miami team which got run off the court by the Lady Vols in the second half. The difference between this game and that Miami game?

Miami kept it close for 20 minutes. Kentucky kept it close for 120 seconds.

If anything, this was less the 2011 Lady Vols team that's been driving us up a wall and more a throwback to one of the many squads that have banners and jerseys hanging from the rafters. Again, this was one night, and we're not talking Final Four, let alone anything after that. This game, though? This was as much fun as you'd expect.

We have Meighan Simmons and Shekinna Stricklen to thank for the enjoyment. Stricklen came out motivated and did what she's capable of - not only be the best player on the court, but act like it. Simmons hit a couple of crucial early threes to put the game out of reach at 10-2 2 minutes in - and while that sounds weird to say, Kentucky's not a good enough shooting team to come back from a 15-point deficit without forcing a bunch of turnovers. Neither of those were happening tonight.

From there, this game started to get a little lopsided. Then it got a lot lopsided. Then it got ridiculous. If the last three weeks were the buildup of pressure, this was the valve releasing. The Lady Vols played smooth, they played relaxed, and they played composed. Against a Kentucky squad that thrives on chaos, they never stood a chance.

Breadsticks could easily go to Simmons, who had 25 points on the night - on 17 shots, no less. The pieces are coming together for her; again, we've seen this with her before, but it feels different somehow; it's not a blip, but a change in approach. If this is legitimate and this keeps up, watch out.

That being said, Stricklen would rip the breadsticks out of Simmons' hands and leave them lying on the floor next to Kentucky's heart. This game was the imposition of will game we've been waiting on, with the stats to show: 8-12 from the floor, 6 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 18 points in 25 minutes of action. More of that, please.

And yes, there's a reason I haven't talked about Glory Johnson before now. Answers and more notes below the fold.

Continue reading this post »

	February 3, 2012 Knoxville, TN 7:00 PM EST TV: ESPN2 / ESPN3 Internet Audio: Lady Vols Network Live Stats: GameTracker
21-3 (10-1 SEC) #7 (AP) #7 (USA Today) RPI: 9		17-7 (7-3 SEC) #11 (AP) #11 (USA Today) RPI: 5

The SEC regular season race is all but sewn up. Even with a loss to LSU and a loss tonight, Kentucky still needs to drop one of their last four games to bring the Lady Vols into a tie for the crown. That's not likely, to put it mildly; Kentucky's other road games are in Tuscaloosa and Starkville (combined conference records of Alabama and Mississippi State: 4-18), and while their home tilts against Vanderbilt and South Carolina are tricky, they're surmountable. (Yeah, this paragraph hurt to type. Let's move on.)

A win for the Lady Vols tonight doesn't really do anything other than sew up the #2 seed come tournament time, which doesn't count for a ton. A loss puts Tennessee in a five-team tie at 8-4 heading into the home stretch including, a two-legged domination of Georgia, and Arkansas coming to Knoxville. (That isn't counting Vandy on the road against LSU and Kentucky, and South Carolina still has to face Georgia, Arkansas, and Kentucky.) In other words, even with a loss it's likely that Tennessee still ends up with the #2 seed.

Oddly, the fact there's so little riding on the game should be for the Lady Vols' benefit. It's a good opportunity for the Lady Vols to get out of their own head a bit. Matter of fact, Rocky Top Talk will make you a deal: play loose tonight and beat Kentucky and we won't start up Final Four talk afterward. Does that sound fair? Good.

Continue reading this post »

At some point, the narrative is simple. Tennessee needs wins, and they need them now. It'll happen simply: defense and just enough offense to scrape by.

Some of it - a lot of it - is tempo, if I had to guess (I lack the KenPom subscription to be sure), but Tennessee has yet to allow 70 points in a single game this year. And by this year, I mean this actual year - the last team to top 70 was Charleston, and that was back in December. Why's that matter? South Carolina has struggled to score all season, and has only topped 70 once this year (again, 2012 only - 79 against Western Carolina, and that was over a month ago). The Gamecocks are currently mired in a 1-7 slump, not coincidentally their record in SEC play, and have one win on the road all year.

Yeah, one. And that came against Clemson, who fell back to orbit early this year instead of waiting until February to falter. Tennessee, meanwhile, has played far better at home than on the road, the game's in TBA, and it's at night.

I think we need to know what has to happen. There simply isn't room in the schedule and hope for post-season play to suffer a loss to South Carolina, especially at home, and Tennessee's done well against teams below them in the KenPom ratings so far this season (8-3, with those three losses coming in a two-week span that most of us are aware of and the Chaminade game thrown out because that's too easy). That point shouldn't be lost against a South Carolina team that should be overmatched - and a team who's giving up 30 spots in the KenPom ratings to the Vols.

Continue reading this post »

	January 23, 2012 South Bend, IN 7:00 PM EST TV: ESPN2 / ESPN3 Internet Audio: Lady Vols Network Live Stats: GameTracker
14-4 (5-1 SEC) #9 (AP) #9 (USA Today) #2 RPI		19-1 (7-0 Big East) #2 (AP) #2 (USA Today) #5 RPI

For a team with such a high RPI, the Lady Vols still lack that key, tournament-resume-defining victory. TBA is a fortress, sure, but tournament bones are made on the road. So far, it's the road games that have troubled this team, with three of the four losses coming away from Knoxville. Sure, two of those losses were to top-10 teams (let's not talk about Virginia), but teams that play into April win road games against good opposition. The good news for Tennessee? Notre Dame on the road is just about as good as it's going to get. If there's going to be a big road win this season, now's the time. Win in South Bend, the Final Four and beyond is a real goal. Lose, and Denver stops being a realistic outcome and turns into a hope.

Non-conference games in January don't get much bigger than this. Lineups and breakdowns are below the fold, as always.

Continue reading this post »

So there's progress, which is what the Lady Vols have made since the beginning of the season, and there's lack of progress, which is where their pursuit of a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament is. That's how it goes for a team that can beat anyone (well, almost anyone) at home but can't get it done against the elite teams on the road. That's how this last week went for them, and it's less an unfortunate event and more the continuation of a trend.

The frustrating part is that both these games were winnable. The road game against Kentucky was ugly, hectic, frantic, and the worst possible scenario playing against a team that likes to play at tempo. There wasn't a prayer of maintaining an A/TO greater than one (Ariel Massengale was, of course, the only player on the court to do this), but 20 turnovers and a .383 percentage from the field isn't going to cut it. At this point, we expect Meighan Simmons to shoot sub-50% from the floor; we don't expect Shekinna Stricklen to go 3-12, though.

That being said, even with the chaos and Kentucky going up 10 around the under-8 thanks to an absurd prayer of a 3 that A'Dia Mathies threw up JP Prince-style (that is, fouled on a three and made both the three and the FT), the Lady Vols did a great job to force the game back to even - heck, they were even leading late and had the ball on the next-to-last possession. Then again, that didn't work out quite like you expect; Stricklen got called on a charge (which was ...um, questionable and let's just move on) and Mathies hit a runner in traffic as the game expired, giving Kentucky the 61-60 win. Frustrating way to end it, but not unjustified.

Of course, the Ladies came home and promptly housed Vanderbilt to the tune of 87-64. This was closer than it needed to be for a lot of the game until the Lady Vols turned on the afterburners in the second half. This game was Powered By Glory (Johnson), who has been a house afire since the Stanford loss. (On a related note, Glory and Vicki Baugh both get a pass for their play over the last week; Glory put up a 17/7 in Lexington and a 16/13 with 5 steals in Knoxville; Baugh went 16/9 and 16/7 respectively, and there's some serious chemistry between them. The team struggles are not their fault.) Massengale hit double-digit assists for the first time in a Lady Vol jersey (I think), Stricklen went for 20, and that was that.

And yet, it's not enough. This team is still on the 2/3 seed line, and there's basically one more opportunity to get to the 1 line. That opportunity comes on the 23rd, in a game in South Bend against now-#2 Notre Dame (aka the team that knocked the Lady Vols out of the tourney last year). Win on the road and that's the marquee victory Tennessee's resume quite frankly lacks. Lose and it's fine - it's not like the team is in danger of missing the tourney. However, a loss there means the Baby Vols are also going to graduate being one of the few classes under Pat Summitt to not make a Final Four while on-campus. That doesn't sound good, does it?

Continue reading this post »

Ugh. Do we have to? (We do?) Fine. Well, okay. I guess I'm ....wait, what happened Monday night? Really? An absolute throttling?

Ugh.

Okay. Well. Here's the final BlogPoll for the year. Let's just be done with 2011, okay?

Rocky Top Talk Ballot - Week 16

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	2
2	LSU Tigers	-1
3	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	-1
4	Oregon Ducks	--
5	Stanford Cardinal	1
6	Arkansas Razorbacks	1
7	Boise St. Broncos	-2
8	Wisconsin Badgers	--
9	South Carolina Gamecocks	2
10	Michigan St. Spartans	--
11	Baylor Bears	3
12	Georgia Bulldogs	--
13	Oklahoma Sooners	-4
14	Kansas St. Wildcats	-1
15	TCU Horned Frogs	2
16	Houston Cougars	--
17	West Virginia Mountaineers	--
18	Michigan Wolverines	-3
19	Southern Miss. Golden Eagles	4
20	Northern Illinois Huskies	2
21	Missouri Tigers	4
22	Cincinnati Bearcats	--
23	Clemson Tigers	-5
24	Virginia Tech Hokies	-5
25	Florida St. Seminoles	--
Dropouts: Arkansas St. Red Wolves, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Tulsa Golden Hurricane

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "

Notes below the jump.

Continue reading this post »

You know the saying it was over before it started? It was made for games like this. Arkansas's first field goal (a three) came with 13:54 left in the first half. Their first field goal from inside the arc came with 5:43 left in the first half (why yes, that is 8:11 between field goals).

It was 25-5 by that point. All told, it was a record-setting night for a couple of reasons: Arkansas tied their record for the lowest number of points in a half with 11, and it was 31-11 at the break. The second half ...well, the Ladies tried on D in the second half and that was about it. The offense was lackluster, but there were more pressing arrangements on the schedule by the time they came out in the second half.

The other record? Glory Johnson entered the Lady Vol annals as the fourth player to reach 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career. She joins Tamika Catchings, Chamique Holdsclaw, and Sheia Frost in that exclusive company. (Yes, she's in a group that even Candace Parker couldn't join in her ...well, three years, so yeah she would've made it but it sounds cooler this way.) It would've been nice to have her break 1,000 boards in Knoxville - preferably during that Georgia demolition job - but given the crowd, it was pretty close to a home crowd by that point anyway.

Not surprisingly, Glory also brings home the breadsticks. 15/14, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 6 offensive boards, and approximately 80 fouls drawn against her. Game notes below the fold.

Next up: the fun starts. Kentucky, at Kentucky, on Thursday. 7 PM tip. Kentucky will be the seventh ranked team Tennessee's faced this season, and the fourth in the top 11. A'Dia Mathies is still around, but Victoria Dunlap isn't, not that it's stopped them. They're 13-2 with 2 wins over top 10 opponents, both at home. I'd say more, but I bet Hooper's going to have 1,500 words on that game alone. Bring a snack.

Continue reading this post »

Your football team went 5-7, your men's basketball team spent almost all of December under .500, and your baseball hire has yet to play a game. Oh, and your football DC left for Seattle. Happy New Year, Dave Hart!

Will captured the genesis of what this means for Dooley this year, but there's more to it than that. This was the fire alarm going off. The smoke was obvious, but regretfully that burrito the dumb guy on your floor freshman year who thought you microwave burritos for half an hour at 7 AM on a Saturday morning done went and set off the fire alarm. (In this case, the dumb guy on your floor is played by Kentucky and Justin Wilcox is a burrito. Metaphors have never been so tortured.)

Meanwhile, we're back talking coaching changes, coordinators, and hemorrhaging recruiting classes. Again. For what seems like the 15th year in a row. At least we're good at it by now, right? We should have all the names tucked away on a list somewhere (maybe we wrote the list fourteen months ago, back when Wilcox was flirting with Texas and Texas was attempting to become Boise State South). It's not about our list, though; it's about Dave Hart's list.

This isn't Hart's first hire; that would be Dave Serrano. (edit: Serrano was hired by Hamilton, so this would be Hart's first hire.) However, it might be the most critical hire of his tenure so far. (edit: obviously, it is now since it's his first hire.) Not to put too fine a point on it, but football's a bit more visible than baseball to most fans. Best as we can tell, Hart isn't not happy with the football program; for one, he said as much after the Kentucky game, and for another, it's not hard to read between the lines (emphasis added):

"I think this, we're not young anymore in football. We're not young anymore. While it is realistic and it is factual to say that we have fielded an inexperienced team the last year or two, we're not going to field inexperienced teams anymore. Those are the kinds of things you have to sit down, talk about and assess. I have thoroughly enjoyed Derek Dooley. I think Derek Dooley has the skill sets to be a highly successful coach."

I'm glad Hart thinks Dooley is entertaining, at least. That's a good sign. But the rest of it sounds like an ultimatum, doesn't it?

Continue reading this post »

Not to mince words here, but: the early bowl games are kinda bad. That being said, I know y'all are watching them anyway, so we may as well just use an open thread for all the games. (Except for the Independence Bowl, which received special treatment.) All games should be on ESPN3*, and hey look, a bowl schedule! We'll hold this thread for:

• Motor City-turned-Little Caesar's Bowl (Western Michigan / Purdue, 12/27, 4:30 EDT)
• Belk Bowl (Fightin' Charlie Strongs vs. Notorious T.O.B., 12/27, 8:00 EDT)
• Military Bowl (Toledo vs. Air Force, 12/28, 4:30 EDT)
• Holiday Bowl, aka the only decent game of the lot wait WHAT (Cal v. Texas, 12/28, 8 PM EDT and a complete downer compared to what's normally going on here)
• Champs Sports Bowl (FSU vs. Notre Dame vs. national relevance vs. echoes in a four-way death match, 12/29, 5:30 PM EDT)
• Alamo Bowl (CREAM! and the rest of Baylor vs. Washington, 12/29, 9 PM EDT)
• Pinstripe Bowl (currently in progress - Rutgers vs Iowa State, 12/30)
• Music City Bowl (Mississippi State vs. Wake Forest, 12/30, 6 PM EDT - hide the children)
• Insight Bowl (iowa vs. Oklahoma, so because this game is before January Stoops should be okay, 12/30, 9:30 PM EDT or so)
• Meineke Car Care Bowl (HOT NEW SEC TEAM Texas A&M vs. Persa Strong, 12/31, 12 PM EDT)
• Sun Bowl (Georgia Tech vs. Utah, 12/31, 2 PM EDT)
• Fight Hunger Bowl (...let's not talk about this, 12/31, 3:30 PM EDT)
• Liberty Bowl (Cincinnati vs. HEY YOU GUYS JAMES FRANKLIN IS REALLY TURNING VANDERBILT AROUND, 12/31, 3:30 PM EDT, come decked in red and black plzkthx)
• Peach Bowl (Virginia vs. Auburn, 12/31, 7:30 PM EDT)

Continue reading this post »

	December 28, 2011 Knoxville, TN 7:00 PM EST TV: SportSouth / ESPN3* Internet Audio: Lady Vols Network Live Stats: GameTracker
3-9 NR (AP) NR (USA Today) RPI: N/A		7-3 #7 (AP) #8 (USA Today) RPI: N/A

Remember when this game used to mean something? The Lady Monarchs weren't always so bad; heck, they have a NCAA title to their credit from way back in '85. They were nationally relevant for years, along with Louisiana Tech in the fallen powers of women's basketball yore. Regardless, the team that comes into TBA tonight isn't a shadow of the dominant Lady Monarch teams of the past, and that's for shame.

That's how it goes sometimes, though, and it's for our credit that we're going to witness ...erm, this. Which won't be pretty. At all. Your starters are Ariel Massengale (who's back after an injury that rendered her mostly ineffective against Stanford), Meighan SImmons (who gets the start over Taber Spani; color me surprised, but she earned it with her West Coast performance), Shekinna Stricklen (of course), Glory Johnson (sure), and Vicki Baugh (superfluous tonight, but go carnage!). The bench is still the usual suspects; no Kamiko Williams in sight.

I could talk about the different avenues that the Ladies could use here to win, but it's not going to matter. This is going to be ugly. There's simply too much talent in one direction and not nearly enough in another, and I'm not sure ODU has an answer for Simmons, let alone Stricklen, Glory, Baugh, or Massengale. 94-55 Ladies, and if anything that might not be harsh enough; a Lady Vol team worse than the one that'll take the court tonight won by 30 against a better ODU squad last year at Old Dominion. Briana Bass sees action before the under-8 of the first half - let's say 8:45 for completeness' sake.

Come for the carnage. Stay for the free chips and dip. (It's like an Orange Nation appreciation party in here!)

This was supposed to be manageable, at least. It sure looked like that early, as Tennessee put the Rutgers posts in foul trouble, imposed their wil on the defensive end, and comfortably surged out to a double-digit lead on the back of Shekinna Stricklen (14 in the first half alone, 22 in the game). At that point, the game looked comfortable with a nice 33-20 lead at the 5:53 mark of the first half.

The Lady Vols didn't score another point in the first half.

Rutgers rolled out a 2-3 matchup zone, started collasping on the interior, and cut the margin to seven at the break before breaking ahead early in the second half. It was close - neither team led by more than 4 - until the 8:33 mark of the second half, at which point it was Rutgers by 4, 54-50.

Rutgers didn't score another point for the next seven minutes.

By that point, the game was well in hand, thanks to a couple of downtown daggers from Meighan Simmons to turn a 55-54 nailbiter into a 61-54 comfortable lead. Taber Spani turned it into a 10-point margin with 1:54 left, which should've effectively closed down the game once free throws came into play. However, it quickly became obvious that the Ladies were watching the Kentucky-Indiana game from this weekend, as they promptly missed four straight free throws (including the front end of every 1-and-1 chance they got), which made the game closer than it probably should've been.

Breadsticks absolutely go to Stricklen, who had 9 boards, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and 40 minutes to go with those 22 points. Those 40 minutes were every bit as important as every other number.

Credit above the fold to Alicia Manning (4 points, 6 boards, energy everywhere), Spani (13 points, 3-5 3-pt, 5 boards, only positive A/TO), and Simmons (13 points, 6 boards, let's not talk about how many shots that took to get there). UCLA is next.

Game notes, as always, are below the fold.

Continue reading this post »