Doubts haunt Lady Vols

Recent losses due to defense, rebounding

KNOXVILLE — No one really knows what the Lady Vols are going to do these days.

Not fans. Not opposing players and coaches. Not even Coach Pat Summitt.

"On some level, I have a feel," Summitt said. "The feel is I just have to wait and see. My feeling is I don't know going into (a game)."

It's been a Jekyll-and-Hyde season for a program with a Jordan-and-Pippen track record. The Lady Vols have experienced an excruciating cycle of impressing, improving and then imploding, beating 11 ranked opponents and losing to two unranked ones.

Despite closing the regular season with only four losses, the Lady Vols enter postseason play with an uncharacteristic sense of humility, complete with diminished hopes and a depleted roster. They're out of point guards, playing out of position and running out of time.

They take the court against Auburn in North Little Rock, Ark., this afternoon at 2:30 in the SEC Women's Tournament hoping to build momentum for another NCAA Tournament run and regain the swagger they appear to have lost over the last six weeks.

Tennessee has gone 7-4 since traveling to Duke on Jan. 23 undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country. The Lady Vols lost back-to-back road games that week to the Blue Devils and unranked Kentucky. They later fell at home to SEC champion LSU and Florida.

Last Sunday's overtime loss to Florida underlined many of the Lady Vols' problems. They struggled from start to finish with the Gators' full-court pressure. That was mainly due to having no true point guard after Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood transferred in December and Alexis Hornbuckle was lost to a broken wrist on Feb. 12.

But it wasn't just ball-handling that kept the Lady Vols from winning their home finale for the first time in 23 years.

They were again weak defensively, letting Florida score 52 points in the second half and surrendering a three-point lead in overtime. UT's season-high 28 turnovers resulted from poor passing in the half-court offense as much as Florida's press.

As impressive as UT has looked at times, it ended the regular season looking nothing like a championship team.

The problem is those weaknesses have been there all season. Summitt has harped on defense since preseason practice.

The Lady Vols lack the speed to keep up with quality opponents without Hornbuckle and Wiley-Gatewood. LSU guards Erica White and Scholanda Hoston penetrated with ease in the Lady Tigers' win over UT on Feb. 9. Florida point guard Sarah Lowe received little resistance Sunday, racking up six assists and not committing a turnover in 45 minutes.

And it could get worse for the Lady Vols as they advance in the postseason. Projected top seeds are filled with quick guards.

"In order to play the way we have in the past, we need more quickness on the perimeter," Summitt said.

But Tennessee's ways of old haven't been evident often this year. The Lady Vols only recently improved their rebounding, the other cornerstone of Summitt's teams, along with defense. They are the worst rebounding team in UT history at 39.2 per game.

This year's team still has the talent to make some noise in the postseason. Redshirt freshman Candace Parker has become a go-to player in recent weeks, and senior Shanna Zolman has come out of her midseason shooting slump.

Then again, it's not scoring that has Summitt concerned right now.

"I don't know if they're going to show up and be a great defensive team or not," Summitt said.

It's the one thing you can count on from the Lady Vols.