This year's Lady Vols ready to run vs. UNC

KNOXVILLE — Pat Summitt made it only to halftime Thursday night when she tried to watch the film again.

The countless mistakes made by her Tennessee women's basketball team against North Carolina in the Elite Eight last season weren't any easier to swallow eight months later.

"They just swarmed the ball," Summitt said of North Carolina's 75-63 win on March 28 in the NCAA Tournament's Cleveland Regional final. "And we were casual and careless and overanxious ourselves."

But for once, the tape didn't tell the entire tale.

Truth be told, Summitt didn't know what to take from last year's game in her preparation for today's game between the fourth-ranked Lady Vols (6-0) and the No. 2 Tar Heels (7-0) at Carmichael Auditorium.

She just knows that what she sees from her team this time hardly will resemble what she saw on film.

"Our speed's better (than last year)," she said. " … Athletically, we are a better match for them now than we were a year ago."

That doesn't mean the Lady Vols have forgotten about the team that kept them from reaching the Final Four for the first time in five years.

"They ended our season, so obviously it leaves a bad taste in our mouth about that," sophomore forward Candace Parker said. "But I think we're just going to approach it like any other game.

"We're going to come out and not be tight, not be overanxious and just play the style of play that we have been playing for the last six games."

Led by 5-foot-6 point guard Ivory Latta, North Carolina used its overwhelming speed last season to exploit a UT team left without a healthy point guard after Alexis Hornbuckle's wrist injury and Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood's midseason transfer.

Hornbuckle returned ahead of schedule to play a limited role in the NCAA Tournament.

Tennessee expects this year's meeting to be different, mainly because of the addition of junior-college transfer Shannon Bobbitt, a 5-2 point guard.

"We're a different team than we were last year," junior center Nicky Anosike said. "We should be able to keep up with their pace. We weren't really able to do that last year. This time, everyone's going to be at their natural position."