Heavyweight bracket helps Lady Vols focus

MTSU, Maryland, Ohio St. possible

KNOXVILLE — Facing the toughest bracket in the NCAA Tournament might not be such a bad thing for Tennessee.

Lady Vols Coach Pat Summitt found a silver lining to earning a No. 1 seed in the top-heavy Dayton Region, which includes defending national champion Maryland as a No. 2 seed and arguably the strongest of the tournament's Nos. 3, 4 and 5 seeds.

"This," Summitt said, "will focus (the players)."

Soon after the 64-team field was announced Monday night, Tennessee (28-3) set aside its complaints about the challenging bracket and turned its attention to preparation for a first-round matchup with 16th-seeded Drake (14-18) on Sunday night in Pittsburgh.

Urgent preparations

The Lady Vols returned to practice Tuesday, though, with perhaps a handful of other teams on their minds.

No, Tennessee isn't exactly looking past the Bulldogs, who piled up four straight victories to win the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

But the rest of the region, Summitt said, only underscores the necessity of UT improving before the tournament.

"They have done a great job (of preparing) for not even having an opponent in front of them," Summitt said. "Now that they've seen that bracket, I think they know this is business and we've got to really prepare and really have a sense of urgency in all of our preparations."

With wins in the first two rounds, UT could face No. 4 seed Ohio State or No. 5 Middle Tennessee State in the Sweet Sixteen. A potential matchup with Maryland or third-seeded Oklahoma looms in the Elite Eight.

"It's definitely impossible to just focus on the first game," UT junior center Nicky Anosike said. "But we have to come prepared no matter who we're playing."

Room for improvement

The Lady Vols have some of their own issues to resolve.

They played as poorly as they have all year in their last game, a 63-54 loss to LSU in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament in which SEC player of the tear Candace Parker was held to a career-low four points.

But even that game, Summitt said, could help in the long run.

"Actually, if we hadn't lost and managed to play as poorly as we played and win that game, I would be very worried," she said.

"We might have a false impression of who we were at that time and who we needed to be.

"I thought that was one of the best things that happened to us."