Tennessee has served notice it will remain nationally relevant in the
post-Pat Summitt era.
The next step is to become elite again.
After being picked to finish as low as fifth in the Southeastern
Conference, Tennessee won the league's regular-season title. But the
Lady Vols believe they squandered a golden opportunity Tuesday
byfalling 86-78 to Louisville in the Oklahoma City Regional final.
"We thought we had a good year, but we didn't have a great year," said
Tennessee coach Holly Warlick, who replaced Summitt this season after
serving as her assistant for 27 years. "That's just the nature of our
program and expectations, whether you're Pat Summitt or myself, it's
just what we're all about. It's in our blood. It's in our makeup."
Tennessee won consecutive national titles in 2007 and 2008, but the
Lady Vols haven't returned to the Final Four since. That represents
Tennessee's longest Final Four drought since the NCAA started running
the women's tourney in 1982.
Consider it a testament to the standards Summitt set that the Lady
Vols could feel disappointed at the end of a season in which they
outperformed national expectations.
Summitt stepped down as Tennessee's coach in April 2012 after
announcing in 2011 she had early-onset dementia, Alzheimer's type. She
won 1,098 games at Tennessee and led the Lady Vols to eight national
titles and 18 Final Fours.
Warlick took over for Summitt and inherited a roster that didn't
include a single player who had started an NCAA Tournament game last
season.
Tennessee was fourth in the SEC preseason media poll, while the
league's coaches predicted the Lady Vols would finish fifth in the
conference. The Lady Vols were ranked 20th in the preseason Top 25.
After getting stunned by Chattanooga in their season opener, they
dropped to 24th, their lowest ranking since 1985.
"Quite frankly, I was wondering what did I get myself into," Warlick
said. "And the first person I saw (after the Chattanooga game) was
Coach Summitt, and she just assured me things would get better. She
told me that she lost her first game, and I thought, 'Well, you know,
Coach Summitt lost her first game. I'm going to be OK.' "
The Lady Vols also encountered plenty of injuries. Freshman guard
Andraya Carter underwent season-ending shoulder surgery after starting
five of Tennessee's first seven games. Sophomore center Isabelle
Harrison missed 10 games with injuries to her right ankle and both
knees. Sophomore forward Cierra Burdick sat out eight games with a
broken right hand.
Yet the Lady Vols finished 27-8 and reached a regional final for the
third straight season.
The Lady Vols "believed in each other," senior guard Kamiko Williams
said. "Our coaching staff believed in us. And we just stuck together.
It was a family. And we just bonded, and I love that about my
teammates and our coaching staff. Like I told them in the locker room,
I'll take this team over the past three teams I've been on, because
I've never seen so much fight in a group of girls."
Williams and Spani, the Lady Vols' only two seniors, exemplified the
team's tenacity.
Spani briefly fell out of the starting lineup early in the season.
Williams played fewer than 10 minutes in each of Tennessee's first two
games. By the end of the season, they arguably were Tennessee's two
best players.
Wiilliams scored a career-high 18 points in a victory over Texas A&M
that clinched the SEC regular-season title. Spani had 20 second-half
points against Louisville as Tennessee nearly came all the way back
from a 20-point deficit. Each averaged 11.8 points in the NCAA
tournament to tie for the team lead.
"They're tremendous leaders for us this year, and they put their heart
and soul in the whole year," Warlick said.
The Lady Vols return everyone but Kamiko Williams and Taber Spani next
season, including third-team All-America guard Meighan Simmons and SEC
newcomer of the year Bashaara Graves. Tennessee also adds a heralded
group of freshmen that features 6-foot-6 post player Mercedes Russell,
rated by ESPN's Hoop Gurlz recruiting service as the nation's No. 1
prospect in her class.
The way this season ended should give Tennessee plenty of motivation.
Louisville's upset of defending national champion Baylor on Sunday
appeared to give Tennessee a much easier path to the Final Four, but
the Lady Vols couldn't capitalize.
"That's the great thing and the amazing thing about this program,"
Spani said. "No matter what the transition was, no matter what it
looked like, no matter what excuse you might put out, if you're a
young team or not, the bar is the Final Four.
"I think that's what makes this program special. So to come short of
that is disappointing."
No comments:
Post a Comment