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Lady Vols in ClevelandSubmitted by Elrod on Sun, 2007/04/01 - 11:20pm.
I don't know how many of you all watched the UNC-UT women's basketball game but it was a real barnburner. The first half was downright brutal, with Ivory Latta of UNC and Candace Parker getting into early foul trouble. The defense on both sides was stifling, but UNC missed a lot of easy chances to pull away early. In the second half, UNC did, in fact, pull away and built up a 12 point lead. But just as the UNC men did, the Tar Heel women simply collapsed with 8 minutes left. Foul trouble hurt, as two players fouled out (though Latta stayed out of further foul trouble until the very end). I think UNC just ran out of gas. As for the Lady Vols, I was really impressed with Nicky Anosike and Shannon Bobbitt, who kept the team composed even when they fell behind big. The Lady Vols won without the usual help from Candace Parker, who missed the first half because of foul trouble and didn't contribute a whole lot from the floor in the second half either. Rutgers pulled off a stunner over LSU and it's hard to imagine them taking out the Lady Vols in the final. In many ways the Lady Vols had a charmed tournament schedule with Ole Miss and Marist taking out potentially tougher opponents. UNC was the only really tough opponent the Lady Vols had to face. I'm a lukewarm women's basketball fan to be honest. I love watching two great teams, like UT, UNC, LSU or UConn. But when you get to non-elite teams the game can be downright painful to watch. That said, there's a lot more talent spread throughout Division I now so you don't get as many embarrassing missed layoffs and botched passes as in the past. I'm not sure if this is because of the WNBA, Title IX, ESPN or what but this women's hoops tournament has been a real joy to watch - much more so than the men's tournament this year. Go Lady Vols! ( categories: )
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That game last night, especially the first half, was painful to watch. Was it 29 turnovers between both teams in the first half alone? I'm all for our Lady Vols, believe me. I was pacing the living room when they started their terrific comeback. But I've got to tell you... it ain't easy to watch games like that, with constant turnovers, fouls, and poorly selected shots. Here's hoping the Rutgers' game is a strong improvement on the offensive end.
She will be key to tomorrow's game, just like she was last night.
that girl doesn't get much credit, but she's a real old-school warrior. She's from a real, real poor family with a bunch of siblings and a mom who went to college when she was in her 40s.
Great work ethic, great, great kid.
Both the New York kids (Bobbitt and Anosike) are essential to this team. Glue players.
I would take issue with the contention that Parker didn't do much in the second half -- she ended up with a double-double and really came on strong down the stretch.
It was ugly, but it was a W, as PHS say. And it was a team W.
Pat Summit's glare last night with 7:26 remaining won the game. Look for Parker and Spencer to have a big game tomorrow night as their last for the LV's.
Parker said she's coming back, so this won't be her last game :-)
Parker said she's coming back, so this won't be her last game :-)
I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but when we win 66-49 (mark it) tomorrow night it will be Ms. Parkers last game as a Lady Vol. I like Delerium if anyone out there is feeling gamey.
Parker's coming back.
No reason to think she's lying, plus I know the kid she's already planned to room with next year. They've put down a deposit :-)
And the team will be even awesomer next season.
Living as I do, 90 miles from the LSU campus, I am enduring a full mix of whining, verbal abuse of and excuses for, the Lady Tigers this morning. The most fun though, will be to wear my white cap with an Orange T on it tommorow. Everyone I work with will know it is not for Texas.
When Candace Parker said on national TV -- "We're bringing it back to Knoxville," that was a billboard moment.
These kids and this coach make us proud every day. -- s.
Just my opinion, but women's basketball has improved over the past 10-15 years because of middle school programs. Six years of coaching and playing versus three makes a huge difference. More young ladies are getting the opportunity and coaching boys have received for decades. There are simply more quality female athletes, so more schools are competitive.
Visibility (TV, WNBA, etc.) and more scholarships have also fueled the game.
I would estimate no more than 20 schools can compete regularly with the Lady Vols. Ten years ago, that number was probably 10. Tennessee is blessed to be far ahead of the pack. That's due to having the best coach in the game for the past 25 or so years and some great players.
We will see more players like Candace Parker who are faster, taller and skilled as more young women come out of high school with the background of coaching and an opportunity to show their skills at a D-1 level.
Tennessee has a long, storied tradition in women's athletics. It's easy for the culture to embrace cute little gymnasts and svelte divers and sexy tennis players, but for some reason, Tennesseans have (with the exception of a few Neanderthals who seem to live run their pieholes on talk radio) always honored big, sweaty women who strive to excel. The longest-serving school superintendent in Knox County history, Mildred Doyle, was an outstanding fastpitch softball and basketball player in her day.
Blount County's high school girls basketball teams were legendary, and the old Nashville Business College produced players like Nera White and Doris Rodgers (of Porter High School in Blount County) who overcame the limitations of playing five-on-five, half-court basketball, and could probably have competed with today's athletes.
And Wilma Rudolph of the Tennessee State Tiger Belles is one of the greatest athletes ever, anywhere. Period.
Add to that the folks at UT making the astonishingly brilliant choice to hire a 22-year-old grad student named Pat Head to coach thewomen's basketball team, and you've got the stuff of a TV movie. A lot of feminists have a problem with the term "Lady" Vols, but I would submit that Pat Summitt has done more for women -- she's got alums who are doctors, lawyers, teachers, Olympians, TV commentators, coaches -- than anybody I can think of. She was part of a historic lawsuit in the 70s that forced the TSSAA to allow girls to play fullcourt basketball. She gave me a quote a few years back when W's people were about to dismantle Title IX that would've peeled paint (but alas, the story was killed by a Metro Pulse publisher who just didn't relish the notion of having Pat Summitt going after W in his paper. Pity).
Today's girls are elevating their games -- getting bigger and stronger, just like their male counterparts, although in basketball, the game probably mirrors the mens' game 20 years ago.
More important than middle school basketball are the AAU and club teams that pretty much play year-round. They are not without problems, however, and you're seeing 15-year-old girls pushed to the breaking point by ambitious stage-parents, suffering torn ACLs, chronic tendenitis and other joint problems that didn't used to be seen until much later in life.
There's a downside to everything, I guess.
But the bottom line is, I am a huge, huge fan of Pat Summitt, and if she ever listens to those people who have been trying to talk her into running for public office, I'll be delighted. This Tennessean is no empty suit.
Don't why I happened to catch this last night - I'm not a usual watcher of WVLT - but they had a sports piece about how Summitt was on the list of possible coaches to replace Tubby Smith at Kentucky. They even had Pat saying, "I've only received one call from Kentucky and that was to tell me I was on the list. But this is the first time I've thought about coaching men."
Of course it was an April Fool's joke, but it worked because it was so believable.
I grew up in Middle Tennessee - where women's basketball was a big deal even back in the 60s halfcourt days - reading in the Tennessean about Pat Head's play for Ashland City. We're about the same age. I've followed her career ever since. She's someone I've admired since I was 16.
Summitt is the real deal, and Tennessee is damn lucky to have her.
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