Strange: Facing old friend hard for coaches to handle

The countless memories. The years of mutual admiration.

The applause of an appreciative crowd. An emotional pre-game embrace. The strain to choke back the tears.

By this point, you can figure out the Lady Vols weren't playing Connecticut.

No, this was no script for Geno Auriemma. It was one of Tennessee's own who came home Sunday to Thompson-Boling Arena.

Mickie DeMoss, who for 18 years sat on the bench beside Pat Summitt, this day walked to the other end of the court, to the visitors' bench.

The head coach of the University of Kentucky team waved in every direction to acknowledge the ovation from a crowd of 13,716. Thanks, they were saying, for those 18 years, for helping recruit all those All-Americans, for helping win those six national championships.

Then they cheered even louder as Summitt surprised DeMoss with the presentation of an engraved glass vase at mid-court.

The tears were straining on the bench, but neither coach would allow them to report to the scorer's table.

"No,'' said DeMoss. "I wouldn't let myself.

"It was very touching, but I knew that I couldn't switch my emotions on and off that quickly when the game was getting ready to start.''

Summitt was pretty much in the same emotional place.

"Yeah,'' she said. "I was like, 'You cannot break down here. I am not going to cry.'

"But I was choked up when I went out there. I said, 'Our fans love you and appreciate what you've done and so do I.' "

Appreciation, of course, has its limits and this limit was the opening tip.

DeMoss was heartened to see one of her freshmen, Chante Bowman, fire in a basket on Kentucky's first possession.

"I thought, 'OK, we can relax a little bit now,'" said DeMoss.

She never dreamed she would wait more than 11 minutes for Kentucky's next basket.

Before it arrived, the Wildcats had missed 17 consecutive shots and Tennessee had scored 22 unanswered points.

Perhaps Summitt called off the dogs at that point. Perhaps she merely substituted freely for the sake of "quality minutes" for her bench.

At any rate, the margin never bulged to embarrassing proportions. The final score was 67-49.

And after two hours, an event neither woman relished enduring was over.

"I did look forward to seeing her,'' said Summitt. "I didn't look forward to playing her.''

Summitt played her last year, but somehow it wasn't as emotional in Lexington. This was DeMoss' first trip back to UT as a head coach.

She looked forward to catching up with old friends, but was nervous about bringing a young team into a hostile environment she knows so well. Three freshmen and sophomore Angela Phillips from Oak Ridge are key players for the Wildcats.

DeMoss tried to play it straight. Just another game. One of her assistants, former Lady Vol Niya Butts, didn't notice anything unusual in preparations the past few days.

"We wanted to give them a better game than that,'' said Butts, "but it's a tough place to come back and play.

"You've just got to live to play another day.''

DeMoss will. And added to her memories of Thompson-Boling Arena is this one: being the only visiting coach ever to enter to a standing ovation.

"Well,'' she said, "I doubt Geno will ever get one. So at least I've got something over on Geno.''

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.