The Lady Vols took the direct approach in their season opener Sunday afternoon. Freshman Candace Parker was the first starter introduced to the crowd at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The introduction was appropriate. As long as Parker has waited to play a meaningful game, why postpone the intro?

In UT's best-case scenario, it wasn't merely introducing a new player. It was introducing a new era.

From my perspective, this will be the fourth era of Lady Vols basketball. First, there was the pre-Chamique Holdsclaw era. Next came the Chamique Holdsclaw era. And finally, the post-Chamique Holdsclaw era.

Now comes the Candace Parker era.

Those of you less prone to hyperbole might resist my rush to afford a player an entire era based on one game. Please. Give me more credit.

I've seen her play two games.

The first was an all-star game in New Orleans the weekend of the 2004 Final Four. I reserved my judgment until after Game 2 -- or about 19 months later since she was forced to sit out the 2004-05 season with a knee injury.

My second impression wasn't much different from my first. I noticed that she was wearing a black finger band. Up close, you could see the No. 3. She said Allen Iverson gave it to her when she was a sophomore in high school. I also noticed that she occasionally tilts her head slightly when she shoots on the perimeter. Girls, emulate that at your own risk.

I don't remember the head tilt or finger band at the All-Star game. Maybe it was obscured by her overall, overwhelming game.

She's 6-foot-4, athletic and has a feel for the game, whether she's shooting, passing or rebounding. She makes it look so easy, her final statistics surprise you: 19 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocked shots in 25 minutes.

Perhaps I should mention, she didn't accomplish that against Duke, UConn or Baylor. She did it in an 83-33 victory against Stetson, which not only had difficulty matching up with Parker, but with everyone else who took the floor on UT's behalf. But the disparity was magnified whenever Parker set up on the perimeter of UT's defense.

As tall as Parker is at rest, she reaches absurd heights when she raises her long arms. When this attribute was mentioned at the post-game press conference, her teammates jokingly referred to her as a "freak." Parker laughed, too. Stetson didn't.

If you're a guard under 6-feet tall what's the humor in attempting a shot that never leaves your hand. Nefertiti Walker tried it with humbling results. Parker simply raised her hands and almost politely removed the basketball from Walker's shooting hand.

Warning to future players shooting over Parker: "She's closer than you think." Or, as UT teammate Shanna Zolman put it: "She's got such long arms that she can play off you, and you think you've got a shot. But she can close out very quickly."

Imagine that. We're talking about the next best player in women's basketball, and we're talking about defense.

Fans won't come to watch Parker play defense. They will want to see her dunk and score and pass. They will want to see her do the things that inspired former women's Olympic basketball coach Billie Moore to say, "She'll change the way the game is played."

Moore, who is a close friend of UT coach Pat Summitt, watched Parker's college debut from press row. Nothing that happened changed her mind.

"All the anticipation and expectations aren't fair to her," Moore said. "But I don't think that anyone with those expectations left here disappointed.

"Players like this don't come along very often."

Just every era or so.