Fleser: 6-shooter for Lady Vols

Photo by J. Miles Cary // Buy this photo

Lady Vol freshmen, from left, Kelley Cain, Vicki Baugh, Sydney Smallbone and Angie Bjorklund take a break while doing a promotional photo shoot on Tuesday at the TRECS facility. The quartet make up one of the strongest freshmen classes in the country according to published reports.

Tennessee confirmed last April that seven wasn't too many regarding national championships.

Seven women's basketball recruits in one signing class is another matter.

The Lady Vols tried before. In 1980-81 they missed by one, but just barely. Reba Hairston survived the grueling preseason, only to leave the team shortly before the season. Oddly enough, she stayed in school and occasionally was spotted attending practice.

They tried again this year but were thwarted this week when prize prospect Elena Delle Donne committed to Connecticut.

The best Tennessee can do is six signees in November. The Lady Vols, who have five commitments, remain in the hunt for Webb School star Glory Johnson, who is scheduled to visit the first weekend of October.

Six would be a very good number. Way too good for the proponents of parity.

If they gather six prospects, a comment UT coach Pat Summitt recalled from 27 years ago still will echo across the years, all the way to November and the start of the early signing period.

"Everyone said we had too much talent,'' she said.

If you simply crunch roster numbers, Lady Vols history doesn't endorse such recruiting ambitions.

Along with Hairston, Mina Todd left during the 1980-81 season because of homesickness. Closer to the present, the vaunted six-pack class of 2004-'05 lost Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood and Sybil Dosty, who transferred during and after their sophomore seasons respectively.

On the other hand, player performance supports the objective.

The 1980-81 class produced two All-Americans in Mary Ostrowski and Tanya Haave, a three-year starter in Paula Towns and a two-year starter in Pat Hatmaker.

Last season, three members of the six pack - Candace Parker, Alexis Hornbuckle and Nicky Anosike - started and were instrumental in guiding UT to a national championship.

The Lady Vols apparently favor the latter perspective. The threat of player attrition, and the accompanying public relations fallout, doesn't seem to be a deterrent.

In reference to Wiley-Gatewood and Dosty, Summitt said: "The players that chose to leave had their own reasons. I don't know if there's anything we could've done to change that."

The size of a recruiting class isn't necessarily a predictor for this anyway. With an eye toward the talent in this year's recruiting class, Tennessee signed just three players in the past two years. Two of them, Lindsey Moss and Nicci Moats, already have transferred. That's why the Lady Vols were trying to sign seven players this fall in the first place.

The recruits committing to UT's class aren't complaining about too much talent. Alyssia Brewer, who joined a gathering crowd of forwards last week, said "the more the merrier."

Fellow forward Amber Gray, who committed last spring, said that she and fellow commitment Alicia Manning used to talk on the phone about the burgeoning class. Now the shared subject matter is more apt to be their visit on the first weekend of October.

"I've always been with a team where I've been the best player,'' Gray said. "Playing time has been promised to me. I want to compete for playing time or whatever it is."

If anyone is grumping about UT's recruiting reach, Summitt isn't listening.

"I'm not going to sit around and worry about what people are saying,'' Summitt said. "We're trying to be the best program in the game. You have to have some of the best players to be that.

"I quit listening a long time ago to what people say outside the program. We're fully aware that we live in that fishbowl."

Schedule Revisions: Game time for the Jan. 5 at Notre Dame has been set for 2 p.m.

The following SEC games will be televised by Fox Sports South: Jan. 10 vs. Auburn, Jan. 20 vs. Vanderbilt, Feb. 14 vs. LSU, and Feb. 24 vs. Mississippi State. The Feb. 17 game at Vanderbilt will be a Fox national telecast.

The March 2 game at Georgia has been picked up by ESPN2.

The Nov. 11 season opener against Chattanooga and the Nov. 18 game against Texas are being considered for the banner-raising ceremony.

Reminder: The Web site to follow assistant coaches Holly Warlick and Nikki Caldwell on their motorcycle ride across the country to raise awareness about breast cancer is www.VolunteersCruisin.com

Dan Fleser covers women's basketball. He can be reached at 865-342-6288.