Candace Parker

Distinction: Last season, she became the youngest player to win both the State Farm Wade Trophy and the John R. Wooden player of the year.

Worth Noting: Parker could become the only Lady Vol to reach 2,000 points and 900 rebounds in three seasons. She holds the career blocks record (247).

Quotable: "You're Marshal Dillon and Dodge City better get cleaned up pretty soon. They're not looking at Doc. They're not looking at Festus. They're looking at you. She's established that. You can't erase that,'' assistant coach Dean Lockwood on Parker playing a big part in helping UT end a nine-season drought with last season's national championship.

Alexis Hornbuckle

Distinction: She has become Tennessee's all-time steals leader, surpassing Bridgette Gordon. Hornbuckle is at 339 and counting.

Worth Noting: She's the only Lady Vol to reach 1,000 points, 550 rebounds, 400 assists and 275 steals during her career.

Quotable: "I wasn't sure if she would ever be able to handle or be ready for the type of leadership she's already demonstrated this year," coach Pat Summitt on Hornbuckle.

Nicky Anosike

Distinction: Anosike, a member of the 1,000-point career scoring club, could've been named MVP of the Final Four last season with 14 points and 7 rebounds against North Carolina and then 16 rebounds against Rutgers.

Worth Noting: She is pursuing a major in sociology/criminal justice as well as majors in political science and legal studies. Next school year, she will teach in Newark, N.J., as part of the "Teaching Across America" program.

Quotable: "No one does it worse than I do. Nobody gives it to me worse than I give myself," Anosike, who's her harshest critic.

Shannon Bobbitt

Distinction: She was named to all-tournament teams at the Final Four and at the Dayton Regional last season.

Worth Noting: Bobbitt is on pace to be one of Tennessee's top 3-point shooters in terms of career percentage and reach 200 career assists in two seasons.

Quotable: "Here's what's incredible about it. First of all, she's a midget on the floor. So all you had to do was be relatively close. So that's disturbing. But it might speak to the respect she commands also because she is so little and then so quick with the ball,'' Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer, after the 5-foot-2 Bobbitt burned the Scarlet Knights with four 3-pointers in last season's national championship game.

Alberta Auguste

Distinction: Her 10 points and five rebounds in last season's national championship game were vital to Tennessee's 59-46 victory. She had eight steals against Louisiana Tech last season, the fourth-highest single-game total in team history.

Worth Noting: Before Auguste committed to Tennessee, the Lady Vols had not had a junior college player in 28 years.

Quotable: "When I think about her, I think about how she stepped up in postseason. Coming off the bench, she was the spark plug,'' Summitt on Auguste's NCAA play.

- Dan Fleser

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.