Tennessee has miles to go this women’s basketball season and the journey is just beginning with a visit to Chattanooga.
The Lady Vols (1-1) and Lady Mocs (1-0) meet at 6:30 tonight at McKenzie Arena (TV: CSS).
For UT, the serious mileage will be accrued getting its performance in order. This week’s ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll reflected how far UT coach Pat Summitt’s peers think her team has to go. After Monday’s 83-82 loss to then-No. 15 Virginia, the Lady Vols dropped seven spots to No. 13, marking the first time they’ve been out of the top 10 of those rankings in 11 years.
Summitt has more pressing concerns than polls, however.
“I’m living in the moment,’’ she said. And she truly means it.
At this moment, the revolving door on the trainer’s room continues to spin. Center Kelley Cain, who returned Monday night from a concussion, left Tuesday’s practice feeling light-headed and didn’t make the trip to Chattanooga. The 6-foot-6 redshirt freshman is back to being listed as day-to-day.
“It’s hard to say with a concussion,’’ Moshak said. “There’s no crystal ball. There’s no nothing.”
Angie Bjorklund’s situation is similar. The sophomore guard is making progress in recovering from a bulging disc in her back, but Moshak said it might be “a couple more weeks” before Bjorklund is back on the court.
On the flipside, sophomore Vicki Baugh, who was pulled off the court on Nov. 10, took part in Thursday night’s short workout and will play tonight, provided there are no physical setbacks from her practice work. The 6-4 forward has been recovering from reconstructive knee surgery.
The fluid nature of the injury report has made lineup decisions difficult. Performance issues also are complicating matters.
“I’m just trying to look at it one day at a time and one game at a time,’’ Summitt said. “There are going to be some situations where, yes, we may shorten the bench or we’ve got to figure out who is ready to play. And sometimes you don’t know that until you get into game situations.
“As far as the (player) rotation, I think so much of it depends on what they bring that day. I feel like at times you don’t know until you put them on the court, specifically our freshmen.”
The first road game adds to the mystery factor. Chattanooga is trying to set an attendance record tonight for its arena, commonly known as the “Roundhouse.” While the promotion figures to draw many Tennessee fans, their presence won’t necessarily constitute an advantage for the Lady Vols. UT’s young players were a bit unnerved by Saturday’s season-opening turnout at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Chattanooga, which beat East Tennessee State 77-71 Monday night, has enough firepower to threaten Tennessee’s shaky defense. Although two-time Southern Conference player of the year Alex Anderson and Brooke Hand, the most prolific 3-pointer shooter in conference history, have departed, the Lady Mocs still had five double-figure scorers against ETSU. Forward Shanara Hollinquest had 18 points and 15 rebounds. Former Powell High School standout Erin Ogan had 11 points and eight rebounds.
While Tennessee has a ways to go, senior forward Alex Fuller has some specific strides in mind for tonight.
“We have to make plays in critical situations,’’ she said. “We have to basically be smart and play as a team.”
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Comments » 11
xvolx writes:
fuller is too timid. havent seen her fight for a rebound, dive for a ball or show leadership. brewer, gray and manning no fire. bass, cait, strickland and johnson only ones that have shown hustle.
utbacker writes:
how can you automaticaly say these kids have no fire two games into the year and haven't played very many minutes. Gray played 3 minutes, got an offensive rebound, scored on the stickback and completed the 3 point play. Blocked a shot - Did have a TO, but what says "no fire" when you crash the offensive glass? Brewer and Manning played 8 minutes apiece. I don't think you run kids out after two games. Everybody doesn't start out lighting it up.
xvolx writes:
johnson, bass and strickland are frosh. and hustle every play. why do you think gray, brewer and manning's minutes are so low? they dont play hard.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
On another thread, I mentioned that adjustment to a new environment is not a smooth process, nor is it the same for every individual. One HUGE part of that process is understanding that "playing hard" in high school is not the same as "PLAYING HARD" in college. In high school it means going until one feels tired; in college it means going until one is exhausted and then pushing beyond that. Not every player has the capacity, the potential "top-end", so to speak, to reach, and perform consistently at, the required level of output. Some may just not care to push themselves that hard. What we have now is a whole bunch of freshmen and former fringe players who are in the process of discovering whether or not they are really capable of performing with that level of intensity. The ones who show the most "push" right now may not be the same ones who have the most of it later; some of the former may indeed "burn out". This is just one aspect of the challenge Pat faces and one reason why this should be one of the most fascinating, if not always most pleasant, seasons Lady Vol fans have seen in quite some time.
richvol writes:
I would hazard to say that Cain's light head came from being out of shape more than anything else. It was disappointing to lose her for all of last year and this year is starting out the same. I hope she is not a wasted scholarship...we need a big post that is durable.
98reax writes:
Gosh, we are so quick to jump to extremes. We are 2 games into the season. This 'what have you done for me lately' attitude is quite sickening. So soon you forget, xvolx, in her first time on the court Brewer raked in 9 rebounds and 8 points in just 17 minutes. Gray's stat line was equally impressive with 4 rebounds and 5 points in fewer minutes on the court. Fuller had only 4 points wile turning the ball over 5 times, BUT, she crashed the boards and grabbed 12 rebounds to help her team win its first game against USF.
xvolx, your screen name suggests you are a doubter, a former vol. As far as I'm concerned, once a Vol, always a Vol. Whatever your persuasion, there's no need to jump on these players so soon for what they have not accomplished. When we get deeper into the season, perhaps January, and the freshmen are slacking off, you might be justified in your moaning about 'no fire.'
The problem with some of the non-starters is NOT that they are not playing hard. The reason they are not in the game is the rules of the game state you can play only 5 players at a time. When Pat says "Our main problem this season may be that there's not enough balls to go around," that's what she means. Getting into a comfortable flow of the game plan is not easy for a freshman nor veteran without sufficient playing time. Hustle is hustle but can sometimes result in playing out of control as in hurrying passes, throwing up quick shots and overplaying the ball. Those are fixable things and Pat is the Chief Fixer.
1volk-nowi-tall writes:
I saw Cain in a practice prior to a football game. I didn't think that she was out of shape. She did the sprints and all of the other work during that practice. A concussion is very serious and judging from some of these posts some of the posters may be suffering from one and not yet realize it.How can one make jusgements about freshmen basketball players after watching one or two games?
98reax writes:
One thing we can be sure of, Wes Moore will have his team ready for the Lady Vols tonight. He may not have the shooting stars that he had last year but his teams are fundamentalists. They have very few turnovers and they usually have pure shooters which gives them a consistently high scoring percentage. They won't take many bad shots so rebounding will be essential for the Lady Vols to stay in the game. They will not choose to run with us, therefore Bass could be a key player tonight. The Lady Mocs play a walk-it-up-the-court tempo. Execution in the halfcourt and stingy defense will be necessary for our young'uns to take a road win out of McKenzie Arena. There will be a raucus crowd of Orange, no doubt. Trust me, Chattanooga LOVES the Lady Vols.
And there may be snow. Woopee!
98reax writes:
If you'd like to join a hundred or so die-hard Lady Vols fans welcoming the team into The Roundhouse, get there early and go to the Houston St. Entrance gate's outside concourse. That's always a warm fuzzy way to get the team fired up for a great game.
I'll be working but my heart will be mid-court lower level. Toss it up!
xvolx writes:
Coach said, if they dont get with the program, they will be left behind. I'm not jumping on them. Summitt will do that. I was only pointing out frosh. who have played hard and frosh. who have not. summitt will let them ride the pine. she only played 6 players last 2 years and won 2 nc.
xvolx writes:
and since you get confused easily. username needed 5 characters. 3 are meaningful and 2 are not. It's not rocket science.
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