Lady Vols not hurting for decisions

Tennessee wants attributes like skill, competitiveness and productivity to help with determining a women's basketball lineup.

The Lady Vols hope that injuries don't play a big part.

Tuesday's media day came with two scares. Freshman forward Glory Johnson limped off the court after bumping knees with teammate Cait McMahan during practice. Johnson spend the majority of the workout receiving treatment.

Toward the end of the session, freshman forward Amber Gray slipped during a shooting drill and turned her ankle.

Neither injury was thought to be serious. Still, they might result in some missed practice and workouts have become the main stage in what Gray described as "a dogfight" over playing roles.

"Coach tells us all the time: you might have a starting spot in this game, in the next game you don't because you go in there during practice and you've lost it,'' Gray said.

A visit from departed senior Candace Parker notwithstanding, it's a new season at UT. Parker and the four other starters who took the court for the national championship game in Tampa, Fla., last April are gone. Couple that with seven Lady Vols who have yet to play a game and there are job openings everywhere.

"There's a lot of unknowns,'' UT coach Pat Summitt said.

At this point, Summitt will commit to two starters. Both are freshmen: Johnson and guard Shekinna Stricklen. Summitt said that she will use next week's exhibition games against Carson-Newman College (Nov. 6) and Love & Basketball (Nov. 9) to experiment.

Sophomore forward Vicki Baugh, who's recovering from offseason knee surgery, doesn't think that her teammates are obsessing over who will be lining up for the opening tip.

"It doesn't seem like they are thinking along (the lines of) 'I want to start' and this and that,'' she said. "We know with Pat, starters don't only mean the best players, they mean the best players to start the game. It doesn't necessarily mean they'll finish the game. You have to have your whole team involved."

That said, the players are interested in making good impressions. Summitt said that she's never had so many requests to watch practice video. The importance of defense, rebounding and running the floor echoed throughout media day interviews.

Some of these quests are personal in nature. Gray is doing extra work in the hopes of eliminating conditioning as a determining factor in her role. Fellow freshman Alyssia Brewer said that she has asthma but down played its potential impact.

"My asthma kicks in and out, in and out,'' she said. "I can't let that get to me. I have to put it in my head I'm not going to let that prevent me from being a better player. ... There have been players who have had asthma. Hopefully, you'll grow out of it."

UT assistant coach Dean Lockwood said the coaching staff wants to base player decisions on a combination of effectiveness, competitiveness and chemistry.

Effectiveness is an umbrella term for everything from productivity to consistency. Some allowances will be made for inexperience but only for a while.

"If one month from now, I'm still struggling with help-side (defensive) concepts and how to defend weakside screens and you got it, if we're even close, you're going to be ahead of me on the depth chart,'' Lockwood said.

Competitiveness, at this point, is best reflected by working hard in practice, no matter how practice is going.

"You can't have bad practices,'' Brewer said. "Even if you're not making your shots or nothing is flowing for you, you always have to give your effort."

Chemistry likely will be more dependent upon the exhibition experiments. Still, any chance to communicate and connect with a teammate is an opportunity to make a good impression.

"We'll execute a lot better,'' Summitt said, "if we communicate better."

Notebook: Stricklen, who suffered a blow to the head Saturday, and Brewer (stomach illness) sat out Tuesday's practice but might return today. ... Summitt said sophomore Angie Bjorklund will sit out one of the exhibitions as punishment for missing a summer school class. When Baugh returns, she will sit out one or two games for the same reason.