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Glory Johnson, right, beats teammates Angie Bjorklund, and Alex Fuller, left, in conditioning sprints Saturday in Bowling Green, Ky.
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - It's not every day you look at an NCAA women's basketball tournament bracket and see Tennessee as a No. 5 seed.
In fact, it wasn't any day before this tournament, when Tennessee received the lowest seeding in program history and was pitted against No. 12 Ball State at 9:30 tonight (TV: ESPN2) in a first-round game of the Berkeley (Calif.) regional at E.A. Diddle Arena.
No. 4 Iowa State (24-8) plays No. 13 East Tennessee State (20-10) in the other game.
The winners meet Tuesday night for a trip to the regional semifinals.
"It was basically kind of crazy to see Tennessee as a No. 5 seed,'' Ball State forward Danielle Gratton said.
Gratton was more expansive, not to mention more blunt, with her comments in Ball State's post-season media guide.
"They played up and down this season,'' Gratton said of the Lady Vols. "Sometimes they have those historical tendencies and come out and dominate and sometimes they are very tentative.
"That's why you play the game. You can't look at statistics and say Tennessee beats Ball State because of this, this and this. That's why you play the game. That's the beauty of March Madness."
And that's the allure of a No. 5 vs. No. 12. These games have a lengthy history of upsets in the men's tournament. The women's event isn't any different. Since the women's tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994, there have been 13 upsets in 5 vs. 12 games. There have been only five years when one of these surprises didn't occur, including the last two seasons.
Small wonder then that Tennessee assistant coach Dean Lockwood hopes that the Lady Vols aren't sleeping on any opponent, beginning with tonight's foe.
"As my head hits the pillow every night, one of my last thoughts as I drift off into never-never land is I'm hoping that's the case,'' he said.
The Lady Vols' intentions will be evident in how they handle their biggest challenge - guarding Ball State's offense. Four starters average in double figures. The Cardinals shoot 43.4 percent from the floor and have made 239 3-pointers this season.
"They can shoot, shoot, shoot,'' Lady Vols freshman forward Alyssia Brewer said.
The Cardinals make shots because they screen, screen, screen until someone comes open. An example was a key 3-pointer scored by Gratton in Ball State's 55-51 victory over Bowling Green in the Mid-American Conference tournament championship game March 15, which qualified the Cardinals for their first NCAA appearance.
"The play wasn't set up for her,'' Cardinals guard Kiley Jarrett said. "Our screening action was so (good) she was the one who was open."
Tennessee, on the other hand, can challenge Ball State with its height advantage and by being aggressive in the face of Ball State's aggression.
Lockwood described Ball State's defensive strategy as 'the million dollar question.' Can the Cardinals rely exclusively on a man defensive alignment, as they have for most of the season?
Jarrett's answer was that the Cardinals were going to try.
"Our whole defensive style has been to get up in your face and hustle all over the floor,'' she said. "We're not going to change that."
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Comments » 45
LdyVolFaninKS writes:
First...
Switch off those screens ladies! Talk, talk, talk on the defensive end. You can do it. Let's blow these sucker's out and give the ESPN crew something to talk about!
SterlingHuskies writes:
No way "Mike From Connecticut" is from Connecticut. I know because I am...and like a true Husky fan, I am having my usual pre-tournament Chicken Little The Sky is Falling meltdown. I am convinced that Vermont has an undiscoverd Parker on the team and will beat the stuffing out of us. I've been quietly reading your site for months because most of what is posted is pretty darned entertaining - much better than the stuff in the Hartford Courant. Like most of you, I'm wishing Mike would just shut up.
CTOWNICON writes:
Please switch on screens. Please do not underestimate this team or any other team you face in this tournament. Play hard every game every posession and I can't stress enough play tough defense. These first round games have been pretty good. Pat and Lady vols are ready.
LdyVolFaninKS writes:
Is the Hartford Courant where you guys go to post? I just checked it out and the most posts on one story was 5...and it was a stupid article about how wonderful Geno is! As you checked us out, I wanted to check you out for the entertainment!
Thanks for keeping it real!
huntined#565710 writes:
Hey Sterling, MIKE is a fan but somewhere he only thinks UCONN. He can talk one on one sometime but he does come on here and try to hit on our Coach and no way we will let him do that.But if it is UCONN WOMEN BASKETBALL he knows all about that.Don't think he watches the men's team.
LdyVolFaninKS writes:
Oh yeah, Kansas State just won by 24. Sure hope they can knock out the Comodorks on Monday!
Did anyone catch any of the Stanford game? Damn, they look good. I know the competition is poor, but damn!
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
I haven't checked your bracket, but I doubt you have much to fear prior to the final four.
Dangerous teams:
Auburn
STanford
Duke
Maryland
I think only maybe Auburn or Stanford might give you guys a real push. Florida will be fun for you, if you face them. They certainly won't back down.
CTOWNICON writes:
It is hard to catch some of the games with this whip around thing they are doing going from game to game. ESPNU televises some full coverage of some of the games.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
something I'd add:
all the teams besides Uconn have some bad losses, either losses to unranked teams or losses where the team played bad.
Uconn had none, tho you can see where they weren't too fired up and didn't win by much.
In looking at your bracket, maybe Notre Dame or Texas A&M might at least show up to play, as will UF if they beat Temple.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
My tournament prediction:
we beat Ball State by about 12.
we beat Iowa State by 5. It's a tough battle, but our bench is deeper.
We beat Dook in a huge surprise. The LV's will start a small, fast lineuup and press Duke. Wehn Duke adjusts, the LV's will put in the big girls to bang away inside. We win by 2.
We lose to Stanford, big time. They get up on us, then inside/out us with Appel. We got away feeling good about next year, as we lose by double-digits, but play hard the whole game.
That is my story.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
HELP WANTED
LOCATION: University of Tennessee, Knoxvile Campus
Pay: none, except free-ride college education
Experience: Dribbling, 3-point shooting, passing, dribble-drive, and pull-up jumpers. MUST play defense. MUST shoot free throws well.
Desireable Qualities: Quickness, speed, ability to take a hit.
"Plus" Features: willing to motivate teammates. Confidence, especially in tight games.
Contact: Bruce Pearl, Pat Summitt
bmaples writes:
Vol1 -- start with losing three of your starters to injuries, two for the season. Add to that a senior who is a great person, but not always the most vocal. You wind up with a team that plays one senior, one sophomore, and seven freshmen, and looks like it.
There have been flashes of Lady Vol brilliance -- I was at the Georgia game when Pat got the 1,000th win, and the second half looked like what we've come to expect. There have also been moments when they've looked like a really bad team, or not even a team at all -- five people who all showed up at the same time and happened to be wearing orange.
I think (just my opinion) that there has also been some lack of desire, hunger, focus, intensity, determination. I haven't seen any Hornbuckle attitudes yet. I haven't seen enough upset about losing. CPS has spoken of not being able to motivate this team, of not being able to "reach" them.
They are coming around, I think, and should be very, very good in a year or two -- IF they develop a collective spine.
Bruce in Louisville
98reax writes:
Well here we are on THE day of NCAA game #1 for the Lady Vols and I have a fantastic feeling about how far they have come to date. They are primed to show us some real big girl basketball tonight.
Go Lady Vols. Seriously seeking St. Louis.
SterlingHuskies writes:
One other thought...I've watched maybe 5 Vols games this year (internet is a wonderful thing) and I think the biggest problem is at the point. Every play starts with the point guard (unless it's a break-away) and if that first pass isn't the right one, the results won't be good. Experienced teams know to kick it out and reset; the Vols seem to panic and make another bad pass instead. The results are either a turnover or a bad shot. Some of that will go away "magically" (as in CPS will beat it out of them) over the summer. I'm going to go away and be quiet now, but I'll still be here reading....
98reax writes:
Refreshing commentary. All cordial posters are welcome here in this Lady Vol space. Thanks for logging in.
richvol writes:
A very spot-on analysis of our problem. It all begins with the point. The same problem exists with the men.
UCONN is a great team that should have no trouble with any other team I saw this year.
n2thecheckerboards2 writes:
Come on ladies, lets go all the way for 3 in row. Long shot but it can happen.
tnman1025 writes:
Ha ha, even other UCONN fans hate you Mike, shouldn't that tell you something? You are an annoying piece of trash that can't get over the fact that Pat is better than Gyno...I mean Geno. Congrats on your nice season, but I wouldn't count your chickens before they hatch, UCONN is just as susceptable to an upset as any other top seed.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Just had to come on here again to show us your ugly, pimpled azz, didn't you. You are so illiterate that you didn't notice that Sterling was posting LAST NIGHT and thus had no idea how TODAY'S game would turn out. All but the most deluded fans, like you for example, knows it is POSSIBLE for their team to lose even if the odds are greatly against it. I am glad I won't be anywhere around you if the sky DOES fall and UConn loses. You strike me as the murder-suicide type if your fantasy world of Huskie invincibility falls down around you.
bmaples writes:
Mikey -- The UConn women are, indeed, the strongest team in the tourney. Anyone who follows the game knows that. I was there for the Big East final, and as I told numerous people afterwards, the game was over when UConn came on the court for warmups.
That said ... while I was there, I met numerous UConn fans. (Couldn't help but meet them, since the Big East championship is the UConn Invitational, played in Hartford.) It was refreshing to meet those fans and realize that they are not all like you. In fact, most of them were very classy AND very knowledgeable. I cannot imagine the UConn folks I met coming on here and trashing the Lady Vols. In fact, I can't imagine them coming on here at all ... they have a life.
Remember, Mikey, upsets do happen. And even if the UConn team wins it all, you will still need to deal with your own karma issues. What goes around comes around, Mikey, and you've got a lot coming 'round. Good luck with that.
Bruce in Louisville
CTOWNICON writes:
Even your own kind doesn't like you. Do like Sterling said and just shut up and go away. Reject!
volball7222 writes:
I need help. I can't figure out why the NCAA said there will be no more home games for the tournament and yet Rutgers played at home, UConn played at home, Michigan St played at home. There are 17 sites across the country but Thompson-Boling isn't one of them. No doubt the best arena in women's college basketball is excluded? Seems to me it is a little hypocritcal of the NCAA. It also seems strange that the Lady Vol's always get shipped out west or midwest for the tournament.
mississippi writes:
hey mikey, i hope you are having a GREAT DAY . please take time to watch the LADY VOLS play team ball
volball7222 writes:
Mike, you are a b*tch....takes a man to be a bass turd.
CTOWNICON writes:
You sound more like a bitter old woman than Sterling. Who cares how you feel about Tennessee, who are you, you are a nobody. What you say has no merit anywhere. You flap your gums just to hear yourself talk. No one here takes you serious. You are obviously out of touch with reality to come to a lady vol site to talk about Uconn news. You are to invested which tells me you have no other life other than to bash a bunch of college girls. What did women do to you to make you hate them so much? I can see if this was friendly competition but you really hate these ladies and that is unusual for someone who is supposed to be man. I thought men were supposed to love the ladies, not hate them.
CTOWNICON writes:
This is ridiculous, they interrupt the game with Iowa and GA Tech and they are playing on ESPNU. They are showing their whole game with no interruptions. Can Tennessee get some love around here from the ESPN family? I hate this whip around sh*t!
MTN_MAN_VOL writes:
they guard us like we were ft.knox and we give up wide open three's over and over again. Its hard watch anymore of this embarressing
BIGEJ writes:
This is absoluting ridiculous.....
BSweet writes:
Wow. Pat is not going to be happy. I have never seen a Lady Vol squad play this poor. Those poor girls don't realize what they have done to themselves. They'll be seeing Pat in their nightmares for years to come.
MTN_MAN_VOL writes:
Ladyvols lay about a large egg of unbelivable size. What a year for Tn sports
VAvolfanRON writes:
i never would'be thought this......
OrangePower11 writes:
What has happened to our athletic department?
VAvolfanRON writes:
all goud things must come to an end.......but, i really thought they'd make it past the first round.....and maybe our ladies 'expected' it also........we are so young
uconnfan1 writes:
wrong!pat should be mad as hell at her team they let her down.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
well, I'm absulutlely wrong and I apologize to everyone. when kelley went down, the only decent player we had was gone, and ti showed.
I never wanted to say this, but both Pat and Bruce have NOT earned their salaries this year, and should be sending money back to the University.
The 'freshmen' excuse no longer holds. Other than Cain, the rest just plain suck.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
mike, i've been courtsous to you, but if you where around me now.....
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
as we wind up the worst year I can ever remember (finance, major ut sprots, braves), you just have to shake your head and say 'nice people finish last pretty damend often'. Pat isa nice person, as was Phil, as is quite a bit of Bruce (not all). all failed miserably this year.
TD_4_UT writes:
Well it seems that both the men and ladies basketball were drinking from the same water fountain. It seems like no matter what Pat or Bruce did it could not motivate freshmen player's. What a shame.
Volborn writes:
football season has officially begun!!!
MillisaAnn writes:
I can't believe the Lady Vols lost they should have won this game, I agree with what Coach Lockwood said this is embarssing. But I know they will bounce back next season and Pat will have them ready for it.
Get Well Kelly and Vikki!!!
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
no, they should not have won. the other team played smart ball. we did not. this will go down as not only the worst, but the DUMBEST team Pat has ever had.
The oaches can't throw these kids udner the bus on this one. Why where we 'helping' on D when we didn't need to?? That is how teams like Ball state thrive, getting you to double on one so someone else gets an open look. We owned the boards, so MAKE them drive.
man oh man, what a frigging year.
uconnfan1 writes:
pat did her job.she has no control of how they play when they hit the floor.she got let down.I'm a UCONN fan always and forever but,pat is one of the best coaches ever.I have the up most respect for her.
xvolx writes:
glory johnson is the worse basketball player in the history of the world. alex fuller is soft and weak. "I guarantee it" Brewer is lazy, slow and now has her big foot in her mouth. Gray, manning, bass and smallbone are wasted scholarships. Bjorkland played hard and I commend her. Cain should be reevaluated as to whether she is physically able to continue playing. No need to respond to this post as I'll be long gone.
mississippi writes:
TAKE MIKEY & BUTCHIE AND DONT COME BACK
xvolx writes:
make 7 up yours.
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