DULUTH, Ga. - The venue might be familiar, but the competitive landscape is altogether different for the SEC women's basketball tournament.
When Tennessee launched its tournament venture at Gwinnett Arena three years ago, its challenge was basically an either-or proposition. Other than LSU or Vanderbilt, who eventually met for the tournament championship, no one else looked capable of derailing the Lady Vols.
"We were worried about a couple of teams," Lady Vols assistant coach Dean Lockwood said. "We felt if we played close to our best, we could beat everybody else."
Three years later, there's no obvious powerhouse to slug it out with regular-season champion UT. Yet there's a threat almost everywhere you look.
The first threat will come from Ole Miss, which edged South Carolina 64-63 Thursday afternoon. The Lady Vols, who won two tough regular-season games against the Rebels, will face them in the opening game of the second round Friday.
As the first-round tournament game alternately teetered toward each team, Lockwood couldn't see an advantageous opponent from his second-row seat.
"They both gave us everything we wanted at their place," he said.
UT defeated South Carolina by five points in Columbia and nipped the Rebels by three in Oxford. Those games are indicative of a conference season in which only Georgia beat UT, but six other SEC teams came within single digits.
"There's a lot of teams we're nervous about being in the water with at the same time," Lockwood said.
His assessment speaks to the competitive balance of the conference, especially at the bottom. Ole Miss coach Renee Ladner offers an even stronger opinion.
"Any team in the conference could win this (tournament) championship," she said after a taxing win over South Carolina.
Granted, that's post-game hyperbole from the coach of an underdog team. But her comment isn't as outrageous now as it would have been three years ago.
Back then, UT was on its way to a national championship, LSU had a Final Four team as well, and Ole Miss took an upsetting course to the elite eight. The league's bottom feeders would have panicked at the thought of being in the same water with any of them.
The conference's strongest teams no longer pack the same wallop. And the lesser teams have taken advantage of it.
"Do we have three Final Four (candidates)?" Lockwood said. "No.
"But we could put five teams in the sweet 16. That wouldn't shock me at all."
Ladner views this as more of a trend than an aberration.
"I don't think it's ever going to be real top-heavy again," she said. "Because I think we are recruiting extremely well.
"I just believe that it's no longer just the LSU's and Tennessee's getting the key players."
That's reflected in the individual stats and tournament seeding.
Bianca Thomas, the conference's leading scorer, plays for ninth-seeded Ole Miss. So does SEC assist leader Kayla Melson.
Freshman Kelsey Bone, who tied for the lead in rebounding, plays for eighth-seeded South Carolina. Rebounding co-leader Tierney Jenkins plays for 11th-seeded Alabama.
Said Ladner: "You get one or two key players, they can turn a program in a hurry."
And turn a tournament topsy-turvy.
John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.
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Comments » 7
orangecountyvols writes:
Go Lady Vols ! Protect the ball, good movement w/o the ball, and be tough in the paint.....on offense and defense. Play Tennessee basketball and one game at a time. Angie and co. hit some big 3's too to loosen up the inside game.
AtLeastMyTeamHasPerfectSeasons writes:
IF this team can win this SEC tournament, they should roll all the way to the Final 4.....where they will falter. But next year, with UCONN's 2 hoss' gone, this team should be a favorite to win it all.
AtLeastMyTeamHasPerfectSeasons writes:
oh yeah, as some of you like to say.....I was 2nd^^^^^
tonyvick#213307 writes:
Lady Vols show them that they are wrong, show that you have no equal in this tournament. You all can be far and away the best team in this tourney. Go LV's!
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Drop the "HAMILTON" from your screen name and it will be more accurate. No one is saying that UConn will drop off a cliff any time soon, but UT will have one of its deepest, most talented, and most experienced teams in years over the next two seasons at least. They should win at least one title in that time. It will take some aggressive yet judicious recruiting over the next two classes to keep it going at that level three or more years out, but anyone sleeping on the LVs in the meantime is just not paying attention.
Musicman74 writes:
The only way geno has recruited well in the past 2 years is to cheat.case closed!!
go big orange
rclarkfork#639958 writes:
That one statement that the Lady Vols are fading fast from the national spotlight shows everyone how ridiculous all of your posts are. What a joke. This team has no seniors and is ranked 4th in the country. They will be a top two preseason pick next season by almost everyone. Oh yea they are fading fast. What a joke.
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