Lady Vols start NCAA: 'Remember Ball State'

Tennessee has won 30 games along with SEC regular-season and tournament championships this season, cradling trophies and cutting down nets in the triumphant process.

The Lady Vols begin the NCAA women's basketball tournament today (TV: ESPN2, 12:16 p.m.) against Austin Peay at Thompson-Boling Arena as a No. 1 seed in the Memphis Regional and a viable contender for the national championship.

And to think they probably couldn't have done it without Ball State.

The Lady Vols (30-2) would rather not. Their dogged restoration work indicates how much they're trying to forget a 22-11 season that ended nearly a year ago to the day - March 22 - with a 71-55 first-round loss to the Cardinals in Bowling Green, Ky.

The loss was an NCAA first for a program that had 27 consecutive Sweet 16 appearances. UT coach Pat Summitt referred to the game as "a defining moment."

Said junior guard Angie Bjorklund: "It kind of opened a lot of people's eyes to: Wow, it does take a lot of work to be here and to win here. Not just be here, but win here."

Assistant coach Dean Lockwood gave the result rallying-cry status.

"It was our Alamo,'' he said. "Remember Ball State."

For the short term, the Lady Vols had no choice. The coaching staff took advantage of NCAA guidelines to continue practicing into April. Associate head coach Holly Warlick recalled the first team huddle before the first workout and saying, "You all don't like us. We don't like you."

The sentiment summed up the prevailing mood.

"They kept telling us, 'This isn't punishment. This is going to make you better,' " forward Alyssia Brewer recalled. "At the time, we're like, 'OK, right.' "

Lockwood was mindful of some good, albeit graphic, advice from a former coach: "You always feel better after you puke.' "

Those punishing workouts and the offseason that followed had a purge-like effect. Warlick gave the players full credit for making an abrupt about-face.

"These kids went back to work,'' she said. "It wasn't that we didn't try to push them through last year. They made a commitment to do something different."

Tennessee's record belies the ongoing nature of the Lady Vols' difference-making.

A 67-52 loss at Stanford on Dec. 19 necessitated an addendum to the story of their summer work. After shooting 32.8 percent against the Cardinal - 21.9 percent in the first half - Summitt exhorted the players to do more extra shooting.

"They thought they could just put on the orange uniform and win,'' Summitt said. "And I'm like, (No). Remember last year? Can't do it."

Furthermore, several close calls in SEC play recalled last season, even while the results largely affirmed a new season.

"The way we came back (after last season) and worked like we did, that helped us through a lot of situations this year,'' Brewer said. "Because you could say there were a lot of games this year that we should've lost if we would've played the same as last year."

And now they're back - a mighty team with eight active players who have yet to take part in an NCAA victory - hoping to redefine a moment and beyond.

"I'm just waiting to see what this brings,'' freshman Kamiko Williams said. "Coming from last year, them losing, I'm wondering how Coach is. I don't know if she's stressed right now or excited. She seems OK with it. She has a lot of faith in us."

Williams sounded more like a Ball State survivor than a freshman in also saying: "This game is probably going to set the tone for our tournament. It is very important to play well this first game."