The amazing thing about basketball is that watching it reduces one's time to write about it.
Who? The Lady Volunteers of Tennessee, Vols for short.
Where? Knoxville, TN, where the area code spells out VOL on a telephone keypad.
When? Sunday the 7th, in Duluth, GA.
How? They beat #18 Kentucky 70-62, outrebounding the Wildcats 47-28.
Upset? Not remotely. Tennessee finished four games ahead of Kentucky in the regular season.
RPI: 3
SOS: 8
If you're reading this blog, you've probably heard of Tennessee. But maybe you haven't. Maybe you're so devoted to your own team that you don't pay attention to other teams. These things are possible.
The Lady Vols put five players into double figures on a nightly basis, led by the 14.1 ppg of sharpshooting junior guard Angie Bjorklund (42.9% from beyond the arc, a tick above her overall field goal percentage). Trying to zone Tennessee's shooters is probably not a good idea, though, because they will destroy you inside with sophomore posts Kelley Cain and Glory Johnson, who both average over seven boards a game, with Cain shooting an unreal 60.3% from the field. And we haven't even discussed sophomore forward Shekinna Stricklen, who does a lot of everything, or the emergence of sophomore post Alyssia Brewer in the last few weeks- or, for that matter, the factor on the bench, the woman of a thousand (and more) wins, Pat Summitt.
The high RPI and SOS show that the Lady Vols shy away from playing few teams (for the love of all that is sweet and holy, please don't bring up the UConn thing). Their only losses are to Stanford and Georgia, both on the road. They've beaten Baylor, Virginia, UCLA, Texas, and Oklahoma, and that's just out of conference. Tennessee is a perennial favorite, and this season promises to be no different.