In a breakdown of Maryland's 73-62 win over Tennessee in the Sweet 16, Todd Carton of SB Nation's Testudo Times challenged the notion that the Lady Vols' turnover problems were more about poor execution on their part rather than strong Terrapins defense.
...only two teams turned the Vols over more in their 35 game season - North Carolina in the second game of the season and Troy State in a game in which the Vols took 80 shots and scored 103 points. The only other team to hold Tennessee to under 36 percent shooting was Stanford who matched Maryland's 35.8 percent defensive effort and the sixty-three points they scored was their second lowest total of the season. One might say the Terrapins' defense forced Tennessee to rock-y bottom.
As it turns out, there's something to what he describes here: the pace of those North Carolina and Troy games was much faster than Sunday's game against Maryland. So according to WBB State, the Lady Vols had their worst turnover rate of the season (by a narrow margin) against the Terrapins. That contributed to them having their second-lowest offensive rating of the season.
Of course, as anyone who has watched Tennessee will tell you, the mistakes they made were disturbingly typical in a season that had its share of plot twists - it's really hard to separate the Terps' defensive performance from the Lady Vols just falling victim to their own bad habits again.
For more on the Terps' season, check out SB Nation's Testudo Times. For more on the Maryland, Tennessee and the rest of the region, check out our Louisville region storystream.