There are a number of things to discuss after Tennessee's 71-70 win over Kentucky in the 2014 SEC women's basketball tournament today.
As M Robinson previewed this morning in advance of the game, Lady Vols junior Isabelle Harrison continued to look like the best post player in the 2015 class and David Hooper of SB Nation's Rocky Top Talk called her "MVP of the tournament, hands down" in his recap of the game.
And, of course, we could talk about WNBA prospect Meighan Simmons, who once again showed resilience by making big plays at the end of the game despite a poor shooting night.
But Hooper identified a particularly significant aspect of the Lady Vols' win in his recap: "Dat Defense".
Tennessee's defense over the last three days has been the best we've seen all year...But during all 120 minutes the Lady Vols defense was spectacular, making entry passes difficult and not losing track of the three point shooters for pretty much the entire span of the three games. Most of the defensive effort was in man, though the switches to zone were rather seamless...In the final 20 minutes, Kentucky only made 7 field goals, a testament to the defensive fire of Tennessee when it mattered the most.
Without even discussing whether Tennessee has done enough to earn a #1 seed in the 2014 NCAA Tournament, what we can say is that they've finally reached the potential that many people thought they had entering the season.
For more on the Lady Vols, check out Rocky Top Talk. For more on their conference tournament run, check out our 2014 SEC women's basketball tournament storystream.