Lady Vols face Oral Roberts

KNOXVILLE — Of all the surprises in this year’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament, this wasn’t one of them.

The University of Tennessee is again a No. 1 seed.

The Lady Vols are slotted atop the Oklahoma City Regional, but their national championship defense starts Sunday night in West Lafayette, Ind.

If they defeat No. 16 seed Oral Roberts, they will play No. 8 Utah or home-standing No. 9 seed Purdue next Tuesday night.

Texas A&M is the No. 2 seed in Tennessee’s bracket, and Oklahoma is the No. 3 seed.

While UT’s path to the Final Four doesn’t include many typical women’s hoops powers, ESPN’s Graham Hays said no top 1 seed has a tougher path, “just for the fact that they may have to play two teams on essentially their home courts, in addition to Texas A&M in Big 12 territory.”

Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said she was “pleased overall” with her team’s bracket.

“I was a bit surprised we were sent to West Lafayette, but I know that the fans there support women’s basketball in great fashion,” Summitt said. “Hopefully our fans will travel to support us as well. They historically do a great job of that.”

Summitt said she wouldn’t complain about possibly playing one team on its home floor (Purdue) and another close to its campus (Oklahoma) because “we’ve been on the receiving end many times.

“Our fan support and the fan support of Purdue and Oklahoma is incredible,” Summitt continued. “We need that for women’s basketball right now — fans in the stands for postseason.”

Oral Roberts (19-13) beat IUPUI on March 11 for the Summit League tournament championship, but beating Summitt and Co. will be a tall order. The Golden Eagles haven’t fared well against major Division I conference competition this season, losing 91-61 at Texas Tech and 83-65 at Oklahoma State.

“I imagine there will be even more upsets this postseason than there have been in the past,” Summitt said. “That seems to happen more and more every year, which I think is good for women’s basketball.

“I just hope we’re not on the receiving end of one of those upsets.”

The Lady Vols have never played Texas A&M (26-7, 14-5 Big 12), but they struggled with Oklahoma (22-8, 11-6 Big 12) on a neutral court this season.

UT survived the Sooners 70-67 in Tampa on Nov. 15. All-American Courtney Paris hit a shot to put Oklahoma ahead of the Lady Vols in the final minute that night, but guards Alexis Hornbuckle and Shannon Bobbitt made four free throws in the final 27 seconds to hold off the Sooners.

“The potential matchups down the line ... they’re all good teams,” Hornbuckle said. “This bracket is not an easy walk-through, no matter which way you look at it. We just have to prepare for potentially six games.”