There’s your makeup call, Tennessee.
The Tennessee men’s basketball team ranks first in the RPI and plays the nation’s toughest schedule, only to get a No. 2 seed in a regional with North Carolina and Louisville. Apparently, the 1996 Bulls aren’t available.
The Tennessee women rank first in the RPI, play the nation’s toughest schedule and not only get a No. 1 seed but also earn the easiest route to Tampa for the Final Four.
The Lady Vols avoid talented Stanford and LSU — two teams that beat them earlier this year — along with pesky Rutgers in the Oklahoma City Regional.
(Rutgers, per NCAA rules to make C. Vivian Stringer’s life miserable, got stuck with the nation’s No. 1 team and could play Iowa State in Des Moines. That would be five — sort of — road games in six NCAA tournaments. For Stringer’s sake, let’s make sure the clocks work properly in the tournament.)
No, the No. 2 seed in Tennessee’s regional is Texas A&M, which finished third in the Big 12 but won the conference tournament. The No. 3 seed is Duke, a team the Lady Vols beat by three in Durham earlier this year.
The No. 4 seed is Oklahoma, which ftied with the Aggies in Big 12 play. None of those teams are ranked in the top eight of the newly released coaches’ poll.
Compare Tennessee to No. 2 overall seed North Carolina, which could face LSU in New Orleans.
“I don’t really have any thoughts,” a frustrated North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “We’re just ready to play. I’m going to wait until after the tournament’s over to say anything.”
Or No. 1 overall seed UConn, which could face conference rival Rutgers in the Elite Eight. The Scarlet Knights beat UConn earlier this season.
“I guess Rutgers is the No. 8 seed in the country?” Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said. “I find that hard to believe.”
So let’s compare Tennessee’s two paths to the Final Four. Both the men’s and women’s teams could play a second-round game in a road environment. The men might take on South Alabama in Birmingham, Ala., and the women could play Purdue on its home floor in West Lafayette, Ind.
South Alabama is a legitimately good team. The Purdue women finished 18-14 overall and one game ahead of Michigan State, which didn’t even make the NCAA field.
Plus, Purdue has to play Utah — a nationally ranked team that made the mistake of losing to 3-27 Colorado State in the conference tournament (oops) — in the first round. You think Utah will be motivated? The Lady Vols might not even have to play a road game.
“I was a little surprised that we’re going to be in West Lafayette, but they support women’s basketball in great fashion there,” Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said.
From there, the two Tennessee programs take remarkably different routes. A Sweet 16 game against Louisville is a tough draw for the men. The Lady Vols should have no problem with Oklahoma, even in nearby Oklahoma City.
“We couldn’t put Oklahoma State in that regional because there would be too many Big 12 teams,” NCAA selection chair Judy Southard said Sunday night.
And Texas A&M isn’t exactly the North Carolina of women’s basketball.
What about the two Georgia programs? It’s tough to say, since we’ve seen two very different Georgia men’s teams over the last two weeks.
But I’d like the Bulldogs’ chances if they were playing all six games in one day.
I don't see it as such an easy road for the Lady Vols. There's so much parity in the women's game today. Purdue is always a tough game especially giving the Boilermakers some home cooking as a motivator. Making it to OK will present another challenge in a pseudo-home court atmosphere for Courtney Paris and her invisible twin and the Sooners. Who knows how good they can be against the defending national champions? LVs always get everybody's best shot. Perhaps TN sneaks by the Oklahomers, what then? Who wants to catch A&M while they are riding an incredible momentum wagon full of International players whose names you cannot begin to pronounce.? Either Arizona State's Sun Devils or the other Devils who barely fell to the Lady Vols earlier at Cameron Indoor will give any comer a hellish game under any circumstances. Say the orange ladies do cut down the OK City Regional nets, look who's waiting at the Bay, most likely the Tigers or the Tarheels. Wow! I suppose Pat & company will waltz right into the finals with one of her favorite dancing partners, Geno or Tara. Anybody who says that's an easy road to a National crown must be dancing with the stars. This is the big dance, baby.
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