The Southeastern Conference women's basketball tournament is no longer viewed as the "Tennessee Invitational," but the Lady Vols are still hoping to make their mark.
Tennessee enters the five-day event in Jacksonville, Fla., unranked after a 17-12 regular season that included an 8-8 record in conference play. The Lady Vols never have entered an SEC tournament with so many losses, and their seventh seed is the lowest in program history.
"I coach a team that I know still has a lot left in us," Tennessee fourth-year coach Holly Warlick said in a news conference after Sunday's 80-60 win over Georgia. "We just have to stay in the moment."
The tournament opens this morning with 12th-seeded Alabama (15-14, 4-12) facing 13th seed LSU (9-20, 3-13) at 11. That will be followed by 11th-seeded Vanderbilt (16-13, 5-11) against 14th-seeded Ole Miss (10-19, 2-14) at about 1:30 this afternoon.
Tennessee, which for the first time doesn't have an All-SEC first- or second-team selection, will face 10th-seeded Arkansas (12-17, 7-9) Thursday night at 6. The Lady Vols have yet to face the Razorbacks in an SEC tournament, though Tennessee did rout Arkansas at the 1998 NCAA Final Four.
The Lady Vols are 75-19 all-time in the conference tournament, having won 17 of the previous 36 events. They won the 2014 SEC tournament title over Kentucky, 71-70, and reached the championship game again last year before getting thumped by South Carolina 62-46.
Dawn Staley's 28-1 Gamecocks are heavily favored to win this weekend's title as well, having cruised through their regular-season league schedule at 16-0.
"There is not a senior class across the country that has created what our seniors have created," Staley told a Sunday audience of 16,240 at Colonial Life Arena following a 75-39 blistering of LSU.
South Carolina has improved its SEC record in each of Staley's eight seasons and can do the same with its overall mark by winning this weekend in Jacksonville and reaching a second consecutive NCAA Final Four. The Gamecocks are 62-4 overall and 31-1 in SEC play the past two seasons.
It once was Tennessee displaying such dominance, but South Carolina's chief challengers this weekend are second-seeded Texas A&M (21-8, 11-5), third-seeded Mississippi State (24-6, 11-5) and fourth-seeded Florida (22-7, 10-6). The Lady Vols haven't been one-and-done in SEC tournament play since 1993, when Georgia pulled the quarterfinal upset at McKenzie Arena, but could after struggling in late-season losses to LSU and Alabama.
A repeat or two of Sunday's showing against Georgia, however, could result in Tennessee sticking around like the Lady Vols of old.
"If we take the energy we played with and bring that into the tournament, we can make things happen," Tennessee senior forward Bashaara Graves said Sunday.
Said freshman guard Te'a Cooper: "We all just needed to wake up and get back to playing basketball and having fun."
Copeland update
Florida sophomore guard Brooke Copeland from Bradley Central High School has played in 25 games this season, averaging 5.5 minutes, 1.5 points and 1.0 rebounds per contest. Copeland has made 12 of 41 field-goal attempts (29.3 percent), including 8 of 31 from 3-point range (25.8 percent).
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.