KNOXVILLE — Another year. Another high seed.
Gathered at the Ray & Lucy Hand Digital Studio on Monday night, the Lady Volunteers and head coach Holly Warlick learned they (27-5) had received a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament’s Spokane Regional. UT will start its NCAA tournament run on Saturday against No. 15-seed Boise State (22-10), beginning at 1:30 p.m. inside Thompson-Boling Arena.
Should UT win its opener, the Lady Vols will host the winner of No. 7-seed Chattanooga (29-3) and No. 10-seed Pittsburgh (19-11) on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
“With this tournament and the drawings, I’ll take wherever they put us,” senior forward Cierra Burdick said. “I just want to win, and I want to get to (Final Four host city) Tampa.
“All the routes lead to Tampa, so whichever route we have to take, I’m willing to take it.”
For the Lady Vols, this year’s journey will be one littered with potential rematches.
First up would be a revisit with the Lady Mocs, which welcomed UT to McKenzie Arena on Nov. 26 and sent the Lady Vols packing with a 67-63 loss. Next up could be a possible Dec. 28 rematch with No. 3 seed Oregon State (26-4) in the Sweet Sixteen. The first contest swung UT’s way — a 78-63 home win over the then-No. 10 Beavers.
But in the moments after Monday’s bracket revealing, the most-discussed potential rematch lied with No. 1 seed Maryland (30-2), which shockingly bounced the Lady Vols from last year’s Sweet Sixteen.
A UT-Terrapin tango would occur in the Elite Eight — a chance for Warlick’s squad to hand Maryland its first loss since Dec. 3.
“I was heartbroken, I think that’s the best way to describe it,” Burdick recalled of last year’s loss. “I didn’t play my best game. I think we were a little bit intimidated, honestly. I don’t think we were prepared as best as we could’ve been for that game, and it showed. Maryland beat us in every aspect of the game.
“… It’ll be a long trip to Spokane, but I would love to get a rematch with Maryland.”
Many thought the Lady Vols would’ve been in the running for a No. 1 seed had it beaten South Carolina in last week’s conference tournament title game. But UT scored just 20 points in the second half and ultimately fell, 62-46, to the SEC regular-season champion Gamecocks, which presumably dropped the Lady Vols to the two-line.
While Warlick said she wasn’t surprised to see UT fall below the top rung, the Lady Vols head coach knew a slot just below that was highly probable.
“I felt very strongly that we would be the number one No. 2 seed just because of our strength of schedule, our (Rating Percentage Index),” Warlick said. “If (the committee) is going to say that’s important, then you’ve got to have the results (reflect that). And I think they did.”
UT, however, has still historically generated NCAA tournament success as a No. 2 seed. In six previous instances, the Lady Vols have never failed to reach the Elite Eight and cracked the Final Four three times, including one national championship in 1987.
This year signals the third time in the last four seasons UT has entered the NCAA tournament as a No. 2 seed. The most recent of those came in the 2013 exhibition, where the Lady Vols ended Warlick’s inaugural season with an Elite Eight loss to Louisville in Oklahoma City, Okla.
“Obviously I wanted us to get a No. 1 seed,” sophomore guard Andraya Carter said. “But I think we worked extremely hard and had one of the toughest schedules. We played really hard this season. We have a really good, solid record.
“I think we got what we deserved.”