"The Lady Vols won last season's Southeastern Conference tournament by erasing double-digit deficits in each of their three games."
''I don't think we played well in any of the three (NCAA tournament) games we played,'' Warlick said. ''The first two, we got by. In the regional semifinals, we couldn't get by with a team like Maryland. For some reason, we weren't as focused. It was almost like we peaked at the SEC tournament.''
It wasn't that they peaked, it was the level of competition that beat them. Tenn hasn't beaten a top level team on the road since Parker left 8 years ago. When you fall behind by double digits 3 times in your conference tournament you have problems. To win the NC you have to win 6 games. Top talent teams like Tenn can waltz through the first 2 but the last four all require a high level of execution for 40 minutes. But Tenn. rarely plays 3 good games in a row. And they rarely play 40 minutes of great basketball. That is OK against second level teams in the SEC but at the level of a Stanford or Notre Dame a 10 minute period of poor play almost guarantees a loss. Tenn has one of those in almost every game they play. Those halftime tongue lashings have become predictable to the point of being a cliche and usually produce a second half rally and win. But when it's a team like Notre Dame that plan falls apart.
Tenn used to win by having a bench full of physically talented players who wore down opponents in the paint. That isn't enough any more but the LV's haven't figured that out yet.
