Kara Lawson said Tennessee had most impressive Championship run.

[speedoo]

I can promise you there will be a moment in the Selection Committee room where someone says, "So, should we send Tennessee to Kingston?," which will be followed by everyone else being sorely tempted to do it. ESPN would love it. URI would love it. If Raleigh ends up with Duke (or possibly even Maryland) as its #2, they'll be happy. Des Moines and Fresno are treks for everyone anyway.

That moment of tempatation may pass, but it's going to be tough for the Selection Committee not to jump at what may be the last opportunity to add another chapter to the Pat/Geno saga. Don't say you weren't warned if it comes to pass.

I'm with Cat on this. I will be very surprised if the committee decides to create a circus atmosphere in Kingston, or at least the potential for it, in what is likely to be Summitt's last NCAA tournament.

 

[UConnCat]

I can promise you there will be a moment in the Selection Committee room where someone says, "So, should we send Tennessee to Kingston?," which will be followed by everyone else being sorely tempted to do it. ESPN would love it. URI would love it. If Raleigh ends up with Duke (or possibly even Maryland) as its #2, they'll be happy. Des Moines and Fresno are treks for everyone anyway.

That moment of tempatation may pass, but it's going to be tough for the Selection Committee not to jump at what may be the last opportunity to add another chapter to the Pat/Geno saga. Don't say you weren't warned if it comes to pass.

I agree completely with this (would love to be a fly...). It'll be interesting hearing how the question is answered.

 

[triaddukefan]

I can promise you there will be a moment in the Selection Committee room where someone says, "So, should we send Tennessee to Kingston?," which will be followed by everyone else being sorely tempted to do it. ESPN would love it. URI would love it. If Raleigh ends up with Duke (or possibly even Maryland) as its #2, they'll be happy. Des Moines and Fresno are treks for everyone anyway.

The Raleigh Hotels and restaurants would prefer Maryland over Duke.... but if the NCAA wants people in the stands.... they would prefer Duke over Maryland. I say put MD in Kingston, Duke in Raleigh, Tenn in Iowa, and Kentucky in California.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Maybe Kara has been spending too much time with Peck. Or maybe the ESPN theme is going to be what a wonderful story Tennessee is, regardless of how they actually perform, with Summitt's illness, the dysfunctional coaching situation, etc.

A possible Bingo there! ESPN is into entertainment, smalze, etc., and they do push their commentators to feed the story.

 

[semper]

How can they resist? I'd do it for sure if I were there. What a night...

 

[rington]

Tennessee is one team that I'd be both excited about playing and would rather avoid playing in the tourney at the same time. On the one hand, I think it'd be great for WBB, and if they were paired up in Kingston, I'm buying a ticket and heaven help you if you try to stop me. On the other, that's going to be a weird, emotionally heavy game. Tennessee has been inconsistent and has not fared well when teams stood up to them this year, but they do have a lot of length in the frontcourt. We would have a distinct advantage in the backcourt (provided Simmons doesn't have one of those rare games where she's just on fire), but that Baugh-Johnson-Stricklen lineup is a tough matchup. And those LV players know if they beat UConn, everything said about them the past four years would be taken back. They'd be golden on Rocky Top forever.

Ultimately, I think we'd find a way to win, but that would be a different kind of atmosphere from your typical Elite Eight game, or even typical NC game.

Yes, you don't really know what to expect from them. You know they have talent, and on any given night they can put it all together. On the other hand, they have had some pretty bad losses.

 

[Phil]

What would you use to compare the teams?

How about ESPN/Coaches poll?

Tennessee beats:

• Unranked
• Unranked
• Unranked

UConn beats

• #20
• #21
• #3

 

[doggydaddy]

Yes, you don't really know what to expect from them. You know they have talent, and on any given night they can put it all together. On the other hand, they have had some pretty bad losses.

To say they can do it on any given night, they should have to have done it more than they have.

On any given night, they could underachieve. That makes more sense.

 

[Phil]

AP rankings: 24, 13, 3 vs NR, NR, NR
USA Today/Coach's Poll: 20, 21, 3 vs NR, NR, NR

Oops, you beat me to it, I knew I should read to the end first.

 

[justML]

While totally confident that we would beat TN in the tourney, I'd rather not play them because the ESPN hype would be unsavory to say the least. They would speak incessantly of Pat's illness, bring up all the past accusations and get fans on both sides riled up again.

That game would be less about basketball and more about drama. If it happens I'll have to watch with the sound off.

 

[msf22b]

I agree JustML, it would be a dog and pony show...Prob, that's why it'll happen

 

[HuskyNan]

Oops, you beat me to it, I knew I should read to the end first.

Great minds...