At the risk of duplicating opinion here..... on the last few postings..... yes, I think Tennessee is making strides toward a return to WCBB prominence...... they have a ways to go though...... it is like Missouri..... you have to "show me"..... and prove that they belong in the echelon of the best...... crem de la crem..... As I have said before, I think Holly has made a good start..... 12-13 certainly was an improvement over 11-12...... it must be hard with Pat looking over your shoulder..... and I am sorry...... all the chatter about what an inspiration she is to be there every day.....etc.... I still think that is a distraction to the atmosphere..... though that is mere opinion.... I am not there.... Imagine John Wooden taking an office and attending practices when Gene Bartow took over..... it is very hard to disassociate the monarch from the program......
On the roster, Mercedes has to prove herself..... ranking means very little when you transfer to the college environment..... we have seen examples at our program of top-5 players coming in and dominating not to the extent that they were billed coming in...... She may turn into a superstar..... but still she is unproven..... same with Diamond at UNC or anyone else..... I am of the opinion that they have untapped talent..... on the front line and at guard spot as well..... that they need to develop..... Meaghan S (love to harp on her) needs to still be developed..... and it better be this year because she is graduating..... just as Moriah needed to learn to not always go on one speed and take in the pace of the game..... MS needs to playmake more than shoot .... it will help her team..... she is better than she was last year, but Geno would have her on the bench until she learned how to play team ball......
One last thing on UT..... Holdsclaw..... I wonder where her court case stands..... she has had some demons..... God Bless her! I hope that she is doing OK and that she is on the road to a productive life...... she was truly one of the great ones at UT.....
And, on WCBB in general..... despite the Louisville surge late this past year in the tournament..... WCBB is STILL very top heavy, so I am not that impressed when a team is talked about as "Top 10" or Top 25..... IF you are not UC, Duke, Stanford, or maybe ND, UT, and UNC if they develop, you can shut the door on the national title game..... it is changing, the landscape, but ever so slowly..... Even though I am not in favor of resuming the UT rivalry, because it wouldn't help our program...... it would, nonetheless, help elevate the image of our overall WCBB game, and hype the interest of the mainstream as it did initially in the late 90s....... WCBB is such a great game..... and I hope it continues to grow..