Tennessee Rests Before Title Defense

The Tennessee women began the task of defending their national championship with coach Pat Summitt taking a risk. She gave her players three days off - and immediately had second thoughts.

“That’s unheard of in this program,” Summitt said. “I wanted to pick up the phone and call to say I wanted to change my mind.”

She didn’t, though, and she now has a team that’s refreshed and refocused after a trying schedule that produced something else not usually associated with Tennessee women’s basketball: 10 losses.

The 10th-ranked Vols start NCAA Tournament play Saturday night against Grambling in a Midwest subregional in Knoxville, Tenn.

That’s one of 16 first-round games to be played at eight sites that night. The tournament begins with 16 games Friday night, also at eight locations, with everyone pursuing a berth in the Final Four in Cincinnati.

And, for sure, there will be a different Final Four from those the last two years, when Tennessee, Connecticut, Georgia and Stanford made it both times. Connecticut is in the Midwest Regional with Tennessee, while Georgia and Stanford are in the West.

“I think what it’s going to do is create matchups in the second round and third round that are really going to be difficult matchups, said Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma. “If ever there was going to be a time where you see people sneak into the regional finals or Final Four, I think this is going to be one of those years.”

Tennessee (23-10) will be playing for the first time since March 2, when it lost to Auburn in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament.

They played everyone in the final top 10 except No. 4 North Carolina and met No. 5 Louisiana Tech and No. 9 LSU twice.

“I kept reminding myself and my staff of the schedule and the demands we placed on this team, our backcourt situation with the injuries, the fact (point guard) Kellie Jolly is playing 38 minutes a game,” Summitt said. “If nothing else, our guards needed the break. There’s been a lot of pressure on them and they’ve handled it well.”