Vols would like to summit in Tampa
Through the peaks and valleys of their senior season, Cierra Burdick and Ariel Massengale have been driven by one question:
What better place to end their Tennessee careers than the Final Four in Tampa, Florida, where legendary Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt won her last national championship?
Two more wins and the circle will be complete for the Tennessee class of 2015, who played as freshmen for Summitt before she retired. The quest continues today in a Sweet 16 game at the Arena against Gonzaga.
“I think it would be a great thing for her,” Massengale said. “She gave us the opportunity to be able to wear the Orange. And something that we would love to do for ourselves, for our program, for the rest of our teammates.”
Summitt’s legacy is almost unmatched in collegiate sports: 16 conference titles, 18 Final Four appearances and eight NCAA titles. She’s the winningest coach in college basketball, at any level, women’s or men’s.
But for her former players and coaches, it’s not about the hardware; it’s about the soft touches. To this day, they stay close with Summitt, who remains on staff as head coach emeritus and watches many Tennessee home games in person.
Said her successor, Holly Warlick: “I think probably the most important thing that Pat gave me was her value system and how you treat people and you’re tough on them. And it’s tough love, but then you got to show them that you care.”
Finding a happy medium
The players get the message: Let your play do the talking.
If the teams at the Spokane regional needed any reminders about the pitfalls of social media, they got a big one this week from Daxter Miles Jr. of West Virginia.
On Wednesday, Miles boldly predicted a Sweet 16 men’s win over unbeaten Kentucky, which took notice and took it out on the Mountaineers on Thursday night, 78-39.
“That completely backfired,” Maryland’s Lexie Brown observed Friday morning as the Terrapins prepared for today’s game against former Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke.
Before moving to the Big Ten this year, the Terrapins lost their last three meetings with the Blue Devils. Brown may be eager for revenge, but she chose her words carefully.
“We have relationships with a lot of these players that we play against but we’re at that age where you know not to say too much on social media,” Brown said.
At most programs, the players are coached to think before they tweet. At Gonzaga, they’re reminded throughout the season that they represent not only themselves, but the school and the team, coach Lisa Fortier said.
“At Maryland, school officials help us with what to say and what not to say,” said guard Laurin Mincy, who added that the Terrapins will be “off social media completely until we win both of our games or until our season is over.
“So we got to stay locked in and you can’t let the outside world influence how you play.”
Duke coach Joanne McCallie takes it one step further and doesn’t use Twitter, preferring Facebook “because it’s nice, you get to like everything.”
At Tennessee, the school has rules in place: curfews “where you shut that stuff off,” said guard Ariel Massengale, who added that players keep each other in line. “If we see a teammate tweet or put something out there, we are very quick to call them or text them … you need to take that down.”
Ticket sales soaring
To no one’s surprise, ticket sales have soared since Gonzaga qualified for the Spokane regional.
Prior to the Zags’ 76-64 win Sunday at Oregon State, the event had sold 3,700 tickets. By Tuesday that number was up to 6,000, and by Friday, sales had passed 8,000.
The Arena seats about 11,300 for basketball.
Spokane, which hosted a regional two years ago, was not the original site for 2015, but was named to replace Sacramento when a scheduling conflict forced a change.
“It was a happy accident for us,” Fortier said.