Email This StoryProminent coaches to face off Sunday
Nov. 13, 2009
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By Chris Derrett
Sports writer
Baylor's Lady Bears and Tennessee's Lady Volunteers share many similarities entering this season: high expectations and prolific head coaching, but also youth that remain unproven as a team.
On Sunday the two teams meet in Knoxville for the State Farm Tip-Off Classic, both eager to show their full strength and potential to the ESPN2 audience.
Missing four of the top five scorers from 2008-09, Baylor faced many question marks in the offseason. Having the No. 1 ranked recruiting class certainly helped coach Kim Mulkey's cause, but teaching her system to almost an entire team's worth of players has been challenging.
"You like the challenge because you feel like what you're working with is a talented group of kids," Mulkey said. "It has been a long time since we have had this much youth."
Of the Lady Bears' youth, none has received more attention than Brittney Griner. She played 44 minutes over her team's two exhibition games, scoring 38 points and blocking eight shots.
Junior Kelli Griffin has the most 2008-09 experience on this year's squad, averaging 29 minutes per game last season, and is followed by Melissa Jones' 24. Both started as guards in 2009 exhibition play and provide on-court leadership.
"I think it gets us riled up. There's that bit of excitement that we all have, playing at Tennessee in front of all that orange and Pat Summit," Jones said about the Lady Bears' first SEC matchup since beating Louisiana State University in 2006. Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt responds to Baylor's challenge with her own youth. Her 2008-09 Lady Vols, whose starting lineup consists of three freshmen, a sophomore and a senior, dropped their first-round NCAA tournament game to Ball State.
From 6-foot-6 sophomore center Kelley Cain down to 5-foot-2 sophomore guard Briana Bass, Tennessee returns hungry. With such an inside presence and a team that sank 163 3-pointers last year, they have the right tools for the job.
"I don't think many teams are going to have an answer for (Cain). She's a tremendous player and (Tennessee) does a great job of getting the ball to her," Delta State coach Sandra Rushing said after a 79-46 exhibition loss to the Lady Vols in Knoxville.
While the game has little bearing on how their teams will ultimately finish their seasons, neither Mulkey nor Summitt overlooks the Sunday showdown's magnitude.
"I am honored that we were asked. I think it is an honor for Baylor University to be considered one of the elite programs in the country," Mulkey said.
Summitt expects both the arena and television audience to see a competitive game. "With such a great opponent coming in, not only will it be an exciting environment for women's basketball, but I think it's also going to be two teams battling from beginning to end," Summitt said.
Neither team is a stranger to the State Farm Tip-Off Classic. Tennessee has made six appearances, the last a 2002 win over Oklahoma, and Baylor played in the 2004 and 2005 event.
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