National analyst drops strong take on the Lady Vols’ chances of making the NCAA Tournament
It’s been an up-and-down season for Kim Caldwell and the Lady Vols.
It’s no secret that it’s been a trying season for Kim Caldwell and the Lady Vols.
Caldwell, who is in her second season as the head coach of the program, took Tennessee to the Sweet 16 a year ago.
The Lady Vols’ tournament run a year ago, combined with an impressive regular season win against UConn and near-upsets against South Carolina and LSU, led to the program entering this season with positive momentum.
Tennessee, however, has struggled to find consistency this season, which has led to some tough moments for Caldwell, including calling her team out for “quitting” after a 43-point loss to South Carolina, and a drive-by handshake with Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin after a loss to the Rebels.
Ultimately, these are things that young coaches go through during their coaching journeys from time to time. Caldwell will learn from the good and bad from this season and grow as a coach.
But that doesn’t change that the Lady Vols could be in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.
National analyst drops strong take on the Lady Vols’ tournament chances
The Lady Vols are currently 16-10 with two regular season games remaining — at LSU and at home against Vanderbilt.
LSU and Vanderbilt are two of the best teams in the country. It’s not fair to pencil those games in as as losses for the Lady Vols — Tennessee could certainly pull off an upset. But the odds suggest the Lady Vols aren’t winning either game.
If Tennessee loses those two games and then loses in the opening round of the SEC Tournament, it would leave them with a 16-13 record on Selection Sunday.
On3’s Talia Goodman, however, believes regardless of what happens over the next 10-14 days that Tennessee will make the tournament.
“There is virtually no chance Tennessee misses the NCAA Tournament,” tweeted Goodman. “All you’ve gotta do is look at their metrics (#22 NET, #28 WAB), but they also have four resume (Quad 1) wins. Yeah, it’s been a challenging stretch, but they’re going dancing.”
The latest projection from CBS Sports has the Lady Vols as a No. 7 seed.
Interestingly, Tennessee has reached the tournament with 13 losses once in the post-Pat Summitt era — in 2016. That team, which was coached by Holly Warlick, ended up reaching the Elite Eight (the Lady Vols’ most recent Elite Eight appearance).
Just get into the tournament, and you never know what might happen.
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