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The Lady Vols women's basketball team was welcomed by the public at Thompson-Boling arena on Wednesday, where they celebrated the team's eighth national championship.
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TAMPA, Fla. - The Tennessee Lady Vols didn't just win their eighth national championship Tuesday night. They also might have laid the foundation for the next title.
UT's No. 1-ranked recruiting class made a name for itself in high school by scoring points. Those recruits were reminded Tuesday that the Lady Vols have made a name for themselves on defense.
UT won another national title by forcing 25 turnovers and holding Stanford to 37 points below its NCAA tournament average in a 64-48 victory. Coach Pat Summitt couldn't ask for a better instructional video for her six incoming freshmen.
"There's no doubt we will impress upon them the success we've had by making defense and rebounding a priority," Summitt said Wednesday. "They will get plenty of information about that.
"I'm sure they were all watching. Some of them were at the game."
They saw UT's defense at its best.
"If you don't play defense and rebound, you don't have a chance to win a national championship," Summitt said. "Look at the shooting percentages. They go down in tournament play."
No Baugh Update: Summitt said she still didn't know the extent of freshman Vicki Baugh's knee injury. Baugh was scheduled for a medical examination after the team arrived in Knoxville.
Baugh suffered a knee injury in the second half of the national championship game and had to be helped off the court.
Baugh, a 6-foot-4 post player, played well in a reserve role in the Final Four and figures prominently in next season's plans.
In a combined 27 minutes against LSU and Stanford in the Final Four, Baugh made four of five shots, scored 10 points and had seven rebounds.
Big Apple Power: "Rocky Top" wasn't the only appropriate song for UT's back-to-back national championships. "New York, New York" was almost as fitting.
New Yorkers Nicky Anosike and Shannon Bobbitt both excelled on college basketball's biggest stage.
In the four Final Four games, Bobbitt made 12 of 26 3-pointers, averaged 10.7 points and had seven steals.
Anosike averaged 8.7 points, 9.5 rebounds and had 12 steals and five blocked shots.
Ratings: Television ratings for the championship game and the entire tournament were up from last year.
Tuesday's game on ESPN earned a 3.0 rating, up 30 percent from the 2.3 for last season's Tennessee-Rutgers game.
For the entire tournament, games on ESPN averaged a 1.4 rating, compared with 1.0 in 2007. The average rating for games on ESPN2 increased from 0.5 to 0.6.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Posted by johnlg00 on April 10, 2008 at 8:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
HA! Someone on this board said yesterday that the Lady Vols championship wouldn't get more than a 1.0 rating! I don't know ESPN was hoping for, but I was pretty sure that the general sporting public would realize that there were several significant story-lines playing out in this game: Lady Vols' eighth; Candace's swan-song in orange; Candace's shoulder injury; CandAce V. CandIce; Stanford's return to the championship game; etc.
Posted by rockytopron on April 10, 2008 at 10:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Defense does win championships.
2007 Final Four
UT 56 - UNC 50
UT 63 - Rutgers 49
2008 Final Four
UT 47 - LSU 46
UT 64 - Stanford 48
No opponent scored more than 50 points!
Posted by johnlg00 on April 10, 2008 at 10:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks for the reminders, rockytopron! And look at the names on the short side of that ledger--women's basketball royalty, every one of them! Maybe some of the talking heads will retrieve that little factoid NEXT year when the Lady Vols go for the 3-peat. Oh well, a guy can dream, can't he?
Posted by orangebloodgmc on April 10, 2008 at 10:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yes, we sure can dream, johnlg00. Obviously losing 5 starters is a lot of experience gone, but expectations will be lower and maybe the young team can play loose and have fun with it.
Also don't forget that while Candace did great things for us, sometimes more amazing things happen right AFTER a Candace or a Peyton moves on.
Posted by chkrbrd on April 10, 2008 at 12:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Not that any of us really care, but bet all this hoopla and coverage of the LVols, plus the draft success, plus CP being first ever to come out early, plus the bright LV future, has all gotta be just KILLIN Geno...
It's a Lady Vol world right now, and I love it.
Posted by rrvolfan on April 10, 2008 at 8:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
JOHN ADAMS BYLINE = IGNORE ARTICLE
Posted by BigOrangeVol on April 13, 2008 at 12:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
3.0 is around 3.5 million households then you can multiply that by the 2-4 viewers per household. So somewhere between 7-14 million people watched us win #8! THAT'S how you recruit!!!
Posted by tennesseehogfan1 on April 13, 2008 at 8:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
well once again,here we gp. I wish someone else could win this @#$#@@ championship.Year after year,I'm still praying for UT to play UCONN. They can beat UT I think that's whats really behind Pat not playing them anymore. Oh yeah,let's see how goo Candace is in the big leagues.
Posted by 98reax on May 23, 2008 at 11:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yea, it took me more than a month to see your moronic post, hogfan, but you have to feel pretty sloppy about it too. To be the best, a team must beat the best. Your remark about Pat sounds rather asinine since UConn was unable to advance to play the best. Hello, are you listening? Pat won it all! Genot went home...whining
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