NORMAN, Okla. – Loree Moore stood to the side of the Lloyd Noble Center’s court during Saturday’s practice, watching and rehabbing her injured knee as her teammates prepared for their meeting with Baylor.
For Moore and for Tennessee, everything is different this postseason.
And yet, in some ways, everything is still the same for a program where expectations each year demand nothing less than a national title.
The loss of Moore to an ACL tear on Jan. 26 left Tennessee without its anchor and without a true point guard. That loss, however, doesn’t prevent opponents from seeing Tennessee as a program lined with history but firmly entrenched in the present.
“When you think of Tennessee and Pat Summitt, you think of women’s basketball,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson said. “When I look at Tennessee this year, there’s not a Tamika (Catchings) or Chamique (Holdsclaw) or any of those great, great players. What’s really impressive to me is that they are playing without a true point guard.
“Those girls are filling in and different people are bringing it up the floor and they haven’t missed a beat and that is what great programs are all about.”
Adjusting to life without Moore wasn’t easy for Tennessee, which stumbled through the games that followed. But sophomore guard Shanna Zolman, one of several players stepping into time at the point position, said the Lady Vols simply had to accept the loss and move on.
“It was such a shock for us that we kind of struggled through the next couple of games,” Zolman said. “Losing a player the caliber of Loree is obviously huge. Now, she’s doing her part working hard in rehab and we’re doing our part working hard on the court. We just had to accept the loss – step up and play like champions.”
Whether Tennessee continues to advance in tournament play will be partially determined by how the team reacts to its image. Six national titles in 14 trips to the Final Four have established Tennessee as a program annually marked with a bull’s eye.
While living with such lofty expectations can be difficult, the legacy is also what drew most players to Tennessee in the first place.
“The prestige of the program is part of why I came here,” junior forward Shyra Ely said. “It is special to be a part of a program like this. The history is just so strong.”
With the prestige, though, Ely knows, also comes pressure.
“Everyone plays their best game against us,” Ely said. “Sometimes teams play like the game against us is their national championship. People show up to play when they see us.
“We just have to work on what we need to do as a team, both defensively and offensively.”
When the season is complete, part of the Lady Vols’ success will be attributed back to a turning point in the season that once was thought to be a turn for the worse – Moore’s season-ending injury.
“When we lost Loree, we recognized that individually, across the board, we had to get better,” Summitt said. “Players stepped up. Sometimes, players don’t step up unless they face adversity.
“I was talking to Loree and told her that a big part of the success we are enjoying is because of her injury.”
