School is winding down, exams are just around the corner and sports are probably the last thing on the minds of UT students right now.
So in case you have not noticed, the Lady Vols softball team — who is 42-6 and first place in the SEC — is on a 19-game winning streak.
This season’s 19-game streak matches the 2011-12 streak but has the opportunity to surpass last year’s longest run.
But the question I pose here is, is it better to lose now and possibly be more prepared for the postseason or to enter postseason play on a win streak?
Personally, I’m not sure that the 2012 Kentucky men’s basketball team wins the national championship if they don’t lose to Vanderbilt in the SEC Championship game. Yes, Kentucky was the best team in the country, but if that team of young players goes into the NCAA Tournament with 24-straight wins I think that Indiana or Louisville could have upset them.
On the other hand, you have teams like UCLA in the late 1960s who didn’t lose all season, or the UCONN women’s basketball teams who won 78 straight games.
When it is boiled down, it is different for every team. The history proves it.
In the case of this Lady Vols team, it would benefit them to lose a game. Maybe even to a bad team during the midweek.
Sure, it would be great for Tennessee to win out, win the SEC Tournament, breeze through regionals and tear through Oklahoma City like a big orange tornado.
But with this team, with five All-Americans and three USA softball members, they have the propensity to lag at times.
They know that they’re good, which can be a positive but can also be harmful.
Against Auburn, a team that is 7-14 in conference play, two weekends ago they didn’t look like the same Tennessee team that gave top-5 Texas A&M a welcoming to the SEC with a series sweep.
They’ve already had one loss like this on the year, a 3-1 loss to the College of Charleston, but proceeded to reel off seven-straight before losing a one-run game to No. 1 Alabama.
There are six games left in the season, all against SEC opponents. This coming weekend Tennessee hosts Arkansas (30-17, 8-10) and travels to Missouri (26-7, 11-6) to close out the regular season.
It is highly possible that the Lady Vols go to Lexington, Ky., for the SEC Tournament with 25-straight wins.
Last season Tennessee went into the SEC Tournament with 18-straight wins, beat Auburn in its first game of the tournament then lost to Florida the following day in extra innings.
Tennessee went on to lose the first game of the NCAA Regionals before winning four in a row to secure a birth in the Super Regionals. From there, the Lady Vols took two of three from SEC foe Georgia to go back to the NCAA Softball College World Series. Where Tennessee lost its first two games.
Winning is great, and for a university that hasn’t experienced a lot of winning in major sports over the previous four years, it is good for fans.
But maybe the best thing for this team is to be shocked and refocused for a postseason run.
— Austin Bornheim is a senior in journalism and electronic media. He can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter at @ABornheim.
