SEC Brackets and Picks

FIRST ROUND - Thursday, March 3
Game 1 #8 Florida vs. #9 Alabama 1:00 p.m.
Game 2 #7 Auburn vs. #10 Kentucky 3:15 p.m.
Game 3 #5 Ole Miss vs. #12 South Carolina 7:00 p.m.
Game 4 #6 Mississippi State vs. #11 Arkansas 9:15 p.m.
SECOND ROUND - Friday, March 4
Game 5 #1 LSU vs. Game 1 winner 1:00 p.m.
Game 6 #2 Tennessee vs. Game 2 winner 3:15 p.m.
Game 7 #4 Georgia vs. Game 3 winner 7:00 p.m.
Game 8 #3 Vanderbilt vs. Game 4 winner 9:15 p.m.
SEMINFINALS - Saturday, March 5
Game 9 Game 5 winner vs. Game 7 winner 7:00 p.m.
Game 10 Game 6 winner vs. Game 8 winner 9:15 p.m.
FINALS - Sunday, March 6
Game 11 Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner 7:00 p.m.

My picks -
Alabama over Florida
Without Mosby on the Florida roster Alabama has an excellent chance for an upset

Auburn over Kentucky
Auburn took Kentucky by 15 on Feb 13 and Kentucky has lost 6 or their last 7 games

Ole Miss over South Carolina
This one reqires no explanation

Miss State over Arkansas
Miss St lost at Arkansas by 12 in January but they have won three of their last four games and played pretty well at Tennessee on Senior night. Arkansas has lost 4 straight and 6 of their last 7 SEC games

Alabama vs LSU
LSU easily

Auburn vs Tennessee
Tennessee in a good game

Ms State vs Vanderbilt
MS State in a mild upset to insure an NCAA bid. They took Vandy to OT and won 3 of their last four.

Ole Miss vs Georgia
Georgia wins

Tennessee over MS. State in the semi-finals
LSU over Georgia

TENNESSEE MEETS LSU in the Finals.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Freshman Finale

Alexis Hornbuckle and Nikki Anosiki were a huge factor in the Lady Vols final season game at Alabama.

55 Anosike, Nicky...... c 6-8 0-0 7-8 4 0 4 3 19
14 Hornbuckle, Alexis.. 5-5 1-1 6-6 3 2 5 5 17

Anosiki's 19 and Hornbuckle's 17 were both game highs.
Hornbuckle was named Player of the Game and she was perfect shooting.
Alexis even used all of her fouls.

With three top freshmen out for the season and sophomore Sidney Spencer joining them on Knoxville Kneedy row it was comforting to see that Nikki and Alexis have the ability to step up their games to this level.

Alabama shot extremely well in the second half to keep the game interesting (57%)
It was Senior night and their coach Rick Moody was on the bench for the last time in Tuscaloosa.

Sa'de Smiles

SA'DE SMILES

Awhile back in an interview Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood was asked what she missed most about California and home. Among the familiar family and friends and eternal sunshine she listed her favorite food; Hamburgers from the IN-N-OUT BURGER

As a resident of Redondo Beach and San Pedro California for a number of years I too developed an affinity for the IN-N-OUT Burger. When Sa'de's tendonitis flared up again I decided to do something for her.

I e-mailed the IN-N-OUT 'contact us' site telling them about Sa'de and how she missed them. To my great surprise someone called me back within the hour.

IN-N-OUT mailed me a 'care package' containing wrappers, bags, logos and other IN-N-OUT stuff with a nice letter wishing Sa'de a speedy recovery. I gave the package to Sa'de last night after the Mississippi State game along with a copy of the picture above taken at Boost-Her Night last fall.

I told Sa'de that it wasn't as good as the real thing but when she gets burgers in Knoxville she can put them in the IN-N-OUT wrappers and bags and pretend.

I was rewarded with a hug and a huge Sa'de smile.

I've been smiling all day.

Thank you Can I open a franchise in Knoxville?

MeanieHeads on Senior Night

As the teams left the court for half-time


The Brain Trust looked decidedly discontent


But the MeanieHeads - wearing Senior Jerseys - put the Mean Mojo on
and helped motivate the Lady Vols to a 22 point win over Mississippi State

MeanieHeads anonymous possibly represented by
LongTallShorty
Oaknot
CTKell
Ellvaceland
BackSeatGrumpy
JollyParton
CrispyWhit
RefLisa Readabook
and AuraBob among others.

The names have been changed to protect the public.
.

Camp Summitt - not roughing it

The barbecue pit/kitchen is behind the garage type door to the right.
The top opens up and the bottom is a counter/bar. The area just to the left with the huge fire place is for eating and partying.
To the left the doors lead in to the Home Theater and media room.


The area to the far left has sleeping accomodations for the entire team.
To the right is the entrance and bathroom facilities.
The hot tub is in the foreground next to the pool.


This is the state of the art media room under construction.
Sound and video are also routed in to the party/picnic area outside and to poolside.

Pat's home is across the way from this building and both the home and Camp Summitt are on the lakeshore. It's a one of a kind facility that sets UT apart from everyone.

Pat and her husband spent a great deal of money to build this addition to share with the team.

NEARING CRUNCH TIME

As the season speeds toward the conference tourney's and the NCAA's excitement builds. Everything that has gone before is simply prelude to this wonderful time of year.

The WCBB message boards are heating up:
Visit THE SUMMITT
THE BONEYARD
or the ESPN WCBB boards to join in the fun.

A new forum has been opened at VOLUNTEERS FOR AMERICA for WCBB fans of every team. This is a 'free-for-all' board where no posts are deleted although some may be moved to SMACK CITY or NEVER NEVER LAND if they run afoul of the 'serious smack and flame rule' and contain profane, racial, sexist, or over the top personal attacks. Anyone who wants to make a fool of themselves is welcome to mix it up on VFA.

Posts from negative fans like BackSeatLimogirl are welcomed as long as they understand that the gloves come off of those who oppose them as well. It's not for the faint of heart.

We look forward to a great run at the National Championship for the Lady Vols.
Pat Summitt has done her usual superb job getting the team ready for the push to the Championship.

Rubick's Vols

Starting 5's for the Lady Vols this year

SPEECHLESS !!!!!!

Dook Devil Blues

The Five in a line "offense"


At least there is ONE thing we can count on
Miss Automatic at the line.


Players and the sitters go their separate ways


Can anybody figure this out??
From "They call yeller bammers the crimson lied; call me dookin blues":

Got the Dook Devil Blues
Miss this shot and we lose
We can't take more bad news
Got the miserable Dook Devil Blues.

At least the Cheerleaders looked good


Christmas lights shine on the Tennessee River
Best view of the night.

A Work of Art .... UT 71 - GWU 41

Our Lady Vols in the Light


Sa'de & Candace ......... Sybil


The Sensational Shyra


Maria & Beanster with a friend


Ginko's Ablaze in the Light


Candace & Alex all smiles & Brittany at the Line


City Lights on the Tennessee River at Night from TBA

ESPN 2 Screen Shots from NCSTATE game

The Super Six Freshmen

Candace in the Dunk Contest

Candace looks on

Injury Row

Move over Sid - we can't see

Lady Vols 77 - West Coast Allstars - 36

Beautiful Autumn Afternoon outside TBA
The Ginko's were yellow
The Maples & the court were ablaze in Red and ORANGE
Dr. Boling was in attendance at the game.


Beanster & Fido's skinmom hard at work


Candace let's her hair down & was looking GOOD
Alex still on crutches


Warming up


Rugby Scrum?


Spreading the floor & creating space


Sid & Loree worked hard


We had tiny purple cheerleaders at halftime


Alexis suffered a scraped left arm and hand in the 2nd half.
The staff was partially through providing medical attention when WCA started bringing the ball upcout. Before the bandaid could be applied Alexis says "I've got to go!" and dashed back on the court.


Tye'sha, Nicky, Aubrey, Sidney, Loree, Candace, & Brittany look on as Coach Summitt coaches.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT IN THE "COMMENTS" SECTION
............ CLICK ON "COMMENTS" in the next line. Thanks

LV Basketball Time in Tennessee

A few views of the November opener against Carson Newman


IT'S LADY VOLS BASKETBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE
Loree, Shanna, Shyra, Sidney, & Tye'sha prepare to take the court


Lady Vols on offense early in the game


With 15 on the bench it's hard to see Coach Summitt.


The view from Thompson-Boling after the 105 to 47 win.


Brittany Loree Nicky & Shanna


Alexis Dominique Shanna & Shyra

HOME TEAM: Tennessee 0-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Spencer, Sidney..... * 4-8 1-1 0-0 1 4 5 2 9 1 0 0 1 23
05 Zolman, Shanna...... * 3-5 2-3 2-2 2 2 4 1 10 2 0 0 3 19
21 Moore, Loree........ * 3-6 1-3 2-4 2 1 3 0 9 3 2 0 2 22
43 Ely, Shyra.......... * 9-14 1-1 1-3 1 6 7 0 20 2 1 0 0 26
50 Fluker, Tye'sha..... * 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 6 10 2 4 4 0 1 2 20
12 Canon, Abby......... 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
13 Redding, Dominique.. 6-7 1-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 13 0 1 0 0 12
14 Hornbuckle, Alexis.. 5-8 1-2 3-4 2 5 7 2 14 7 2 3 5 21
25 Jackson, Brittany... 5-9 3-4 1-2 1 1 2 1 14 1 0 1 1 19
31 Guastalli, Aubrey... 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4
33 Dosty, Sybil........ 4-5 0-0 0-1 3 3 6 1 8 1 0 2 1 10
55 Anosike, Nicky...... 1-3 0-0 2-5 1 2 3 5 4 4 1 2 2 20
TEAM................ 2 3 5
Totals.............. 42-73 10-18 11-23 19 36 55 15 105 26 7 9 17 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 18-36 50.0% 2nd Half: 24-37 64.9% Game: 57.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 8-13 61.5% Game: 55.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-12 50.0% 2nd Half: 5-11 45.5% Game: 47.8% 6

Special kudos to Dominique for her 6 for 7 shooting and 13 points in 12 minutes

Lady Vols edge LSU for Number one ranking

From ESPN.com news services
The Southeastern Conference boasts three teams in the top five of the ESPN/USA Today preseason women's basketball poll released Wednesday: No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 LSU and No. 5 Georgia.


The Lady Vols, who got 15 of the 40 first-place votes and 944 points, also were picked as the preseason No. 1 in the SEC's voting and in some "unofficial" preseason polls.


Just 10 points behind, LSU got 10 first-place votes to go with its No. 1 nod from SLAM, and Texas was right behind the Tigers at No. 3 with nine votes for the top spot. The Longhorns got the No. 1 nod in Athlon's preseason rankings.


Defending champion Connecticut got the remaining six first-place votes in the coaches' poll and is ranked No. 4. The Huskies topped the Lady Vols 70-61 in April to win their third straight national title.


Duke, Stanford, Baylor, Ohio State and Texas Tech round out the top 10, with the last two tied for ninth. The Buckeyes weren't ranked at the end of the 2003-04 season.


Notre Dame is No. 11, followed by North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Minnesota and Purdue. Interestingly, Vandy, which is ranked eight below Georgia by the national coaches, was the SEC's pick for preseason No. 3 over the Lady Bulldogs.


No matter how you stack the top teams, though, the SEC looks fully loaded.

Rankings: Week 1 Preseason
RANK TEAM RECORD PTS PVS
1. Tennessee (15) 0-0 944 2
2. LSU (10) 0-0 934 3
3. Texas (9) 0-0 908 10
4. Connecticut (6) 0-0 883 1
5. Georgia 0-0 2 6
6. Duke 0-0 7 5
7. Stanford 0-0 4 7
8. Baylor (688) 0-0 1 1
9. Texas Tech (555) 0-0 1 7
9. Ohio State 0-0 5
11. Notre Dame (483) 0-0 2 NR
12. North Carolina (472) 0-0 2 1
13. Vanderbilt (468) 0-0 1 3
14. Minnesota 0-0 5 4
15. Purdue 0-0 0 9
16. Michigan State 0-0 7 NR
17. Rutgers 0-0 4 NR
18. Boston College (259) 0-0 1 4
18. Kansas State (259) 0-0 1 5
20. DePaul (232) 0-0 2 5
21. Penn State 0-0 6 6
22. Louisiana Tech (165) 0-0 1 2
23. Maryland 0-0 3 NR
24. Arizona 0-0 7 NR
25. Oklahoma (139) 0-0 1 8

Freshmen at Boost-Her Night

6 of the 7 - Sade had to go to class
Abby, Nicki, Alexis, Alex, Candace & Sybil


Nicki says she's put on 20 pounds of muscle and she loves the food in Tennessee


Nicki & Alexis witty and spirited


ALEX needs a little help from Candace without crutches


SADE SMILES