The lady vols open NCAA Tournament play on Friday again Liberty University out of the Big South Conference. The one and only other time these teams have each other was in this very game exactly twenty years ago.
Both Tennessee and Liberty University finished the '98 season with perfect records, but some how the committee had the Lady Flames and the Lady Vols playing each other in the first round. Tennessee was excited about it, Liberty had a different reaction.
You could have heard a pin drop and everybody's eyes were the size of half dollars, because whoa, we're going to play Pat Summitt, now how did that happen?" said Lady Flames play-by-play announcer Jamie Hall. "Did Liberty deserve to have to go to Tennessee that year? The answer is probably no. If you go by RPI, they probably should have been a 15 seed but it was too juicy of a matchup to put two undefeated teams together. It was the first time it had ever happened in the NCAA Tournament.
The lady Vols went on to dominate the Lady Flames 102-58. Chamique Holdsclaw and Tameka Catchings both finished with double-doubles. They didn't know it at the time, but the Lady Vols were on their way to national title.
"Back then it was a pretty special thing what Tennessee did and to say that you had a great year, OK you lost by 40, but who'd you lose to? We lost to Holdsclaw and we lost to Catchings and we lost to Randall and we lost to Pat Summitt and they went undefeated and wont he national championship. That was a pretty neat thing to say."
Liberty's head coach Carey Green. has some East Tennessee ties as well, he's a native and even had coaching stints at Coalfield and Rockwood High Schools. He also coached at Clemson while Rick Barnes was coaching there.
As far as the matchup goes, Liberty is a young team and they really don't have an opponent in the big south that can replicate the competition that Tennessee brings. The Lady Vols should be able to get the job done in the first round.
Tipoff is at 2:30 p.m. ET at Thompson-Boling Arena.