Why you won’t want to miss the next game of Kim Caldwell’s Lady Vols

On December 15, 2024By Littum

It’s a busy time of year, so you’ve probably already made plans for Saturday. I’m guessing your itinerary doesn’t include spending the afternoon at the Food City Center.

My goal is to change minds.

As longtime followers of this column know, I don’t make a habit of telling readers how to spend their free time. Oh, I can occasionally encourage them to send an email my way if I don’t get much column feedback. But that’s just when I fancy a raise (my supervisors value reader engagement).

I will not benefit in any way if you choose to attend the Lady Vols-North Carolina Central Women’s Basketball Saturday at 14. It’s not about me. It’s about you.

You might regret missing a historic event—just like I thought you might kick yourself for not being at Neyland Stadium in September when the Vols faced MAC punching bag Kent State.

As it turned out, I was disappointed with what happened. UT coach Josh Heupel apparently experienced a sudden sense of compassion for his competition and resisted the urge to score 200 points on the Golden Flashes. The Vols settled for a routine 71-0 game.

I had scouted Kent State just enough to realize it might be one of the least competent teams to ever set foot in Neyland. My assessment was confirmed during the season when Kent State lost all 12 games.

In fact, I was so mesmerized by its ineptitude that I watched three of its midweek games from start to finish. One of my most cherished moments occurred in Kent State’s 38-17 loss to Akron. Coach Kenni Burns called timeout with several seconds to play in the first half, allowing Akron — which was out of timeouts — to set up for a field goal.

I apologize for getting off course and changing sports, but there is a common thread. North Carolina Central could be the women’s basketball equivalent of Kent State in football.

The Eagles were 0-10 prior to Wednesday’s game against Presbyterian. They lost to Clemson by 58 points, to Florida State by 62, to North Carolina by 76 and to LSU by 87 (131-44).

These results tell me that something special—perhaps a record-setting—could happen at the Food City Center on Saturday.

Coach Kim Caldwell’s team was not built to keep scores down. It is designed to score as many points as quickly as it can, and the scoring rate does not drop significantly when she substitutes.

So I’ve checked the Lady Vol’s record book. They scored 136 points at Puerto Rico-Mayaguez in November 2002. They made 58 field goals at Hawaii Pacific in December 1985. Those team records could be in jeopardy Saturday.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Tennessee scored 150 points. Wouldn’t you want to be there for something as epic as that?

Don’t worry about missing the first Tennessee basket. But you should be there for the last one so you can get a cell phone picture of the scoreboard.

And maybe record the history of the Lady Vols.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He can be reached at 865-342-6284 or [email protected]. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.