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Tennessee Lady Vols: Five things that happened since last facing UConn

By Caleb Calhoun

TAMPA, FL - APRIL 08: The Tennessee Lady Volunteers celebrate with the trophy after their 64-48 win against the Stanford Cardinal during the National Championsip Game of the 2008 NCAA Women's Final Four at St. Pete Times Forum April 8, 2008 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL - APRIL 08: The Tennessee Lady Volunteers celebrate with the trophy after their 64-48 win against the Stanford Cardinal during the National Championsip Game of the 2008 NCAA Women's Final Four at St. Pete Times Forum April 8, 2008 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images
Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images /

After 13 years, the Tennessee Lady Vols face the UConn Huskies. Here are things that have happened since the women’s basketball Volunteers last met them.

Women’s college basketball has changed so much since the Tennessee Lady Vols last faced the UConn Huskies. That also holds true for both programs. In fact, the changes and transitions have been dramatic, especially on Rocky Top.

UT last faced UConn back in 2007. Beyond just the Tennessee Lady Vols and the coaches, the athletic departments merged, the football program saw historical failures and the men’s basketball program fired two different coaches for NCAA violations.

George W. Bush was still president, Phillip Fulmer still coached football, Bruce Pearl still coached men’s basketball, and Jim Calhoun coached UConn men’s basketball. Ironically, Randy Edsall, UConn’s current football coach, was there back then too, but he has gone back to UConn after a five-year stint with the Maryland Terrapins that ended with his firing in 2015.

Simply put, both athletic programs have undergone major changes. But what are the changed related to the women’s basketball programs specifically? What are the big things that have happened since they last met?

It’s worth noting that the Lady Vols are actually on a three-game winning streak against the Huskies, and they won the last meeting 70-64 in Hartford. The last time UConn beat them was Diana Taurasi’s senior year in the national championship game in 2004.

Obviously, measuring the success of the programs since the rivalry ended is a different story, though. And UConn still leads the series all-time 13-9. But we’re going off on a tangent. A lot has changed since that 2007 meeting.

In this post, we’re going to break that down. Some of it is light, some of it is good for either side, and some of it is tragic for everybody. But there is no ignoring the impact of these stories. So let’s go ahead and break them down. These are the five big changes that have happened since the Tennessee Lady Vols last faced the UConn Huskies.