Despite Kim Caldwell having a rocky season in Rocky Top, the Tennessee Lady Vols have found themselves in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 10 seed, taking on the No. 7 seed NC State in the Fort Worth Region on Friday. The other two teams in the Lady Vols ' pod are No. 2 seed Michigan, which is the host, and No. 15 seed Holy Cross.
Despite starting the year as the No. 8 team in the country, the Lady Vols went 16-13 and head into the NCAA Tournament on a seven-game losing streak. Kim Caldwell has a lot of pressure on her to succeed in the Tournament or her job could be in jeopardy. Reports claim that athletic director Danny White is feeling the heat regarding coach Caldwell.
However, if Tennessee is able to go on a deep run, all of that chatter will go away. The Vols have a top recruiting class coming in this fall, and if they can make a big March run, people will quickly forget about the mediocre regular season.
How Tennessee matches up against NC State
Tennessee has already met with NC State once this year, as the Lady Vols fell to the Wolfpack 80-77. Talaysia Cooper had 23 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. Tennessee was up a point on NC State until Khamil Pierre hit a jumper to give NC State the lead with 46 seconds left. Pierre leads the Wolfpack in points per game, averaging 16.8, and she also averages 12 rebounds.
Tennessee will need to take care of the paint in this match-up. The last time these squads met, they gave up 38 points in the paint and 17 second-chance points. It's frustrating that Tennessee is a double-digit seed, but if the Lady Vols can knock off NC and potentially Michigan, it would be an extremely successful first weekend.