The NCAA women’s basketball tournament selection committee showed a sense of dramatic flair regarding Tennessee.
The Lady Vols were tabbed a No. 3 seed in the River Walk region and assigned No. 14 seed Middle Tennessee State as their first-round opponent. The pairing goes behind a meeting of instate schools. There’s enough backstory for three games.
-The Blue Raiders are led by Anastasia Hayes, a former Lady Vol who transferred in 2019 following her freshman season. The 5-foot-7 redshirt junior guard is second nationally in scoring for Division I, averaging 26.5 points per game.
-Tennessee coach Kellie Harper played AAU basketball for Middle Tennessee coach Rick Insell, who once coached at Shelbyville High.
-The teams have played 21 times previously. They played for seven consecutive years before the series ended in 2013. Insell mentioned that history on Monday night following the unveiling of the 64-team field, referencing Lady Vols coaching legend Pat Summitt.
“Pat Summitt signed a contract to play us when I got the job at Middle Tennessee,” he said. “She played us in Knoxville and Murfreesboro. We played more times in Knoxville but she was willing to bring her team to Murfreesboro, too. For whatever reason, we have not been able to get them back on the schedule since 2013, but we have tried.”
Insell believes that his team is better than a No. 14 seed. The TV people seem to agree. The game has been assigned to the main stage with a 2 p.m. tipoff Sunday on ABC.
“I have a lot of respect for Coach Insell,” said Harper, who became the second coach to lead four different teams to the tournament. “They always have terrific game plans, especially given this much time to prepare. … They’re usually really good at what they do.”
The tournament has its share of Chattanooga-based storylines. North Carolina State, which is coached by former Chattanooga coach Wes Moore, received its first No. 1 seed in program history.
“It’s something that’s great for your program,” Moore said. “It’s great for our players to be recognized in that way. They did a lot of things to earn that opportunity.”
Kentucky, which is led by former Bradley Central star Rhyne Howard, received a No. 4 seed in the same regional as Tennessee. The Wildcats will play Idaho State in the first round.
In playing the Wildcats twice during the regular season, the Lady Vols twice faced former teammate Jazmine Massengill. They also faced former teammates Zaay Green, who’s at Texas A&M, and Evina Westbrook, who transferred to Connecticut. Therefore, they have some experience with playing against someone like Hayes.
“I look at it like just another game because we’ve faced a lot of that this year,” UT center Kasi Kushkituah said. “We’re going to go into it like any other game. I’m just excited to be playing.”
This won’t be just another game for Middle Tennessee State, however. And Hayes is a bigger scoring threat than any former teammate UT has faced. The tournament selection committee likely had that in mind with a matchup that’s made for March.
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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who covered University of Tennessee athletics from 1988-2019. He can be reached at danfleser3@gmail.com.