2020-21 tennessee wbb

When I started getting into sports, Tennessee was women's basketball. The legend Pat Summitt coached all-time greats like Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings, Kara Lawson, and Candace Parker to three straight national championships from 1996-98, back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008, and near-annual Final Four appearances in between.

I grew up vaguely aware Michigan had a women's basketball program. The only way to see them was to go to a game in person. Finding someone else interested in watching one of the athletic department's least successful programs was difficult even if one scraped up the motivation to try. They were ignored in favor of football, hockey, men's basketball, softball, baseball, swimming, wrestling—most everything, really.

The three-seed Tennessee team that took the court yesterday wasn't a peak Summitt squad. The uniforms still read "Tennessee"; Kellie Harper, their second-year head coach, was the starting point guard for those back-to-back-to-back champions; they boasted a national player of the year candidate in Rennia Davis, another all-SEC wing in Rae Burrell, and a 6'5 board-crasher and shot-eraser in Tamari Key.

Six-seed Michigan had never made a Sweet Sixteen in program history; they'd reached the second round only five times. Even in the best of years, this is when the Wolverines can't overcome the talent gap.

Good morning! #goblue #ncaaw pic.twitter.com/WEarX80717

— Michigan Women’s Basketball (@umichwbball) March 24, 2021

Good morning.

[Hit THE JUMP.]

BEATING TENNESSEE BY DOUBLE DIGITS IS A GREAT WAY TO MAKE A PROGRAM'S FIRST-EVER SWEET SIXTEEN, IN MY OPINION.

AND YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER...

IT'S GREAT TO BE IN BOTH SWEET SIXTEENS

This is going to be a quick catchup given the tightly packed schedule of this extended tourney weekend. I'll have a full WBB Weekly post later in the week.

Michigan Beats FGCU in First Round

Michigan's tournament week got off to a rough start. First they drew Florida Gulf Coast, considered a difficult 11-seed because of their five-guard, three-heavy offensive attack. Then starting point guard Amy Dilk didn't make the trip to San Antonio due to vague "medical issues." The Wolverines offense had already sputtered down the stretch and now they had to keep up with a high-octane team without their lead ballhandler. FGCU was one of the most popular first-round upset picks.

The Eagles opened the game with a steal and a three-pointer to extend the auspicious start beyond tipoff. Hailey Brown answered with her own three-pointer assisted by fill-in starter Danielle Rauch, however, and the Wolverines controlled the game from there other than a second quarter blip with Naz Hillmon in foul trouble. A second-half explosion for Leigha Brown put a close game out of reach.

Leigha Brown led all scorers with a season-high 28 points, 24 of which came after halftime. She scored with obscene efficiency, shooting 12/16 from the field and 4/6 from the line. All her makes came from two-point range as she used her size advantage to great effect. It's hard to overstate the importance of Brown's breakthrough; she hadn't shot above 50% from the field in over a month, then did so in a game when Hillmon had trouble finishing and scored a mere 14 points to go with her 13 boards.

While she finished with only two assists, Brown also functioned as the team's lead ballhandler for much of the game in Dilk's stead. Akienreh Johnson also had the ball in her hands quite a bit; she scored 15 points on 14 shooting possessions, pulled down ten rebounds, and dished out a team-high six assists, albeit with five turnovers. Johnson, as usual, also played some of the best defense on the team.

The biggest surprise was the disparity in three-point shooting. Michigan, not a great shooting team, sank 8/20 from beyond the arc. FGCU, which made more threes than any other team in the country this season, hit 9/29 from downtown. Johnson, Rauch, Hailey Brown, and Maddie Nolan all sank two apiece.

Getting into the second round can't be taken for granted given this program's history. Michigan did it without a starter while their best player had a relative off-game. That didn't seem likely after how this team played for the last month or so, and it gives hope for the chance of a second-round upset against three-seed Tennessee.

[After THE JUMP: a quick Tennessee preview]