New Headline: Female Fan Empowers Rivalry-Strained Team to Victory in Final Gambit
Lady Vols basketball lost 10 of its last 12 games and only has 16 wins on the season. Will Tennessee miss first NCAA Tournament in program history?
Lady Vols basketball hasn't looked like an NCAA Tournament team over the last month of the season. Tennessee (16-13) got blown out by program-record margins at UConn and South Carolina and lost to teams on the bubble like Mississippi State and Texas A&M. The Lady Vols showed slight improvement in the margin of their losses, but they still lost 10 of their last 12 games.
It was the kind of stretch that could knock a team out of the tournament field and begs the question – are Tennessee's NCAA Tournament hopes in danger? Will the Lady Vols miss first NCAA Tournament? Tennessee is the only program in women's college basketball to never miss an NCAA Tournament.
That streak will not be broken this season. If the Lady Vols had won just one game at the SEC Tournament, ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme said March 9 that Tennessee wouldn't be such a big topic of discussion. But the Lady Vols lost to Alabama, extending their losing streak to seven games.
Tennessee is still widely projected as a No. 8 seed, and it's not in danger of missing its first NCAA Tournament ever. Why Tennessee won't miss NCAA Tournament Tennessee's strength of schedule and five Quad 1 wins are part of what's keeping it in the tournament field.