COLLEGE BASKETBALL ‘87-88 : National Women’s Preview : Tennessee Is the Team to Beat, At Least for Now

All this talk about parity in women’s college basketball. Phooey. What’s really happening is a group of four or five dominating teams are taking turns winning the national championship.

USC, which hogged the trophy for two seasons, handed off to Texas which handed off to Tennessee last season.

On the strength of its national championship season, Tennessee is leading most of the preseason rankings. But it’s the usual list of suspects after that--Texas, Louisiana Tech, Georgia, Auburn and Western Kentucky are all in the top ten. Locally, USC has handed off, reluctantly, to Cal State Long Beach, which is in the top five of most polls.

Tennessee’s championship was especially satisfying for Coach Pat Summitt. After having taken her team to the Final Four seven times unsuccessfully, Summitt and her Volunteers were starting to develop a complex.

“It’s a tremendous hurdle, believe me,” Summitt said. Eleven players who were on that championship team return. “Now, players go into the postseason thinking that they belong there. I think it’s important to talk about winning the national championship. But it’s also important to put it in the past.”

What may be a thing of the past is the Vols’ inside game. Gone are Karla and Carla: Karla Horton, a starting forward, got married in July and won’t be back with the team; Carla McGhee, who would have replaced Horton, was involved in a car accident that broke her jaw in five places, fractured her cheekbone and damaged her hip.

Summitt said that unless McGhee’s recovery is in the miraculous vein, the sophomore may be a redshirt.

Thus, Tennessee, a team that used to be a terror inside, will be thin in the paint. The surprise may be with the perimeter shooters and the quickness from the Vols--two strange and rare attributes of a Summitt team.

“We have ten quality players, but we really can’t afford an injury to our key people,” Summitt said.

The key for the Vols will no doubt be guard Tonya Edwards, who was the Final Four MVP as a freshman last season.

Edwards shared that award with Clarissa Davis of Texas, who is just one of a handful of award-winning athletes on Jody Conradt’s team who were around when the Longhorns won the championship in 1986.

This is not a tall Texas team, all five Longhorn starters are 6 foot 2 or shorter. That’s because of a knee injury to 6-3 Doreatha Conwell and an illness to 6-4 Susan Anderson.

As usual, Conradt’s team has other assests. “This team can definitely rack up points,” she said.

Davis averaged 18.6 points a game last season and Beverly Williams (13.5) and others of the seven returners will help the point total. Look for Texas to run a wicked fast break and a smothering pressure defense.

While Texas and Tennessee are the clear cut favorites, coaches around the country warn about the danger of overlooking Auburn and Western Kentucky.

Auburn was 31-2 last season and has height, speed and the ability to score a ton of points. “The best team, in my mind, is Auburn,” Long Beach Coach Joan Bonvicini said. “They have good players coming back and have good depth.”

Western Kentucky landed the high school recruit, Terri Mann of San Diego. The fact that Mann is being compared to former USC great Cheryl Miller is testimony to her promise.

Meanwhile, in the Texas hill country, the poker-faced Conradt is clearly not telling all she knows.

“It’s going to be an interesting year,” Conradt said. “Things are going to change as the season progresses. I think Tennessee should sit there (No. 1) on the basis of last year, at least until someone knocks them off.”

But will Tennessee win again?

“I think you better not put a lot of money on it,” Conradt said. “It’s kind of like the stock market. The safest place to put your money in women’s basketball this season is in a mattress.”

And you can take that to the bank.