Tennessee, Purdue Top the Heap

The powerhouses and the cupcakes are in their proper alignment, and Tennessee, Connecticut, Purdue and Louisiana Tech are expected to have little trouble finding their way to San Jose.

Not at the outset, for sure.

No. 1-ranked Purdue (28-1) gets Oral Roberts (17-12), Tennessee (28-2) drew Appalachian State (14-14), Louisiana Tech (26-2) meets Central Florida (20-9) and Connecticut (27-4) will be fed St. Francis (Pa.) (18-11). The top four seeded schools in each regional will be host of their first two games.

But is Tennessee, at long last, a bit vulnerable? After going 39-0 last season for a Pat Summit three-peat, the Lady Vols have lost twice this season.

First, after going 2-0 to start the season, Tennessee lost at Purdue, 78-68. They won 24 in a row . . . then lost at Louisiana State, 72-69.

But it’s worth remembering that two years ago, Summitt’s team finished fifth in the SEC and still won a second consecutive national championship with a 29-10 record. If the Lady Vols add another title this year, it’ll be Summitt’s seventh.

Here’s how Leon Barmore, the Louisiana Tech coach, sizes up this tournament:

“I don’t think you could put together a team from the other 63 teams in this tournament and beat Tennessee,” he said.

“You’re talking about a team with great talent, size, depth, a great young post player [Michelle Snow] getting better with every game and on top of all that they’ve got the greatest player in the history of the women’s game [Chamique Holdsclaw].

“Upsets can happen any time but any team that upsets Tennessee, it wouldn’t be because they were the better team. It’d be just that--an upset.”

Barmore’s team has won 18 in a row since losing to Purdue in December. In November, Tennessee beat the Lady Techsters at Ruston, La.

“Right now we’re playing really well--if we keep it up we’ll get to L.A., anyway,” he said.

Instead, try calling Tennessee fat and sassy.

Summitt’s program is believed to the nation’s only women’s basketball program that’s making money. The ABL should have been so successful. Tennessee set another attendance record this season, averaging 17,512 a game at 25,000-seat Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville. And it’s not surprising that Connecticut came in second in the attendance derby at 10,654 and Purdue third at 9,307.

The NCAA West Regional will be March 20 and 22 at the Sports Arena. The other three regional sites: Greensboro, N.C. (East), Cincinnati (Mideast), Normal, Ill. (Midwest).

The Final Four is March 26 and 28 at the San Jose Arena, the first on the West Coast since the 1992 Final Four, won by Stanford, at the Sports Arena.

The Pac-10 took a bit of a tumble in this year’s seedings. Five made it last season, four this time.

In addition to co-champions UCLA and Oregon, Stanford was shipped out with a No. 7 seeding in the East Regional to meet Maine (23-6) at Norfolk, Va., Friday and Arizona (17-10) travels to Piscataway, N.J., with a No. 6 seeding in the Midwest Regional to play Florida (19-13) Friday.

Colorado State (31-2) probably lost a No. 1 seeding when it was upset Saturday, 65-49, by Southern Methodist in the Western Athletic Conference tournament final at Las Vegas. The Rams had won 19 in a row. But Colorado State landed on its feet, playing host to Cal State Northridge (21-7) Friday. That winner gets the winner of UC Santa Barbara (26-3) and Southwest Missouri State (24-6).