 "Photo: William Shneekloth/Targum Associate Photography Editor")
The Rutgers women's basketball team knows it is getting close to using up its nine lives.
Heading into their Sweet 16 match-up against Tennessee, set for noon Sunday at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, the third-seeded Scarlet Knights know they have one shot and zero space for error.
"That [Dartmouth] game, it was definitely a close call," sophomore guard Essence Carson said after practice yesterday. "It was like a slap in the face, like 'Wake up now, this is your last chance.' It was like God was sending some type of message like, 'OK, I'm going to let you get really close to losing this one and then I'm going to let you have it because you've worked hard this whole year.
"I'll let you slide on this one, but don't do it again, because you have match-ups like Tennessee, UNC, you have your Oklahomas out there and your Marylands."
Rutgers' hard-knock path to the coveted Final Four is beginning to come to fruition for the Knights (27-4), as they will dig into the tough section of their bracket against a second-seeded Tennessee team (30-4) with a tough roster and an even tougher mentality.
"You only go to Tennessee if you're a great player and want to compete at the highest level and want to get pushed," Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer said. "There's a certain kind of mentality that's there. This is a different kind of mindset that's been really important at the championship level."
The Lady Volunteers' mental toughness was tested last month when starting point guard Alexis Hornbuckle went down with a broken wrist in mid-February, forcing guard Shanna Zolman and others to step up as floor general. But they seemed to do just fine, and now Hornbuckle is back.
RU's senior forward Michelle Campbell knows what it feels like to go up against some of the biggest, strongest forwards in the country, because she's done it for four years. But if there was ever a time for Campbell and the other Rutgers posts to bring their very best it's now, against a Tennessee roster that lists eight players at over six-foot or above and only two below that mark. Those two - Zolman and Hornbuckle - stand at 5-10 and 5-11, respectively, still bigger than two-thirds of the Knights' starting backcourt.
That leaves Campbell counting her blessings that this year she's got some help in the paint.
"This year we have Kia [Vaughn] obviously, she's 6'4 or 6'5, and just a bigger post presence that way," Campbell said. "She's just more of a force I think, actually a threat inside, and a great rebounder."
Tennessee has added a new element this year in redshirt freshman Candace Parker - a versatile forward-slash-guard who positioned herself more prominently on the map last weekend by dunking twice in Tennessee's first-round game against Army.
Parker is averaging 17 points and 8 rebounds per game, and can pretty much play any position on the floor at a powerful 6-foot-3.
"Candace is a great athlete, she can do everything," Campbell said. "She's a tough player, she's tall - I think she's taller than me - and can handle the ball. She's an all-around great player."
In high school, Parker played on USA basketball development teams with Vaughn.
Fellow senior and post player Mariota Theodoris said that as a whole, RU's focus is simply on turning in the same kind of performance they did to obliterate TCU in the last round rather than looking at individuals.
"[Parker's] a tough match-up for anyone because they just don't have [6-foot-3] guards out there that much. That's more in the men's game," Theodoris said. "But it's not about the best player, it's about the best team and we're going in there to be the best team."
By her own admission, Rutgers standout Cappie Pondexter didn't take over in the Tennessee game in last year's tournament, and in order for the Knights to find a way to win on Sunday, Stringer expects her ringleader or, in her words, "the mother hen," to rally the troops.
"I think the times when she should have shot [last year], when the clock said '10,' she chose to kick it out and there was no reason to," Stringer said. "I think she's more assertive, we're more assertive, and she will put her hands on it and make the right decision."
As the Knights' leading scorer and sixth in the country with 22 points-per-game, Pondexter and the other guards will look to hold up their end of the deal while the posts will obviously be tested.
"Cappie just needs to do what she's supposed to do and [Matee Ajavon] has to do what she's supposed to do, and what you saw last game is what they're supposed to do," Stringer said. "The way they were distributing the ball and playing great defense together, rebounding together."
Should they escape with the upset over Tennessee, the Scarlet Knights would take on the winner of the North Carolina vs. Purdue game in the Elite Eight on Tuesday.
"There is a sense of urgency, not only for the seniors but for everybody, because you don't know what's going to happen," Theodoris said. "All you can do is go up with what you have, and what we have now we like, so why not take advantage of it?"
Be the first to comment on this article!