For Lady Vols, looking ahead not an option

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Pat Summitt ignores the staggering numbers.

Sure, Division I's career victory leader has a perfect 40-0 mark in first- and second-round NCAA tournament games, an average victory margin of 37.4 points in tourney openers and seven national titles.

So it would seem little more than a formality to chalk up two more wins for the Lady Volunteers in West Lafayette.

Summitt and her players know better than that.

"I know that you can't take anything for granted in this tournament," she said Saturday. "Unfortunately when you look ahead and, at times, we and others have done that and when you do that, you're not as successful as you should be."

Postseason success has never been an issue for Tennessee (30-2).

The Lady Vols have reached 26 straight regional semifinals and are the only team in the nation to appear in all 27 NCAA tournaments. Two more wins would make Summitt the first coach with 100 tourney wins and, of course, top seeds have been nearly unbeatable. They're 55-1 since the field expanded in 1994 with the only misstep coming in 1998 as Harvard upset Stanford.

Oral Roberts (19-13), which looks like the next speed bump to another deep Tennessee run, has a resume that is the polar opposite.

In four previous NCAA trips, the Golden Eagles have zero wins. In fact, teams from the Summit League, previously known as the Mid-Continent Conference, are a combined 0-9 all-time in NCAA play.

Plus, Oral Roberts has to figure out a way to contain Tennessee's talent.

There's Naperville Central's Candace Parker, a national player of the year candidate. There's Nicky Anosike, the 6-foot-4 center who has scored more than 1,000 points and the Lady Vols' second-leading rebounder. There's guard Alexis Hornbuckle, Tennessee's career leader in steals. And there's a bevy of other good players ready to lend a hand.

It's enough to make even the most competitive coaches wince.

"Being at ORU and in the Summit League, Pat's league, it's a one-and-out conference," coach Jerry Finkbeiner said, referring to the selection process. "But this is the first repeat champion we've had, so this group has seen it before and been part of it before and I'm interested to see how they respond being a repeat champ. It's just we're playing the Vols which is a a little more of an obstacle than most first-round opponents."

Heck, the Golden Eagles have even resorted to seeking some divine intervention.

"We talked about the five smooth stones David came to the battle (against Goliath) with," guard Janae Voelker said. "And we talked about the five smooth stones we need to come to battle with."

There is another concern for Tennessee: Mackey Arena is one of the few venues that makes Summitt wince. She's 1-2 all-time at Mackey, including a rare regional semifinal loss to Western Kentucky in 1992.

"I'm not very fond of this place, so I don't want to talk about my memories here," Summitt said. "This is a new day and a new beginning. In the past, it's not been real kind to Tennessee and coach Summitt, but we're going to change that."

To do that, the Lady Vols may not have to beat only Oral Roberts.

A victory could set up a Tuesday night showdown with tournament host Purdue (18-14), the surprise winner of the Big Ten tournament courtesy of Lakisha Freeman's buzzer-beating putback in the championship game.

Like Tennessee, the Boilermakers have been one of the nation's perennial powerhouses but struggled this year after two starters - Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton and Jodi Howell - sustained season-ending injuries before fall practice began. As the No. 9 seed, they drew eight-seeded Utah (27-4), and were rewarded with a home game. Purdue is 17-5 at Mackey all-time in NCAA games.

"We did it increments," coach Sharon Versyp said. "This team really bonded together, knowing we played the toughest schedule in country and the team matured immensely, more than I ever could have imagined."

Sunday's afternoon games pit fourth-seeded Oklahoma (21-8) against 13th seeded Illinois State (26-6) while fifth-seeded Notre Dame faces No. 12 SMU (24-8).

The Sooners and Fighting Irish are NCAA regulars.

Oklahoma is making its ninth straight appearance and has reached the regional semis five times and the Final Four once this decade. It also has last year's national player of the year, Courtney Paris, as it tries to rebound from a three-game losing streak. The Sooners haven't won since Feb. 27.

Still, it's a tall challenge for the Redbirds.

"We have faced players like that, I'd say we have two players on our team like that," Illinois State guard Kristi Cirone said. "They may not be as strong as she is, but Courtney Paris is a great player and is just a dominant athlete."

Notre Dame also comes into the game having lost two straight but won at Purdue, 61-48 in its only trip to Mackey this season.

That helped eliminate some of the bad images clouding coach Muffet McGraw's memory bank, just like those that now haunt Summitt, of playing at Mackey.

"I think we feel a little more comfortable here this year having won here, finally," McGraw said. "Our fans can travel here, so the site has really been great here in a lot of ways."