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Vols plan for an expected trip

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- It's as close as it comes to a hoops guarantee: Play four years at Tennessee, and you'll reach the Final Four at least once.

The eight sophomores and freshmen on this year's team already are penciled in to join that incredible list of Vols.

Monday night's 68-63 win against Vanderbilt for the Midwest Region title propelled coach Pat Summitt's latest squad to San Antonio, Texas for Tennessee's 13th Final Four appearance. The Vols, who have won six titles, will play top-seeded Connecticut on Friday.

Coming into this season, Summitt had coached 125 players since 1974, when women's basketball was still played under the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. Every player on that list who completed her eligibility at Tennessee -- 103 in all -- reached the national semifinals or better, some more than once.

"It's so exciting to come in my first year and make it to the Final Four," freshman forward Brittany Jackson said.

Summitt has surpassed John Wooden with the most final trips of any men's or women's college coach. She and the former UCLA coach had been tied at 12 apiece.

"It's a dream come true for them. I never once doubted this group (Monday night)," Summitt said. "They've earned it, they've worked for it and never quit believing."

DUKE: Taking a cue from its first Final Four appearance three years ago, the Blue Devils are taking a more relaxed approach in preparing for the tournament this time around.

Coach Gail Goestenkors chalks it up to experience.

"I had the strange idea it was going to be fun," Goestenkors said of the team's 1999 Final Four appearance. "It's not fun. It's work. You don't sleep at all. You're watching tape. ... You have a lot of things required of you that have nothing to do with basketball."

Duke, which won the East Region on Monday, will play Oklahoma on Friday. But this trip will be different.

"The best thing we can do as coaches is keep things light and have a lot of laughter," Goestenkors said. "That is what we've done all year long and that is what has helped the team."

Her players, who have won their past 22 in a row, seem to buy into that notion.

"We laugh all the time and that is a great cure for pressure," senior Krista Gingrich said. "Even though we're going to try as much as we can to make it any other game, we realize it is not."

Oklahoma is making its first Final Four appearance. The game will mark the first time Duke has played outside North Carolina since winning at Maryland on Feb. 2.

"The lack of travel is going to help us," Gingrich said. "Travel is in general very tiring. Teams that have been flying everywhere could be jet-lagged. I don't think it is going to affect us. But it is the Final Four and everyone is going to be ready to play."

Alana Beard, MVP of the East Region championship, scored 24 in leading the Blue Devils to a 77-68 win against South Carolina on Monday.

"Everybody knows that two more games and you're national champions," Beard said.

Duke's winning streak is the second-longest in the country behind Connecticut's 37. Duke's last loss was to Tennessee on Dec. 27 in the ACC Shootout in Atlanta.

CONNECTICUT: Two weeks ago, when the NCAA Tournament started, the Huskies were the overwhelming favorite to win the national championship. Nothing has happened since to change that perception. Just ask Old Dominion.

Connecticut made its first 13 shots in beating the Monarchs in the Mideast Region final. The undefeated Huskies, seeking their third national title, won their other NCAA Tournament games by margins of 18, 38 and 49.

"I'm not ready to call them the best ever," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said, "but maybe after next weekend."

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