As expected, the Lady Vols basketball team reentered the top 25 polls this week, landing at No. 19 by AP media voters and No. 18 in the USA Today coaches’ poll. In the all-important NET rankings – that is what the NCAA uses to seed teams in the postseason tourney in March – Tennessee is No. 26.
While it’s too soon to overreact to polls – it’s a long way between now and March and the SEC is a murderer’s row for two winter months – the fact Tennessee returned to the media and coaches’ polls is worth noting for three reasons – the Lady Vols had been absent for more than a year, it keeps Tennessee’s name on national lists, and the team wasn’t ranked to start the season. It’s easier to hold a position when a team starts the season ranked; it’s much harder to climb into the polls.
“I think the best part is we earned it,” coach Kim Caldwell said. “We didn’t get in there just by name alone, and we earned to be in there.”
Fifth-year senior Tess Darby helped seal the 78-68 win over Iowa last Saturday – that story is HERE – with a three-pointer in the fourth quarter that caused the bench to erupt at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
“Coach Kim has been preaching to us, get in the gym, get in the gym,” Darby said. “And that’s kind of what a shooter wants to hear. But also getting in the gym builds your confidence. I think that picture, just seeing the confidence that my teammates and coaches have in me, it’s a lot easier to let it fly.”
Talaysia Cooper handles the ball during the Shark Beauty Women’s Champions Classic game against Iowa. (Kate Luffman/ Tennessee Athletics)
After the wins against Florida State and Iowa, the Lady Vols earned team of the week honors from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). Talaysia Cooper earned Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Women’s Basketball Player of the Week honors. The redshirt sophomore has scored 20-plus points in four consecutive games and averaged 22.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.5 blocks and 2.0 steals while shooting 51.3 percent from the field in the last two games.
The Lady Vols will play at home this Saturday, Dec. 14, and it will be the last time to see the team in Knoxville until Dec. 29 when Winthrop, coached by former Lady Vol Semeka Randall, arrives.
The foe this weekend will be North Carolina Central with tipoff set for 2 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. After that game, the Lady Vols will play the first true road game at Memphis on Dec. 18 and two games in West Palm Beach on Dec. 20-21 against Richmond and Tulsa.
The fall semester has ended, and exams are completed, so the players don’t have classes or academic responsibility for more than a month. Minus the holiday break for players to go home, Caldwell will have plenty of time with her players when they return to campus right after Christmas.
“I love it when it’s just basketball, and it’s only basketball, and you could go whenever you want, however many times you want, and that’s what they’re focused on,” Caldwell said. “You seem to get their best.”
CIERRA BURDICK: Former Lady Vol Cierra Burdick spent some of her summer in Paris for the 2024 Olympics in stories that can be read HERE and HERE, the latter of which is a long and worthwhile read.
She had joked about getting older in a sport that favors youth and how she had to be savvy and take care of her body. The extent of the damage done by playing basketball at high levels in high school, college and professionally was revealed Thursday by Burdick with a social media post with the hashtag #HipsDontLie.
Hearing you need a full hip replacement at age 30 is tough. Finding out that information in the midst of trying to make an Olympic roster was even tougher. The most heartbreaking part of it all, though, was the ever-lingering questions and uncertainty surrounding how much pain could I play in and can I continue to do what I love?
Former Lady Vol Cierra Burdick smiles after successful hip surgery (Social media photo)
Only my closest circle knows how much pain and how many sleepless nights I’ve had to endure. I share this not for sympathy, but more so to express my gratitude. To my coaches, teammates and trainers at Valencia, Basket Landes and Avenida, thank you for helping me navigate this silent storm. I’m forever grateful for each of you. To my USAB family, thank you for providing me with the resources to access some of the best doctors in the world. Quite frankly, this would not be possible without you. And to my village, thank you for keeping me uplifted in prayer and surrounding me with constant love and light through all the highs and lows. I love y’all.
Burdick also said she wasn’t ready to stop playing basketball. She thanked Dr. Edwin P. Su, an orthopedic surgeon in New York who specializes in hip replacement and hip resurfacing. The latter replaces the hip socket with a prosthetic and reshapes the top of the femur to fit securely into it.
God knew I wasn’t ready to hang up the sneakers. He continues to leave me in awe with His faithfulness and provision. He is the greatest planner and provider! I might be the first active female athlete to have a resurfaced hip, but I know I won’t be the last. Thank you, (Dr. Su), for literally keeping my dream alive. Here’s to having a new hip, playing pain free and never being able to walk through a metal detector again. The recovery journey begins!
If anyone can undergo that procedure and get back to being an elite athlete, it’s Burdick. May her journey be blessed.
Maria M. Cornelius, a senior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, started her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press.
