THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 25, 1995 TAG: 9501250591
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
When the women's traveling roundball show from Tennessee comes to town, the home team usually is guaranteed a loss and a full house.
For Old Dominion on Tuesday night, one out of two not only wasn't bad, it was about the best the Monarchs could have hoped for.
Although the feeling is probably not shared in the ODU locker room, some people on Hampton Boulevard are sorry to see Tennessee leave the gym.
``Even the Coke man thanked me for selling more Cokes tonight,'' said Vols coach Pat Summitt.
Summitt is an apt name for the coach of the Tennessee women's program. At the moment, the team from Knoxville is only No. 2 in the polls. The polls are fickle, though, and say nothing about the Vols' drawing power, about what they represent.
Tennessee is everybody's biggest game and largest crowd. It's an old story in Knoxville, a great story for women's basketball.
Summitt's players can't get enough of the attention they get on the road.
``The majority of the time, the people come to see us,'' said senior forward Dana Johnson. ``They want to see if we're really as good as everybody says. We come out to put on a good show.''
They do. In front of 4,855, Tennessee hit ODU with everything it had, including the end of its bench, in a 77-54 victory.
Hard to believe watching Summitt's team, but Tennessee has been slowed by injuries to a couple key players. After the game, the winners talked about trying to get back to where they were several weeks ago. Judging from Tuesday's game, few teams get to visit such a place.
Problems aside, Tennessee has managed quite nicely. Intact is its 55-game home-court winning street. Its 35-game Southeastern Conference winning streak. And, needless to say, it remains a favorite to win the national title.
Sympathy does not naturally flow Tennessee's way. For the Vols, there can be no excuses. And hardly a night off on the road. Not that they expect any of either.
In its only loss of the year, a nationally televised game at Connecticut, Tennessee played before a standing-room-only crowd of about 9,000.
Elsewhere, the Vols performed in front of 13,227 at Vanderbilt, and 10,322 at Colorado; 9,419 at Texas, 8,693 at Louisiana Tech; and 8,349 in Richmond.
Tennessee won at the University of Montana before 8,371. Until Summitt took her team there, nobody knew the state of Montana even had 8,371 people.
At home, Summitt's team averages 6,633. On the road, the women draw 7,126 per game. The ODU sellout, the Lady Monarchs' first in 10 years, actually brought down Tennessee's average.
Summitt plays a go-go schedule in part because this is what is expected of Tennessee.
``We have a veteran team,'' she said. ``With a veteran team, if they aren't challenged, you lose them.
``When they heard that they had a sellout tonight, I knew I wouldn't have to motivate them.''
Good thing, too. Wherever the Lady Vols visit, the home team is waiting for them, hoping to make a reputation for itself.
``The only people who like us,'' Summitt said with a smile, ``live in Knoxville or graduated from UT.''
She was forgetting about the Coke man. by CNB