Power of Caring
  presented by CIGNA

Posted: Fri March 6, 1998 at 12:47 PM ET

Top-ranked Tennessee has looked unbeatable this season, but twice Alabama has come close to proving that's not so. In February, the Crimson Tide came within seven points of knocking off the Lady Vols. In last Sunday's SEC tournament championship, they came within four. No other team has kept the game in single digits.

You can bet whoever winds up matched with Tennessee in the NCAA tournament will prepare by studying tape of those Alabama games. They'll see that slowing down the pace is critical.

Alabama coach Rick Moody watched Connecticut try to run with Tennessee in their January matchup and decided his team would take a different approach. Twice now, slow and steady has almost won the game.

Led by junior guard Dominique Canty and senior point guard Brittney Ezell, the 12th-ranked Crimson Tide have improved steadily all season. Now they're hoping for another shot at whittling their margins against the Lady Vols.

"We'd love to have another opportunity to play Tennessee," Moody told me, "because it would probably be at the Final Four."

Undefeated Liberty looking for good seed

How about the other undefeated team in Division I? Liberty University, which finished 5-22 just two years ago, won the Big South title last weekend and will head into the NCAA tournament 28-0.

But while Tennessee's schedule is ranked the toughest in the country, Liberty's is the lightest. Only three of the Flames' opponents finished the season with winning records and none even sniffed the Top 25.

Still, coach Rick Reeves told me this week he's hoping his team ranks a seed somewhere between nine and 13. "If we're a 16 seed," he said, "it's a travesty."

Selection committee faces tough task

The nine-member NCAA women's selection committee, which started its deliberations on Thursday in Kansas City, has its work cut out for it.

Despite the presence of a run-away favorite, the women's field overall is more level than usual, with more teams than ever on the proverbial bubble.

Among those glued to the TV on Sunday will be Maryland, which finished 15-13 but played the third-toughest schedule in the country. The Terrapins boast wins over North Carolina, Duke and North Carolina State, all now in the top 10.

For Maryland, this should come as good news: selection chair Jean Lenti Ponsetto says her committee doesn't dwell on a team's total losses. "What matters more," she says, "is who they've beaten."