NCAAW preview: No. 5 Tennessee Woman Vols vs. No. 14 Ohio State Buckeyes

Expectations are all the time excessive on Rocky High.

Pat Summitt’s successor, Holly Warlick, confronted loads of scrutiny and can, unfairly, be remembered for not profitable a nationwide championship and for really fizzling out with three-straight non-Candy Sixteen seasons to shut out her tenure. That’s regardless that she made the Elite Eight three of her seven years.

Warlick was unlucky in that she coached at a time when it was laborious for followers to wrap their minds round not being a dominant program anymore. Present head coach Kellie Harper nonetheless faces excessive expectations, however folks accepted when she took over that it will take a couple of years to construct this system again up. Effectively, now it’s been three years and he or she enters her fourth with the No. 5 group within the nation.

Tennessee, like Creighton and South Dakota State, who performed Monday night time, opens its season with a significant problem. It’s diving head first into the pool of excessive expectations, going through No. 14 Ohio State at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night time (BTN). Straight away, the trio of newcomer Rickea Jackson and returners Jordan Horston and Tamari Key will probably be put to the take a look at.

The Buckeyes have their very own excessive degree of pleasure getting into this season. After lacking out on what would have been a No. 5 seed in line with our hypothetical bracket in 2020 and coping with a self-imposed postseason ban in 2021, they went to the Candy Sixteen final 12 months. It was a formidable Candy Sixteen run at that — they soundly defeated No. 3 seed LSU within the second spherical and got here inside three factors of No. 2 seed Texas. Jacy Sheldon, who averaged 21.7 factors, 5.7 assists and 4 steals over three tourney video games, is again and will probably be a handful for Tennessee Tuesday night time.

Sheldon’s companion in crime, Taylor Mikesell, can also be again, in her case for a fifth season. Mikesell was Shakira Austin’s classmate at Maryland and is hoping to hitch Austin within the WNBA, although she is on the skin wanting in with regards to present mock drafts. Sheldon, then again, has her sights set on the primary spherical.

So it will likely be a star-studded matchup with Jackson, Horston and Key squaring off in opposition to Sheldon and Mikesell. The Creighton/South Dakota State recreation didn’t disappoint, kicking off the 2022-23 NCAAW season in type. Count on extra pleasure from Tennessee/Ohio State.

Sport Data

No. 5 Tennessee Woman Volunteers (0-0, 0-0 SEC) vs. No. 14 Ohio State Buckeyes (0-0, 0-0 Huge Ten)

When: Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 8:30 p.m. ET

The place: Worth Metropolis Enviornment in Columbus, Ohio

Methods to watch/hear: Huge Ten Community/UTSports.television

Key to the matchup: Tennessee’s peak vs. Ohio State’s sharpshooting. The Buckeyes don’t have anybody as tall as Key, who’s 6-foot-6 and a shot-blocking machine. They may also need to take care of the size of Horston on the perimeter. She is a 6-foot-2 level guard. Mikesell is 5-foot-11 and Sheldon is 5-foot-10. The benefit for Ohio State is that they’ll put up factors in a rush if Mikesell will get scorching from past the arc.