April 1, 2007

By Lauren Brownlow

Jessica Breland is one of only two newcomers to the Final Four and is still adjusting to the "hurry up and wait" atmosphere.

"I really don't like it. I'd rather just come up here, just play, and then go home. But it's nice. It's relaxing. It's kind of relaxing too to get away from Chapel Hill and be able to do your work and sit around the hotel," Breland said. "Actually, we don't really have time to sit around the hotel. When we're around the hotel, we sleep. It gets boring sometimes, but she (Coach Hatchell) keeps us busy: a full-course meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner and attending other things that we have to do like mandatory stuff like this. It would seem like we have a lot of time ourselves, but we really don't."...

ESPN's Mike Patrick was walking around and observing the festivities, donning a black and gold warm-up outfit. Doris Burke, Holly Rowe and Mark Jones also sat courtside...Guitars are absolutely everywhere in Cleveland - a guitar makes up the "o" and the "i" in the "Final Four" Cleveland logo and there are multi-colored guitar statues all over the city...During practice, Meghan Austin and Martina Wood did not participate but were big cheerleaders for their teammates during drills...Christina Dewitt made her Tar Heel teammates laugh with her dancing as Carolina came out to the playing of the fight song. Her moves rivaled those of Danny Green during "Jump Around" before the tip off of men's basketball games this season...

Carolina's 34 victories this season set a school record. Carolina has also set school season records this year in assists (668), blocks (245), and steals (533)...Two of only four players to have had more than one double-double in the Tournament will face off against each other on Sunday night: LaToya Pringle (10 points, 11 rebounds versus Notre Dame and 16 points, 14 rebounds versus George Washington) and Candace Parker (30 points, 12 rebounds versus Pittsburgh and 24 points, 14 rebounds against Mississippi), each with two. LSU's Sylvia Fowles also has two, and Oklahoma's Courtney Paris had a double-double in all three of Oklahoma's NCAA Tournament games. Erlana Larkins had her first double-double against Purdue (29 points, 10 rebounds)...

Carolina leads the nation in scoring margin at +29.6 points per game and ranks second among the remaining teams in NCAA Tournament play alone with +23.0 (Tennessee is first at +27.0)...Carolina also leads the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 55 points per game and just 54.2 in the NCAA Tournament. However, the other three remaining teams have all allowed fewer points and no other team has allowed more than 50 points per game in the Tournament so far...Carolina has shot 46.9% from the field this season, which is eighth in the country, and is shooting 48.2% in the Tournament so far. Tennessee leads the pack out of the remaining tams in the NCAA Tournament, shooting 50.4% from the field over the four games.

Carolina has outrebounded opponents by an average margin of +11.1, which leads the country. In NCAA Tournament play, it has outrebounded opponents by an average margin of +15.0. Tennessee has outrebounded opponents by +10.7 in the NCAA Tournament so far...This is the first time since 2002 that a men's and women's team from the same school has not been in the Final Four. LSU did it last year, Michigan State did it in 2005, both the men's and women's teams from Connecticut won it all in 2004; Texas did it in 2003 and Oklahoma in 2002.

Carolina has actually played Tennessee in Cleveland recently, knocking the Lady Vols out of the NCAA Tournament in the Regional Finals in 2006 and advancing to Carolina's first Final Four since 1994...Three of the winningest coaches in women's basketball are represented in this Final Four: No. 1 Pat Summit (945 wins), No. 3 C. Vivian Stringer from Rutgers (776 wins) and No. 4 Sylvia Hatchell (751 wins).

Of the 25 National Champions, 17 were No. 1 seeds. However, the last three champions were No. 2 seeds. Carolina won the title as a No. 3 seed in 1994...Tennessee has won just one national title in the month of April, and it was in 1989. Its other five titles were all won in late March. The Lady Vols have not won a national championship since 1998, but they have still won six out of 25...Tennessee is 17-3 against ACC teams in the NCAA Tournament (one loss coming to North Carolina a year ago) and 3-0 against the ACC in the Final Four.

On the season, Candace Parker has 675 of Tennessee's 2609 points, or 25.9%. Parker has made 259 of Tennessee's 958 field goals, or 27%. Parker has attempted 214 free throws this year, and only Nicky Anosike has attempted more than 100 (112). Her 151 made free throws are 39 more than Anosike attempted. Parker is the only Tennessee starter to shoot more than 50% (54.2%) from the field. Parker averages 9.8 rebounds a game. Next closest is Nicky Anosike with 5.9. Parker is averaging 2.5 offensive rebounds a game and 7.3 defense rebounds a game. Parker has 49.7% of Tennessee blocks with 95 out of 191 total.

Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.