At the beginning of every basketball season, hope springseternal.
Bad teams believe they can be good. Good teams dream ofchampionships.
Women's basketball coach Joye Lee-McNelis simply hoped her teamwould play a post-season game, anywhere. She wasn't going to bepicky.
The Lady Tigers realized that goal Thursday as the best Tula inthe first round of the Women's National InvitationalTournament.
But following two tough seasons, who could blame McNelis if shedidn't see the WNIT berth coming? In 2001-2002, the Lady Tigersposted an 11-17 mark. Last season, they trudged through a 13-15campaign. Coming into the 2003-2004 schedule, McNelis wasn'tconvinced this year would be any different.
"We had no one who could score," McNelis said. "We were small.Going into the season, I'll be honest with you, I didn't know ifwe'd be .500."
McNelis wasn't alone in her skepticism. The Conference USAcoaches picked Memphis ninth in the 14-team league.
After a poor performance and narrow victory in their firstexhibition game against Henderson State, it looked as though ninthplace might be a little high.
"When we almost lost our first exhibition to Henderson State, Iwas really concerned," she said. "As a matter of fact, I didn'tknow if we had three (conference) wins on the schedule."
The Tigers continued to improve, winning thefirst six games ofthe season. Two of those wins came against eventual NCAA tournamentteams. McNelis said her team's road win over Austin Peay was theturning point.
"I think winning at Austin Peay was huge for our team," McNelissaid. "After that game, I thought we had a chance to win somegames."
The Tigers continued to win games, posting a 10-3 non-conferencerecord. After losing three of their first four conference contestsby a total of seven points, Memphis went on a six-game winningstreak.
Without a star to fall back on, the Lady Tigers relied on eachother to play team defense and share the scoring duties.
"I think team chemistry was a big part (of the turnaround),"said junior forward Jennifer Sullivan. "In past years, we had ayounger team. This season, we had more of a junior- andsenior-oriented team. Experience is a huge part of teamchemistry."
The Lady Tigers finished 21-10, 9-5 in C-USA play. Even moreimpressive, they were in every game.
"We won the games we were supposed to win, and we were the onlyteam in conference that didn't have a double-digit (conference)loss," McNelis said.
Sullivan said all those tough losses were hard to handle, buttwo in particular hurt the most.
"Overall, we can't be disappointed, but those (two) Louisvillegames we should have won," Sullivan said.
The final loss to Louisville in the C-USA Tournament effectivelyended any chance Memphis had to play in the NCAA tournament, butthe team achieved its goal of post-season play.
Memphis made the WNIT and went on to beat Tulsa in the firstround before losing at Western Kentucky 104-87.
"I didn't expect to play so far into the year," Crawford said."Our goal this year was any post-season play. Next year it'll bethe NCAAs."
A tournament birth is possible. The Lady Tigers will return allbut two players. While graduating seniors Princess Swilley andJordie Soso will be tough to replace, a solid nucleus of playerswill return, along with higher expectations.
"We know what to expect (next year)," Crawford said. "Theschedule will be tougher, and teams will probably be gunning forus."
With the loss of two important seniors, the return ofexpectations and an increased emphasis from opponents, the2004-2005 Lady Tigers can do only one thing to prepare for nextseason.
"I told this to the girls (Sunday), if they don't get better (inthe off-season), we're not going to win," Lee-McNelis said. "Weoverachieved this year and now they're expected to be better. Ithink they're hungry, and I think they enjoyed the year, sohopefully they'll put in the work."
