The Guru NCAAW Report: The Caldwell Coaching Era at Tennessee Successfully Opens; Notable Win as Davidson Nips Florida Gulf Coast

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

It was a much quieter Day 2 of the women’s collegiate season on Tuesday, not many games on the Guru radar slate upon which the roundup is built, none were played among the 13 locals, and few overall.

But there were two to lead the report.

In Knoxville, the Kim Caldwell era got under way with an easy 101-53 victory over Samford keeping the new leader previously at Marshall on the same mark the legendary and late Pat Summitt and her direct sideline descendants of Holly Warlick and Kellie Harper have done against these kinds of opponents in season and home opening games.

One nugget in the outcome is for what the powerful history of the program has been, it’s just the sixth time the Lady Vols produced triple digits on the winning side of the scoreboard in Game 1.

“Happy to get Game 1 done, it wasn’t the prettiest, I thought we looked good in spurts, we looked, exactly how we should in a game, and then we had moments when we looked like a brand-new team,” Caldwell said.

“It’s one down, 27 to go, the more we play, the better we can get,” the new coach said on the emotions of her debut night that goes into the record books as an official outcome in the won-loss entry log.

One veteran observer who has watched team workouts since Caldwell’s arrival commented here back in September, “I don’t’ know how they’re going to be, but they’re going to be in shape, I can tell you that.

“In fact, they’ve been in shape since July.”

Another noted on the system Caldwell was installing, “lt reminds me of line changes in a hockey game.”

Obviously, being picked seventh by the media in the new-look SEC, lowest ever, earlier sixth in a 14-team vote, is a 50-50 placement into a league group whose high end starts with top-ranked and reigning NCAA champion South Carolina, No. 4 Texas, No. 7 LSU, No. 10 Oklahoma, which is the add-on with Texas from the Big 12, No. 20 Ole Miss, and No. 24 Alabama.

The coaches had the same top seven but flipped Ole Miss and Alabama, while both right behind the Lady Vols slotted No. 22 Kentucky, now under Kenny Brooks brought to rebuild the Wildcats following the growth at Virginia Tech resulting in a Final Four appearance two seasons ago.

The schedule gets a quick turnaround Thursday hosting UT Martin than a stronger dose is provided next week at home in Food City Center from Middle Tennessee and Liberty, the top two picks in C-USA, with some other mid-range tests before the high seas in SEC waters appear in early January.

In Tuesday’s game, Miami transfer Zee Spearman off the bench led the scoring explosion with 25 points, while all but Sara Puckett in the starting unit were in double digits: transfer Talaysia Cooper off South Carolina’s roster with 19 points, Jewel Spear with 18, Samara Spencer with 12, and Ruby Whitehorn with 10.

Of those names, only Puckett began as a home-grown freshman, while Spear came last season from Wake Forest, and this season besides Spearman and Cooper acquired from elsewhere, Spencer comes from Arkansas while Whitehorn was at Clemson.

Davidson Edges Florida Gulf Coast

When the Guru builds his mammoth radar schedule, it is formed of several different elements -the entire slates of his 13 locals, no matter how good or bad because the report is expansive to what might have been executed during his time at The Inquirer.

Any game on the various linear TV broadcasts announcements from conferences, all the glamor games, and also every prominent listing conferrnce choices top to bottom until there is a break with updates to inserted in late December adding teams not listed who have gotten hot.

Fairfield a year ago was that type of team.

Then their games against each other, against similar non-conference teams, and in the case of teams from lower majors, anything that’s a step-up opponent, even if that opponent is not highly regarded in its own league.

The reason is the teams that perform in this category are the ones that will be given more of a chance and comparison to fill the NCAA field.

All this was just explained for you because one such game occurred Tuesday night and it is one to go in the bubble pool for future use if need be.

Thus, the final score Davidson 57-56 over visiting FGCU, rallying from an 11-point deficit in the second half with a 9-0 run in the third quarter that got the Wildcats back into pursuit.

With 2:59 left in regulation, Mallorie Haines assisted by Kyra Bruyndoncx snapped a 54-54 tie to go ahead and hold tight for those were to be the Wildcats’ last points of the night.

Over the final three minutes, Davidson did not get much done, offensively, missing jumpers at the 1:57 and 1:18 marks and a pair of foul shots with 16 seconds left holding a one-point lead after FGCU connected on two free throws from Kamari Mitchell-Steen at the 40-second mark.

Those came on an ensuing possession following a turnover by the home team.

However, Davidson made up for it, defensively, Millie Prior grabbing two rebounders, including a game-ender, and blocking a shot in that span while Bruyndoncx also blocked a shot.

In that overall closing sequence, the visitors missed five shots.

Emanuel Jefferson was the lone Eagles player in double figures with 15 points while Davidson’s Prior scored 18, Katie Donovan scored 15 and Bruyndoncx scored 10.

FGCU is an overwhelming pick to win the ASun they’ve dominated, while Davidson, which was derailed by injuries while contending in the Atlantic 10 last season, was picked fourth.

If theWildcats climb a little higher and the Eagles win their league, this game will count for something plus if both are in a bubble fight Davidson will get an edge from the win.

Round One to the MAC

Catching up from Monday night the first of two Mid-American/Sun Belt Challenges were played to open the season, and of the 12 games, the MAC took a resounding eight, though four were captured by four points or less.

Toledo edged Marshall 71-68 featuring new coaches each side; Buffalo topped Troy 80-78; Northern Illinois over Louisiana 57-55; and Bowling Green 71-67 over Southern Miss, all at home.

It could have been even worse for the Sun Belt where among the four, visiting Coastal Carolina edged Central Michigan 65-62; Texas State beat Eastern Michigan 75-71.

Meanwhile, the two top picks in each conference lived up to their choices – the MAC’s Ball State won big 60-48 at home over that glory team of yesterday in Old Dominion while the Sun Belt’s James Madison won on the road 67-56 at Kent State.

The remaining games saw on the MAC side Akron 81-73 over Georgia State in a home win; Western Michigan 61-52 at home over Arkansas State, and Miami of Ohio 75-48 at home topping Appalachian State; while it was Georgia Southern 82-70 at Ohio U.  to the Sun Belt.

Conference partisans are free to spin these outcomes in their own directions.

Round two comes in February, matchups to be determined.

The leagues also announced extensions of the series in which the men’s teams also have challenges but unlike ESPN’s PR department which managed to stick a Guru hometown Temple men’s game in its women’s season long list of linear games taking away three hours of the Guru’s life not coming back spent eventually coming up the error on his own, we stay gender specific here unless the news dictates otherwise.

The Rest of the Story

On the short radar list for Tuesday, a game placed from the low side because No. 14 Ohio State’s opening opponent at home Cleveland State is picked for the first time to win the Horizon League, it was all Buckeyes 104-69 paced by Kennedy Chambers’ freshman debut scoring 31 points.

Cotie McMahon chipped in 17 points.

AP notes in game coverage, Cambridge is a McDonald’s all-American and the highest recruit in program history that has had Tara VanDerveer, the late Nancy Darsch, and Jim Foster at the helm, ranked two overall.

She was 12-14 from the field, a perfect 5-5 from the line with six rebounds, six assists and only a pair of miscues in 26 minutes.

For those of you saying but the opposition as such made the performance akin to hitting several baseball homers over the short-left field wall in the Polo Grounds home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Ohio State is a member of the Big Ten so superior challenges are not far down the road.

Taylor Thierry also provided double digits to the Buckeyes total with 11 points.

The Vikings’ Mickayla Perdue provided 22 of her 29 points in the second half, while Sara Guerriero had 14 points, including a dozen of the 24 her team registered in the first half.

Colbi Maples, the HL preseason player of the year, scored 11.

Elsewhere, all at home to the winners, Syracuse of the ACC won 108-48 over Niagara, a high pick in the MAAC; No. 16 West Virginia won 65-41 over Towson, a similar high choice in the CAA, and West Coast Conference favorite Gonzaga, who in a few years will be in the new-look PAC-12, won 82-69 over Montana, picked third in the Big Sky behind Northern Arizona, and Montana State.

Not on the radar but holding high AP preseason status at No. 9 following its Final Four season, NC State at home in Raleigh won 80-55 over ETSU, Zoe Brooks scoring 21 and Aziaha James getting 15 of her 17 in the second half.

The Wolfpack bolt up to a higher quality test next with No. 1 South Carolina hooking up down in Charlotte.

A similar early matchup last season opened the doors for the Gamecocks to quickly return to No. 1 when at that pre-game moment, then-unheralded NC State derailed UConn from claiming the vacant spot caused by LSU’s upset loss to Colorado earlier that week.

Looking Ahead

Needing a sparing partner to prepare for Sunday’s visit to Syracuse, Big Five favorite and A-10 No. 2 pick Saint Joseph’s opens its season with local D2 Goldey-Beacom at 7 p.m. at Hagan Arena, the only area D-I action Wednesday night.

Nationally, just two radars in Purdue hosting Purdue-Fort Wayne while unranked Iowa hosts Northern Illinois, giving the locals here for a price to B1G+ the opportunity to see former Villanova star Lucy Olsen fill the roster slot vacated by the graduated Caitlin Clark.

See you in less than 24 hours.