When the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team stole prized recruit Nina Smith away from Tennessee, coach Jane Albright said that 98 out of 100 things had to go right.

But beating Tennessee on the floor, not on the recruiting trail, is a different story all together. That monumental task demands perfection. 100 rights, zero wrongs.

For 25 minutes on Sunday, defeating the Lady Vols seemed a possibility, however slight. When UW forward LaTonya Sims completed a 3-point play with 15:34 left to give the Badgers a 44-41 lead, the dream became a little more real. But that dream was interrupted, and turned into a nightmare

Twenty-eight turnovers don't win ball games against the most storied team in the history of the sport. Forced passes and early foul trouble doesn't help either. But even if the Badgers had managed to cut their turnovers in half while keeping the Vols off the line, it's doubtful they could have beat a team that is 38-4 against teams from the Big Ten.

It was in the final 15 minutes of the game that the disparity between third-ranked Tennessee and the young, upstart Badgers manifested itself. The Lady Vols, with six championships under their belts, have seen everything that the world of college basketball has had to offer. The Badgers, chock full of young stars, have yet to taste anything sweet. The experience showed.

After Sims' crowd-pleasing play, the Lady Vols went on a 44-18 run. Taking advantage of an undersized Badgers backcourt, the extremely athletic Volunteers stole the ball nine times down the stretch, converting the steals into 14 points.

The athletic disparity flexed UT's muscle. With the ability to recruit on a nationwide-level, only two of UT's 14 players hail from the state of Tennessee. No other school in any other collegiate sport has a monopoly on recruits like the legendary UT coach Pat Summitt has.

The grip that Summitt has on the nation was visible at the Kohl Center on Sunday afternoon. While red sweaters definitely outnumbered the orange ones, Tennessee supporters made their presence known, cheering as Summitt received a bouquet of yellow roses for her 700th career win. Fans eagerly snapped pictures and young girls flocked to the Lady Vols as soon as they left the press conference room.

"We have created a monster," said Summitt of her nationwide following. "When players come to Tennessee, they don't realize until we go on the road just how many fans come out to see them. It's a great compliment to our team and our program.

"People ask if life is different on the road without [former star] Chamique Holdsclaw. I say it may be a little different because we're not No. 1 and we're not the defending national champions. But we're still Tennessee."

Despite the blowout, all was not lost for the Badgers on Sunday.

The experience of facing a top national team that plays defense like it means it should make the Badgers a tougher team down the road. When asked if pressing Wisconsin is the way to defeat the Badgers, Summitt was quick to point out that just because it worked on Sunday "doesn't mean it will work in January or February. They'll be better because they were in this situation."

Summitt should know. After dropping their season-opener to a Louisiana Tech team that pressed them all over the floor, the Volunteers have regrouped, winning five straight games.

As a sign of how far things have come for the Badgerball program, Albright and her players - most noticeably senior Kelley Paulus - were upset with the way their team had played, which hasn't always been the case. In 1996, the last time the Vols visited Madison, the postgame feeling had been that UW was glad just to keep it close (UW lost 72-61).

"I don't think that [losing] is OK," Albright said. "I was embarrassed that we didn't give them a better game."

Sunday saw Smith show some of her vast potential while classmate Candas Smith showed some playmaking ability in the first half. Still a young team that relies on a number of young players, the Badgers are likely nowhere near the team that we'll see come February.

Whether or not the Badgers will be able to stay with UT come tournament time remains to be seen. Turnovers need to cut to a minimum, players need to mature.

"Everybody knows how to beat [Tennessee]," Albright said. "But nobody does beat them."

That's because beating Tennessee means demanding perfection - a near impossible request for a young team.